Hi everybody !
Actually on a long trip around Australia, I take some time to send you some
of my last sightsings, what I forgot to do before…
(I tried to send this mail 1 week ago, but to the wrong adress, sorry for
the delay !)
*Port Augusta, center, on 24th-25th May* :
-Purple-crowned Lorikeets common
*Port Augusta, Arid Landscape Botanic Garden, 24th May :*
-White-winged Fairy-Wrens (family)
-Variegated Fairy-Wrens (family)
-several White-fronted Honeyeaters
-several White-browed Babblers
-10-12 Chirruping Wedgebills
-several Masked Woodswallows
*Arno Bay (mangroves and beach)*, on 26th
-Blue-breasted Fairy-Wren (family)
-2 Rock Parrots
-2 Little Egrets
*Wrecker Beach, Port Lincoln NP, on 27th*
-2 Cape Barren Geese
-3 Hooded Plovers and 4 Red-capped Plovers
-1 White-bellied Sea Eagle
-10 Fairy Terns
-2 Rock Parrots
-2 Southern Emu-Wren
-1 Horsfield Cuckoo
*Fishery Bay, Port Lincoln NP, on 29th May*
-1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle
-several Silvereyes heard migrating by night
*Port Lincoln, Marina, on 29th May*
-1 Collared Sparrowhawk
*Big Swamp, 29th May*
-1 Musk Duck, > 50 Hardheads…
*Coffin Bay NP, on 30th May*
-several Emus
-1 Eastern Reef Heron (dark) at Yangie Bay
-1 Osprey and 1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle at Yangie Bay
-several Horsfield Cuckos at Yangie Bay
-2 Fan-tailed Cuckoos at Point Avoid
-1 Tawny-crowned Honeyeater at Point Avoid
*15 km south of Elliston, along the road, on 30th may*
-1 Shy Heathwren among many Yellow-rumped Thornbills
*Dirt Road to Talia Caves, on 30th may*
-several Southern Whitefaces
*Point Labbatt, Sea Lion colony, on 31st May*
-several dozens of Black-faced Cormorants
*Road Coffin Bay-Streaky Bay, 31st May and 1st June*
-several Emus
-6 Wedge-tailed Eagles
We had a chat with a farmer about the damages caused by the eagles on ships,
and he told us he shot one the week before… But he admitted it was a
beautiful (and protected) bird !
*Streaky Bay, Black Beach, on 1st June*
-4 Hooded Plovers (and 5 Bottlenose Dolphins)
*A few km west of Ceduna*
-30-40 Banded Lapwings in the fields,
-a few Brown Songlarks,
-1 Spotted Harrier
*Lake Macdonalds, south of Penong on 2nd June*
Good numbers of Shorebirds for the time of the year, this place should be
very interesting in summer..
-ca 90 Red-necked Stints (all in non-breeding plumage)
-100+ Red Knots (20% in breeding plumage)
-ca 60 Red-capped Plovers
-4 Greenshanks
-40+ Fairy Terns
-35 Hoary-headed Grebes
*Cactus Beach, south of Penong, on 2Nd June*
-1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle
*Nullarbor Roadhouse, on 2nd and 3rd June*
Along the first km of dirt road running parallel to the main road, towards
east
-3 Nullarbor Quail-thrushes at dusk, but none in the morning.
-1 Stubble Quail at dusk
-Rufous Fieldwren, White-winged Fairy-Wren, Horsfield Cuckoo, Rufous
Songlarks all common
-1 Banded Lapwing
-several Southern Whitefaces and Slender-billed Thornbills
-2 Red-capped Robins (fem) and 1 Hooded Robin (fem)
*From a lookout between Nullarbor Roadhouse and WA border, on 3rd*
-1 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross close to the cliffs
*Along the road, Nullarbor*
-2 Cattle Egrets seen, 1 at the Floodini Bluff picnic area on 3rd and 1
about 40 km west of Balladonia on 4th. Seems usually absent from this area
according to the bird book maps, but this species likes to move..
