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Port Augusta to Perth

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Subject: Port Augusta to Perth
From: Maxime Zucca <>
Date: Sun, 26 Jun 2011 06:40:00 +0200
Hi everybody !



Actually on a long trip around Australia, I take some time to send you some
of my last sightsings, what I forgot to do before…

(I tried to send this mail 1 week ago, but to the wrong adress, sorry for
the delay !)



*Port Augusta, center, on 24th-25th May* :

-Purple-crowned Lorikeets common



*Port Augusta, Arid Landscape Botanic Garden, 24th May :*

-White-winged Fairy-Wrens (family)

-Variegated Fairy-Wrens (family)

-several White-fronted Honeyeaters

-several White-browed Babblers

-10-12 Chirruping Wedgebills

-several Masked Woodswallows



*Arno Bay (mangroves and beach)*, on 26th

-Blue-breasted Fairy-Wren (family)

-2 Rock Parrots

-2 Little Egrets



*Wrecker Beach, Port Lincoln NP, on 27th*

-2 Cape Barren Geese

-3 Hooded Plovers and 4 Red-capped Plovers

-1 White-bellied Sea Eagle

-10 Fairy Terns

-2 Rock Parrots

-2 Southern Emu-Wren

-1 Horsfield Cuckoo



*Fishery Bay, Port Lincoln NP, on 29th May*

-1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle

-several Silvereyes heard migrating by night



*Port Lincoln, Marina, on 29th May*

-1 Collared Sparrowhawk



*Big Swamp, 29th May*

-1 Musk Duck, > 50 Hardheads…



*Coffin Bay NP, on 30th May*

-several Emus

-1 Eastern Reef Heron (dark) at Yangie Bay

-1 Osprey and 1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle at Yangie Bay

-several Horsfield Cuckos at Yangie Bay

-2 Fan-tailed Cuckoos at Point Avoid

-1 Tawny-crowned Honeyeater at Point Avoid



*15 km south of Elliston, along the road, on 30th may*

-1 Shy Heathwren among many Yellow-rumped Thornbills



*Dirt Road to Talia Caves, on 30th may*

-several Southern Whitefaces



*Point Labbatt, Sea Lion colony, on 31st May*

-several dozens of Black-faced Cormorants


*Road Coffin Bay-Streaky Bay, 31st May and 1st June*

-several Emus

-6 Wedge-tailed Eagles

We had a chat with a farmer about the damages caused by the eagles on ships,
and he told us he shot one the week before… But he admitted it was a
beautiful (and protected) bird !



*Streaky Bay, Black Beach, on 1st June*

-4 Hooded Plovers (and 5 Bottlenose Dolphins)



*A few km west of Ceduna*

-30-40 Banded Lapwings in the fields,

-a few Brown Songlarks,

-1 Spotted Harrier



*Lake Macdonalds, south of Penong on 2nd June*

Good numbers of Shorebirds for the time of the year, this place should be
very interesting in summer..

-ca 90 Red-necked Stints (all in non-breeding plumage)

-100+ Red Knots (20% in breeding plumage)

-ca 60 Red-capped Plovers

-4 Greenshanks

-40+ Fairy Terns

-35 Hoary-headed Grebes



*Cactus Beach, south of Penong, on 2Nd June*

-1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle



*Nullarbor Roadhouse, on 2nd and 3rd June*

Along the first km of dirt road running parallel to the main road, towards
east

-3 Nullarbor Quail-thrushes at dusk, but none in the morning.

-1 Stubble Quail at dusk

-Rufous Fieldwren, White-winged Fairy-Wren, Horsfield Cuckoo, Rufous
Songlarks all common

-1 Banded Lapwing

-several Southern Whitefaces and Slender-billed Thornbills

-2 Red-capped Robins (fem) and 1 Hooded Robin (fem)



*From a lookout between Nullarbor Roadhouse and WA border, on 3rd*

-1 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross close to the cliffs



*Along the road, Nullarbor*

-2 Cattle Egrets seen, 1 at the Floodini Bluff picnic area on 3rd and 1
about 40 km west of Balladonia on 4th. Seems usually absent from this area
according to the bird book maps, but this species likes to move..



