Friday, 27 December 2019
Monday, 23 December 2019
ATLANTIC PETREL! Cheynes Beach 22nd Dec 2019
Birding is a wonderful but unpredictable thing. Sometimes you can set off with high expectations and end up with nothing or sometimes, just sometimes you wonder why you're even bothering to go and you strike gold!
Here is the brief story of how I struck 24 carat gold on a quiet Sunday morning. I'd gone down to Albany (on the south coast of WA) for a short getaway from the pre-Christmas anxiety that pervades Perth as this time of year. I told myself "no serious birding, just a quiet relaxing few days, ok?"
It was a lovely quiet weekend and I decided to do a bit of seawatching (I just love seawatching, it's 8 parts pure boredom, 1 part insanity and 1 part stupidity). I walked half an hour, in heat with a few thousand flies for company, to a decent vantage point over the Great Southern Ocean, set my scope up and stared out to sea. The birds were very thin on the ground, with a scattering of Flesh-footed Shearwaters flying west and the occasional Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross effortlessly gliding over the waves. It continued in this vein for about two hours, the battle inside your head goes something like this: "What are you doing here, wasting your time, the flies love you but you're insane. Give up, go back to the car and get a nice cold drink" But there is a part of you that says "Just a little longer, something good will turn up, no pain, no gain! You've spent two hours, so why not 3?"
And then, what's this? A bird flying east (all the others had flown west) quick it's brown but it's got a white belly!!!!! Having seen it through the binoculars I scrambled to find it in the scope but when I did, I couldn't believe it. I was looking at an Atlantic Petrel. Dark brown head, thick chunky neck, white belly/chest, dark undertail, upperparts all brown. Underwing dark, though there was a hint of a pale area in the outer wing when the light caught it. I watched the bird for only a couple of minutes but it seemed like hours. When a rarity comes your way saviour it for it can be a long time till lucky smiles on you again.
Now just wish me luck getting it accepted by BARC (Birdlife Australia Rarities Committee)……..
Here is the brief story of how I struck 24 carat gold on a quiet Sunday morning. I'd gone down to Albany (on the south coast of WA) for a short getaway from the pre-Christmas anxiety that pervades Perth as this time of year. I told myself "no serious birding, just a quiet relaxing few days, ok?"
It was a lovely quiet weekend and I decided to do a bit of seawatching (I just love seawatching, it's 8 parts pure boredom, 1 part insanity and 1 part stupidity). I walked half an hour, in heat with a few thousand flies for company, to a decent vantage point over the Great Southern Ocean, set my scope up and stared out to sea. The birds were very thin on the ground, with a scattering of Flesh-footed Shearwaters flying west and the occasional Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross effortlessly gliding over the waves. It continued in this vein for about two hours, the battle inside your head goes something like this: "What are you doing here, wasting your time, the flies love you but you're insane. Give up, go back to the car and get a nice cold drink" But there is a part of you that says "Just a little longer, something good will turn up, no pain, no gain! You've spent two hours, so why not 3?"
And then, what's this? A bird flying east (all the others had flown west) quick it's brown but it's got a white belly!!!!! Having seen it through the binoculars I scrambled to find it in the scope but when I did, I couldn't believe it. I was looking at an Atlantic Petrel. Dark brown head, thick chunky neck, white belly/chest, dark undertail, upperparts all brown. Underwing dark, though there was a hint of a pale area in the outer wing when the light caught it. I watched the bird for only a couple of minutes but it seemed like hours. When a rarity comes your way saviour it for it can be a long time till lucky smiles on you again.
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| No, this isn't THE bird, this is one I saw in the Atlantic a few years ago |
Now just wish me luck getting it accepted by BARC (Birdlife Australia Rarities Committee)……..
