Top Birds & Everyfing

Wild Bali Starling - Bali Barat National Park

When I came to Bali I had not the slightest expectation of seeing a Bali Starling Leucopsar rothschildi especially as it's one of the world's rarest birds, but I saw one anyway. And to boot it was a wild bred bird in its natural habitat. The Bali Starling is more correctly (and boringly) regarded as a myna and often is refered to as the Bali Myna. Anyway, I spent the morning with friends at the Bali Barat National Park with local guide Hery Kusumanegara. Our driver drove us from Canggu (not far from Denpasar) for about three uneventful hours (ignoring the almost head-on with a bus on the wrong side of the road merely overtaking a line of trucks around a blind corner... as you do) leaving before dawn at the un-holiday-like hour of 5:00 a.m. to get to the park at 8:00 a.m. Driving in Bali is interesting.

The main habitat of the Bali Starling is dry savanah woodland on the end of the Propat Agung Peninsular in the Bali Barat National Park. The volcano in the distance is across the straits in Java.

To get to the place where Hery optimistically (in my mind as I was still unconvinced we would see one) suggested we would look for a Bali Starling we went by boat to the Propat Agung Peninsular. It's also the only remaining habitat of the Javan Lutung or Black (Ebony) Monkey on Bali... which we also saw... the babies are orange. We didn't however see a Bali Tiger which was not surprising as the last one in Bali was shot in the park in the 1930's, there abouts.

The vegetation types throughout the whole the Bali Barat National Park consists of mangrove forest, savanah woodland, monsoon forest and rain forest. The preferred tree for the Bali Starling is Acacia leucoplea which is a tall white-barked long living acacia that grows in the savanah woodland.

A wild Bali Starling in the Bali Barat National Park. The are only five wild Bali Starlings in this part of the park. There are two pairs and this single year old bird. All the wild birds are banded.

The Bali Starling is extremely rare in the wild and is listed as critically endangered. It is endemic to Bali and in the wild probably number about 30 birds. Larger numbers exist at the Nusa Penida Bird Sanctuary (sourced from captive populations) on an island east of Bali; in various zoos around the world and by bird fanciers particularly in nearby Java where 500 to one thousand individuals may exist. The wild population are still threatened by poachers who can sell the birds for about $3,000 each.

However there is a captive breeding population for release and other wild populations exist in the national park.

The Bali Starling showing it's crest. Blue skin surrounds the eye. The feathers on the forehead come forward over the bill. The wing tips and tail tips are black.

After preening itself the Bali Starling flew into this acacia leucoplea and began foraging. The white branches and trunks may help to camoflage the bird. Unlike most mynas it does not seem to forage on the ground.

This photo shows the black wing tips. The feathers on the forehead come over the bill which is a bone colour at the tip fading darker towards the head.

The second half of the day we spent in the monsoon forest at Tempat Wisata Resort where there is a large tower overlooking the forest. There we saw this Crested-Serpent Eagle. 

Our guide Hery Kusumanegara overlooking the savanah woodland which is the preferred habitat of the Bali Starling. Hery is Balinese and an experienced guide who has a detailed knowledge of the Bali Starling, it's conservation and distribution as well as the other birds, mamals and vegetation of the area. He has travelled to Yokohama to study the captive population there. Hery is based near the Bali Barat National Park. I contacted him through Birdingpal but he can be contacted directly at: hery_kn@yahoo.co.id

Hery offers one to three day tours including the rain forest parts of the park as well tours of nearby Java.

The list of birds seen at the park are as follows:

White-breasted Woodswallow, Glossy Swiftlet, Common Tern, Bridled Tern, Yellow-vented Bulbul, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Olive-backed Sunbird, Bali Starling, Lesser Coucal, Bar-winged Prinia, Small Minivet, White-shouldered Triller, Great Tit, Golden-bellied Gerygone, Java Sparrow, Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, Pied Fantail, Zebra Dove, Island Collared Dove, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Green Junglefowl, Crested Serpent-Eagle, Coppersmith Barbet, Small Blue Kingfisher, & Pink-necked Green Pigeon.

Other animals were:

Javan Deer, Grey Monkey, Black Monkey, Wild Boar, Water Monitor, Barking Deer.

Bali Barat National Park is also known as the West Bali National Park.

