Just been to Cue and back (Wed to Fri) with a friend Rob Lambert from the UK.
It is extraordinarily dry still in most of the area from Payne's Find to
Cue. A few small patches greening up. Nallan Station hasn't had decent
rain for more than 10 years.
A few sightings of interest.
Purple-crowned Lorikeet (15) about 2km south of Payne's Find. I was very
surprised to see them here. I have seen then at Charles Darwin Reserve back
towards Wubin, but this is 100km away.
Major Mitchell Cockatoo (30+) about 20km south of Payne's Find. These do
occur irregularly throughout the area, although this is the first time I
have seen them along this road.
Slender-billed Thornbill (1) near Lake Austin south of Cue. The samphire is
in very bad condition through most of this area, but there was one area
where it was good in patches. We looked unsuccessfully for Rufous
Fieldwren, but I was very surprised to find a Slender-billed Thornbill.
This is the first I have seen it around Cue, although years ago I saw some
at Lake Annean further north near Meekatharra.
Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush (3). A pair seen at my CBQT site off the
Sandstone road, plus three Bourke's Parrots. A female CBQT flew across the
road between Mt Magnet and Cue.
Crimson Chat (~50). Found in a small area of green close to Austin Downs
Station west of Cue. A few White-fronted Honeyeaters were also in the
area, but none of the other nomadic type species such as Black Honeyeater,
Pied Honeyeater, Masked Woodswallow, Budgerigar, Cockatiel, etc.
Banded Whiteface (3) found at my site west of Cue.
There was some water in the lake south of the main Lake Austin. This is
where the SBT was. There were 100+ Red-capped Plovers on the lake. Lake
Nallan had some water in it. Nothing significant except maybe a Red-necked
Stint and three Red-necked Avocet.
Other nice birds were White-backed Swallow (2), Redthroat (1), Banded Stilt
(1), Little Woodswallow (6), White-winged Fairy-wren (3).
No Slaty-backed Thornbills, although we didn't look extensively for them as
Rob had seen them near Shark Bay.
We quickly looked for Grey Honeyeater along the road south of Payne's Find
without success.
Another highlight were four Broad-banded Sand-swimmers (Eramiascincus
richardsonii) at the cottage at Nallan Station just after dark.
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
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