Thursday, 19 December 2019
Lake McLarty 19th Dec 2019: Eastern Yellow Wagtail
My regular trip to the lake was hijacked (but in a good way) when, not long after I arrived, I heard a strange buzzing type call coming from a wet grassy area on the eastern side of the lake. Initially I thought it might be another Red-throated Pipit (I found one at the lake in 1915??) but when I flushed the bird the brief views I got were of a large plain pipit! I racked my brains to remember the calls of the larger pipits, Tawny, Richard's etc but nothing seemed to match. I tried getting views of the bird on the ground but it was very flighty and kept flying into the centre of a large area of typha. The best thing to do seemed to be to record the calls and go from that. After some trial and error (my phone was an early Christmas present) I worked out how to record sound and I set it all up. I pushed into the typha and within seconds the bird flew back over my head calling.
Post Sound recording here
After a few more unsuccessful attempts to view the bird, I decided to return to the car and listen to call the recording and compare to some from the internet. It didn't take me too long to realise that the call was that of a wagtail.
Post Sound recording here
After a few more unsuccessful attempts to view the bird, I decided to return to the car and listen to call the recording and compare to some from the internet. It didn't take me too long to realise that the call was that of a wagtail.
Thursday, 5 December 2019
Lake McLarty 5th Dec 2019: Sharpies, Avocet and a "banded" stilt
Another stifling hot day forecast (39c) so set the alarm for 4:00am and was at the lake not too long after sunrise. Visiting once a week means you can see the changes in the water level. As the lake is quite shallow, a water level drop of only a few centimetres can see the shoreline recede by 10 or 20 metres.
The first change I noticed from the previous week was that the Red-necked Avocet had arrived, a flock of 140 birds were feeding in the southern shallows. they tend to keep to themselves and don't really mix with the Pied Stilts at all.
The numbers of sharp-tailed Sandpipers had risen dramatically with at least 2,000 birds present today. It's really tricky to get an accurate count as you can barely see their heads above the grass, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the true count was nearer 3,000. In amongst them I picked out Pectoral Sandpipers, Long-toed Stints, Curlew Sandpipers and also some Red-necked Stints (which weren't present last week).
On the return back to the car I noticed a Pied Stilt with an engraved yellow leg-flag.
It turns out that this bird (ABP) was banded in Broome, (northern WA) on February 19th 2019, a distance of just under 2,000km from Lake McLarty.
I had hoped to find a Ruff or even something rarer in amongst the sharpies but no luck today. Just after I left the lake I stopped to check for Brown Songlarks in the fields along the road. As I was watching a singing male songlark I saw a small bird sitting on a branch, it turned out to be a Black-eared Cuckoo, quite a rare bird this far south in Western Australia.
My ebird checklist
The first change I noticed from the previous week was that the Red-necked Avocet had arrived, a flock of 140 birds were feeding in the southern shallows. they tend to keep to themselves and don't really mix with the Pied Stilts at all.
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Red-necked Avocet
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The numbers of sharp-tailed Sandpipers had risen dramatically with at least 2,000 birds present today. It's really tricky to get an accurate count as you can barely see their heads above the grass, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the true count was nearer 3,000. In amongst them I picked out Pectoral Sandpipers, Long-toed Stints, Curlew Sandpipers and also some Red-necked Stints (which weren't present last week).
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waders in flight
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| Pied Stilt with leg-flag |
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| Straw-necked Ibis flying over the lake |
My ebird checklist
Thursday, 28 November 2019
Lake McLarty & Nairns 28th Nov 2019
After finding out from last week's visit that water levels are now suitable for waders to feed, I'll try to visit the lake at least once a week from now on. As the water level drops, new feeding areas will open up and wader numbers can change quite dramatically in the space of a few days.
I arrived at 5:40am and was quite surprised that someone was already there, a fellow birder called Peter Morris, who I had never met before. He accompanied me for the first part of the walk and it was pleasant to chat about the lake, it's birds and the threats it faces.
In terms of birds, there was noticeable increase in Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Pectoral Sandpipers compared to last week and Long-toed Stints had finally arrived (11+) and they and a single Wood Sandpiper were feeding in the flooded grassy areas.