The colourful and very active Small Minivet hovers about foraging for insects.

Miranda Shorebird Centre - Ramsar 459

Against the backdrop of clouds rolling across the shallow waters of the Firth of Thames is the old hide at the Miranda Shorebird Centre.

The shell banks at Miranda are an example of Chenier Plains which are a series of shell banks interspersed with mudflats and are a rare landform globally. 

The shell banks and the mudflats are ideal hight tide roosts for shorebirds. Bar-tailed Godwits; many changing into breeding plumage, and Oystercatchers are among the many birds that are found in the area.

The Wrybill, Anarhynchus frontalis, is an endemic bird of New Zealand and is the only bird that has its bill bent sideways. It is a frequents visitor to the mudflats at Miranda. It breeds on the wide braided rivers of the South Island.

Behind the shoreline are a series of shallow lakes much used by waders, ducks and herons.

The White Heron, to give it its New Zealand name, feeds among the shallow water and mangroves.

Bar-tailed Godwits take to the sky on a dark grey morning. Miranda is the site where the famous E7 departed at 8:00 a.m. on the 17th march 2007 for Korea and Alaska. She returned to Miranda on the night of the 7th September, 2007 after a non-stop 8 day flight from Alaska. The round trip was a 29,000 kilometre flight and is a remarkable achievement of endurance and navigation.

Readers may wish to see my previous posts in the science link of this blog for a discussion on navigating by compass and celestial navigation, as well as some ideas on how birds may navigate over vast open Pacific Ocean.

Bird species seen on a brief visit to Miranda were, Pukeko (Purple Swamphen), Black Shag (Great Cormorant), White-fronted Tern, Red-billed Gull (Silver Gull), Pied Oystercatcher, Variable Oystercatcher, Turnstone (Ruddy Turnstone), Spur-winged Plover (Masked Lapwing), Banded Dorrerel (Double-banded Dotterel), Wrybill, Pied Stilt (Black-winged Stilt), Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Lesser Knot (Red Knot), White Heron (Great Egret), White-faced Heron, Grey Teal, Grey Duck (Pacific Black Duck), Australasian Shoverler, Australasian Harrier (Swamp Harrier), Kingfisher (Sacred Kingfisher), Welcome Swallow, Australian Magpie, Dominican Gull (Kelp Gull), Blackbird, House Sparrow, Myna and Common Starling.

The Barbary Dove In Adelaide

Barbary Doves are thought to be introduced species in Australia, probably escaped birds that have established a feral community. My first sighting of the species in Australia was on the way home to Adelaide from a bird survey at Kalamurina Station at the top of Lake Eyre. When we reached Adelaide we called into the northern suburb of Salisbury to see them. Bit like visiting the rellies for a cuppa! Shortly afterwards I saw them again on a regular basis at Emma St, Marino Rocks on my morning walks along the cliffs and reported them on Birdapedia.

 

 Barbary Dove at Seacliff in Adelaide.

I still see them at Marino Rocks from time to time but this afternoon when I was out on the street in front of my house painting the fence I realised there was one cooing from above me. It was sitting on the power wires... they always sit on power lines... I'm not sure it was there because I was painting the fence or just a co-incidence. Anyway I dropped everything and rushed inside the house... casually... grabbed the camera and lens and came back out and took some photos. It was watching me watching it, but didn’t fly away until I went back and got the ladder and climbed up and get a more horizontal shot.

At that stage it had enough and took off and for its trouble was promptly chased by a Magpie that had been watching the whole performance from the other side of the street.

 

Barbary Dove sitting on power wires. It's brown eye clearly visible.

There’s some confusion to the origins of the Barbary Dove. It seems to have originated as the African Collared Dove which explains its Barbary moniker. The Barbary Coast is on the North Western coast of Africa, home of the Berber people from where the Barbary Coast and more importantly Barbary Pirates got their names. I’ve seen Collared Doves in Europe which appear to be very similar if not the same... to a Barbary Dove that is in case you were thinking they looked like a Barbary pirate.

Anyway it’s an evocative name and a nice bird although it seems to suffer an image problem with some Australia birdos. So I’m not sure whether anyone is interested but there you go... Barbary Doves are still available to be seen by those who are obviously desperate enough around the southern coastal suburbs of Marino Rocks and Seacliff.

