Further to the various comments on the effort of getting to Broome and
seeing its now famous LBB, I would add a the following:
Accommodation at the BBO is only $50 a night for an air-conditioned room.
And the kitchen is available to prepare ones own meals. This significantly
improves ones birding experience and reduces costs. Also saves some of the
awkwardness of dragging your, grey Roebuck ooze covered boots, red Pindan
mud encrusted trousers, plus not-so-faint odour of the Broome Waste
Management Facility through the foyer of a non-birding establishment. I was
their only guest and apparently the only one for some weeks which seems
a shame for such a world-class birding establishment.
I hired a Mitsubishi Outlander for ~$94 for two days from Avis and it coped
with reasonably deep pools out to the observatory - just. (Thanks to Kath
at the observatory for guiding me back out after a second downpour on Sat
night!) While fuel is much more expensive in Broome but I would still
not have clocked up as many km as a typical weekend birding on my home
patch.
As I was able to start from Perth, the trip probably cost no more than a
typical pelagic.
The big questionwhen yopu get there is then was how much time to spend at
the reeking tip trying for the gull and how much to go visit the sewage
works, wader roosts, mangroves and Roebuck Plain. I luckily managed to get
the balance about right - as a confiding Oriental Cuckoo showed up while I
was sitting on the viewing platform at the Observatory on Sat evening and
an Asian Dowitcher seen from the same spot the next morning got added to my
life list. Oriental Pratincoles and a nice Eastern Grey Wagtail were the
highlights of an early morning walk out onto the Roebuck Plains. Then it
was back to the tip following up George Swann's helpful alert that the gull
had returned. I disapperaed by the time I got there but on my 6th or
7th visit to the tip over the weekend and about 4 hours there in total I
saw the beast before heading for the airport with a grin and a great
birding experience under my belt.
And a promise to get back to Broome for an extended stay as soon as I can
afford the time and fare (- now where have all my FF points gone...)
Mark Stanley
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