ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Mid January saw us pulling up stumps and heading to the south west of WA. We had enjoyed our time at work and play at Horrocks Beach, but the lure of the open road and the prospect of new vistas and birding opportunities beckoned.  

We fare-welled the local Ospreys that had kept us entertained along the beach and one last visit to nearby Port Gregory netted me a surprise bird and a lifer, Long-toed Stint, along with an assortment of other waders. 

Eastern Osprey

Eastern Osprey

Long-toed Stint

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (left) & Long-toed Stint

A Splendid Fairy-wren was a standout in the dry surrounds of our campsite at Ellendale Pool near Geraldton. We have found these charming little birds to be the most inquisitive and fearless of their family, besides the Superb Fairy-wren in the east of the country.  

Splendid Fairy-wren - male

We travelled along the coast to Jurien Bay and explored the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. These unique limestone formations gave the landscape an otherworldly aspect. 

  

Sunset at Jurien Bay jetty

The Pinnacles

We swung back inland where it got progressively hotter and some of the locals at New Norcia were seeking shelter in the shade of the Salmon Gums.

  

Galahs - male (left) & female 

Large, noisy flocks of Western Corellas were a highlight at Mogumber, not only because of their antics, but also the first time we had seen this WA endemic. This was the more common northern sub-species, also known as Butler's Corella.  

Western Corellas

At Northam a small group of Mute Swans, descendants of birds introduced over a century ago, were cruising the placid waters of the Avon River. This self sustaining population is the only one in Australia and birders come from far and wide to see it and tick it, which I duly did!  

Mute Swan

Sacred Kingfisher

At Dryandra Woodlands, while searching for Numbats, we came across a pair of  Bush Stone-curlews laying low in the heat of the day. Although the birding was a bit slow we did pick up a family group of Blue-breasted Fairy-wrens (lifers) near the village and the Scarlet Robins were always active. The Numbats remained elusive!

Bush Stone-curlews

Scarlet Robin - male

A report of a rare Eurasian vagrant on the coast south of Mandurah had us back on the coast, camping at Herron Point where I had easy access to Lake McLarty, where this unlikely visitor had been seen. There were many Australian Pipits and White-fronted Chats on the edge of the lake, but after a couple of hours of searching and with the help of a fellow birder, late in the afternoon we finally got on to it. Little ripper! The photos below were taken on subsequent visits 

Red-throated Pipit

Red-throated Pipit

As well as this mega rarity, the lake had an outstanding array and number of waders and waterbirds. Out of the many hundreds of shorebirds along the shallow waters of the southern shoreline I spotted a Broad-billed Sandpiper, a fairly rare bird for the area and also a lifer. Pectoral Sandpipers were also a standout, but the Ruff and Reeve that had been seen recently I failed to find, not for lack of trying!

Broad-billed Sandpiper - Lake McLarty  (photo by Nicholas Hart) 

 Lake McLarty

At  Rotary Park in  nearby Busselton a lone Musk Duck was paddling in the murky, algae infested waters of the Vasse River and as I explored the riparian vegetation I was surprised by the sight of an unusual looking Willie Wagtail. 

Musk Duck - male

This particular bird has a condition known as leucism, where certain pigments are missing from it's plumage, in this case only partially. And I thought I'd stumbled upon a new bird!

Willie Wagtail

My goal of publishing a new post at least once a month hasn't quite happened so far this year, due to a lack of a wi-fi signal in many places, and also because we are spending so much time exploring and birding this incredible land of ours! Hopefully more regular updates to resume.

Cheers and Happy Birding!

HORROCKS ODDS & SODS

After publishing my last post on Horrocks I have been out and about, with the opportunity to capture a few more images of the local wildlife and scenery. 

The creature below has many names including bobtail (which the locals use), stump-tailed skink, pinecone lizard, bogeye and sleepy lizard. Thy are the most commonly seen reptile here and we have a few that reside in the caravan park. 

Shingleback Lizard

Some short bush walks yielded a few wildflowers, but it seems the major displays in this area at least, have long since finished. 

