Mallee Birding with Ethan_02

The plan for Day 2 was a gentle curve on the map from Hopetoun via northern Wyperfeld and Pink Lakes to Ouyen. All mornings were a 6am start in dawn dimness.

Heading north to Patchewollock we stopped at a roadside wetland which was buzzing. Australian Spotted Crakes all over the shop, Australian Shelduck and Grey Teal, Stubble Quail clinking in the background, "thousands" of Black-tailed Nativehens, and Red-kneed Dotterels.

After breakfast in Wyperfeld and a Striped Honeyeater chase, we went bush successfully finding an active Malleefowl mound and occupant although only the first two in the line, Simon and Ethan, saw him. Andrew and I dipped. Here we picked up two more cuckoos; Shining Bronze and Black-eared. Excellent views of the latter. More parrots for Ethan: Galah, Little Corella, Mallee Ringneck, Bluebonnet and Mulga. More Honeyeaters [Ye-t M, Si, Str*].

A quick check of the Eremophilia in Underbool main street was uneventful apart from a Wh-p Honeyeater ** and then on to the Pink Lakes for most of the afternoon. Here we finally saw a Striated Grasswren and on the way "out" flushed a Chestnut (-backed) Quail-thrush which sat up for good viewing. Three species of Woodswallow were seen [Masked, White-browed and Black-faced] and a mega ... Black Honeyeater. Towards dusk we finished up at Wymlet Tank where the others flushed a Barn Owl and we had vigorous discussion about a Crow/Raven which sounded like a Little Crow but was in the company of Australian Ravens. Case remains open.

Black-eared Cuckoo Chalcites osculans

Black Honeyeater Sugamel nigrum

Chestnut Quail-thrush Cinclosoma castanotum

Greater Blue Bonnet Northiella haematogaster ssp haematogaster

Striped Honeyeater Plectorhyncha lanceolata

White-browed Treecreeper Climacteris affinis

* Yellow-throated Miner, Singing, Striped
** White-plumed

Mallee Birding with Ethan_01

Last weekend Ethan, my grandson, Andrew, from UK via Warsaw, and I went on a 4D/3N Firetail Birding Tour tour to the Mallee with guide Simon Starr. Ethan was keen to see all of the 23 parrot species we could possibly see, Andrew had a big shopping list and I was along to keep the job in order. We had a fantastic time. Andrew got 40 or so life ticks and Ethan ticked about 60! I got 2 and Simon got nil!

After picking Andrew up at Tullamarine at 7am straight off his Warsaw to Melbourne flight, we headed to the southern section of Wyperfeld NP via ...

1. Castlemaine Botanic Gardens where Powerful Owl was almost the first official bird of the trip. It was spotted by Ethan within 30 seconds and he had never seen an owl before! This instantly elevated him to the position of "Chief Spotter" which he fulfilled admirably over the trip with some difficult birds. I was still starting an eBird list so I was assigned the position of Administrator to keep a tab on the birds we saw.
2. Mia Mia Track in the Muckleford State Forest where we heard and saw the first of many Pallid Cuckoos plus Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo, saw a Weebill nest in action, closeups of Buff-rumped Thornbills, seven species of Honeyeater [Ye-f, Ye-t, ReW, Fus, Wh-n, Br-h and Bl-ch*] and Grey Currawong.
3. Wedderburn where we viewed Musk Lorikeets, and
4. Hopetoun which appeared to have no residents at all on a Thursday afternoon. It was surmised an alien invasion had occurred.

Along the way we saw several Spotted Harriers and between Hopetoun and Yapeet, Ethan spotted one on a fence post by the road. Wyperfeld was excellent with Emu, one Major Mitchell Cockatoo, four more Honeyeaters [W-f C, Ta-c, Sp-c, Wh-e**]. The other three also saw a Shy Heathwren. On the way out at dusk we saw Spotted Nightjar and a Tawny Frogmouth.

