In the end we saw 108 species for the week with a couple of extra mingers. I
have dumped Simone in Adelaide where she caught a flight home and am currently
in Port Augusta before heading further out… report from this week will follow.
Annotated bird list
1. Brush-turkey – Single bird seen early in the morning on the road to Cape du
Couedic. Was somewhat surprised to see that it didn’t have 3 heads as they are
supposedly descended from a single introduced pair in about 1930!!
2. Stubble Quail – Many calling in grassland near Murray Lagoon. Single bird
flushed.
3. Black Swan – Common in any wetland of size, particularly Murray Lagoon and
American River
4. Musk Duck – WKI Caravan Park Lagoon, Duck Lagoon
5. Australian Shelduck – Many 100’s at Murray Lagoon. Some quite large flocks
seen flying on roads nearby.
6. Hardhead – Single bird at WKI Caravan Park Lagoon
7. Grey Teal – Murray Lagoon, WKI Caravan Park Lagoon, Duck Lagoon
8. Chestnut Teal – Murray Lagoon, WKI Caravan Park Lagoon, Duck Lagoon
9. Pacific Black Duck – Odd birds on farm dams and most larger bodies of water
10. Cape Barren Goose – First seen in paddocks near American River, very common
on west of island particularly at WKI Caravan Park and Rock River
11. Wood Duck – Seen most days on farm dams
12. Little Penguin – Seen in and around burrows at Penneshaw rookery
13. Short-tailed Shearwater – Very occasional birds seen at sea, many derelicts
on most beaches
14. Australasian Gannet – Finally one bird seen at Admiral’s Arch, surprisingly
scarce.
15. Australian Pelican – Impressive sight of 20 birds soaring at American
River, odd birds elsewhere particularly where fish are cleaned.
16. Black-faced Cormorant – Common on rocky coasts
17. Little-pied Cormorant – Kingscote, WKI Caravan Park Lagoon
18. Pied Cormorant – Common on rocky coasts
19. Great Cormorant – A few birds on rocky coasts, pair on the beach every
visit to Seal Bay
20. Little-black Cormorant – Single bird Stokes Bay, 6 birds at WKI Caravan
Park Lagoon
21. Eurasian Coot – Breeding at WKI Caravan Park Lagoon
22. White-faced Heron – Odd birds at most wetlands of size and flying over
23. White Ibis – Common in cleared land
24. Yellow-billed Spoonbill - WKI Caravan Park Lagoon
25. Royal Spoonbill – 2 birds seen at small wetland at corner of road to
American River
26. Pied Oystercatcher – Common on most sandy coastal areas
27. Sooty Oystercatcher – Kingscote, American River
28. Bush Stone-curlew – Heard every night at WKI Caravan Park, was amusing to
hear the tourists wondering what was going on each time they started up!!
29. Eastern Curlew – Single bird American River
30. Common Greenshank – 4 birds at American River
31. Ruddy Turnstone – 25+ birds at Wheaton’s Beach hiding in weed at on rocks
at south end
32. Red-necked Stint – 100+ birds at Wheaton’s Beach, 100’s seen at one small
section of Murray Lagoon, must have been many 1000’s at this site.
33. Black-winged Stilt- Murray Lagoon, American River
34. Black-fronted Dotterel- WKI Caravan Park Lagoon
35. Red-capped Dotterel- 100’s in one small section of Murray Lagoon, breeding
36. Hooded Plover – Single birds or pairs seen at almost all open water
beaches. 6 birds including 2 juveniles at Stokes, 4 birds including 1 juvenile
at Seal Bay and 5 birds at Wheaton’s Beach notable.
37. Osprey – Single birds seen at Seal Bay and Wheaton’s Beach
38. Wedge-tailed Eagle – Singles and pairs seen regularly over the whole island
39. Swamp Harrier – Single bird only seen near turnoff to Seal Bay
40. Brown Goshawk – Odd birds seen across whole island
41. Collared Sparrowhawk – Single small bird seen on Rocky River walk
terrorizing the locals
42. Black-shouldered Kite – Single birds seen outside Kingscote and American
River
43. Nankeen Kestrel – Very common everywhere except taller forest like Rocky
River
44. Peregrine Falcon – Single birds seen at Cape Du Couedic and American River
45. Silver Gull – Common coastal and wetlands
46. Pacific Gull – Common at all coastal locations
47. Crested Tern – Common at most coastal locations
48. Caspian Tern – Single birds at Kingscote, Emu Bay and American River
49. Rock Dove – Kingscote, Cape Willoughby, Parndana and Penneshaw
50. Common Bronzewing – Common roadsides across island
51. Brush Bronzewing – Quite common Seal Bay, Remarkables and Cape du Couedic
52. Glossy Black-cockatoo – Was quite pleased to see this on the first attempt
at American River. Pair mating in tall trees behind the abandoned hotel, second
pair feeding in she-oak in town. Also heard in ravine at Lathami CP but did not
chase.
53. Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo – Quite common, particularly in western part
of the island and near pine plantations
54. Galah – Very common
55. Little Corella – Common around Kingscote, odd birds across most of cleared
space on island
56. Gang Gang Cockatoo – 2 pairs seen prospecting hollows near the Rocky River
range station
57. Rainbow Lorikeet – Common across the whole island, more so than I had
expected from reading previous reports
58. Purple-crowned Lorikeet – Quite commonly encountered around the island,
more often heard than seen
59. Crimson Rosella – Quite common in western part of the island, particularly
at WKI Caravan Park
60. Rock Parrot – 4 birds seen on Boxer drive on the way to the Remarkable
Rocks single bird seen later flying over. 6+ birds seen behind Weir Cove when
chasing a whipbird
61. Southern Boobook – Heard every night at WKI Caravan Park, spotlighted one
night right above our tent, it even left us a feather.
62. Barn Owl – Heard screaming on a couple of nights at WKI Caravan Park, once
again putting the fear of god into some Pommy tourists.
63. Laughing Kookaburra – Single bird at American River the only seen
64. Fan-tailed Cuckoo – heard in FCNP
65. Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo – heard several places in FCNP
66. Superb Fairy-wren – Common and widespred
67. Southern Emu-wren – Cape du Couedic, surprisingly few seen considering the
amount of quiet time spent there
68. Striated Thornbill - WKI Caravan Park very good for this species, also FCNP
69. Brown Thornbill – Encountered across the island
70. White-browed Scrubwren – Encountered across the island – quite a nice
streaky look
71. Spotted Pardalote – Quite common in west of island
72. Striated Pardalote – Common, nesting in a number of buildings
73. Red Wattlebird – Very common
74. Little Wattlebird - WKI Caravan Park very good for this species, also Rocky
River visitor centre
75. New-holland Honeyeater – Very common
76. Crescent Honeyeater – Common, surprisingly large number of juveniles
77. Brown-headed Honeyeater – A small party at WKI Caravan Park were the only
seen
78. White-naped Honeyeater – 3 birds at Duck Lagoon were the only seen
79. White-eared Honeyeater – Single bird near Murray Lagoon the only seen
80. Tawny-crowned Honeyeater – Common at Remarkable Rocks, Cape Du Couedic and
Seal Bay. A single bird at American River was very oddly out of habitat
81. Purple-gaped Honeyeater – Easily seen fighting for the leaking sprinkler at
Seal Bay visitor centre, Quite common throughout FCNP, even in regrowth areas
82. Eastern Spinebill – FCNP, WKI Caravan Park, Kelly Hill
83. White-fronted Chat – Murray Lagoon, also at some arty farty café whose name
escapes me
84. Scarlet Robin – Common across the island. I had a single male who used to
call to me when I was sitting drinking beer of an evening, I think he liked the
red cans of pig swill, errr … West End I was drinking.
85. Golden Whistler – Surprisingly only heard and seen in a couple of
locations, FCNP and Seal Bay
86. Grey Shrike-thrush – Surprisingly only a few heard and seen
87. Western Whipbird – As discussed earlier, easily seen at Cape du Couedic and
Weir Cove with up to 6 birds heard at one time at CdC some mornings. Also heard
on road to Remarkable Rocks and Seal Bay
88. Grey Fantail – Common, seemed a bit tatty compared to ones back home
89. Willie Wagtail – Common in cleared habitat
90. Restless Flycatcher – 2 very vocal birds at Duck Lagoon
91. Magpie-lark – Common in cleared habitat
92. Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike – Surprisingly only three birds seen in disparate
places across the island
93. Dusky Woodswallow – Cape Borda, Shackles Road and Vivonne Bay
94. Magpie – Common in cleared habitat
95. Grey Currawong – This dark subspecies was common across the island
96. Australian Raven – Not heard in the east, heard daily at WKI Caravan Park
and Cape du Couedic
97. Little Raven – More common of the ravens
98. Welcome Swallow - Common
99. Tree Martin – Very common across the island, Every martin I bothered to
inspect was this species.
100. Australian Pipit – roadside verges behind Stokes Bay and Kingscote
101. Skylark – Quite common in East and around Murray Lagoon
102. European Starling – Very common in any cleared or coastal area
103. Blackbird – Penneshaw, Kingscote and American River
104. Silvereye – Probably the most common and widespread bird on the island
105. House Sparrow – Common around habitation and in cultivated land, also seen
at Cape Borda and CdC
106. Goldfinch – Very common around Kingscote, some quite large flocks
107. Red-browed Finch – one small flock near Kingscote
108. Beautiful Firetail – Easily seen at Cape Borda with up to a dozen birds
coming in to a leaky tap at the picnic ground. Single bird seen on road to
Remarkable Rocks
Other sightings
• Neophema parrots flushed from roadside one morning on South Coast Road were
probably Elegant but not seen well enough
• Turkey were seen in a number of paddocks near WKI Caravan Park but probably
domestic
• Geese seen at a number of small dams away from habitation including 3 at Duck
Lagoon
• Kangaroo Island Kangaroo – Common
• Tammar Wallaby – Common
• Brush-tailed Possum
• Echidna
• Koala – Common at WKI Caravan Park, bloody noisy at night
• Australian Sea-lion – Seal Bay beach experience is well worth doing. A few
animals hauled up at CdC
• New Zealand Fur-seal – Well worth spending time watching these at CdC, get
there at dawn, see the whipbird then watch these guys before the tourists get
there.
• Heath Goanna – ended up seeing quite a few live ones
• Pygmy Copperhead – had to move one individual off the road, extremely docile
and kept wanting to slide back on the road. Had to explain the situation in
some detail to it.
• Tiger Snake – Many roadkilled unfortunately. Single live one seen.
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