Just been down to Albany, and up to Cue. with three American
friends Lots of great birds, especially in the north, although most expected.
Friday 7th October
Picked two up from the airport (the first arrived two days
earlier). After breakfast we headed to ALCOA Wellard Wetlands where
we found a Stubble Quail (and heard two others). The down to
Coodanup and Nairns at the north end of the Harvey Peel
Estuary. Great views of Buff-banded Rail. A good variety of waders
at Nairns. Then to Hall's Head but no Wedge-tailed Shearwaters
seen. Then up to the Ocean Reef boat ramp where we found
White-backed Swallow (2), White-winged Fairy-wren (male) and
Variegated Fairy-wren (male). Also a hobby flew over. We finished
off at Herdsman Lake. A good variety of waterbirds.
Saturday 8th October
Left early. Stopped quickly at Admiral Road near Armadale off the
Albany Highway for Western Wattlebird. Then headed to Dryandra State
Forest. Painted Button-quail at the Ochre Trail. Bush Stone-curlew
at the far side of the paddock. Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo at Congelin
Dam. Most of the expected birds but missed Crested (Western)
Shrike-tit and Hooded Robin. Also missed most of the mammals. No
Echidna, Numbat, Tammar Wallaby, Woylie, etc.
Sunday 9th October
Left Narrogin early (after Carnaby's flew past our motel). Stopped
at the sewage ponds just south of Wagin (thanks to David Secomb for
showing me this site). One Black-tailed Native-hen and three
Australian Spotted Crakes. Stopped at Lake Parkeyerring without
seeing much and then headed for the Stirling Range. Rufous Songlark
along the route. Travelled along Salt River Road and saw four Hooded
Plovers at the Camel Lake NR. No fieldwren. Checked in at the
Stirling Range Retreat. We missed the Austraian Owlet-nightjar. But
we were told by Andrew Hobbs where a Tawny Frogmouth was roosting,
and saw three Southern Boobooks just after dark with two Common
Brushtail Possums.
Monday 10th October
A walk around the retreat. Crested Shrike-tit near the sewage pond
area. Went to Mt Trio. No whipbird. Square-tailed Kite. Brief
view by one of the Rufous (Western) Fieldwren. Went to Toolbrunnup
where whipbird had been reported. Southern Emu-wren. Then down to
Albany. Red-eared Firetail at the car park of Lake Seppings. Headed
out to Cheyne Beach by 5pm. Checked in and walked down to look for
the Noisy Scrub-bird. Looking down the track that leads down to the
beach, a NSB walked across the track at 18:01, returned at 18:03,
cross again at 18:05, returned at 18:07 and then the male called to
the left and a bird crossed again at 18:09 soon followed by a male
and the male called from the right. Presumably the first bird
crossing was a female.
Tuesday 11th October
Walked up to the top right of the caravan park to look for the
Western Bristlebird. Very frustrating. Called many times, but I was
the only one to see it very briefly. Finally gave up and went
looking for Western Whipbird. No luck near the point. We went back
up the road to where the 50/80 kph speed limit sign is. This was to
look for Western Bristlebird but a Western Whipbird called as soon as
we got there. Again very frustrating with only two of us getting
very brief views in the hakea thicket. Then the bristlebird over the
road was also very frustrating. We walked into the heath but it
called all around us without anyone seeing it. After lunch we
stopped here again and bingo! A Western Whipbird in full view
singing its head off on top of the hakea opposite the track up to the
property. We then went to Betty's Bay. Not much. Some poor views
of Flesh-footed Shearwater offshore.
Wednesday 12th October
Headed up to the mallee near Boxwood Hill. We birded Monjebup
Road. This was excellent a week earlier when I was there with
another group, but disappointing this time. Conditions were
excellent. Don't know why things were harder. We had had two
Western (Mallee) Whipbirds and a Shy Heathwren the previous
week. Nothing, not even a call. Quite a few White-browed
Babblers. Did get Shy Heathwren on Norman Road where it has been for
a long time. The old Malleefowl mound had some recent scratchings
around the base and some nearby areas were clear of leaf litter, but
I could not see any footprints so I don't think the mound is
active. Lunch in Jerramungup then we went to Bremer Bay for Rovk
Parrot. This proved to be a great decision with 10 feeding on the
ground in the marked off area. Then back to Cheyne Beach. Went up
for the Western Bristlebird behind the caravan park. Heard a bird
calling to the left of the area for the target bird. We walked in
and a bird quickly ran across a sandy area, and then another bird
called nearby. We got close to this third bird but it eluded us.
