Hi All,
For people that do end up going for the Crake and wish to value-add to the
experience. At Whim Creek there is a flock of relatively tame Brown Quail
with older young hanging around the bar. Staff mentioned that they had been
around for weeks. There are also lots of Spinifex Pigeons (dark bellied
race), and Painted Firetails. Best place I found for these two was to walk
back down the short entrance rd until you get to the end of the mound of
earth on the south side then just walk up the gentle slope towards the water
tanks. Stay out of the mining camp in this area though so that you keep the
site managers onside for other visitors.
On the road between Port Headland and Whim Creek there are a few rivers
worth a stop. Mostly common waterbirds, but also Pilbara race of Blue-winged
Kookaburra and quite a few raptors.
In and around Port Headland there are three sewage treatment plants. The
main Port Headland one is on Cooke Point Rd. It is marked on the visitors
map available at the airport. It had 50+ Star finches (congregating in the
only patch of shrubs on the boundary fence), 1500 Tree Martins (also 1 Fairy
Martin and 5 Welcome Swallows) as well as a good range of waterbirds. There
is another sewage works at South Headland (Good directions for this one are
on Frank O?Connor?s site http://members.iinet.com.au/~foconnor/). It wasn?t
quite as ?birdy? but still had a few things. There is also a small set of
ponds at Wedgefield. Take Pinga St into Wedgefield (past the big
wheelbarrow) and take the second right into Schillaman St. Drive down here
past the ESS facility and bus depot and take a dirt track to your left just
before a factory with large stacks of 44 gallon drums. The ponds are off to
the left. (Thanks to Richard Baxter and Mike Carter for this site). For
their size, these ponds had a good range of birds including Buff-banded
Rail.
Of course there is also the Hamersley ranges and a couple of superb national
parks in the Pilbara region that would be worth considering if you had the
time.
Cheers,
Rohan
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