Hi - a trip report for those interested of my recent drive across the Gibb
River road in the Kimberley.
The trip didnt go to plan, with vehicle issues forcing me to abandon
initial plans to make the detour up to Mitchell Falls. In hindsight it was
probably for the best, as it allowed for longer stops at each locations.
And due to the trip being a combined family trip with my wife (Kellie) and
three year old boy (Jaxon), took the pressure off as well. And to be fair,
i now feel Mitchell Falls deserves a dedicated trip in itself, so i will
return!
The trip didnt start well, while during the long drive up from Perth, my
cooling system begun over-pressurising in my Navara, an issue i haven't
encountered before. This was forcing coolant out of my radiator and filling
up and overflowing through the expansion reservoir. We got to Roebuck Bay
caravan park, i got the RAC out and they referred me to a mechanic in
Broome. The next morning we headed straight in to Broome, the mechanic was
great. He did a head gasket check which came back fine which left a blocked
thermostat and radiator cap as potential issues. They were busy for the day
so i changed the thermostat myself in his workshop and bought him a carton
for helping me out with it, a great result.
This resulted in a days delay so the next day we headed to our first stop
along the Gibb - Windjana Gorge. We detoured in to Derby, the tide was
right up unfortunately, meaning i missed Great-billed Heron. Got a few
mangrove birds but didnt spend much time there. We arrived at Windjana
about lunch time. The Napier Range is stunning and is quite different
geology to what i have seen in other ranges around WA. I spent the
afternoon and following morning birding in the gorge and surrounding
woodlands. Picked up two Grey Goshawks as they cruised through the gorge in
the arvo which was great, my first lifer for the trip. Early morning
produced Sandstone Shrike-thrush (lifer) and an Azure Kingfisher (WA tick)
as well as all the standards. The Freshwater Crocs were nice to see.
After one night we headed to our next stop, the camp site at Mt Barnett
which goes up to Manning Gorge. It was fairly busy at the camp but it is an
excellent spot for camping. The river has nice sand along it producing
areas of little beaches, perfect for my boy Jaxon to splash around in.
While scoping the opposite bank on the first arvo, i was pleasantly
surprised to see three White-quilled Rock Pigeons (lifer) coming down for a
drink. There was also flowering Grevillea on the opposite side of the bank
with lots of honeyeater activity. Investigation produced Bar-breasted
Honeyeater, a great result (lifer). Bush Stone-curlews called throughout
the night. Early morning we trekked out to Manning Gorge (5 km return). The
gorge was lovely, but nothing special bird wise. Picked up some lifer
reptiles on the walk. In the arvo i went fishing downstream and was having
a great session on Sooty Grunter when i flushed a Black Bittern out of a
Paperbark. I got my bins on it in flight then as it perched further
downstream, i was pumped to get another WA record for this species.
The following morning i got up early and birded the woodland. This was
excellent with 42 species recorded in about 45 minutes. This included a
satisfying track down of Northern Rosella (lifer) after i heard a distant
call. Silver-backed Butcherbird was common in camp. The night before we
were due to leave, with next stops Drysdale river and Mitchell Falls, Kell
noticed a fluid under my car. A closer look showed diesel was leaking, and
the problem was a pinhole leak in the front weld of the tank. I was worried
the corrugations may open the crack further (which it did) and decided it
was too risky to do Mitchell Falls. As a result we stayed another night,
then headed to El Questro.
We got to El Questro fine, but once out of the car the single drip once
every 10 seconds had turned in to a constant drip and fuel was coming out
quite quick. There is a permanent mechanic at El Questro and he was
excellent. We drained the fuel tank and cleaned up the crack, then applied
some QuickSteel. I would highly recommend always taking this stuff on any
trip away. The QuickSteel sealed the tank, and held up all the way back to
Perth.
Birding was generally disappointing. El Questro is not my cup of tea, far
too commercialized and touristy for my liking. Plus the lack of birding
information was disappointing, especially for somewhere that markets
birdwatching as a premier attraction. Upon inquiring about birding, i was
informed no birdwatching tours were running and my best bet was to track
down a Ranger. After i tracked down a Ranger i got a hot tip that Gouldians
were drinking at a particular soak. Excellent, i headed there straight
away, only to find the soak was bone dry, no chance of Gouldians coming in
to drink there. I worked the Pandanus creek near camp pretty hard, and got
Restless Flyctacher (WA tick) and a lifer in Green-backed Gerygone which
was a good result. Somehow i have missed Radjah Shelducks on a couple of
trips north previously, so it was nice to get those on the river at camp.
More Bush Stone-curlews calling at night. Emma gorge is a stunning place.
However i was saddened that when swimming in the gorge and coming up to a
nice rocky crevice where i was expecting to find Tree Frogs, i was greeted
with a line of ugly Cane Toads.
Off to Parry Creek farm! It was nice to get to Parry Creek and talk to
staff member John who gave me some proper birding advice. Gouldian's were
my number one priority, and John advised they had been around the billabong
at camp and in town at Wyndham. An evening stake-out at the billabong for
finches produced Masked and Long-tailed Finches, and a juvenile finch which
i saw briefly which i felt was a Gouldian. Not being familiar with juvenile
finches, and not the best views, it felt stringy to call it as a Gouldian
even though i had my suspicions (subsequent views of juvenile Gouldians
confirmed this bird was indeed a Gouldian). A pair of Barking Owls called
throughout the night. The next morning i was up again early and staking out
the billabong. Masked and Long-tailed Finches were back, and i wasnt really
expecting anything, when a birding moment which i will always remember
occurred. On a scan of the grass about 20 m away an adult black headed
Gouldian literally just appeared from no where. It was surreal to see this
awesome little bird in the wild. There ended up being two adults and three
juveniles come in for a drink - i was pumped! We went in to Wyndham for a
look around, which didnt take too long, not much to see.