Barbary Doves can be seen at the intersection of Emma Street and The Esplanade, Marino Rocks, sitting on the power wires.

The first war conducted by the USA after independence was fought against the Barbary States in retaliation to the capture of American ships that were held for ramsom... the wheel turns!

Sandfly Creek - Mackay - Queensland

Sandfly Creek is just down the river from the centre of Mackay and was close to where I was staying over the weekend. It's great to see conservation areas set aside so close to towns, especially for visitors. I was only in Mackay for a short visit so I managed an early Saturday morning walk along the path which goes alongside a mangrove forest, tidal river and grasslands. The tide was high so there were a few waders in close; Eastern Curlew; Whimbrel, Greenshank and Pied Oystercatchers and a Nankeen Night Heron.

 

Immature Channel-billed Cuckoo... I wonder what bird was it's host parents. 

A loud screeching found me staring up at a immature Channel-billed Cuckoo which was great because I don't get to see them that often. My books indicate their hosts include Pied Currawong... the last time I had seen Channel-billed Cuckoos was on the waterfront at Wollongong right beside a busy road. There was two adults in a Norfolk Pine tree harrassed by a pair of Pied Currawongs. One of the Cuckoo's was in the Currawong's nest. It consumed three eggs whole... it picked the eggs up one by one and down they went. The other Cuckoo then came down and swallowed the fourth one. No chicks for that pair of Currawongs.

 

Mangrove Honeyeater. A far more attractive bird than it's Singing relative. I particularly like the bold yellow face and the blue eye.

I decided to go to Sandfly Creek to find some Mangrove Honeyeaters and there was plenty of them there although they seem fairly shy compared to Singing Honeyeaters. I like their blue eyes. Red-backed Fairy-wrens were in plentiful supply, the males perched high on the grass stalks.

 

Non-breeding Golden-headed Cisticola...

I always get the grass birds mixed up but I reckoned there were lots of non-breeding Golden-headed Cistacolas. They were flying overhead, calling loudly, rapidly flicking wing beats, then descending into the grass. Below is a photo I took in Timor Leste a few years ago. Both Zitting and Golden-headed Cistacolas are found in Timor Leste and Indonesia.

 

This photo was taken in Timor Leste I believe is a Zitting Cistacola... the slightly raised tail and spikey hairdo... ideas anyone?

A lone Pheasant Coucal flew past carrying on a bit...

 

I've got much clearer phtos of Pheasant Coucals but the underwing pattern of this fuzzy bird appeals to me.

 

Osprey on the Brisbane River

I've been working, yes working...like Toad and Ratty on the banks of the lower reaches of the Brisbane River down stream of the Gateway Bridge at Pinkenbah. Its an industrial area close to the river mouth of oil refineries, container terminals, factories, docking wharves, ships, barges and dredges all full of high viz shirts, hard hats and scuffed boots; and suitably out of sight from the social graces of the cafe dwellers upstream. Here the river lazilly flows back and forth in its own good time in tune with the tides and swirling about among the mangroves that line the banks, the navigation poles, mooring bollards and all shapes and sizes of boats. Pinkenbah is an Aboriginal word meaning "place of turtles".

An Australian Pelican sleeps on a bollard after a nights foraging. A Little Black Cormorant looks on...

Being an industrial area you wouldn't imagine that as a bird watching hot spot it don't amount to a hill of beans. However, that said there was a constant passage of bird life up and down the river and in the trees and lawns surounding the factories. Brahminy Kites, Nankeen Kestrels, and White-bellied Sea Eagles patrolled up and down. Willie Wagtails, Rainbow Bee-eaters and Welcome Swallows foraged for insects and Superb Fairy-wrens flitted in the bushes. White-faced Herons fished along the muddy banks.

"Look at me, look at me, I can stand on one leg... pelican yoga!

I'm going to look the other way if you're going to show off ...

A Cattle Egret flies overhead.

An Eastern Osprey feeds on a fish. It must have taken a bucket load of upward lift vectors to get a fish that big up onto the top of that pole..

