Please note this is an ongoing blog, please come back later to find out where we went and see the photos of the trip. 17/11 2023 93km Finished work at midday and got the train back to my friend’s...

Please note this is an ongoing blog, please come back later to find out where we went and see the photos of the trip.

17/11 2023 93km

Finished work at midday and got the train back to my friend’s house, a quick lunch and shower, finished the packing of the car and we headed off at 14.30, through the gathering traffic and up over the Perth hills to Collins Rd Westdale and went in search of the shrike-tit, but couldn’t find it again, my consolation bird was some Regent Parrots that were very flighty. As usual when camping it was dinner early with both flies and mozzies and bed early, and read.

Carnaby’s Cockatoo

18/11 440km

The dawn chorus was mainly Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters and Australian Ringnecks, up not much later and added Red-capped Parrot and Western Rosella then after breaky we went to dam Eagle Track Boyagin where Western Spinebills were using the dam, and a flight of Elegant Parrots also came in to the dam. From there it was down to Yornaning dam which had a good level of water with Purple-crowned Lorikeets in the trees and Jacky Winters in the lower shrubs. Kerr Rd Wikipin had a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles and Little Corellas at the edge of their range. We wound our way down through the minor tracks that looked like they might peter out but got through to Toolbin Lake NR where there were a feeding group of Yellow-rumped and Chestnut-rumped Thornbills. Boundary Rd Turin Rock Rd quarry was hot and dry and netted a White-eared Honeyeater during lunch. It got to 29C during the afternoon with not a cloud seen all day. Heathland NR Pelham Rd had a coloured male Blue-breasted Fairywren and White-browed Scrubwren. We were now headed due east, 40km west of Lake King had a Southern Scrub Robin and White-naped Honeyeater. Norseman Rd Ladyman Rd Lake King had breeding Grey Butcherbirds. We got in to Frank Hann NP to find that it had had a serious bushfire through it, probably the 2019 fires. We camped at Lilian Stokes Rock which had also been burnt out and until just before dark the only bird I had was a lone Brush Bronzewing, but then a Singing Honeyeater and some Black-faced Woodswallows turned up, but 3sp in a national park is woeful and shows just how long it can take for wildlife to recover from a huge fire. There were some Ornate Rock Dragons on the rock but they were very timid and I failed to get a shot of one despite staking out a crevice where I’d seen one duck into. I was reading my book after dark when I heard what turned out to be Spot-thighed Frogs calling, so I went and recorded them on FrogID, a new frog for me .

Elegant Parrot

19/11 396km

The rock dragons weren’t out and about when I did my rounds so I missed my shot of them. I found a few birds using the dense regrowth including a pair of Shy Heathwrens pottering about on the edge, but when I got my camera out they quickly went and hid. After breaky we headed east and stopped at claypan Norseman Rd and got Redthroat and just up the road we got a Bustard which stopped only a short way from the car so we both got shots of it. At the junction of shires the track deteriorated from an easy 70kph track to a pot-holed slow track. Many of the pot-holes had water in them, but the track was hard so they weren’t boggy. We stopped at Ninety Mile tank which is falling apart and had no water in. The large bushfire had tore though here too with the island around the tank the only unburnt area. I got a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater here. It was a slow drive east dodging all the pot-holes. About half way along the dead straight track we stopped at a nominal creekline, there wasn’t much evidence of it, and no water and I got 6sp of ordinary bush birds. We eventually made it out to the main road and turned south to Quast Rd Kumarl for lunch with our peace and quiet of the track we’d just done shattered by road trains and goods trains. I got the first Pied Butcherbird here which was long overdue. Dundas Rocks was hot and dry with a Grey Currawong just about the only active bird. Norseman was all shut up apart from the BP servo where we filled up with diesel and put water in the water tank. We then started the long trek across the Nullarbor. First stop was Buldania Eyre Hwy where I got the usual yellow-plumed Honeyeaters. At Dundas Nature Reserve I found a tree in flower with White-fronted and White-eared Honeyeaters having their afternoon feed. Park bay Fraser Ranges had a Rufous Treecreeper. We stopped at Newman Rocks to camp as the site is nearly far enough from the road to deaden the sound of the trucks. After dark I wandered down to the pool at the base of the rocks and found lots of Yabbies in the shallows and a herd of camels, but no frogs calling.

Australian Bustard Australian Bustard Spotted Military Dragon Crested Bicycle dragon

20/11 449km

Ended the survey with 20sp, of note was the number of Grey Currawongs, they are pretty thinly spread in the region in general with them not turning up all that often on surveys, but they are turning up regularly on this trip and here there were 5 of them. On eastwards before 7am. The first stop was wrecked house Eyre Hwy which is the old Balladonia homestead, it’s sad to see this old stone house slowly deteriorate, with the roof now starting to come apart. 90km east of Balladonia had common bush birds. Track near Oodlegabbi Rock hole Caguna is very sparse woodland where I got a family of 5 White-browed Babblers. Nuytsland NR Eyre Hwy is very low small shrubs with one or two old dead trees a favourite habitat for White-winged Fairywrens, choosing the larger and thicker ones to hide out in. 63km west of Madura has reasonable woodland, but in the afternoon all that was active were some Yellow-throated Miners. In better woodland at Hampton Tablelands west of Madura there were 10 woodland species. We stopped to camp at gravel pits east of Madura. In the cold windy conditions the birds weren’t very active. As the sun went down we had to break out the jackets.

