White Necked herons

["Wynton Maddeford" <>]

Hi All,

 

On 8 July i travelled from Perth to North Dandalup, a small country town approx 85 k's south of Perth. The route was along the coastal plain and is mainly farming lands for beef and dairy cattle and sheep. Due to good recent Winter rains the paddocks were lush green and the creeks and drains were full of water.

 

The highlight of the trip was the large numbers of White Necked Herons. On the trip down i saw 54 in total, with the largest flock of 25 two k's west of North Dandalup townsite along Lakes Rd. On the return journey i counted a similar number. Considering i returned via a slightly different route and i was the combined driver and spotter, the total actual numbers seen would have been greater plus the others i missed due to every now and then having to check if i still had some bitumen under my car.

 

I have been doing this trip for over 30 years now and these are the largest numbers of White Necked Herons i have encountered. 

 

Other highlights amongst the 35+ species seen were two separate Emu sightings of single birds, a male Red Capped Robin and three Regent Parrots feeding on " onion grass" root bulbs that they extracted from the ground.( These species are relatively uncommon in the district). 

 

I also managed 18 holes of golf at the nearby Serpentine Golf Club and observed a Yellow Rumped Thornbill building it's nest, maintaining this species habit of being one of the first birds to breed in the South West of WA.  

 

Best Regards

Wynton  Maddeford      

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