I have just returned from a trip to Cocos (7 days) and Christmas
Island (3 days) with Mike Carter, Tony Palliser, Tom Smith, David
James and Ian McAllan. An amazing trip with rarities almost anywhere
we looked. I thought that one of the others might have posted a
summary. There were a few messages posted to birding-aus, and there
were a few crossed wired in the messages. A short summary is below,
but one of the others will hopefully write a more complete summary.
Cocos Islands (December 28th to January 4th)
EURASIAN TEAL (1) at Bechat Besar (reported in December by Richard Baxter)
White-throated Needletail (1 on 3 occasions) West Island
YELLOW BITTERN (2) West Island reported in December by David James
and Home Island
CINNAMON BITTERN (1) Home Island
Cattle Egret (2) (maybe Western?) West Island airport
Striated Heron (3) West Island
POND HERON sp. (1 immature) West Island
Western Reef Egret (several birds) West Island and Horsburgh Island
JAPANESE SPARROWHAWK (1) West Island (reported by Richard Baxter in December)
CHINESE SPARROWHAWK (1) West Island (reported by Richard Baxter in December)
Accipiter sp. (1) Oceanic House Home Island
possible MONTAGU's HARRIER (1) West Island
EURASIAN HOBBY (1) West Island (reported by David James and Richard
Baxter in December)
Peregrine Falcon (1 briefly) Horsburgh Island
WATERCOCK (5-8!!) West Island and Home Island (reported in December
by David James and Richard Baxter)
Pin-tailed Snipe (30+) West Island and (5) Home Island
possible large snipe sp. (1) No details other than size, but not
Common Snipe as was incorrectly reported. We were hoping there might
be a Common Snipe.
Oriental Pratincole (1) West Island airport
Saunders's Tern (2) South Island
HODGSON'S HAWK-CUCKOO (1 dead, 1+ West Island, 1 Home Island) We
believe this and not Northern. Seen by Richard Baxter's group, but
not ID'd until after we reported our sightings. I thought I saw on
with a sooty back and hood, looking like Malaysian, but noone else saw it.
LARGE HAWK-CUCKOO (1 twice) West Island (reported by Richard Baxter
in December)
INDIAN ROLLER (1) Horsburgh Island
Barn Swallow (5)
Christmas Island (4th to 7th January)
RED COLLARED-DOVE (1) Rubbish tip (reported by David James and
Richard Baxter in December)
YELLOW BITTERN (6-7!!) resort and LB3 (reported by Lisa Preston)
BLACK BITTERN (1+) golf course to resort
Striated Heron (3+) NE Point to resort
MALAYAN NIGHT-HERON (1) Greta Beach track (reported by Lisa Preston)
WATERCOCK (1) golf course
Peregrine Falcon (1)
Asian Koel (4 including a juvenile) Is it breeding on Christmas?
ORIENTAL REED-WARBLER (1) resort (reported by Lisa Preston)
Grey Wagtail (6) rubbish tip and (1) Greta Beach track
It is an interesting thing to ponder why so many rarities have turned
up. It is a La Nina year. Cocos has had a record annual
rainfall. There was a large storm on Melbourne Cup Day that may have
picked up birds on migration. And of course the major storm that led
to the shipwreck on Christmas. The harrier and the roller presumably
have come from Sri Lanka / India (and the pond heron could
conceivably be Indian although we feel it is most likely to be Javan).
The Red Collared-Dove could be the same male seen at a number of
sites around the island in the past 4 years.
And I remember there was a comment about the possible Short-toed
Eagle in Victoria being better than the rarities reported on Cocos
and Christmas in December. Sorry. Not even close!!! I saw 11 new
birds for my Australian list, and I dipped on two. Even Mike Carter
added 9 birds to his Australian list.
If you were to go now to Christmas Island and then Cocos, I feel that
you would be unlucky not to find Malayan Night-Heron, Yellow Bittern,
Oriental Reed-warbler, Red Collared-Dove, Waterock and Eurasian Teal
from the mega rarities at the very least. The down side is that on
Christmas Island it can be difficult to get a hire car, accommodation
and even a flight with all the activity at the detention centre. 10
or more people (including Kim Hughes the former test captain)
returning to Perth were bumped at the very last minute from the
flight from Cocos to Christmas, ostensibly due to an aviation fuel
shortage on Christmas, but the plane from Christmas to Perth was full.
And having a new Australian passport with the embedded chip is no
advantage when returning to Perth. Apparently you are not checked
out of Australia when you leave, so the new SmartGate won't accept
the passport when you return!
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
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