Here are some more notes based on the birding trip to Christmas and
Cocos Keeling Islands organised by Richard Baxter for the period 24
November – 5 December 2008.
Regards, Laurie
Birdwatching on Christmas Island
Birders typically pick up their hire cars at the airport and drive to
their accommodation in the Settlement via the supermarket. First-time
visitors would add the CI Linchi Switflet, CI Imperial-Pigeon and Red
Junglefowl to their list on their drive down to the Settlement, and CI
Frigatebirds, CI White-Eyes and Tree Sparrows in the vicinity of the
Supermarket car park. Other birders who haven’t seen both species of
Tropicbirds, Red-Footed Boobies, Common Noddies or the other
Frigatebirds could easily end up with a total of 10 ticks for their
list before they collected the keys to their unit.
As it happens most birders will be able to find the CI endemics and
other specialities in the north-east corner of the island (the “head”
of the “terrier”) within a 10 kilometres (as the booby flies) of the
Settlement. This corner is the closest to Java, has the most cleared
land and is the area that vagrants are most likely to settle in.
Some of the CI endemics/specialities are located all over the island –
CI Imperial-Pigeon, CI White-Eye, Linchi Swiftlet, Island Thrush as
well as the Emerald Ground Dove can be found almost anywhere. The CI
Hawk-Owl and the CI (Brown) Goshawk are distributed through the
rainforest. Abbott’s Boobies are best seen in the vicinity of their
nest trees in the rainforest (up on the plateau).
Some key birding points
Flying Fish Cove
Flying Fish Cove is host to what is probably the biggest beach on the
island. It is the site of the Malaysian Kampong and is the main boat
launching site. It is a good spot to go swimming/skin diving, so it
is a relatively busy spot.
Reef Egrets, Common Noddies and the odd Common Sandpiper can be found
on the beach / sea boulders. Barn swallows patrol the esplanade and
roost on the wires between the buildings. Tropicbirds, Frigatebirds,
Boobies and Noddies are typically wheeling about. The Noddies also
like to roost on the nearby phosphate loading plant.
The Settlement
Linchis, White-Eyes, Imperial Pigeons, Goshawks, Island Thrushes, Tree
Sparrows and Java Sparrows can all be seen in the vicinity of the
lodges that birders tend to stay at. Koels (presumably Asian) have
been recorded around the Settlement during summer and the Red
Junglefowl tend to hang out at the Chinese Cemetery at the eastern end
of the Settlement. Various vagrants (eg night herons and pond herons)
have been recorded around the Settlement. Members of my group also
saw White-breasted Waterhens in that area. (I picked up a milestone
bird – my 600th Australian species – near the noodlehouse).
The Golf Course
There is a nine hole golf course on the island (a couple of birders in
my group played a round there). This is a good place to patrol for
vagrants and is one of the sites that birder’s visit during the
evening (generally after an hour or two in a restaurant) in search of
Hawk Owls and vagrant nightjars.
The (abandoned) casino/resort
The spring is a good spot to look for vagrant kingfishers (permission
from the caretaker needed).
Drumsite
The lookout behind the National Parks office (overlooking Flying Fish
Cove) is a good spot to watch the seabirds wheeling about. I also
found a flock of Java Sparrows and some good Junglefowl specimens there.
The Plantation (crab migration zone)
This is a good spot to look for goshawks and boobies. Wagtails are
possible here.
The Airport
Nankeen Kestrels and White-faced Herons are common here. A flock of
Oriental Pratincoles blew in while we were there and nightjars have
been recorded there. We also found a Grey Plover at a nearby quarry.
The Dump
There were often Barn Swallows and Linchis flying about the wet (food)
waste area. Wagtails are often recorded in that part of the dump, but
may be at risk from feral cats lurking there. Pond Herons & Bitterns
etc have been recorded there during the wet season (when there are
ponds for them to lurk about). Many swift observations are made from
the tip (it is an elevated location with relatively clear views)
Central Area Work Quarry
This is situated close to the pink house and has a scrape that water
ponds in. We found a lonely Wood Sandpiper here (Xmas Island outside
of the wet season is a desolate location for a freshwater bird). The
frigatebirds were coming in to drink at this spot (grabbing a bill-
fill as they swooped over). A flock of frigatebirds circling low over
any part of the plateau may indicate the presence of a pond.
