A Nordmann's Greenshank was found for the third year in a row on the
NW wader counts conducted by the Global Flyway Network.
George Swann has offered to organise a trip this weekend to look for
the bird. Barbara Harvey and I will be doing this, but there is room
for one or two more. We would be paying George a fee, splitting the
cost of a 4WD hire car, and there would also be a small accommodation cost.
The plan at this stage is to get to Broome on the 09:55 Friday flight
(13th) from Perth that gets to Broome in the middle of the day (about
12:25 from memory). We then drive to a station where there will be
accommodation. We would search for the bird on Saturday morning
(08:30 high tide), Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning (09:00 high
tide). There could be the option of also looking for the bird on
Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, but we would need to confirm
this before the trip, and Barbara and I would prefer to be back in
Perth on Sunday night. If you can't make it to Broome until later on
Friday, that would still be OK. It is a three hour drive from
Broome, so we would get to the station, crash and get up early
(probably a 5am start). We would be back in Broome for the evening
flight to Perth (whichever day). The morning tides are excellent
conditions to look for the bird, with the sun behind and the tides
high enough to push the birds on to the beach, but not too high. But
note that this is looking for a needle in a haystack. One bird in
about 100,000 on that section of the beach, but it does tend to hang
out with the Common Greenshanks which hopefully will make it easier,
although the greenshanks are often on the front of the flock on the
water edge and can be obscured by the flock further up the beach.
There is also a Eurasian Curlew, but this is on a different section
of the beach. If we found the greenshank, then we would go to look
for the Eurasian Curlew. Barbara does want to see the curlew, so we
might prefer to look for that on the poorer Saturday afternoon tide.
There are also a Semipalmated Plover and two Little Ringed Plovers at
the Broome sewage works.
If you are coming through Perth, there has been a Franklin's Gull
around for the last couple of weeks, but it has moving around the
river and can be difficult to find (if it is still there). If it is
still around, Barbara and I will look for that on Monday morning
(assuming we return on Sunday).
If you are interested in joining Barbara and I, then contact me and
we will work it out.
_________________________________________________________________
Frank O'Connor Birding WA http://birdingwa.iinet.net.au
Phone : (08) 9386 5694 Email :
|
