Hello everyone
Here's another instalment of highlights from a wonderful trip to south-west
Western Australia.
15 to 22 August 2002
Murchison River and areas north, including Denham, Monkey Mia, Kalbarri
National Park and coming back down the coast.
The Murchison River, on the North West Coastal Highway is a nice place to stop
for a break. Plenty of space to park, and
it's a popular camping area. Stopped there on 15 August on the way north, and
18 August coming back south. Lots of
waterbirds, including Nankeen Night Heron, 6 Little Black Cormorant fishing
co-operatively by swimming together near the
shoreline and Yellow-billed Spoonbill. Bush birds included Blue-breasted
Fairy-wren, Variegated Fairy-wren and Zebra
Finches.
After turning off the highway to head to Denham, I visited the 2 windmills as
per Frank O'Connor's website. Fantastic - huge
thanks Frank. Now in red soil habitat with well spaced trees such as Acacia
grasbyi, however the immediate areas around the
windmills are like paddocks, with some fleshy green plants and these attract a
nice selection of birds. One of the best bird
calls in the bird-world was coming from the Chiming Wedgebill and with patience
I was able to see the birds scurrying around
along the ground and leading a merry chase. PS: Lifer No. 8. The windmills
also had Hooded Robin, Splendid Fairy-wren with
eyepopping royal blue, White-browed Babbler, Mistletoebird, White-winged
Triller and fabulous Crimson Chat.
The Chiming Wedgebills proved to be a common feature of the Denham and Monkey
Mia areas.
Nicholson Point at Denham comprised some river channels going out to the ocean,
giving race gouldi of Silvereye, Striated
Heron, Torresian Crow. A funny time watching a Richard's Pipit trying to eat a
centipede but having difficulty with all the
centipede's wriggling legs. The Pipit was constantly picking up and dropping
the centipede and eventually the 'pede escaped.
Zillions of Singing Honeyeater for substantial parts of the trip not just here
but elsewhere also.
Australian Magpies are now the western race dorsalis.
I headed for the 26th parallel sign on the highway due to reports of
Thick-billed Grasswren, being the nominate race, and
sure enough, just a few metres into the scrub and there were 2 hopping around
on the ground. Easy!! Southern Scrub-Robin
nearby was a pleasant surprise.
The Discovery Trail at Monkey Mia gave me White-browed Scrubwren - race
maculatus - striped throat and a strong yellowish
flush on the lower belly make this a very handsome bird indeed.
On the Aristocat cruise, I saw dugongs and green turtle Chelonia mydas.
Aristocat was a bit disorganised.
To break the long drive to/from Denham, I stopped a various places on the North
West Coastal Highway and just walked into the
scrub. There were often not many birds by number, but good quality sightings,
such as Grey Shrike-Thrush - race rufiventris,
Southern Whiteface - race castaneiventris (great rufous colour on flanks) and
Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo.
18 August arrived at Kalbarri National Park, much-anticipated for flora and it
was sensational, both in terms of colours and
fragrance. In this respect, I would recommend the following books:
** Wildflowers of Southern Western Australia - Margaret Corrick and Bruce
Fuhrer
** Colour Guide to Spring Wildflowers of WA - Eddy Wajon (3 volumes)
The above complemented each other very well and are the best generalist books
available at a reasonable price (the complete
6-volume set of How to Know WA Flora is apparently now very outdated and the
specialist Albany book is $165 !!).
I had heard about the large error rate in the first edition of Simon Nevill's
Guide to the Wildflowers of South WA, and had
been told that these were corrected in the reprint. I purchased the 2nd
edition only to find that it too has several
identification/photo caption errors and other publishing errors and I could not
recommend it in any way.
Kalbarri was fantastic for its variety, having the open ocean with atmospheric
cliffs, the river and its channels near the
ocean, plus gorges. The 8 km bushwalk known as The Loop is one of the best
bushwalks in Australia. So: too short a time in
Kalbarri National Park, but in terms of birds: Southern Scrub-Robin, Peregrine
Falcon, Little Eagle (superb views at Ross
Graham Lookout), Redthroat on The Loop, Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike - race
subpallidus. A relaxing late afternoon to sunset
cruise on the river produced Osprey and White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Common
Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, Red-capped Plover and Marsh
Sandpiper. This cruise was Kalbarri Murchison River Cruises with a very quiet
boat and Lindsay Edwards (08) 9937 1393,
mobile 0407 371 393 knew his birds and animals.
22 August and time to leave Kalbarri, heading down the coast. Port Gregory had
interesting artificial salt lakes (for
production of Beta Carotene) and lagoons, producing Red-necked Avocet,
Red-necked Stint, Little Grassbird.
Greenough River has resident Ospreys and an immature sat on top of a power pole
for an hour affording fantastic views and a
close approach. Eventually joined by a confiding adult Osprey.
By now am learning that whilst some towns look big or medium sized on the maps,
they are indeed small to non-existent.
Through the whole trip I found that even if a town is well serviced, they
operate 9 to 5, and close down at 5pm. So obtain
petrol and groceries during the day rather than hoping to shop in the evenings.
For remoter areas, packing your own picnic
lunch can be good policy.
Please feel free to contact me for more detail regarding birds or specific
locations in the above areas. More Pilgrimage
Reports to come.
Irene Denton
Concord West, 12 km from Sydney city, NSW Australia
S 33°50.278' E 151°05.406'
Newsletter Editor, NSW Bird Atlassers
Preferred email address for NSW BA Newsletter correspondence:
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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