I've had the pleasure of seeing Osprey in Scotland as well as in many places around Australia. In the Kimberley, a pair of them raised their family on a nest built on the roof of the Catepillar road grader... which meant we couldn't use the grader for six months until the chicks fledged... the second one usually doesn't survivie. Osprey are usually quite content to live close to people. It's always an unexpected thrill to see them and especially rewarding on the Brisbane River out the front of where I was working. But I can't for the life of me work out why they are regarded as a separate species to the Osprey in Scotland... they're just a world wide species!

Adelaide’s Sore Thumb Conservation Cove.

 

Mutton Cove Conservation Park. Site of historic ship wrecks, birds and industrial development. Severely degraded by since European Settlement is now in need of extensive restoration.

When I’m back home in Adelaide I don’t get much time to go bird watching. There is alway more jobs lined up than you can shake a big stick at. So, when a small window appears and I can escape for a few hours I head north up the beach from my home, past historic Port Adelaide and up the Le Fevre Peninsular to Mutton Park Conservation Reserve. Its a great place to go bird watching... close to the centre of Adelaide, not too big, no crowds, not even anybody... a reasonable number of birds... what more could you want? Well when it comes to Mutton Cove, lots...

 

A Rock Parrot sitting on mangroves at Mutton Cove.

The Le Fevre Peninsular stretches north from Port Adelaide, bounded on the west by the Gulf St Vincent and to the north and east by the Port River. It’s a low lying finger of land much used for large scale industrial purposes, a process that grows even bigger today with the expansion of port facilities at Outer Harbour and the massive development of the Techport Australia project to build air warfare destroyers and potentially new submarines. All of this is fine, if Australia wants to develop more industry, it has to put it somewhere.

 

Mutton Cove has the last remaining samphire on the Le Fevre Peninsular. Brown Songlark sighted here in January 2012 was the first of this species seen here over my visits of the last few years.

Tucked away in one small out of the way corner of the peninsular is Mutton Cove, the last remaining samphire flats and mangrove woodland on the peninsular. It’s a small piece of natural estuarine landscape, albeit severely degraded since european settlement, in an otherwise industrial landscape. It probably owes it’s existence more to being abandoned as useless rather than because of the farsightedness of some sagacious person. Over the years it’s been a dumping ground for rubbish, old cars, waste and all manner of degradation. Fortunately it was rescued before it was totally reclaimed and is now a conservation reserve. However today, it still appears to be a wasteland despite the efforts of community groups and volunteers who have laboured long and hard to remove rubbish, plant shrubs and improve facilities.

 

Contaminated area suffering from past unregulated dumping and reduced tidal flows and tide heights with which to flush the Cove properly.

The Cove was once part of the Port River tidal inlet and as such its estuarine habitat was subject to the natural tides of the river. Some time ago the whole area was largely isolated from the main tidal flow by the construction of a sea wall. Since then a limited flow of sea water into the Cove occurs through some inadequate piping that allows sea water to flow in during flood tides and drain out on the ebb.

 

The sea wall which separates the Port River and the Cove. The pipes just visible under water only allow a portion of the incoming tide to flow in restricting tidal range and flushing. This wall needs to be breached with a bridge that allows full tidal flow.

As you would expect, the sea level in the Port River rises for several hours during the flood tide, covering the intertidal zone until it reaches its high tide. However within Mutton Cove, because the pipes restrict the flow, by the time the river tide is at its peak the Cove level is still much lower, by a half metre or more. When the river tide falls, initially the tide continues to flow in for a short time until the the river level and the Cove level are the same and then outflow begins, again lagging behind the river tide.

 

Waders frequent the Cover. These Red-necked Stint are resting on the river side of the sea wall.

There are two major effects of the restricted flow into the Cove. First the intertidal zone has less depth because the full extent of the tidal change is never achieved and secondly there isn’t sufficient flow in and out to flush the Cove properly. This means that the distribution zones of the intertidal plants species is different to the natural surrounding inter-tidal area and the reduced flow causes algal blooms lie in decomposing beds alongside the waterways, altered salinity and high contaminant levels.

 

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper foraging inside the Cove.

To add to this the whole reserve is unsightly; weeds abound, piles of rubble from past dumping still are much evident; the pathways, fences are in poor repair and scattered blocks of concrete, tyres and other rubbish are scattered about. Oozing contaminants seep into the samphire from the industrial waste that was dumped there in the past. Many of the plants that volunteers laboriously planted to improve the Cove have died through lack of care. All in all, it’s sad to say is what you often expect to see at an out of sight - out of mind nature reserve.