*Madura rest area, on 4th*
-Blue-breasted Fairy-wrens
-1 White-fronted Honeyeater
-the first Browns honeyeaters…
*Norseman, Beacons Hill lookout, on 5th*
-several Redthroats
-White-cheeked Honeyeaters
-Blue-breasted Fairy-Wrens
*Lake Douglas campsite, 13 km south of Kalgoorlie-boulder, on 7th*
-3 Grey-fronted Honeyeaters
-50+ Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters, 12+ Jacky Winters, 10+ Striated Pardalotes
*Great Ocean Drive, Esperance, on 8th*
-1 White-bellied Sea Eagle
-dozen of Common Dolphins
*Cape Legrand National Park, Esperance, on 9th (Lucky Bay)*
-1 Arctic Tern at Lucky Bay
-1 White-naped Honeyeater at Lucky Bay campsite
-Several Western Spinebills and Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters at Thistle Cove,
just to the west of Lucky Bay
-2 Southern Emu-wrens and 1 Red-eared Firetail along the walking trail a few
hundreds of meters west from Lucky Bay
-Fan-tailed and Horsfield Cuckoos
-Black-fronted Cormorants
*Windabout lake, Esperance, on 10-11th*
-5 Yellow-billed Spoonbills
-8 Black-fronted Dotterels and 2 Greenshanks
-200+ Chestnut teals
-1 Little Egret,
-2 Great Crested Grebes
-Fan-tailked and Horsfield Cuckoos
-4 probable Spur-winged Plovers : heard, and then seen from far away. I had
no doubt on the identification and paid no further attention to them until I
noticed in the guidebook that they were absent from this part of Australia…
Is this species a regular vagrant in SW Australia, or did I make a mistake ?
**
*Lake Monjigup, Esperance, on 11th*
-2 Pink-eared Ducks
-20 Black-fronted Dotterels
*Stokes National Park on 12th*
-quite numerous Purple-crowned Lorikeets
*Fitzgerald River crossing, on 12th*
-several Purple-gaped Honeyeaters
(the Fitzgerald NP was completely closed due to dieback risk)
*Along the main road 5 km before Jerramungup, on 12th*
-several Purple-gaped honeyeaters
-several Black-masked Woodswallows
*Pallinup River crossing on 12th*
-2 Musk Ducks on the river
*Along the main road between Boxwood Hill and Cheyne Beach road, on 12th*
-Western Rosellas, Red-capped Parrots, Elegant Parrots
*Cheyne Beach Road, on 12th at dusk*
-Short-billed and long-billed Black Cockatoos
*Cheyne Beach, on 13th*
-White-breasted Robins and Red-winged Fairy-Wrens easy to see
-1 Golden Whistler
-1 Osprey
-1 Brown Goshawk
-The Noisy Scrubbirds were perfectly heard, even at 1 meter, but impossible
to see in the cover !! What a skulker !
The strongs winds discouraged me to look for the Western Bristlebirds…
*Torndirrup National Park, Albany, on 15th*
-about 15 Humpback Whales at the blowing holed, beautiful !
-1h30 seawatching at the gap produced quite few birds : Yellow-nosed, Shy
and Black-browed Albatrosses, 1 Great-winged Petrel and 2 Brown Skuas…
-1 Red-browed Firetail near the beach at the gap
-quite numerous raptors in the park : Little Eagle seen at the Gap, 1
Collared Sparrowhawk along the road, 2 Swamp Harriers, along with
Wedge-tailed Eagles, Nankeen Kestrel and Black-winged Kites…
*Two People Bay, on 16th*
-Noisy Scrub-bird heard only again
-Western Bristlebird and Western Whipbirds both briefly seen on the hills,
just before being told by the rangers that I was not allowed here… (dieback
and other plant diseases…)
-2 Humpback Whales, 1 very tame southern brown Bandicoot at the little beach
car park
*Denham area, on 17th*
-3 Red-tailed Black Cockatoos along the tourist drive in the forest
-White-breasted Robins, Red-winged Fairy-Wren, Western Rosella and
Red-capped Parrots all quite common
-a group of Varied SIttellas and 2 Red-browed Firetails along the road near
the cheese factory
*Dryandra Forest on 18th June (3 hours only, before dusk)*
-1 Regent Parrot on the Williams-York road
-Western Thornbills and bush Thick-nee near the lion’s village
-Rufous treecreepers and western yellow robins along Lol Grey lookout walk
-1 Southern boobook along the road back from Lol Grey
* *
*Dryandra-Perth on 18th*
-1 Common frogmouth about 10 km south of Wandering
-1 Pacific Barn Owl about 20 km north of Wandering (on the road, probably
after a light collision with a vehicle. Still shocked, I kept it 5 minutes
in the hands before it flew away)
-1 brush-tailed Bettong
*And these last days around Perth :*
-several sightings of Australian Hobby and ospreys at Fremantle
-Brown Goshawk seen twice at Melville over the canning highway, and in the
Wireless Hill Park)
-One pair of Peregrine Falcon in Perth CBD
-Western Gerygone at the Wireless Hill Park
-WHite-cheeked Honeyeater quite common in Fremantle
-a Flock of Western Corella in Fremantle (and big flocks of Corella sp in
Melville)
I hope this will be useful for somebody !
Bye
Maxime Zucca (France)
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