Vagrant birds have occasionally turned up on the various tracks
through the rainforest.
Birdwatching on the Cocos Islands
Until recently, West Island was simply a transit point for twitchers
heading to Christmas Island. There are reports of birders trying to
spot the ubiquitous Green Junglefowl from the airport terminal.
Cocos is a funny place for a birder to visit due to the almost total
lack of passerines (the White Eyes on Horsburgh Island are the only
residents in the region). West Island is very quiet with only the
ubiquitous White-breasted Waterhens and a few White Terns calling on
an occasional basis.
Basically there many Nankeen Night-Herons hanging around the Island –
quite a few hang out around the airport and settlement (one visits the
motel restaurant hoping for handouts). Green Junglefowl (the males
are very impressive while the females have a pheasant-like appearance)
can be found in many places – they like the cleared areas beside the
runway and the main road. Waterhens can also be observed along the
coconut “forest” edges.
The swamp towards the northern end of the island is a good place to
look for Pin-tailed Snipe, while Western Reef Egrets are possible in
the lagoon shallows off the northern end of the runway. There was a
White-Winged Tern patrolling the runway while we were staying on the
island.
South Island is the spot to look for Saunders Terns and migratory
shorebirds during the summer, while Home Island is the spot to go
looking for vagrants – three species have been recorded there over the
last month or so – Dark-sided Flycatcher, Blue Rock Thrush and Asian
Koel. While Home Island is the most heavily populated, it has the
cleared areas and market gardens that would appeal to many of the
species that might lob into the area.
North Keeling Island is the birding Jewel in the Crown. It is
difficult to access (you have to wade/swim ashore) and a permit is
required from the Commonwealth Parks and Wildlife Service. We visited
the island with one of the Parks Staff and did the 24 km trip over to
the Island on the deep sea rescue boat (very impressive compared to
many of the tubs used for pelagic birding trips).
North Keeling is home to an endemic race of Buff-banded Rails
(unfortunately the most camera-shy birds in the region). It has a
large lagoon at its centre and is a good spot for shorebirds. It is
also a major rookery and there are thousands of nesting boobies,
noddies, frigatebirds and White Terns there. We had nice views of a
White Tern sitting on its “nest” and I had one hovering 20 cm above my
head as I walked quietly through the rainforest. We also came across
a flock of Sooty Terns roosting on one of the beaches.
Summary
Although getting there is pretty expensive, CI and CCK are great
places to go birding (particularly if you know where to go). While
most of the birders going there are longer in the tooth than me, I
think the islands are probably good places for old-style family
holidays (good swimming, rainforest walks and cultural diversity) in a
low crime environment.
Late November has good weather and is the time of the Christmas Island
crab migration and is the time when migratory birds are likely to be
in residence. February-March is wetter and perhaps a better time for
vagrant waterbirds and storm-blown birds (although you may get stuck
somewhere if the weather is bad - leave a margin for connecting
flights).
Contact
Lisa Preston of Island Explorer Holidays (08 9322 9561) is based on
Christmas Island and organised the logistics for our visit to the
islands. She very kindly put together a couple of BBQs for us (a very
nice touch given the shortage of fresh food in the supermarket owing
to the late arrival of the supply ship).
Lisa is a good person to contact in relation to any vagrants reported
on Christmas and Cocos Islands. Lisa and her colleagues put together
a recently published birding guide (complete with checklists) for the
islands. The birding section of the company webpage http://www.islandexplorer.com.au
has links for birding checklists, recent BARC submissions and a
picture of the Dark-Sided Flycatcher that lobbed up on West Island
last month.==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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