Grey Currawong Dusky Woodswallow

21/11 281km

I walked a long way in the morning to find just a pair of White-browed Scrubwrens in the Saltbush/Bluebush Acacia/Sheoak woodland. On eastwards to Mundrabilla Repeater where a pair Dusky Woodswallows look like they’ve raised a Horsefield’s Bronze Cuckoo. There were no birds found in the good looking woodland at Hearder Hill Repeater Rd. Just off shore at Eucla dunes was a Sooty Shearwater bouncing about in the waves. Border Village SA was lunch where in a flowering gum were some Purple-gaped Honeyeaters. 60Km east of the WA border were some juvenile Redthroats. At Great Australian Bight Lookout Bev found a Pacific Gull. We camped at truckstop 103km east of the border and got Nullarbor Quail-thrush Purple-backed Fairywren in very fresh looking breeding colours and another Redthroat. It had been a cold blustery wind all day from the south, it had threatened rain sometimes but none eventuated, but I never took my jumper off all day, and the jacket went back on well before the sun went down.

Short-tailed Shearwater Purple-gaped Honeyeater Australian Raven

22/11 389km

The night stayed windy buffeting the car all night, so we didn’t get a great night’s sleep. Worse was that it stayed windy all day long streaming up from the south, which may help to account for the lack of birds at the survey sites, but this stretch never seems to have active sites. The one exception is my site at Nullarbor which usually throws up something interesting. This morning it was our first stop and I got nothing, Bev didn’t even deign to get out of the car it was so futile, but I went out into the shower of rain in vane hope and got no reward. The next site at 23km east of Nullarbor is similar habitat and with similar weather, but I managed to spook a White-winged Fairywren from what it deemed a not secure bush to a larger one that may have harboured more of them, but they weren’t coming out, so I let them alone. Next was 50km east of Nullarbor which is good looking woodland but only got 4 common woodland species. Coombra Tk Yalata had the return of Grey Currawongs. Yalata had 4 common woodland species. At Cundillipy I finally found some feeding birds in the late afternoon sunshine with Yellow-throated Miners, Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters, Weebils and Striated Pardalotes all having bred here recently and actively feeding their young, or the juveniles out and about feeding themselves, with adults still looking over them. We camped at rail reserve Ceduna where I broke out my chair and watched a handful of birds trickle through the site in the late afternoon including a Spotted Harrier.

Striated Pardalote

23/11 267km

Ended with 14sp and headed down to Ceduna head of bay which had a few Red-necked Stints at the low tide. Through the quarantine station and into Ceduna, first stop was fuel. The trip across from Norseman had cost us $283, and we now had full fuel tanks again. Bev did some shopping, but it was difficult to find a place that would let us have a shower. Most caravan parks with let you buy one for $5ea, both the ones in town told us to go away and the BP’s showers were only for truckies. Thankfully the Mogas truck stop on the east side of town let us buy a shower for the standard $5, so we left Ceduna all nice and clean and drove down to Acram Creek CP for lunch. The shoreline was jam packed with birds, with 16sp. Further down the Eyre Peninsula at Deor Way EBA Anchorage the point was also crammed full of birds with 16sp also. At South Head Venus Bay we did the northern part of the walk which was in the lee of the howler out of the south. We had good views of Elegant Parrot and yes 16sp all up. We camped at Three Springs Lake Newlands CP, and the lake had a teeming mass of birds including Avocets, Banded Stilts, Cape Barren Geese and over 100 waders, mainly Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Curlew Sandpipers. We had a colourful sunset then I went down to record the frogs that were in the zone between the active spring and the saltwater lake in a mass of sedges. They were all Eastern Common Froglet.

Yellow-throated Miner juvenile Red-necked Stint Red-capped Plover Painted Dragon Elegant Parrot Eastern Reef Egret dark phase Pacific Gull Elegant Parrot Banded Stilt amongst Grey teal Banded Stilt adult in foreground, 2 juveniles in background Red-necked Avocets Sunset across Lake Newland Sunset across Lake Newland Sunset across Lake Newland Sunset across Lake Newland Sunset across Lake Newland Red-necked Avocets feeding. Apologies for the cock-eyed angle. A bit of colour in the clouds at sunset Lake Newlands Conservation Park A bit of colour in the clouds at Lake Newlands CP

24/11 322km

Ended the survey with 31sp and quite a few sandfly bites. There were two huge flocks of Starlings each of around 2000 birds, quite dismaying. There were no sandflies last night in the wind, but overnight it had moderated and they were out in a swarm around the car as we ate breaky, many drowning in my cereal milk, thankfully they didn’t add much flavour. We headed east up Rocky Valley Road to Larne Dr east Colton for a handful of open country birds, then on to the Birdseye Hwy to Polda which had some big old trees, some native gums, some pines. We got our first White-winged Choughs here and I flushed a Barn Owl. On east to Woore Rd east of Lock for another handful of open country birds. Quinn Rd east of Rudall was the same. We had lunch at Chase Dr Cowell. I walked the small dead end trail into the mangroves but didn’t score much. Up the coast now to Munyaroo CP which only had a pair of Weebills and we went to Ironstone Hill CP dam to camp. The dam was dry and the birds were largely gone.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper View Entire Post