Stayed as guests of Barry & Julie Bucholtz at Island Beach, Eastern Cove from
13-22 April. Barry showed me the island and it's birds. Frank Pierce provided a
list of endemic subspecies. Lynn Pedler gave advice and showed us nesting
Glossy Black Cockatoos including 'supermum' (see Wingspan September 2004). The
island was exceptionally dry. Many wetlands were dry or nearly so, thirsty for
the winter rains. Weather was fine, mostly sunny, mild in the day whilst cool
to cold at night, with calm or light winds. Birded at the following places
(once UNO), listed anticlockwise around the island: Penneshaw 4x (P); Island
Beach daily (IB); American River incl. Pelican Lagoon 17/4 (AR); Kingscote town
2x (Ki); Kingscote sewage farm 14/4 (KSF); Cygnet River 18/4 (CR); Duck Lagoon
18/4 (DL); Emu Bay 19/4 (EBy); Stokes Bay 19/4 (SBy); Parndana Con. Pk. 18/4
(PCP); Turkey Lane 10 km N 19/4 (TL); Snelling Beach 19/4 (SB); Gosse 19/4 (G);
Flinders Chase Nat. Pk. 15/4, incl. Visitor Centre, Admirals Arch & Remarkable
Rocks (FCNP); Karatta 15/4 (Ka); Seal Bay 15/4 (SBy); Bales Beach Lookout 15/4
(BB); Murray Lagoon 20/4 (ML); Cape Gantheaume Con. Pk. 20/4 (CG); Pennington
Bay 2x (PBy); Lesueur Con. Pk. on Cape Hart Rd. 16/4 (LCP); Lashmar Lagoon 16/4
(LL); Cape Willoughby 2x (CW).
Bird List (119 species). Highlights for me in bold, includes those of
sub-specific interest.
Little Penguin, 1 @ P.
Hoary-headed Grebe, 2 @ K & a few @ KSF & DL.
Black-browed Albatross, 1 off FCNP.
Yellow-nosed Albatross, 1 off FCNP.
Hutton's Shearwater, 9 on ferry to P 13/4.
Australian Pelican, widespread & fairly common.
Australasian Gannet, 6, all juv. or sub-adult on ferry 13/4, 1 FCNP & <5 CG.
Little Black Cormorant, few only @ 2 or 3 sites.
Great Cormorant 5 SBy.
Pied Cormorant, a few widespread.
Black-faced Cormorant, widespread & abundant on coast.
Little Pied Cormorant, a few singles.
Great Egret, 1 DL.
White-faced Heron, widespread & common.
Eastern Reef Egret, 3 singly on N coast.
Australian White Ibis, widespread & common.
Royal Spoonbill, a few @ AR & DL.
Yellow-billed Spoonbill, a few @ AR, Ki & DL.
Black Swan, @ just a few sites, mainly AR.
Cape Barren Goose, 3 on islet FCNP, 12 @ AR & >24 @ ML.
Australian Shelduck, widespread & common.
Grey Teal, widespread & common.
Chestnut Teal, widespread & common.
Pacific Black Duck, widespread & common.
Australasian Shoveler, several @ KSF & 4 @ DL.
Pink-eared Duck, few @ KSF.
Blue-billed Duck, c.3 @ KSF.
Musk Duck, 10-20 on the sea @ Ki & AR & 1+ @ KSF.
Osprey, 1 @ SBy & 5 @ CG.
Black-shouldered Kite, several pairs.
White-bellied Sea-Eagle, 3+ sightings.
Swamp Harrier, 1 @ ML.
Wedge-tailed Eagle, 1 or 2 seen several places most days.
Nankeen Kestrel, 2 or 3 seen several places most days.
Australian Hobby, 1 @ CW.
Brown Falcon, 1 @ LL & 1 near PCP.
Peregrine Falcon, 1 @ PBy.
Wild Turkey, 1 near Willson River.
Indian Peafowl, >9 near Willson River, >20 near LL & 4 on TL.
Dusky Moorhen, 1 @ LL & 1 @ DL.
Black-tailed Native-hen, 6 @ LL & 16 @ DL.
Eurasian Coot, 5 @ DL.
Pied Oystercatcher, widespread & fairly common on coast.
Sooty Oystercatcher, widespread but less common than Pied.
