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Dear All
I recently had a trip to Bunbury WA competing in
the Australian Masters Hockey Championships from 29 September to 12 October
and stayed for a further 5 days with the objective of locating a number of
the South West WA birds that I missed on a previous trip in 1998.Target
species included Noisy Scrub-bird, Western Bristlebird and Western
Whipbird.
Limited time was available for birding in the first
two weeks however we did manage a number of day and half day trips and had
time to bird in the Bunbury area. Weather during this time was quite variable
with a number of days having extremely strong winds which I understand is not
unusual for the area.
Birds of interest in the Bunbury area included
Short-billed Black Cockatoo, Western Rosella, Tawny-crowned H/E, Western
Ringneck, Elegant Parrot, Osprey, Banded Lapwing and Common Sandpiper. For
anyone visiting Bunbury I recommend a visit to the Big Swamp Wildlife Park.
Entry is only $5 and there are a number of bird aviaries including a large free
flight aviary. Of particular interest was an aviary that had the 3 species of
Corella side by side. This greatly assisted me in the identification of the
Western Corella which I thought I had seen on my previous trip to WA. Having
compared the birds I quickly reached the conclusion that the previous birds
I had seen were Little Corella.
Across the road from the Wildlife Park is " The Big
Swamp " which is an excellent wetland with a 2 km walking track around the
perimeter and also a board walk in one section and a bird hide. Birds of
interest at this location included Blue-billed, Musk and Australian Shelduck and
also Australian Shoveller, Hoary-headed, Australasian and Great Crested
Grebe. The latter were in courtship display which was great to view at close
range. Other birds included Swamp Harrier, Clamorous Reed Warbler and Sacred
Kingfisher together will the usual wetland species.
Armed with information provided in a posting by
Frank O'Connor I did a day trip from Bunbury to Rocky Gully ( between
Manjimup and Mt Barker ) to search for the Western Corella. I had no luck on
this occasion however I had a good days birding and added Wedge-tailed Eagle,
Scarlet and Hooded Robin, Emu, Western Yellow Robin, Shining and Pallid
Cuckoo as good birds to the trip list.
On trips to Busselton, Cape Naturaliste,
Yallingup, Augusta and Cape Leeuwin I added Sooty and Pied Oystercatcher,
Crested Tern, Caspian Tern, Pacific Gull, Whistling Kite, Pied Stilt and at
Sugarloaf Rock near Cape Naturaliste 8 Red-tailed Tropic Birds. A flock of
Little Corella were seen adjoining the main road at Busselton and this appears
to be at the southern edge of their range.
On another day trip with the family we travelled to
Manjimup, Pemberton and Walpole stopping at Diamond Tree Lookout. This is the
same configuration as the Gloster Tree with bars driven into the tree to enable
you to reach the top at a height of 54m.Birds at this location included
White-breasted Robin, Red-winged Wren, White-naped H/E and Long-billed Black
Cockatoo near Pemberton.
As my NSW team did not make the finals I left
Bunbury at lunch time on Saturday 12 October and headed for Albany and Two
Peoples Bay with the intention of again searching for the Western Corella
in the area of Lake Muir and Rocky Gully on the
way. This time I had success locating a flock of 12 birds approximately
22km west of Rocky Gully.
After checking into a motel at Albany I arrived at
Little Beach with the intention of staying to dusk with the hope of seeing
Spotted Nightjar on the return journey. Despite many outback trips this bird had
eluded me. As the sun set I heard a Western Whipbird calling strongly and
regularly in the heath approximately 150m above the Little Beach car park.
An old fire trail gave reasonable access to the area and eventually I had a
brief view of the head of the bird before it dived back into the heath. My good
fortune continued as I found a Spotted Nightjar in the middle of the
road just after leaving the car park. Great views as it remained on the
road for some time and then flew off showing the wing pattern.
The excitement was not all over as in the next two
minutes whilst travelling at less than 50kph a small kangaroo leap in front of
the hire car from dense vegetation and collided with the front of the vehicle.
Fortunately the roo bounced off and there was no damage to the vehicle or
apparently the roo. These could have been very expensive birds.
Back at Little Beach the next morning at 4.45am (
after a very careful drive ) looking for the Western Bristlebird. Success with
excellent views of a bird above the car park. Tried for the Noisy Scrub-bird at
" Scrub-bird rock " without success and moved onto Cheynes Beach which is Frank
O'Connor's recommended site for this species. Other birds at Little Beach
included Southern Emu Wren, Sea Eagle and an Elegant Parrot on power lines near
Hunton Road on the trip out.
I had previously booked an on-site cabin at the
Cheynes Beach Caravan Park. I found this an excellent facility and the park
owners are aware of the locations for the key species. For the benefit of
interstate visitors they also hire linen if required. The advertisement that I
read indicated you had to supply your own.
From my cabin you could hear the Noisy Scrub-bird
calling and on the first afternoon at 5.30pm I located a bird calling on the
edge of Cheynes Beach Road in a 3m high Peppermint bush. I had a good view of
the bird calling with it's tail cocked. This bird had a white throat and was
consistent the description of the bird observed at this location by Frank
O'Connor in May of this year. At 5.30am the next morning I again had good views
of the same bird as it ran along the ground between cover at the edge
of the road. On each of the two occasions the bird was sighted within 5
minutes.
I spent considerable time along Cheynes Beach
Road between poles 102 and 104 looking for the Rufous Field Wren
without success. However I did get excellent views of Western Whipbird at pole
103 on two occasions. The vegetation is more open than Two Peoples
Bay.
Other birds of interest at Cheynes Beach and
surrounding area included Brown Quail, Little Wattlebird, Western Wattlebird,
Red-capped Parrot, Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Red-winged Wren, Shy Heathwren, Brown
Falcon, White-naped H/E, Singing H/E, Common Sandpiper and Dusky
Woodswallow.
A day trip to Fitzgerald River NP approx
180km east of Cheynes Beach yielded Crested Pigeon and Little
Falcon along the way and some good birds at Fitzgerald River Bridge
including Purple-gaped H/E, White-eared H/E, Southern Scrub Robin, Restless
Flycatcher, Red-capped Robin, Rufous Whistler, Black-eared Cuckoo, Shy Heathwren
and Crested Bellbird.
On the way back to Perth I stopped at the Stirling
Ranges and did the Kanga Walk. New birds for the trip list included Regent
Parrot, Purple-crowned Lorikeet, Collared Sparrow Hawk, Weebill, Western
Thornbill and Spotted Pardalote.
I also visited Wungong Gorge near Perth and after
some searching located a Red-eared Firetail.
Having obtained my target species more quickly than
expected due in part to great weather I found myself with a day to spare
and visited Rottnest Island. Here I added Common Pheasant to my Australian list
and added a number of birds to my trip list including Peafowl, Rock Parrot,
Banded Stilt, Red-capped Plover, Red-necked stint, Lesser Crested Tern and Fairy
Tern. In Perth Rainbow Lorikeet and Spotted Turtle Dove were also added to the
list giving an overall trip list of 139 with all target species located. Notable
omissions were Rufous Tree Creeper and Blue-breasted Wren however I had
seen both species on previous occasions.
Many thanks to Frank O'Connor for the information
posted on his excellent website. The detail and accuracy of his information
is wonderful and made for a most enjoyable trip.
Rob Benson
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