I want to say thankyou once again to all of you who
gave me advice as to where to see the birds I wanted in Western
Australia.
I only had about three and a half days birding and
came home really happy, having seen 98 species and 11 new ones. All
the advice I was given contributed greatly to that result. The rainy
weather made it pretty hard to find things as the birds weren't very active or
calling much, but I managed to be in the right place at the right time quite
often.
Highlights were - spinifex bird in
Shothole Canyon at Exmouth; thick-billed grasswren at entrance
to Monkey Mia carpark (we hadn't even got out of the car yet); rock
parrots at Eagle Bluff near Denham; rufous treecreeper
and blue-fronted fairy wren at Dryandra Woodland and
red-eared firetails at Bickley Brook and Wungong Gorge east of
Perth.
The only birds I bombed out on were the Western
Yellow Robin and the Western Bowerbird.
The whole of the coast north to Exmoouth was
incredibly lush and green - totally unbelievable for someone who came from
drought! Now we've brought the rain home with us!
Finally, a warning - if anyone is planning to visit
the Monkey Mia area, be prepared. Since the rain
there are sandflies there in their thousands and they do their
best to carry you away! Even the pelicans are
scratching. One of the CALM staff was off sick because of
them.
Cheers Annabel
|