Well, I am about to leave Broome after having been here for the best part
of the year and bits of two wet seasons although this wet season has been
very dry so far.
Broome has been very good to me for birds in this time and with the very
kind help of Adrian Boyle. I had been in a slow patch for new birds for
quite a few years. I will give a rundown of the new birds I have seen as
well as the birds I became much more familiar and became confident about
ID's.
We came over in January 09 and Adrian told me about the Franklands Gull and
the Barn Swallows, both of which I was able to see at the sewerage ponds.
Julie and I then went on six week walk in Kimberley and the only new bird
was Northern Rosella. The silver backed form of Grey Butcherbird was also
new.
Back in Broome at Roebuck Bay I saw Broad Billed Sandpiper(a bird I was to
become very familiar with) and Asian Dowitcher.
Late last year while in Halls Creek I saw Pictorella Mannikin.(this was a
bogey bird for me, as when I travelled WA in 2004 it was a bird I wanted to
see but missed) Next was Eastern Yellow Wagtail at sewerage ponds which the
guys at BBO put me on to. I then did a trip to Roebuck Plains Station with
Adrian and what a day! Oriental Plover, Oriental Pratincole, Long Toed
Stint and Swinhoes S nipe. There were six or seven Bustard at Taylors
Lagoon and hundreds of Brolga at Lake Eda, not to mention Yellow Chat, tons
of Australian Pratincole and so on-however none of these were new birds.
A visit to Crab Creek brought quite a few Dusky Gerygones (in this area
there are many blue spotted mudskippers-huge things-I suspect they are
poisonous-nothing seems to eat them although they are obvious and large.
Then the sewerage ponds came into their own again with Semipalmated Slover,
Little Stint and Pin Tailed Snipe. Using Frank O'Connors website I looked
for Little Bittern and failed but got Oriental Reed Warbler in Kununurra.
So, you can see it has been a remarkable year in Broome. Some of the birds
I had hardly seen but I became really familiar with were mangrove robin
(Dampier peninsula), Mangrove Gerygone, Mangrove Golden Whistler, Mangrove
Grey Fantail, Broad Billed Flycatcher, Northern Fantail, Beach Stone Curlew,
Blue Winged Kookaburra, Redwinged Parrot, Little Curlew, Pacific Golden
Plover, Grey Tailed Tattler, Greater Sand Plover and Lesser Frigate Bird
(what a bird)
On top of that for a period of a couple of weeks there were gouldian finches
just outside my yard. Nightly there were Barking Owls calling, often in our
yard and bush stone curlews in the distance.
One of my favourite birds was the race opthalmicus of Sooty Oystercatcher.
All in all it has been a great year birding in Broome and Kimberley and any
birdo who came to stay for a while couldn't fail to have a good time.
Gary
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