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G'day nature lovers
Today here in Broome was yet another fantastic
day for birding with thousands of migratory waders departing in beautiful warm
weather at dusk and a pretty big day on the raptors.
We are conducting one of our regular courses on
migratory waders this week and this morning, we popped out to reckie a few sites
which we plan to visit. A great place for freshwater waders of late has been a
little way along the highway to Port Headland at a place known as the
"Sheep Camp". We dropped in there early and, to our dismay, the lake was stone
dry. Happily, several springs in the area were still full and we set up near to
one of them to spot who might pop in for a drink. No sooner had we left the car
than a Swamp Harrier swept by us quite rapidly and in pursuit of it, none other
than a Grey Falcon! Directly after the Grey Falcon had disappeared, a flock of
somewhat more petit desert vagrants flew in for a drink: beautiful Painted
Finches. Our raptor day was quite big already with many sightings along the
highway: Little Eagle, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Brown Falcon, Nankeen Kestrel,
Whistling Kite, Black Kite, Black-shouldered Kite, Australian Hobby and now the
Swamp Harrier and the Grey Falcon.
Grey Falcons are all the talk at the moment here.
Amazingly we had a "Grey" in the centre Broome the other day. Two sightings
by experienced birders were reported near Port Headland recently too. We can
only put this down to the tendency for these birds to move a little
northward at this time of year and what must be very dry conditions
inland.
Time was a bit tight for us this morning, so we
headed back to the Observatory rather than running the risk of getting bogged
down watching yet more fantastic rarities. Later in the day we observed a
Brahminy Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Osprey, Collared
Sparrowhawk but sadly, we dipped on a real regular here, the Brown Goshawk.
Still, 15 raptors isn't bad in one day, even for Broome!
Tonight was also a rather amazing night for
departures of the waders, with several hundred Whimbrel, Red Knot, Great Knot,
Eastern Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Greater Sand Plover and
Common Greenshank departing for north Asia. All in all, several thousand of
these birds filled our hearts with joy and our minds with unbridled amazement as
we watched huge flocks form into the now familiar lines in the sky and
then beautiful "Vees" as they moved off into the distance.
With well over 120 birds sighted today, the list
is a bit long for now but here's the raptor list at least:
Little Eagle (4)
Swamp Harrier (2)
Wedge-tailed Eagle (1)
Brown Falcon (30+)
Nankeen Kestrel (20+)
Whistling Kite (10+)
Black Kite (20+)
Black-shouldered Kite (2)
Australian Hobby (1)
Grey Falcon (1)
Brahminy Kite (4)
White-bellied Sea-Eagle (3)
Peregrine Falcon (1)
Osprey (1)
Collared Sparrowhawk (1)
Another hard day at the office!
Ricki
Broome WA
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