 

Beside Mutton Cove new buildings as part of the $10 Billion Techport Naval Hub are extensively landscaped and maintained.

All around the Cove there is evidence of the ten billion dollars that is being spent on the Techport development which has been labelled as Australia’s premier naval industry hub. Among all the huge development of buildings and shipping facilities the developers have done extensive landscaping and planting of native flora. It’s a different world on the other side of the fence in the Cove which by comparison languishes as an unwanted and unsightly backwater. It’s like a sore thumb!

 

The Australian Submarine Corporation and the new airwarfare destroyers are neighbours. Even though Mutton Cove is surrounded by industrial development it's value as a nature reserve should not be discounted. Many plant and bird species exist within the reserve.

According to the spin, the opening of the Techport was attended by the US Ambassador and the Deputy Secretary of Defence and delegations from Spain, India, Germany and Israel have already visited Techport... I hope they kept the visitors away from seeing Mutton Cove.

 

Australian Crake tears across the mud into the shelter of the shipwrecks. New species for me at the Cove.

Some of those ten billion dollars needs to be spent on restoring Mutton Cove to its natural state and improving the facilities to confirm with locals and visitors alike that we here in Adelaide care as much for our natural environment as we do for industrial development.

So, what more could you want for Mutton Cove? For starters the sea wall needs to be breached so that the natural tidal range can be re-established. The majority of the sea wall should remain because it provides a good walkway, but it needs a buttressed bridge under which the tide can flow unimpeded. The facilities in the Cove need to be brought up and maintained to the same standard as the Techport infrastructure surrounding the park with proper pathways, fences, hides for viewing bird foraging areas and rest facilities for visitors.

The less than salubrious entrance to Mutton Cove. Hardly condusive to being a neighbour of a centre of excelence.

It is well past the time in which industrial and government stakeholders of Techport need to take the leadership and responsibility for what is an important conservation reserve in their back yard. After all this should be a premier nature reserve reflecting its surroundings, not an embarrasment!

For those who would like more information on Mutton Cove an “ Environmental Management Plan - Mutton Cove, South Australia, produced by Faith Cook and Peri Coleman - 17 December 2003 is available on the following link.

http://www.deltaenvironmental.com.au/archives/Mutton_Cove_web.pdf

Anyway, anyway, anyway...back to those jobs... well they say you’ll never empty your in-tray, the to-do list just gets bugger (freudian slip)... so my goal when they ultimately cart me away in a box to the knackers yard... the in-tray and the to-do list will still be overloaded but my bird list will hopefully be looking better than today... well that’s the plan. Dreams are free!

And a final thought... a name change would be good. Mutton is not exactly an inspiring name although it's appropriate in its current state. Given its aboriginal heritage I'm sure a more appropriate name could be found.

 

 

The Old Mate and the Moggy

 The Old Mate was at the wheel of his truck on the way home from his local pub late on Christmas Eve. Now the pub was in the middle of the the Outback about a days ride on a good horse west of nowhere, not that the Old Mate ever had a good horse. The days when the Old Mate rode home from the pub on his horse are now long gone. These days the Old Mate has a truck of sorts, which like his horse, more or less know’s its way home which is fortunate because the Old Mate is a bit vague and the more Christmas cheer he’s had the more likely it is he’ll get bushed and the sun will rise on another Christmas Day with him slumbering under a Coolibah tree nursing a splitting hangover and with flies crawling about in his mouth doing nothing in particular.

 

The Cooper Creek in outback south west Queensland... having a channel flood.

Anyway, anyway anyway, back to the Old Mate driving home... the Old Mate sees a black cat in the middle of the road blinded by his truck’s headlights. Now the Old Mate’s reactions aren’t that flash when he sober... so bang... he hits the cat. Because the Old Mate hates cats... and only because of the environmental carnage they do to the endemic wildlife of the outback... he gets out to with his shotgun to make sure the cat is dead.

 

Square-tailed Kite over the Hay Plains.

Sure enough the cat is as stone dead as a flattened rat; an ex-cat, deceased, departed this world, an un-cat; so he pumps a couple of shotguns shells into it just in case.