Thursday 13th October
We went up to the back of the caravan park and the first bird
called. We stood in the heath and it ran around us giving us a few
brief but good views. We then decided to return to the Stirling
Range and Mt Trio. But conditions deteriorated with strong
winds. No luck on Mt Trio. No luck on Salt River Road. Lunch at Mt
Barker between showers. Only one person saw the Little Grassbird
near the museum in the strong winds. We then went to Denmark and
down to Ocean Beach. Quite a few seabirds including Yellow-nosed
Albatross and Black-browed Albatross but they were quite a way
out. A good number of Fairy Terns in Wilson Inlet. A couple of
Bar-tailed Godwits but hardly any other waders. We then went to The
Gap near Albany. It was a howling gale, but there were good numbers
of Flesh-footed Shearwaters and a few Yellow-nosed Albatross. Then
back to Cheyne Beach. The conditions had improved greatly. We went
down to look at the scrubbird again. At 17:05 one bird crossed the
road. A few minutes later a second bird crossed. Then a third bird
crossed a few minutes later. So it looks like they had a successful
breeding season this year. This is the first time I have seen three
birds there.
Friday 14th October
A long day heading back to Perth. At Rocky Gully we saw Western
Corella as usual but not fantastic views. But there were more birds
along the road to Frankland River, plus three Emus. On the road from
Frankland River to Kojonup we again saw several Ostriches. I see
these birds every time I travel along this road. It could be worth
finding out the history of these birds. The fence is an ordinary
fence. It is a very large paddock, and I have seen them in different
paddocks. They could very well be birds that have been left there
and might now be classed as feral? Following on from the birds in Victoria.
Saturday 15th October
Left early and drove to Payne's Find, finding a Thorny Devil and a
Black-breasted Buzzard on the way. We headed down the road south to
the Grey Honeyeater site that David Stewart and Lloyd Nielsen told me
about many years ago. I failed here in early August and we failed
again, but in the intervening period two people had had success. We
picked up some good birds for the trip but nothing special. We then
headed to Mt Magnet and had a quick walk in the heat of the afternoon
at a site Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush had been recently reported
by Dave Torr. No success. We headed towards Cue. We stopped at the
40km mark north of Mt Magnet where we saw Grey Honeyeater in early
August but nothing. We stopped at a few places. Little Button-quail
was common. The flies were very annoying, and I should have brought
my gaiters as the area is in great conditions with lots of Ptilotus
flowering and lots of prickles and grass seeds. We stopped briefly
at Lake Austin. It is now dry. We continued on to Cue and then to
Nallan Station. Accommodation is not currently available at Nallan
(but they gave us permission to use the cottage as I have stayed
there a number of times over the years). There is a good chance that
accommodation will be available again from next year. Western
Bowerbirds were common around the homestead. We went east along the
road past Jackson's Well and as it got dark we headed back. No
Spotted Nightjars that I had seen in March. But in the dark at
Jackson's Well there were about 20 Bourke's Parrots.
Sunday 16th October
We walked across the airstrip and along the track. Pied Honeyeater,
White-fronted Honeyeater and Black Honeyeater. We heard Chiming
Wedgebill but could not get close to it. But we had great luck in
finding a couple of Slaty-backed Thornbills. We went down the track
to Easter Well. We found Redthroat easily. Then we heard
Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush. We tried to get close but didn't
seem to be getting anywhere. I played the call. No success. But we
took a few steps and the male flushed from under the bush. We heard
it call a few more times but never got close. We returned to the
station for lunch. We went to Nallan Lake after lunch. Lots of
water. Nothing extra special but 50+ Black-tailed Native-hen, 10+
Red-kneed Dotterel, 10+ Black-fronted Dotterel, 8 Australian Wood
Duck, an Australian Shelduck, a Wood Sandpiper, etc. As we
approached Cue I saw a Red-backed Kingfisher on the wire and then we
noticed some White-backed Swallows over a little hill. We then went
east of Cue to my site where I have seen Banded Whiteface almost
every time since January 1996. Success again with three probably
four birds. We headed a little further west and easily found a
Chiming Wedgebill. We went across to my site for Chestnut-breasted
Quail-thrush off the Sandstone Road. The Ptilotus is stunning with
large areas being covered. There was quite a bit of Eremophila
flowering with Pied and Black Honeyeaters. But no CBQTs. Lots more
Little Button-quail, a pair of Hooded Plover and a Pallid Cuckoo. We
returned to the station, then back down towards Easter Well. I heard
another CBQT along the track but could not find it. We then returned
to where we had seen it that morning but although it called we had no
success. After dark we went 18+km east to where we were told there
were Spotted Nightjars and sure enough there were two that gave us
excellent views.
