Into Perth to wrap up my wonderful 7 week holiday.
Last main birding call was a trip over to Rottnest Island, and saw lifer no.
24 for the trip, being Common Pheasant.
Amazing that this counts as an Australian lifer but ....
Another attraction of the island were Quokkas, which were easy enough to see.
Either because there were some hanging around
the stores and looking fairly mangy as they scavenged human's scraps (which
were probably not particularly nutricious for a
Quokka), or some were in a more "natural" setting underneath the pine trees in
the golf course, enjoying the coolness in the
shade on what was a very hot and calm day. I felt sorry for the Quokkas, as if
they had no quiet place to go on the whole
island, as tourists in their thousands had descended (me being one of the them).
What was wonderful here was the sight of 4,500 Banded Stilts on one of the
lakes. 4,500 birds all floating on the water with
feet paddling fast (easily visible in the clear water). They foraged on top of
the water by either putting their bill under
the water just a few centimetres, or plumging their whole head underwater. By
sitting quietly at the edge of the lake, some
came quite close. A fantastic sight. No sight of a Red-necked Phalarope
however.
So all up, a fabulous trip and I thoroughly recommend the south west corner of
WA has a holiday destination, with a great mix
of habitats providing good variety. For orchids and flora: mind-blowing.
Some good mammals, snakes and lizards to keep it
interesting.
24 Lifers for the whole trip, and plenty of races / forms etc. Australian life
list didn't budge for a while there, but has
now moved up to 543 species.
Cheers and Happy Times with Nature
rene Denton
Concord West, 12 km from Sydney city, NSW Australia
S 33°50.278' E 151°05.406'
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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