We stayed overnight was in the motel units behind the Hopetoun Hotel. Andrew stayed vibrant until the end of the meal then crashed. It was a sterling effort to avoid jetlag. We ticked 88 species for the day. The trip was a bird WATCHING trip, not one for hunting down birds for photos so not that many photos were taken. Ethan is a bit of a keen bird photographer too so he had a spare 70-300 lens on his Canon 1100D. Here are some of our efforts.

Buff-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza reguloides

Long-billed Corella Cacatua tenuirostris

Musk Lorikeet Glossopsitta concinna

Powerful Owl Ninox strenua

Spotted Harrier Circus assimilis

Tawny Grogmouth Podargus strigoides  This is a headlight shot. He has something in his mouth. A mouse?

* Yellow-faced, Yellow-tufted, Red Wattlebird, Fuscous, White-naped, Brown-headed, Black-chinned

** White-faced Chat, Tawny-crowned, Spiny-cheeked, White-eared

Broome 2017 _ Wave The Waders Goodbye _ Day 07

Day 07

My flight back to Melbourne via Perth left at 6pm so I had the day around the BBO ...

... to lounge in the newly constructed Kitchen, walk a track or two and then do some serious wader watching on an incoming tide. My only bird image of the morning walk was a White-throated Gerygone.

White-throated Gerygone Gerygone olivacea

The plan for the wader watching was simple. Take a low chair, sit a hundred metres out from shore, in the mud, and wait for the tide to “drive” the waders towards me. Nigel Jackett, BBO Warden, has some fabulous images of birds obtained with a similar but way more serious technique of lying on a boogie board in the mud. Being at eye-level with the birds is best but I didn’t have a wetsuit so decided a low chair was the nearest I wanted to manage. Here are the results in Christian Name alphabetical order.

Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica

This Barwit has GGT and GrK friends with him.

Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris

Grey-tailed Tattler Tringa brevipes

Lesser Crested Tern Sterna Thalasseus bengalensis

Little Tern Sternula albifrons 

Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis

 

Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres

Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus

Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida Non-breeding adult.

So now that you have seen heaps of waders, here are two wide-angle shots. See if you can identify the birds. My answers in the next post.

Broome 2017 _ Wave The Waders Goodbye _ Day 06

Day 06

This was the last day of the course. Our excursion today was to visit the sites and sights around Broome itself. Birds seen included Red-headed Honeyeater, Little Curlew, Striated Pardalote at the Water Treatment Plant but no Semi-palmated Plover, Ruddy Turnstones and Pacific Golden Plovers within sight of nesting Ospreys on the docks and the obligatory Tawny Frogmouth in a tree in the Woolworth’s car park. It was in the same tree as in November last year at Ashmore Reef Pelagic time.

Eastern Osprey  Pandion cristatus

Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres

Striated Pardalote Pardalotus striatus substriatus

Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides

Back at base it was Wader Watch time. I went down to the cliff top a bit earlier. Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstones, Marsh Sandpiper featured for me. The others arrived and we concentrated on watching waders looking to see if they were lining up on the mud, listening to the calls. Sometimes there would be false take offs where birds would lift off, sometimes quite high [5-700 metres] and in good numbers [50-100] and you would reckon, “That’s it. They’re off”, but, no, suddenly they would all come back down. It was as if no one individual bird felt competent or ready enough to lead off heading north with the setting sun on its left shoulder. Another day done.

Here are views of the bay at low tide. The guys in the boat just had to wait for the incoming tide. It was a ten metre difference between low and high tide!

The birds are well spread out at low tide. Just a few Eastern Curlew in view. These would have been 500 metres away.

We wondered if an Eurasian Curlew may have been present. At these distances, the only distinguishing mark would be  a clean white rump for the Eurasian so plenty of flight shots were taken. No Eurasian Curlew detected.

Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis

But some birds do come closer.

Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis

These need to be differentiated from Common Greenshank. The Marsh is quite a bit smaller and has a white rump and wedge up the back (see image 3). Q. What are the two birds at the back?

Brown Goshawk Accipiter fasciatus