Monday 17th October
We stopped at Lake Austin and quickly found three Orange Chats and a
brief view of Rufous Fieldwren. A bit further south at the best area
of samphire we tried again. Two groups of Orange Chat (a pair and
three), and good views of Rufous Fieldwren. But no Slender-billed
Thornbill although we had a false alarm with three very young Crimson
Chats. An unusual sighting were several Black Honeyeaters out in the
samphire. Not the sort of habitat that I would expect this species
to spend time in. We then went back to the CBQT site near Mt Magnet
reported by Dave Torr. This is along the road to Yalgoo opposite the
10km marker for Mt Magnet. It took us an hour but we had
success. We heard it a couple of times until one of finally got onto
a pair. We had good looks as the female as it walked, then flew
across the track along the fence. But the male was elusive. It
walked up the hill with some people getting good but brief views
while the rest of us couldn't get onto it. We finally gave up and
headed west. At the 11km mark there was a pool of water on the north
side of the road surrounded on three sides by scrub. Very good
numbers of Diamond Doves and Zebra Finches. A got the scope. A
Bourke's Parrot. We were about to go when one of them said they saw
a finch with a red rump. Extremely unlikely I said. But we looked
and we located a pair of Painted Finch. This is a long way out of
range. They were initially in the scrub, but they did come down to
the water four times for good looks. We returned to Mt Magnet for
lunch and then to Cue. There was a pair of the Asian migratory race
affinis of Gull-billed Terns at a small lake just north of Lake
Austin. We had a siesta and then headed out along the track towards
Peters Well. We stopped for some babblers (White-browed) and then I
saw a CBQT fly across. We followed it up but there was no sight nor
sound of it. We returned to the station and went into town for dinner.
Tuesday 18th October
A long day returning to Perth. Some Banded Stilt on the lake just
north of Lake Austin. Also two first year Pacific Golden
Plovers. We checked a historical site for White-browed Treecreeper
about 50km south of Mt Magnet. No luck. But there was some water
near the road and a flock of 200+ Budgerigars were coming in and
flying around. Near Payne's Find we headed east on the road towards
Sandstone to go to the Warne River crossing. A White-browed
Treecreeper had been reported 7km along the road at the grid. I
thought this was by John Graff? If reported by someone else then I
apologise for forgetting. Incredibly, there it was working its way
up the branches of a dead tree. It was there a couple of hours later
when we returned. We continued to the Warne River crossing. The
target was Gilbert's Whistler. I had seen it there in early
August. We walked north along the eastern side. About 200 metres up
I thought I could hear a call (although it didn't quite sound right
and was similar to the White-fronted Honeyeaters that were fairly
common). I tried the call and one bird flew past. We had trouble
trying to get a good look. We got glimpses of a male in full
plumage. But the bird we finally saw well was a young bird. It had
a mark for the gorgette on the throat but no colour, and the call
seemed like it was half hearted. Maybe a young male learning the
ropes. There was a large (500+) flock of Masked Woodswallows with
some very young juveniles. Also Black and Pied Honeyeaters. Also a
juvenile Banded Lapwing with at least one adult. And a few
White-backed Swallows. We headed to Payne's Find and then west. It
started to rain but we managed lunch at a new rest stop between
showers. The last target was Little Corella!!! We stopped several
times between Wubin and New Norcia before we finally found some. The
others were the northern race of Western Corella. Normally the bird
people are looking for.
All up, just over 200 species. The mulga is in excellent
condition. Diamond Doves everywhere. Little Button-quail very
common. Pied, Black and White-fronted Honeyeaters fairly
widespread. Rufous Songlark very common. But we had no Mulga
Parrots or Australian Ringnecks north of Payne's Find. Very few
thornbills north of Payne's Find. A good range of raptors but small
numbers. It looks like it will still take some time for species to
recover to the levels I found there in late 1996, after the decade
long drought that broke last December.
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
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