Broome Roadtrip 04

The following day was pedal to the metal and I drove through to Northam about 100km east of Perth and stayed the night. Target bird there was the Mute Swan. An introduced species from the United Kingdom and really not self-sustaining [more info see here] as fresh blood has been introduced and the birds have a special protected area near the Tourist Information building for shelter at night and breeding. Well, they used to have a special protected area. It was all change. The protected area had become a worksite with lots of concreting going on [it looked like it was going to be a skate park] and not a swan to be seen at 6am! Eventually I talked to a local who was able to tell me that the swans had "relocated" themselves upstream and that there was a path that could take me there and return me on the opposite side of the Avon River. [early English explorers had no imagination]. Eventually I found one [1] and discovered there were about 8. So good pics after a longish chase.

Mute Swan

Other birds seen were ...

Laughing Turtle-Dove, another introduced species

Australian Ringneck
Port Lincoln Parrot, no red mark above bill

Australian Ringneck
definitely Twenty-Eight Parrot
red mark above bill

So finishing up at about 8am, I headed off into Perth and decided to check out Lake Joondalup to see if the Oriental Honey Buzzards had arrived for the summer, which they hadn't. I met Judy there. She had been on the Ashmore Reef pelagic and had the same idea as me. After that I headed south to Bunbury and successfully twitched the Eurasian Curlew which had been resident at Samphire Inlet in the Leschenault Inlet for some time. A bit of a traipse with the bins, camera and scope/tripod for a kay or so out onto a sand spit and there it was. In the company of an {australian} Eastern Curlew alongside for comparison. The Eurasian is slightly smaller and lighter in the plumage department. Tick.

Eurasian Curlew

Eastern Curlew

Broome Roadtrip 03

The way back to Victoria from Broome is fairly limited! East towards Darwin then either south via the Tanami Road from Hall's Creek and Alice Springs or on to Katherine then down the Stuart Highway to Alice. I chose to head south from Broome to Port Headland then "internally" (as opposed to "coastally") via Karijini NP and Newman to Perth and Albany then across the Nullabor to meet up with the Alice Springs Stuart Highway at Port Augusta.

First stop was Karijini NP [Wittenoom Gorge and Hamersley Gorge] and a night spent at the top of Mt Sheila.

Sunset from Mt Sheila

I had forgotten that the night I spent on Mt Sheila was the rising of the latest "supermoon". It was certainly bright and large but the earth didn't move.

Supermoon arising

Supermoon

The vistas the next morning were vast. I guess red = iron!

My reason for visiting this mountain top was to bird the Striated Grasswren so an early rising before dawn and very careful listening. I heard them but could not get an eyeball on them. A reason to return. The following birds were really no consolation.

Hooded Robin

Hooded Robin

Western Bowerbird

White-plumed Honeyeater

Pelagic 04 -- Port Fairy

Last Sunday was another Port Fairy Pelagic. It was a different boat, bigger, faster and more comfortable than my previous voyage last year. The replaced boat came to an unfortunate end. Purchased by a drug syndicate, she didn't get far. Here is the newspaper report. Boat Runs Aground The new boat was a twin diesel V8 beauty. We motored out to the edge of the continental shelf, a distance of approximately 60km in just over 2 hours. There was a bit of a swell and a bit of a breeze. Several camera and lens combinations did protect their owners from becoming wetter! It was an excellent day for birds. Five albatross species [Buller's was new for me], two jaeger species [Arctic and Long-tailed were new for me], Sooty Shearwaters plus dolphins, seals and sharks. I did get sun/wind burnt.

Arctic Jaeger

Long-tailed Jaeger

Shearwater

Shearwater

Crested Tern

Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross

Buller's Albatross

Campbell's Albatross

White-faced Storm-Petrel