Thursday 18 April 2024

WESTERN SHRIKETIT AT LAST

I was very frustrated last year when I dipped on the Western Shriketit after having seen (with some effort) the supposedly more difficult Northern Shriketit. This time I was determined not to fail. So succeed I did! Thank you, Des Hume! I was advised not to travel during school holidays (always good advice) but I had not considered that it is best not to travel the day after school holidays either. My plane flight to Perth on Monday 15 April was uncomfortably full and I thought I'd have been better off travelling on another day. However, when my trip home to Melbourne from Perth on the following Thursday was equally uncomfortably full, I revised this opinion and decided there was little I could do to ensure a comfortable flight. Des picked me up from my hotel at 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning and we drove straight to the Stirling Range, pausing only for coffee at Kojanup and arriving comfortably in time for lunch. We stayed at the Stirling Range Retreat and immediately checked out the famous water bowl by the office where the shriketits come to drink. Of course there was nothing there. It wasn't going to be that easy.
There were lots of Gilbert's Honeyeaters and Restless Flycatchers around the office and we heard owlet-nightjars, but did not see them. We wandered around and it wasn't long before Des heard shriketits call. Very quickly we were on to them: three birds, two males and a female.
Despite having missed the birds on my first attempt, I'd have to agree that the Western Shriketit is not as difficult as the Northern Shriketit. We went for a walk and soon saw another male. Then a large flock of Carnaby's Black Cockatoos flew very low over our heads. It was breathtaking. We enjoyed Elegant Parrots and Brown-headed Honeyeaters. After tea, I asked if we could go spotlighting, because we knew there were at least owlet-nightjars in the vicinity. We donned head torches and walked around the retreat, seeing lots of wolf spiders and one golden orb, and that's it. Not a hint of any bird or mammal. I ended the day with a list of 39 birds I'd seen, not a spectacularly large number, but who cares when there's a lifer amongst them? On Wednesday, we had just one task: drive back to Perth. Of course I wanted to see as many Western Australian species as possible in my very limited time, but I thought my time might be best spent looking for the last race of western whipbird I had not seen. I'd ticked both the White-bellied Whipbirds in South Australia and I'd seen the Black-throated at Two People's Bay, but I'd never seen the Black-throated at the Stirling Range. We decided to give that a try. I had no confidence whatsoever, but I had nothing to lose. I'd come to WA to see a shriketit and I'd done that. So we set off for Mt Trio, arriving at 7.30 a.m. I did not fancy walking through the dense scrub, but Des said we wouldn't do that: we'd stay on the road, and see the birds from there. 'Oh yeah,' I thought. Fat chance. We heard the birds almost immediately. I thought there were three, but Des said it was difficult to tell, they could be moving about. We walked up and down the road, hearing them well. I was quite happy, still enjoying the glow of yesterday's tick. After three hours, I did think fleetingly that perhaps I could have ticked a few more endemics and forgotten about the whipbird when a bird called quite close. We could hear that he turned his head while calling, and when he faced us, he wasn't far away at all. For the first time we ventured into the scrub. Branches were still black from the fire a few years previously and inevitably our clothes were soon striped attractively. Suddenly we saw the bird! It was just a new race for me, but I got as much pleasure out of seeing that bird, as I had the tick I saw the day before.
This photo is by Des Hume, as are the three Western Shriketits above. Thank you, Des for a most enjoyable and extremely successful trip.
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Tuesday 19 March 2024

THE GOLD COAST AND BRISBANE

Last year, I attempted to see a New Caledonian Storm Petrel out of Southport, and instead saw my bogey bird, the White-necked Petrel. So of course I had to return in 2024 to try again for the New Caledonian Storm Petrel. Paul Wallbridge reckoned I should give March a go this year, so March it was. Pelagics out of Southport were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday 16 and 17 March, but seas were too rough and the Saturday pelagic was cancelled. Luckily, I'd been booked on the Sunday. I always think of Southport waters as benign. I don't know how often these pelagics are cancelled because the seas are too rough, but let's just say it doesn't happen as often as it does down south. I was relieved my pelagic was still scheduled to go, but I remained anxious that something would go wrong until we were actually on the boat, and the captain was giving us our safety briefing, warning that it was going to be rough. As it turned out, it wasn't very rough. It did rain more than I would have preferred, but it wasn't too bumpy. There were 14 people on board and only one was seasick. I've been on worse pelagics, but it was, for me at least, a disappointing day. I recorded 24 species, but that's only because I started writing down my sightings as soon as I boarded the boat, so my day's tally includes Welcome Swallow, Pelican and Far Eastern Curlew. The only storm petrels we saw all day were Wilson's. This is an old photo of a Wilson's Storm Petrel was taken by Ken Haines, who wasn't on Sunday's pelagic.
On Sunday, we saw Hutton's Shearwater, but not Fluttering. I'm told that's usual for Southport. We saw several Tahiti Petrels, at least one Gould's, and quite a few Kermadecs in various plumages. The best bird of the day as far as I was concerned was a dark phase Long-tailed Jaeger, which Paul Wallbridge said he'd never seen before. One very interesting thing (which I'd never heard of before) was decoy storm petrels, made by Jacob Crisp out of old thongs! Paul and Jacob both assured me that these decoys worked, that is to say they attracted storm petrels. I certainly saw birds flying by for a closer look, but as the decoys were in amongst the burley, it was difficult to determine if the inquisitive seabirds were investigating the decoys or the food. Jacob kindly provided this photo of his decoys.
I was staying on the thirtieth floor of the Meriton Suites and when I returned, I was delighted to be greeted by a Pied Butcherbird sitting on my balcony. That was fun.
On Monday, I spent a wonderful day birding with Rae Clark. She took me to Federation Walk in Southport (Bush Stone-curlews, Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, Brahminy Kite, Osprey and a lovely Leaden Flycatcher), then to Sandy Camp Road Wetland (Comb-crested Jacana, White-throated Honeyeater, Rainbow Bee-eater, Variegated Fairywren), then to Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk (Mangrove Gerygone, Torresian Kingfisher, Tawny Grassbird, Grey-tailed Tattler). What a great day! I love it when I can't decide what is the best bird of the day. In the end I chose the Mangrove Gerygone, because he was beautiful and cooperative and I don't see them often, but Rae pointed out that the White-throated Honeyeater was all of these things too. She is quite right. And I did love the tiny black fluffy chicks of the Buff-banded Rail. So, while the pelagic let me down, I had a great trip. I will try again next year for the New Caledonian Storm Petrel. I hope it doesn't take me as long to see this special storm petrel as it took me to see the White-necked Petrel, because I may not live that long! POSTSCRIPT: On 24 March 2024, Jon Spicer-Bell reported seeing 4 New Caledonian Storm Petrels at Britannia Guyots, Southport Seamount. This is in NSW and must be very close to where I went looking for the storm petrels last February.
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