Hello all, We've recently finished our two regular November and
December birding trips to Australia's Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling
Islands. Both fourteen day trips involved a week on each island and were
hugely successful. All the endemics were seen well, as were the island's
specialties and an incredible list of rarities.
Local endemics included: Christmas Island Frigatebird, CI White-eye, CI
Imperial Pigeon, Christmas Boobook, Abbott's Booby and the golden morph of
White-tailed Tropicbird.
Local specialties included: Java Sparrow, Island Thrush, Common Emerald Dove,
Green Junglefowl, White-breasted Waterhen, Glossy Swiftlet and Asian
Intermediate Egret.
Rarities included:
Red-billed Tropicbird - Seen only on the November tour on the northern side of
Christmas Island.Swinhoe's Snipe - Seen only on the November tour on
CI.Northern Pintail - Seen on Cocos on both tours almost dailyCommon Teal -
Seen on Cocos on both tours almost daily.Yellow Bittern - Both islands
including three at once on Cocos and another on Christmas Island being taken by
a large CI Goshawk. Corncrake - A single bird on Christmas Island.Von
Schrenck's Bittern - Two birds on Cocos.Malayan Night Heron - Two birds seen on
Christmas Island.Western Reef Egret (Heron) - Several birds seen on
Cocos.Chinese Pond Heron - Two birds seen on Cocos.Javan Pond Heron - A single
bird seen on Cocos.Black-crowned Night Heron - A single bird seen over several
days on Cocos.Chinese Sparrowhawk - Three birds seen at the one time on
Cocos.Japanese Sparrowhawk - Two birds seen together on Christmas
Island.Eurasian Curlew - Seen on Cocos multiple times.Pin-tailed Snipe -
Several seen on Cocos.Saunders's Tern - Up to 15 birds seen on Cocos.Common
Kingfisher - A lone bird seen on Cocos.Asian Koel - Multiple birds seen on both
islands.Grey Nightjar - Seen twice on Christmas Island.Savanna Nightjar - One
bird seen on Christmas Island.Common Swift - One bird seen on one afternoon on
Christmas Island.Asian House Martin - Two birds seen regularly on Christmas
Island.Drongo Cuckoo - Two birds seen on two different islands on Cocos.Grey
Wagtail - Up to five birds seen on Christmas Island.Brown Shrike - A lone bird
seen often on Cocos.Asian Brown Flycatcher - A lone bird seen several times on
Cocos.Blue and White Flycatcher - Two birds seen on Cocos.Eye-browed Thrush - A
lone bird seen on Cocos multiple times.Rosy Starling - Two birds seen on
Cocos.Tree Pipit - A lone bird seen on Cocos.
Other species seen included- Great Frigatebird, Red-footed & Brown Booby,
Oriental Pratincole, Striated Heron (Asian Race), Peregrine Falcon (Asian
Race), Red-billed Tropicbird, White Tern, Tree Sparrow, Red Junglefowl and Barn
Swallow.
A full trip report will appear on the Birding Tours Australia website in the
next few weeks.
Future tours and vacancies are:
Feb/March 2017 - two vacanciesNovember 2017 - vacanciesDecember 2017 -
FULLJanuary 2018 - vacancies (School Holidays)
Richard BaxterBirding Tours Australiahttp://www.birdingtours.com.au/
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