A flock of 11 Marsh Sandpipers were also a nice addition to the bird list. Being diminutive, pale grey and not very vocal, they can be easily overlooked.
From Lake McLarty I drove the half an hour to Nairns, this a small reserve on the shore of the Peel Inlet. It can be a very hit or miss type of place. Often you get there and someone has been walking their dog through the reserve (even though it is not allowed) and there will be zero waders present. This visit though I hit the jackpot, there were literally hundreds of waders spread across the exposed mud. The birds were flighty and difficult to search through as they frequently took flight. I spent about an hour and half searching through the birds, a Little Stint stood out amongst the over a thousand Red-necked Stints, A conspicuously white Sanderling was also a nice find.
I had a frustratingly brief view of what was highly likely to have been an Asian Dowitcher but the flock was spooked and I was never to see the bird again. All up there was somewhere in the region of 2,500 shorebirds, including Great and Red Knots, Curlew Sandpipers, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints & Red-capped Plover. I counted it as a brilliant morning of wader watching!
My McLarty ebird checklist
My Nairns ebird checklist
I arrived at 5:40am and was quite surprised that someone was already there, a fellow birder called Peter Morris, who I had never met before. He accompanied me for the first part of the walk and it was pleasant to chat about the lake, it's birds and the threats it faces.
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| Sharp-tailed Sandpipers with Long-toed Stints, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers in the background |
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| Pectoral Sandpiper |
In terms of birds, there was noticeable increase in Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Pectoral Sandpipers compared to last week and Long-toed Stints had finally arrived (11+) and they and a single Wood Sandpiper were feeding in the flooded grassy areas.
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| Long-toed Stint in flight |
A flock of 11 Marsh Sandpipers were also a nice addition to the bird list. Being diminutive, pale grey and not very vocal, they can be easily overlooked.
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| waders in flight including Marsh Sandpipers |
From Lake McLarty I drove the half an hour to Nairns, this a small reserve on the shore of the Peel Inlet. It can be a very hit or miss type of place. Often you get there and someone has been walking their dog through the reserve (even though it is not allowed) and there will be zero waders present. This visit though I hit the jackpot, there were literally hundreds of waders spread across the exposed mud. The birds were flighty and difficult to search through as they frequently took flight. I spent about an hour and half searching through the birds, a Little Stint stood out amongst the over a thousand Red-necked Stints, A conspicuously white Sanderling was also a nice find.
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Sanderling
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I had a frustratingly brief view of what was highly likely to have been an Asian Dowitcher but the flock was spooked and I was never to see the bird again. All up there was somewhere in the region of 2,500 shorebirds, including Great and Red Knots, Curlew Sandpipers, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints & Red-capped Plover. I counted it as a brilliant morning of wader watching!
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| Great Knot with breakfast |
My McLarty ebird checklist
My Nairns ebird checklist
Monday, 25 November 2019
Victoria Dam 25th Nov 2019
I decided on a trip to my local patch today, it was a bit windy which is never the best for woodland birding but otherwise it was a pleasant morning. Victoria Dam is (if you don't already know) one of the best sites to see many of the endemic bird species of the sw of Western Australia. Add that to being situated only a couple of kilometres from my house and you can see why I visit it often.
In fact the first 3 species I saw were endemics (Western Wattlebird, White-breasted Robin and Gilbert's Honeyeater), I could also hear the mournful call of the Red-eared Firetail along with the busy chattering of a flock of Varied Sitella. I made my way along the path to the dam where I was greeted by a Pied Cormorant sitting on the plastic pontoon on the lake, not a rare species but it is the first one I've seen at Victoria Dam (the 96th species I've seen there.) and it's always nice to see something out of the ordinary.
Further down towards the base of the dam, I cam across a couple of family groups of both Splendid and Red-winged Fairy-wrens feeding on the parched lawn. Another obliging White-breasted Robin came out the dense vegetation surrounding the stream at the bottom of the dam and a young Scarlet Robin was quietly drinking from a small puddle under a leaky pipe.
