Hello from Finland,
According to the most recent project schedule it seems that I will be
working in WA in May. And I will be coming with my trusted colleague and
mate, Markku, of course. Although May is still 3 months away, I'm already
making plans and arrangements for our trip. Time goes by really fast when
you least expect it...
About our trip: We will first fly to Perth in the end of April and stay
there for 2 days (rent a car, do as much birding as possible etc.). From
there we will fly to Argyle airport just south of Lake Argyle. There we
will have a 3-day induction training to our site, which is the Argyle mine,
where we will be working as functional safety specialists for the next 3-4
weeks. If we need to wait for our medical results, we will probably return
to Perth for a few days after the induction, but otherwise we will stay the
rest of our journey in the Southern end of Lake Argyle. According to the
most recent roster, we will be working almost every day for the first 2
weeks, but we will have a 4-day "rest" after the 2 weeks of work, which
means we will be trying to do some heavy duty birding in the area.
To my knowledge, we won't be having a car to our use on daily basis, which
means that the hours after work will be spent walking around the area. But
for the 4-days off period we will try to get a car from e.g. Kununurra (are
there any rentals available?) and try to find our way at least around
Kununurra, Wyndham and hopefully up North towards Darwin and Kakadu NP. If
needed, we will sleep in our car to make the most of it.
Now that our trip is somewhat out in the open, I would appreciate every bit
of help regarding our stay in WA. The most important question of all being:
Where to go birding? Other interesting topics include: people to contact,
books to read, which birds are a must to find (and where), which places to
avoid, what kinds of conditions to expect (weather etc.), any pelagics to
keep in mind in WA, which mammals are a must to find etc.
Here's what I've gathered for good places to go birding after reading a few
blogs (Tim Dolby's blog, Leeuwin Current Birding, A Perth Bird Diary, WA
Zoologist, Life of Allan etc).
Perth:
-Herdsman Lake (species?)
-Lake Gwelup (species?)
-Victoria Dam/Reservoir (most endemics are possible)
-an Emu from anywhere around Perth (this time I want to find one)
If we have additional days in Perth:
-Dryandra State Forest (Bush Stone-curlew, Tawny-crowned HE, Red-capped
Parrot etc.)
-2 Peoples Bay (Elegant Parrot, Noisy Scrub-bird, Western Bristlebird,
Western Whipbird etc.)
-Rocky Gully (Western Corella?)
Lake Argyle-Kununurra-Wyndham:
-any Finches
-Yellow Chat
-Jabiru
-White-quilled Rock Pigeon
-Spinifex Pigeon?
-a lot more...
Top End (Darwin-Kakadu NP):
-too many to mention
And if someone would like to show a couple of foreign birders around Perth,
that would of course be the ideal situation. Especially taking our lack of
expertise in Australian bird sounds into consideration (although I will try
to change that before May).
The problem with the NNW and N parts of our trip is that we have no idea if
we will manage to get a car and if we even stay the 4 days there or are we
forced to return to Perth. We have no idea about the places to go, so all
tips, trip reports, contacts etc. would be greatly appreciated. And if
someone comes up with a realistic plan for a 4-day birding trip (assuming
we will get the car, preferrably a 4WD) in the NNW-N regions of Australia
for us (starting from Kununurra), I would very much like to discuss it.
And a little disclaimer in the end: The project schedule is subject to
change if anything goes wrong (not on our side), which means that the tasks
and the duration of the visit are always the same, but the actual dates
on-site may shift. I'll keep you posted if the schedule changes drastically.
Cheers,
-Harry
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