Black-winged Stilt, 4 @ LL.
Banded Stilt, 12 @ LL & common @ ML.
Bush Stone-curlew, heard many nights @ IB glimpsed twice in torchlight.
Banded Lapwing, 31 on TL.
Masked Lapwing, widespread & abundant.
Red-capped Plover, 2 @ IB & >30 @ both LL & ML.
Hooded Plover, pairs on some N & S coast beaches but absent from many.
Black-fronted Dotterel, 14 @ DL.
Common Greenshank, >10 @ AR.
Ruddy Turnstone, @ a few N & S coast sites, most was 20 @ CG.
Red-necked Stint, @ a several N & S coast sites, most was 30 @ CG.
Arctic Jaeger, 1 from ferry to P.
Pacific Gull, seen frequently (ph). One juv. eating Nitre Bush berries, a 5-6
mm dia. purple fruit.
Silver Gull, widespread & abundant.
Caspian Tern, singles @ IB & EBy.
Crested Tern, widespread & abundant on all coasts.
Rock Dove, occasionally noticed.
Spotted Turtle-Dove, a few in urban areas & IB.
Common Bronzewing, occasionally seen, 4 together once.
Brush Bronzewing, widespread, often seen singly or in pairs.
Glossy Black-Cockatoo, seen only at breeding sites AR, CR & PCP.
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, flocks @ LCP & Ka.
Galah, widespread in small numbers.
Little Corella, c. 400 @ Ki.
Crimson Rosella, singles or pairs @ LL, Ka, PCP & TL.
Elegant Parrot, 1 @ ML.
Rock Parrot, 22 @ GC.
Rainbow Lorikeet, widespread but not in big numbers.
Purple-crowned Lorikeet, widespread and almost as common as Rainbows.
Fan-tailed Cuckoo, 1 @ BB.
Laughing Kookaburra, heard @ CR.
Sacred Kingfisher, 1@ P.
Skylark, scarce, a few @ PCP, TL & CW.
Welcome Swallow, widespread, common in some places such as P.
Tree Martin, 1 @ SBy & a few @ PCP & DL.
Australian Pipit, 1 near KSF.
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, c. 4 sightings.
Common Blackbird, 2-3 sightings in urban areas.
Willie Wagtail, uncommon.
Grey Fantail, widespread in small numbers (ph).
Scarlet Robin, widespread in small numbers.
Golden Whistler, widespread in small numbers (ph).
Grey Shrike-thrush, widespread in small numbers.
Western Whipbird, > 3 heard & brief views @ LCP.
Superb Fairy-wren, widespread in small numbers.
Southern Emu-wren, 3-4 @ FCNP.
White-browed Scrubwren, widespread & fairly common (ph).
Shy Heathwren, 5 @ G (ph).
Brown Thornbill, widespread in small numbers.
Striated Thornbill, few @ AR, PCP & DL.
White-fronted Chat, few @ KSF & SBy.
Spotted Pardalote, uncommon.
Striated Pardalote, uncommon.
Silvereye, widespread & abundant (ph).
White-eared Honeyeater, scarce, seen or heard @ IB, AR, PCP & P.
Purple-gaped Honeyeater, few @ BB.
White-naped Honeyeater, a few @ CR.
Brown-headed Honeyeater, few @ LCP.
Crescent Honeyeater, widespread & common (ph).
New Holland Honeyeater, widespread & abundant (ph).
Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, 2 @ BB.
Eastern Spinebill, widespread in small numbers (ph).
Little Wattlebird, 2 @ Ka.
Red Wattlebird, widespread in small numbers.
Magpie-lark, widespread in small numbers.
Dusky Woodswallow, 1 @ TL & 2 @ CG.
Australian Magpie, widespread & common.
Grey Currawong, widespread & common.
Australian Raven, fairly common along S coast.
Little Raven, widespread & common.
Common Starling, just a few in urban areas.
House Sparrow, just a few in urban areas.
Beautiful Firetail, widespread in small numbers.
Red-browed Finch, a few @ IB.
European Goldfinch, a few @ P & near G.
Significant among species sought but not seen or heard were Freckled Duck
(potential SA tick), Southern Boobook (local race) & Bassian Thrush (potential
SA tick & local race).
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mt Eliza VIC 3930
Ph: (03) 9787 7136
Email:
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