Marglu billabong was great, although i probably expected a little more
given how dry the country is at the moment. The billabong is said to hold
up to 10,000 birds but there was no where near these numbers. Anyway it
nice to get lifer Pied Herons everywhere. Nothing else too exciting but the
potential for good birds is excellent. Yellow Oriole was relatively easy
around camp, and the Barking Owls gave away their location just before
sundown, so i was able to get views of them. I got the scope on them and
Jaxon enjoyed watching them. The following morning i was up again early for
the Finch stake-out. At 6:13 a small number of Gouldian's arrived, and over
the next 20 minutes their numbers continued to build to 45. Only six were
adults (all black-headed) with the remainder all juveniles. Unfortunately
no red or yellow headed variations were there, but it was still fantastic
to watch these birds for 20 minutes and have views of birds foraging within
10 m of me. Something i will always remember.
As we had spare time up our sleeves, Kell was keen to head to Lake Argyle,
so off we went. A lovely camp site up on the hill over looking the dam. I
was after mannikins, as i had seen none thus far. I spent a solid two hours
in Kununurra on the Weaber Plains searching, but all i could find were
large flocks of Star Finches! I got Buff-sided Robin at Ivanhoe crossing
which was a WA tick. I finally got Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, with a nice
flock in the creekline upstream from Dead horse springs near Lake Argyle.
Unfortunately i was really after Yellow-rumped and Pictorella, both of
which would have been lifers, but i dipped out on these. White-browed Crake
at the springs was a nice surprise. The overflow area of Lake Argyle looks
fantastic. I scoped the pandanus palms from the opposite bank hard for
Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens, but didnt have any luck. Im not sure if they
are there, but the habitat looks great. We finished our holiday with the
sunset boat cruise on the dam. The amount of water in the dam really is
quite incredible.
We then had three very full days of driving, which we successfully
completed to return to Perth (about 3,000 km in total). Those portable dvd
players must be one of the greatest modern inventions. I can not imagine
travelling with small kids prior to them haha. A really fantastic trip,
filled with many birding highlights, great family time and adventures. And
im excited about getting back to hit up Mitchell Falls. All up i picked up
11 lifers and 25 WA ticks, a great result. If anyone wants any more
specifics feel free to ask.
A list of birds observed from Broome onwards is below.
Cheers
Bruce
Brown Quail
Magpie Goose
Wandering Whistling Duck
Plumed Whistling Duck
Radjah Shelduck
Black Swan
Grey Teal
Pacific Black Duck
Hardhead
Australasian Grebe
Hoary-headed Grebe
Crested Pigeon
Spinifex Pigeon
White-quilled Rock Pigeon
Peaceful Dove
Bar-shouldered Dove
Little Black Cormorant
Pied Cormorant
Little Pied Cormorant
Black-necked Stork
Black Bittern
Eastern Great Egret
Intermediate Egret
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
White-faced Heron
White-necked Heron
Pied Heron
Nankeen Night Heron
Glossy Ibis
Australian White Ibis
Straw-necked Ibis
Royal Spoonbill
Black-breasted Buzzard
White-bellied Sea-eagle
Whistling Kite
Brahminy Kite
Black Kite
Brown Goshawk
Collared Sparrowhawk
Grey Goshawk
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Australian Kestrel
Brown Falcon
Peregrine Falcon
Brolga
Purple Swamphen
White-browed Crake
Australian Bustard
Bush Stone-curlew
Black-fronted Dotterel
Masked Lapwing
Common Sandpiper
Common Greenshank
Gull-billed Tern
Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Galah
Little Corella
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Cockatiel
Red-collared Lorikeet
Red-winged Parrot
Northern Rosella
Varied Lorikeet
Horesfield's Bronze Cuckoo
Pheasant Coucal
Brush Cuckoo
Barking Owl
Boobook Owl
Azure Kingfisher
Blue-winged Kookaburra
Red-backed Kingfisher
Sacred Kingfisher
Rainbow Bee-eater
Black-tailed Treecreeper
Great Bowerbird
Red-backed Fairy-wren
Variegated Fairy-wren
Weebill
Mangrove Gerygone
Green-backed Gerygone
White-throated Gerygone
Red-browed Pardolate
Striated Pardolate
White-gaped Honeyeater
Yellow-tinted Honeyeater
Grey-fronted Honeyeater
Yellow-throated Miner
Bar-breasted Honeyeater
Rufous-throated Honeyeater
Banded Honeyeater
Brown Honeyeater
White-throated Honeyeater
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Silver-crowned Friarbird
Little Friarbird
Grey-crowned Babbler
Varied Sitella
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike
White-winged Triller
White-breasted Whistler
Rufous Whistler
Sandstone Shrike-thrush
Australasian Figbird
Yellow Oriole
Olive-backed Oriole
White-breasted Woodswallow
Black-faced Woodswallow
Little Woodswallow
Silver-backed Butcherbird
Pied Butcherbird
Australian Magpie
Northern Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Torresian Crow
Leaden Flycatcher
Shining Flycatcher
Paperbark Flycacther
Magpie-lark
Jacky Winter
Lemon-breasted Flycatcher
Buff-sided Robin
Horsefield's Bushlark
Golden-headed Cisticola
Rufous Songlark
Yellow White-eye
Mistletoebird
Double-barred Finch
Long-tailed Finch
Masked Finch
Crimson Finch
Star Finch
Gouldian Finch
Chestnut-breasted Mannikin
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