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On September 23rd, good birding friends of ours from the
UK arrived on a birding trip to Western Australia for 3 weeks. They had visited
us twice before when we were based in Sydney and their Australian list prior to
this visit stood at 348. The objective of this trip was to record as many
species as possible and to add as many as possible to their list. (Actually, the
real purpose was to enjoy the birds, the fantastic country, good company and a
glass of red in the evening - but I am goal-oriented, hence the official
objective).
The itinerary that we followed was:
Day 1 - Perth (Woodman Point, Thompson Lake, Fremantle
Mole, Alfred Cove, Bayswater Bird Sanctuary, Herdsman Lake).
Day 2 - Drive from Perth to Nallan Station near
Cue.
Day 3 - Nallan Station and Lake Annean.
Day 4 - Drive back to Perth.
Day 5 - South of Perth (Penguin Island, Mandurah, Peel
Inlet).
Day 6 - Fly to Broome (Town ovals, Port, Barred
Creek)
Day 7 - Anna Plains Station
Day 8 - Day with George Swann (mangroves, Roebuck Bay,
Roebuck Station).
Day 9 - Fly to Kununurra (Lake Kununurra, Weaber Plains
irrigation area).
Day 10 - The Grotto, Parry Lagoons, Wyndham.
Day 11 - Trip to Purnululu National Park (Bungle
Bungles).
Day 12 - Weaber Plains and then fly to Perth.
Day 13 - Wungong, Bungendore, Alcoa Wellard Wetlands, WA
WaterSki Park.
Day 14 - Drive from Perth to Albany via Dryandra
SF.
Day 15 - Two Peoples Bay and Frenchman's Bay Road to The
Gap.
Day 16 - Stirling Range Caravan Park and
Drive.
Day 17 - Drive from Albany to Margaret River along the
south coast.
Day 18 - Sugarloaf Rock, Boranup Drive, Hamelin Bay,
Augusta, Cape Leeuwin.
Day 19 - Margaret River to Perth (poured with rain all
day).
Day 20 - Rest day with visit to Fremantle Mole after a
major front.
There were many highlights to the trip during which we
recorded 292 species. (Following the current 'ticking' thread, our rules were to
record all birds seen and heard alive, but not to count a heard-only bird as a
new life-list bird. For the record, I would maintain that 'listers' are people
that keep lists, and I have no problem with the 'American' nature of the word.
Twitchers are listers who visit sites (stake-outs) where rare birds have been
discovered by others).
Brief highlights were:
- Upwards of 150 Yellow Chats at Roebuck Plains - just a
fantastic sight!
- My only lifer of the trip (Yellow-rumped Mannikin at
Weaber Plains)
- Square-tailed Kite at Bungendore on Oct 7th
- Black-tailed Native-hens about 35km north of
Wubin
- 200 Banded Lapwings by the side of the road at the same
location as the Native-hens
- Mulga Parrot at the entrance of Dryandra SF (southern
range limit?)
- Barn Owl roosting at Coodanup, Mandurah
- Spotted Nightjar at Nallan Station (first record
there?)
- Slaty-backed Thornbill at Nallan (they do
exist Tony!)
- Black and Pied Honeyeaters 22.5km north of the Shell
garage in Wubin
- Race leucogastor of Crested Shrike-tit at Stirling Range
Caravan Park
I hope this is of some interest and, if anybody would like
a complete trip-list on Word, please let me know.
Cheers
Roger McGovern
(currently based in Perth, but returning to Sydney in
early November)
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