I walked over to the base of the dam to look for ducks that often sit in the pond at the base of the dam wall, but no luck today. As I turned around to set off home, I noticed a Western Rosella had landed briefly on the lawn, I managed to get one photo off before this notoriously skittish species took flight back into the scrub.
I walked slowly back to the car, noticing a Wedge-tailed Eagle circling on the thermals about the carpark. A good two hours of birding, seeing 48 species (10 southwest endemics)
My ebird checklist
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| White-breasted Robin |
In fact the first 3 species I saw were endemics (Western Wattlebird, White-breasted Robin and Gilbert's Honeyeater), I could also hear the mournful call of the Red-eared Firetail along with the busy chattering of a flock of Varied Sitella. I made my way along the path to the dam where I was greeted by a Pied Cormorant sitting on the plastic pontoon on the lake, not a rare species but it is the first one I've seen at Victoria Dam (the 96th species I've seen there.) and it's always nice to see something out of the ordinary.
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| Pied Cormorant |
Further down towards the base of the dam, I cam across a couple of family groups of both Splendid and Red-winged Fairy-wrens feeding on the parched lawn. Another obliging White-breasted Robin came out the dense vegetation surrounding the stream at the bottom of the dam and a young Scarlet Robin was quietly drinking from a small puddle under a leaky pipe.
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| Red-winged Fairy-wren |
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Splendid Fairy-wren
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I walked over to the base of the dam to look for ducks that often sit in the pond at the base of the dam wall, but no luck today. As I turned around to set off home, I noticed a Western Rosella had landed briefly on the lawn, I managed to get one photo off before this notoriously skittish species took flight back into the scrub.
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| Western Rosella |
My ebird checklist
Thursday, 21 November 2019
A visit to Lake McLarty, 21st Nov 2019
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| View from southern end of the lake |
Once the jewel in the crown of southwest Western Australian wader watching, it is still one of my favourite birding spots!
Although the lake has been ravaged by the effects of climate change compounded by bad management, there is a rescue plan in place, though even the most optimistic forecast is that it will take at least a decade before the lake is anywhere near it's former glory. Despite all these problems, the lake is still one of the best places for wader watching during the summer months until it dries up.
The forecast of a top temperature today of only 23c (compared to recent temps in the high 30's or low 40's) seems ideal for a visit. I arrived at 6:45am, a bit later than I usually do and was pleased to see that the water had receded enough from it's winter peak for there to be some muddy edges. I was, as hoped, immediately greeted by a good sized flock of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Curlew Sandpipers.
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| Mixed flock of waders |
Luckily the water was shallow enough for me to wade along the southern edge of the lake, it was still early enough in the day that the Stubble Quail were calling and a couple of Shining Bronze-cuckoo was singing away in the adjacent woodland. The eastern shoreline was a hive of activity with hundreds of feeding Pied Stilts accompanied by a few Common Greenshank.
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| Pied Stilts |
Five Cattle Egrets flew overhead and landed in a nearbly tree, this species used to be rare in sw WA but recently it has become a far more common sight, the birds looked splendid in their breeding plumage.
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| Cattle Egrets in flight |
Scanning the Sharp-tailed Sandpipers through my scope I managed to find one of it's rarer cousin, a Pectoral Sandpiper. It's always a good challenge to separate these two species especially when they are skulking around in the long grass. I didn't find any Long-toed Stints but I'm confident they'll show up later in the season. As I walked northwards along the shoreline the depth of the water increased, prevented any further progress so I retraced my steps back towards the entrance gate. A couple of Regent Parrots flew over calling as well as a flock of noisy Little Corellas.
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| Sharp-tailed Sandpipers |
On my return journey, I managed to get close enough to the Sharpies to a reasonable photo and also came across a Pacific Heron and Great Egret feeding in the flooded grass.
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| Pacific Heron and Great Egret |
I arrived back at my car having spent a thoroughly enjoyable 3 hours at the lake, seeing a total of 60 species.
My ebird checklist
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