--- On Thu, 18/12/08, Richard Baxter <> wrote:
From: Richard Baxter <>
Subject: CI trip report
To:
Cc: "'richard baxter'" <>
Received: Thursday, 18 December, 2008, 9:54 AM
Day 10- At 7.30am
we boarded the MV R.J.Hawke and started the 24km ocean crossing to North Keeling
Island. Nth Keeling is one the
world’s most remote and inaccessible islands. Very few tourists get to visit the
island and all have to be escorted by Parks Australia staff. The boat trip was
highlighted by
sightings of three BULWER’S PETRELS, with one coming close to boat and crossing
the bow several times allowing excellent views for all on board. As we
approached the island we began to
see huge wheeling groups of seabirds numbering in the thousands. There were an
estimated 70,000
Red-footed Boobies on the island alone!
After the mandatory boot wash in antiseptic
and removal of any dirt/seeds etc from our clothes we were ready to head
ashore. A camera is a must on North
Keeling with many species very approachable and many birds roosting only feet
from the track. We all had superb
views of Lesser and Greater Frigatebird, Masked Booby, White Tern, noddies,
tropicbirds and Sooty Terns.
The endemic sub species of Buff-banded Rail was numerous but difficult to
photograph.
Our stay on the island lasted 4hours, during
which time we walked through the Pisonia forest, around the lagoon, along the
shoreline and through large strands of Argusia (Octopus Bush). Many species
seemed totally unperturbed
and allowed close approach, with two Red-footed Boobies hitching a ride on an
extended tripod leg, which was being carried at the time. North Keeling is
unquestionably one of
Australia’s greatest birding high lights.
On Wednesday night we took advantage of the
late ferry and had a great meal at the local Malay restaurant on Home
Island.
Day 11-
Thursday turned out to be one of those incredible birding days that I’m
sure all our group will remember forever, with four rarities located on one
day. Whilst the rest of our group
searched for Lesser Noddy, Ian and Margaret conducted a recognisance trip to
Bechet Besar swamp and located two PIN-TAILED SNIPE. The rest of us soon
arrived and all had
good views of this very hard to see bird.
After breakfast we boarded the ferry for Home
Island. Our main objective was to
search for the Dark-sided Flycatcher which was photographed on the Island by
Neville Pamment three weeks earlier.
Although it had not been seen for three weeks, there were reports from
locals that it was still present on another part of the
island.
After landing we all walked to the
Clunies-Ross Mansion and searched the grounds. It was here that Laurie and
Michael
first sighted the ASIAN KOEL, skulking through the canopy foliage. A short time
later as I was walking back across the island I noticed Shirley in the distance
standing in the middle of the road waving frantically. A sure sign that
someone had found
something interesting. Geoff had
been near the jetty and seen a thrush fly up off the ground onto an old anchor.
Unfortunately only three people saw it before it flushed and when I arrived it
couldn’t be relocated. Luckily
Geoff took a immediate photo of it.
A quick look at the photo on his camera revealed BLUE ROCK THRUSH! An amazing
find and only the second
Australian record. This bird was
quickly elevated to the BIRD OF THE TRIP.
Over the next 2 hours all but one had seen
the bird and we returned to West Island for a late afternoon search of the
lagoon’s sand flats for Western Reef Egret. We positioned ourselves at the
northern
end of the runway and after an hour or so of searching located two WESTERN REEF
EGRETS.
With an hour of daylight remaining some of us
decided to finish the day on the beach watching the sun go down at one of the
known sites for Lesser Noddy.
Although a nice end to the day, we failed to find any Lesser Noddy during
any searches on this trip. It will
be interesting to see if they’re back on the islands in March 2009 as they were
in March 2008. At the end of the
day we were a group of very happy birders and we toasted our success that
evening with some nice food and a few cold ones, having had a very enjoyable and
successful trip through these islands.
Day 12- Our flight to Perth didn’t depart till 1.30pm, which
gave us plenty of time for a morning search of Home Island for the flycatcher
and to show Laurie the thrush as he had missed it the day before, whilst showing
others the Koel. Amazingly, as we
walked along the jetty, the Blue Rock Thrush flew across the water next to us
and landed on a rock near the council office. It had taken less than a minute
to find
it!
The rest of the morning was spent looking for
the flycatcher, with a local telling us he has seen it in the banana plantation
that morning! Despite a thorough
search its presence on the island is still a mystery.
At 1.30pm we all departed West Island bound
for home. The Nov/Dec 2008
Christmas/Cocos tour this year was an absolutely incredible tour. The
combination of all the CI endemics,
vast numbers of nesting/roosting seabirds, North Keeling and a fantastic list of
rarities made sure we were not disappointed!
Special Birds Seen:
ORIENTAL CUCKOO
WHITE-BREASTED WATERHEN
GREEN JUNGLEFOWL
BARN SWALLOW
SILVER-BACKED NEEDLETAIL
BULWER’S PETREL
SAUNDER’S TERN
WESTERN REEF EGRET
ASIAN KOEL
BLUE ROCK THRUSH
ALL THE CHRISTMAS ISLAND
ENDEMICS.
I’ll be running the same tour again in Nov/Dec 2009, to
coincide with the annual red crab migration and the southern migration of South
East Asian species.
Cheers
Richard Baxter
Birding Tours Australia
www.birdingtours.com.au
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