It is the season for rarities :
I visited Lake McLarty today from 10am to noon, but unfortunately I was a
bit late and the sea gale! came in at 11am. I met Tony Kirkby and John &
Hazel Darnell who had been there for quite a while. They saw the following
rarities for the south west :
Little Stint (1) in breeding plumage
Ruff (1)
Pectoral Sandpiper (3)
Long-toed Stint (1 or 2)
Chestnut Teal (pair)
John said that the Little Stint was actually feeding out in the water near a
line of ducks and avocets, etc rather than on the shore or near the shore
with the Red-necked Stints. The Pectorals were near a small patch or typha.
They also saw 3 leg-flagged birds. A Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and a
Red-necked Stint with yellow (north west WA) leg flags, and a Red-necked
Stint with a red (Victorian) leg flag.
I quickly saw the Ruff, but failed to locate the others amongst the
thousands of birds. There were large numbers of Red-necked Stint (1000s),
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (100s), Curlew Sandpiper (100+ or ++), Greenshank
(50+) plus Black-winged Stilt (1000+), Red-necked Avocet (100s), Banded
Stilt (100+), Red-capped Plover (100s or 1000+).
Along Old Bunbury Road and Mills Road on the way to Lake McLarty there were
Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo (18), Elegant Parrot (1 plus road kill), Regent
Parrot (20+ in 4 groups plus road kill), Red-capped Parrot (6), Emu, Brown
Songlark (heard), Little Eagle. There were no White-fronted Chats for some
reason.
Lake McLarty is at the perfect level for waders, and I recommend that you
visit it within the next two weeks before it dries out too much further.
The Birds Australia outing in early February maybe too late this year.
Allow three hours to look around the lake.
____________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Argyle Diamonds
8C Hardy Road PMB 11
Nedlands WA 6009 West Perth WA 6872
Phone +61 8 9386 5694 +61 8 9167 1445
ICQ 14655047 Fax +61 8 9167 1438
Email
Birding WA http://www.iinet.net.au/~foconnor/
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