On 22 and 26 December I made 2 visits to Lake McLarty, south-east of Perth
with Alison Street. It is an amazing RAMSAR wetland which is well known to
birders in WA, but may be less known outside that State. On our first visit
there were many thousands of migratory waders (mostly Sharpies), but when we
returned a few days later there were less than 100 (of which only 5 were
Sharpies). The lake is close to a tidal estuary, so I assume the waders were
feeding somewhere on the shore. We briefly searched for them without
success. The highlights of our 2 visits were:
* 27 Long-toed Stints on the first visit (none on the second) - a
definite count as 26 of them were feeding together in a small area on the
north/east(?) side of the lake (the side furthest from the Mills Road
access) and a single bird on the Mills Road side;
* 9 Pectoral Sandpipers on the first visit (only 1 on the second) -
the Sharpies were moving around so this count may be understated;
* 5 Wood Sandpipers on the first visit (3 on the second);
* 1 Little Curlew on the second visit only;
* 15 Marsh Sandpipers on the second visit (5 on the first);
* a number of Common Greenshanks (I was not sure of the number because
they were dispersed and very flighty and I may have been double counting);
* 1 Pacific Golden Plover both visits;
* Ospreys nesting in a tree on Mills Road;
* 2 Banded Stilts on the first visit and around 50 on the second (plus
hundreds of Black-winged Stilts and 50 or so Avocets);
* thousands of ducks on both visits; and
* a beautiful Tiger Snake.
I was told of a report of a Ruff being seen on 20 December, together with a
Broad-billed Sandpiper, a Yellow Wagtail and a possible Little Stint: none
of which we saw. The same person had also reported 20 Long-toed Stints, the
Little Curlew and a number of Pectoral and Wood Sandpipers, so nothing we
found was new to the local birders.
A great place!!
Happy New Year
John
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