Bernard O'Keefe asked about finding Western Fieldwren, Rock Parrot
and Western Whipbird around Albany.
A week ago I saw eight Rock Parrots at Middleton Beach in Albany. If
they are not at the top of the beach, then look in the Norfolk Island
pines to see if they are roosting there. We had three at the top of
the beach and five in one of the pines. If you are there mid week,
then you might be able to check on the golf course where they sometimes feed.
I don't know a site for Western Fieldwren in Albany any more, but
they are gettable in the Stirling Range which you can pass through on
the way there or back from Perth. Try about half way up the unsealed
road to the car park at Mt Trio (off Formby South Road), or along
Salt River Road. I usually find them in the vicinity of the Camel
Lake NR, but I missed them there this time but I am sure they would
be along the road somewhere.
There are two races of Western Whipbird, and they could get
split. The mallee race "oberon" is a good chance along the unsealed
road at Mt Trio, either at the very top near the car park, or in the
lower half of the road. They are a chance along Salt River Road but
I don't normally look for them there. The problem is finding one
calling. Once you hear it call you have a very good chance of seeing
it calling near the top of a bush. If you get lucky on Salt River
Road, then it is much easier to get closer to it than at Mt
Trio. But they don't call that often, especially in autumn. The
nominate race 'nigrogularis' is usually harder to see. I heard one
from the Little Beach car park at Two People's Bay but it was a long
way from the car park. Last year there were two right next to the
car park and they were as easy as this bird gets. The other site is
at Cheyne Beach behind the caravan park. Walk up the sandy track to
where it forks. On the left track we heard one fairly close about
300 metres along the track about where the track splits and then
rejoins, but we failed to see it. There was another bird calling
close to the straight ahead sandy track near the top of the
ridge. The vegetation here is sparser than I would normally expect
for the bird, but even though it called once less than 100 metres
away, we failed to track it down.
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA
http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
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