*Madura rest area, on 4th*

-Blue-breasted Fairy-wrens

-1 White-fronted Honeyeater

-the first Browns honeyeaters…



*Norseman, Beacons Hill lookout, on 5th*

-several Redthroats

-White-cheeked Honeyeaters

-Blue-breasted Fairy-Wrens



*Lake Douglas campsite, 13 km south of Kalgoorlie-boulder, on 7th*

-3 Grey-fronted Honeyeaters

-50+ Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters, 12+ Jacky Winters, 10+ Striated Pardalotes



*Great Ocean Drive, Esperance, on 8th*

-1 White-bellied Sea Eagle

-dozen of Common Dolphins



*Cape Legrand National Park, Esperance, on 9th (Lucky Bay)*

-1 Arctic Tern at Lucky Bay

-1 White-naped Honeyeater at Lucky Bay campsite

-Several Western Spinebills and Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters at Thistle Cove,
just to the west of Lucky Bay

-2 Southern Emu-wrens and 1 Red-eared Firetail along the walking trail a few
hundreds of meters west from Lucky Bay

-Fan-tailed and Horsfield Cuckoos

-Black-fronted Cormorants



*Windabout lake, Esperance, on 10-11th*

-5 Yellow-billed Spoonbills

-8 Black-fronted Dotterels and 2 Greenshanks

-200+ Chestnut teals

-1 Little Egret,

-2 Great Crested Grebes

-Fan-tailked and Horsfield Cuckoos

-4 probable Spur-winged Plovers : heard, and then seen from far away. I had
no doubt on the identification and paid no further attention to them until I
noticed in the guidebook that they were absent from this part of Australia…
Is this species a regular vagrant in SW Australia, or did I make a mistake ?


**

*Lake Monjigup, Esperance, on 11th*

-2 Pink-eared Ducks

-20 Black-fronted Dotterels


*Stokes National Park on 12th*

-quite numerous Purple-crowned Lorikeets



*Fitzgerald River crossing, on 12th*

-several Purple-gaped Honeyeaters

(the Fitzgerald NP was completely closed due to dieback risk)



*Along the main road 5 km before Jerramungup, on 12th*

-several Purple-gaped honeyeaters

-several Black-masked Woodswallows



*Pallinup River crossing on 12th*

-2 Musk Ducks on the river



*Along the main road between Boxwood Hill and Cheyne Beach road, on 12th*

-Western Rosellas, Red-capped Parrots, Elegant Parrots



*Cheyne Beach Road, on 12th at dusk*

-Short-billed and long-billed Black Cockatoos



*Cheyne Beach, on 13th*

-White-breasted Robins and Red-winged Fairy-Wrens easy to see

-1 Golden Whistler

-1 Osprey

-1 Brown Goshawk

-The Noisy Scrubbirds were perfectly heard, even at 1 meter, but impossible
to see in the cover !! What a skulker !

The strongs winds discouraged me to look for the Western Bristlebirds…



*Torndirrup National Park, Albany, on 15th*

-about 15 Humpback Whales at the blowing holed, beautiful !

-1h30 seawatching at the gap produced quite few birds : Yellow-nosed, Shy
and Black-browed Albatrosses, 1 Great-winged Petrel and 2 Brown Skuas…

-1 Red-browed Firetail near the beach at the gap

-quite numerous raptors in the park : Little Eagle seen at the Gap, 1
Collared Sparrowhawk along the road, 2 Swamp Harriers, along with
Wedge-tailed Eagles, Nankeen Kestrel and Black-winged Kites…



*Two People Bay, on 16th*

-Noisy Scrub-bird heard only again

-Western Bristlebird and Western Whipbirds both briefly seen on the hills,
just before being told by the rangers that I was not allowed here… (dieback
and other plant diseases…)

-2 Humpback Whales, 1 very tame southern brown Bandicoot at the little beach
car park



*Denham area, on 17th*

-3 Red-tailed Black Cockatoos along the tourist drive in the forest

 -White-breasted Robins, Red-winged Fairy-Wren, Western Rosella and
Red-capped Parrots all quite common

-a group of Varied SIttellas and 2 Red-browed Firetails along the road near
the cheese factory


*Dryandra Forest on 18th June (3 hours only, before dusk)*

-1 Regent Parrot on the Williams-York road

-Western Thornbills and bush Thick-nee near the lion’s village

-Rufous treecreepers and western yellow robins along Lol Grey lookout walk

-1 Southern boobook along the road back from Lol Grey

* *

*Dryandra-Perth on 18th*

-1 Common frogmouth about 10 km south of Wandering

-1 Pacific Barn Owl about 20 km north of Wandering (on the road, probably
after a light collision with a vehicle. Still shocked, I kept it 5 minutes
in the hands before it flew away)

-1 brush-tailed Bettong



*And these last days around Perth :*

-several sightings of Australian Hobby and ospreys at Fremantle

-Brown Goshawk seen twice at Melville over the canning highway, and in the
Wireless Hill Park)

-One pair of Peregrine Falcon in Perth CBD

-Western Gerygone at the Wireless Hill Park

-WHite-cheeked Honeyeater quite common in Fremantle

-a Flock of Western Corella in Fremantle (and big flocks of Corella sp in
Melville)



I hope this will be useful for somebody !


Bye

Maxime Zucca (France)
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