NZ Visitor_Bernd_Western Treatment Plant

Bernd spent 13 hours of his last day in Australia at no better place for birding -- the Western Treatment Plant. An early leave from Sale - 4am!! - meant we were at the crake pond by 7.15 for all the action and it went on for the whole day totally 80 species. Highlights were 10 species of duck, a family of Black-shouldered Kites, a Black Falcon overfly whilst a dozen Brown Quail whizzed about the track next to the Crake Pond, and some Zebra Finches.

Australian Spotted Crake Porzana fluminea

Black Falcon Falco subniger

Brown Quail Coturnix ypsilophora

Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillaris

Australian Reed-Warbler Acrocephalus australis

Fairy Martin Petrochelidon ariel
Welcome Swallow Hirundo neoxena

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris Acuminata

White-winged Black Tern Chlidonias leucopterus

Zebra Finch Taeniopygia guttata

Western Treatment Plant _ Pectoral Sandpiper

A single Pectoral Sandpiper has been observed at the Western Treatment Plant since last October last year (2017). It is usually seen in T-section to the south-west of the Plant, accessed by key through Gate 1 which is on the right at the southern end of Point Wilson Road. Within T-section, it "lives" in the northern part of the Crake Pond where there is a island of large stones and boulders and accompanying mudflats or, less commonly, in the northwest section of the pond immediately to the east. It has been observed to aggressively chase Sharp-tailed Sandpipers away.

Comparative Diagnostics:

In the bird guides it is "paired" with the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper; i.e. they look very similar.

• Pec: 21-23 cm long, has a streaked breast with an abrupt junction with a white belly. Sharpie: 20cm long with a diffuse margin to the breast.
• Pec: The bill is slightly decurved (curves downwards) and brown with a darker tip; i.e. the base is appreciably lighter than the tip. On the WTP bird, the base is quite yellow/orange and the easiest ID factor. Sharpie: Bill slightly decurved but less than Pec. Relatively dark along entire length.
• Pec: no eye-ring. Sharpie: prominent eye-ring.
• Pec: Supercilium (eyebrow) is buffer than Sharpie. Sharpie: often white and distinct.

These were the views that alerted me to the Pec's presence in the crake pond. You can easily see the abrupt junction of the breast with the white belly and the yellow base to the bill. It is hard to tell from images without other birds but, pond-side, there were a few Sharpies to compare the size and I was able to tell it was just a bit bigger than a Sharpie.

This is a Sharpie so you are able to compare the breast/belly junction and the bill colour.

Here is another comparison image with the Sharpie in front and the Pec behind.

Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotus

Kakydra

Took these images whilst doing bird surveys. More than happy they are in focus! Chuffed to see about 160 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and get fairly close to them. And a Great Egret coming into breeding plumage was a bonus.

Magic. f5.6 and be there.

Australian Pipit Anthus australis

Great Egret Area alba

Note the black bill, the "young" breeding plumes hanging down at the back, the base of the bill going pea-green and. I think, the tops of the legs turning red.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acumulata

A non-breeding plumage adult.

Whistling Kite Haliastur sphenurus

Broome Roadtrip 01

Whilst most of the Ashmore Reef Pelagic Cruise participants flew to Broome, I decided to drive. This enabled me to deliver a camper-trailer to Alice Springs then continue north along the Tanami Road to Halls Creek then along the Savannah Highway to Broome. It was all about getting there so no time for birding but I did manage to get some nice images.

First night stop was Terrick Terrick NP just north of Mitiamo. Galahs Eolophus roseicapillus were plentiful as were the mozzies.

Next night was at Sherlock to the east of Tailem Bend. A walk around the new lake there brought me a pair of Blue Bonnets Northiella haematogaster which alighted accommodatingly on a fence post.

The next camp was near Glendambo on the Stuart Highway. I thought I saw a magpie drop to the ground and chased it for a few hundred yards. It turned out to be a Ground Cuckoo-shrike Coracina maxima and gave me some good views.

A natural break at Marla had an Australian Hobby Falco longipennis staked out in a tree in the car park.

The Tanami Road is sealed for the first three hundred kilometres, virtually to Yuendumu. In the early morning sun, this Gwardar Pseudonaja nuchalis was sunning itself on the road. One of Australia's most venomous snakes.

The Tanami Road is 1,040 kilometres from Alice Springs to Hall's Creek. Up to the Granites Mine [600km] there is plenty of traffic but further north, in late spring to early autumn, there isn't much traffic at all. There is certainly no border force at the border. Just a 44 gallon drum.

I stopped for the night just short of the border. My short morning walk showed a Little Woodswallow Artamus minor and an Australian Bustard Ardeotis australis.

Next night was at  _____ Dam.  I saw a Pallid Cuckoo Cacomantis pallidus the next morning followed by a Collared Sparrowhawk Accipiter cirrocephalus had two goes at getting a honeyeater but too slow. These pics were taken while he rested up between efforts to get breakfast.

This last image of a Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola [rear left] and, left to right in the foreground, a Black-fronted Dotterel Elseyornis melanops, a Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea and a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata were at the Derby WTP. Discussion at Broome Bird Observatory of the middle bird brought up the possibility of a Cox's Sandpiper [a cross between a Curlew and a Pectoral Sandpiper] but the verdict was a Curlew Sandpiper with a very dirty bill on a bedraggled bird.