Acorn Banksia

Starflower

Calandrinia

Walking into one of these spiders is always a danger with their strong webs strung up between the low growing vegetation. This specimen being about half the size of my hand.

Orb Weaver

At Port Gregory the wildlife didn't look at all threatening, with these Banded Stilts in the ponds across the road from Pink Lake being the highlight of another visit there. 

Banded Stilts

Pink Lake

Another couple of visits to Bowes River yielded some more waders along with an obliging Osprey and some loafing cormorants. 

Eastern Osprey

Pied and Little Black Cormorants

There are a few pairs of these plovers, some with chicks in tow, tribute to a successful breeding season.  

Red-capped Plover

Sanderling & Red-capped Plover

Red-necked Stint

Bar-tailed Godwit

Grey-tailed Tattler

If the birding gets a bit slow, fishing is always an option!

Evening at Horrocks Beach 

Cheers & Happy Birding

HORROCKS BUSH BIRDS

A selection of photos of some of the birds that live in the patchy bushland and coastal scrub around Horrocks WA, where we are currently living and working. I have compiled a list of over 80 species within a 5 km radius of the town, of which well over half have been observed in the aforementioned habitats, with many of these around the caravan park.

View of Horrocks from escarpment with caravan park at centre

A pair of Little Eagles perch in the gums in the van park occasionally, but are generally seen soaring along the edge of the limestone escarpment behind town. Nine species of raptor frequent the area, so there's plenty of tucker around, including the wild rabbits that we sometimes see scampering off into the scrub. 

  

Little Eagle

A pair of Kingfishers are making their presence known with their monotonous contact calls and swift, direct flights to pick up prey from the ground.

Sacred Kingfisher

Tree Martins abound with many nesting in under the eaves of some of the holiday houses, although tree hollows would be their natural preference. They also like to feed along the shoreline, a joy to watch with their aerial antics.

Tree Martins

The one below was taking advantage of a sprinkler to cool off a bit.  

Tree Martin

Conversely these swallows were welcoming the midday sun along the back of a shed. I have seen this "sunning" behavior before in other birds such as doves and magpies and of course cormorants.  

An interesting article on this phenomenon here:  http://birdlife.org.au/australian-birdlife/detail/sunny-side-up

Welcome Swallow

I've noticed a distinct lack of  parrots and cockatoos, with only two species prevalent here, Australian Ringneck, with a small group around the van park and the sporadic flocks of Galahs flying by. Probably because of the paucity of nesting hollows, with much of the native vegetation long ago removed for wheat and sheep farming.

Australian Ringneck

A very common, introduced species around the park and surrounding coastal scrub is the Laughing Dove with its somnolent chuckling call, a lovely sound that can put you in the mood for an afternoon nap.

Laughing Doves

Singing Honeyeaters are constantly on the move, and like many of their family do not need to rely solely on flowering plants to get by, with insects making up a large part of their diets.  

Singing Honeyeater

Their feisty cousins the White-plumed Honeyeaters rule the roost in the park, with this specimen one of a number of young birds constantly begging to be fed.

I was pleased to come across a lifer while exploring some thick creek side scrub, one of the Petroicidae family, and this one being unique to Western Australia. It was quite shy compared to it's relative and one of my favourites, the Eastern Yellow Robin. As we continue our travels early next year I hope to find a few more endemics in the south west of this huge state, including the Western Yellow Robin.  

White-breasted Robin

While checking out some Aboriginal rock art at Willy Gully caves, we spotted this Pardalote using an abandoned Fairy Martins mud nest to rear its own young. 

Striated Pardalote

Willy Gully Caves rock art

A couple of Fairy-wren species also utilize the abundant coastal vegetation around Horrocks with the White-winged version preferring the low lying, salt tolerant plants closer to the beach.   

White-winged Fairy-wren - male

And the Variegated liking the taller, thicker scrub along the dunes and escarpment.

Variegated Fairy-wren - female

A link here to a previous post on my experiences with these beautiful little birds in WA:

http://qldbirder.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/fabulous-fairy-wrens.html 

Cheers and Happy Birding