 

Eastern Yellow Robin, Illawarra Escarpment.

The Old Mate looks around and sees in the distance the lights of an isolated farmhouse. Now although he hates cats the Old Mate’s not completely devoid of feelings and seeing it’s Christmas and the Christmas cheer he had at the pub hasn’t yet turned into a hangover he thought he might go over to the farmer’s place and let them know about the sad demise of the cat just incase the ex-cat is their cat... it being Christmas and all that... and they may have some whiskey with which to commiserate the whole hullabaloo. 

Anyway, the farmer’s wife came to the door and the Old Mate said, “Sorry about this ma’am but I just drove over your cat in my truck and killed him. “Not so fast”, says the farmer’s wife, “it may not have been our cat. Can you describe him?”

 So the Old Mate does his dead cat impression by laying down in the dust sprawled out with his arms and legs at funny angles and his tongue hanging out... 

 “No, you bloody halfwit”, says the farmers wife, “what did he look like before you hit him?”

 At that, the Old Mate got up, covered his eyes with his arms crossed and screamed “Aggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!”

 

Massed Coots at Never Never Land

An idealic scene in Western Victoria... trees, dry grass and a small waterhole.

Never Never land is featured in my childhood memories of J. M Barrie’s works as the dwelling place of Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys... and a half magical bird called the Neverbird... which I don’t as yet have a “tick” in my Moleskin.

It’s also the name of a remote area of the Outback in Barcroft Boake’s poem “Where the Dead Men Lie”.

The Never Never... the outback north of Meekatharra. Mt Augustus is on the horizon. It is the world's biggest rock... two and a half times bigger than Uluru.

Out on the wastes of the Never Never -
That's where the dead men lie!
There where the heat-waves dance forever -
That's where the dead men lie!

Somewhat morbid but moving on...

Never Never also features in “We of the Never Never” which is an autobiographical novel by Jeannie Gunn about the author’s experiences at Elsey Station in the Northern Territory near Mataranka... a little out of the area in question...

Henry Lawson, who has to be Australia’s best poet... wrote about never-never in his poem “The Never-Never Land”

It lies beyond the farming belt,
Wide wastes of scrub and plain,
A blazing desert in the drought,
A lake-land after rain;
To the skyline sweeps the waving grass,
Or whirls the scorching sand-
A phantom land, a mystic realm!
The Never-Never Land.

The flooding rains experienced in Western Victoria in January 2011 at the end of a decade long drought I suspect filled what would have been a very dry and fairly insignificant lakebed where Never Never Road joins the Western Highway at Gerang Gerung west of Horsham in the Wimmera. While Western Victoria is not quite “beyond the farming belt” during the drought it would’ve been thought so by an overflying Neverbird.

Australasian Grebe... always seems to turn up whenever a few drops of rain get together to form a waterhole of some sort.

Driving past there during the last few days (December 2011) this small lake still has water in it albeit getting lower. The drying is evidenced by the hard mud edges to what is now a pond of only about 200 metres long and around 50 metres wide. What made me pull up in a hurry was the honking number of birds concentrated on this pokey little waterhole considering it was such a relatively wee, half pint, teeny-weeny area with little or no reed beds or other apparently supporting habitat.

I counted 270 Eurasian Coot, 170 Grey Teal, 22 Hardhead, 18 Australasian Grebe and 7 Black-winged Stilt... which is oodles of Coots.

The same waterhole... under the magnifying glass is massed with Coots, Grey Teal, Hardhead, Grebes and Black-winged Stilt.

One of the pleasures of observing nature are the multitudes of apparent enigmas in the surprising behaviours and distribution of wildlife. I can only assume that what looked like a fairly ordinary ephemeral waterhole was brimming with prey... and for me... my usual state of discombobulation!

 

December Birds In “Red Dog” Country.

 

The Miaree Pool west of Karratha. A hundred or so Plumed Whistling Ducks rest of the banks.

The last time I was in the Pilbara was this July, 2011 when "Red Dog" had its premier in Karratha. Because this was a short visit I just kept to my usual haunts... the coastal strip at Nickol Bay east of the township of Karratha and the Miaree Pool on the Maitland River west of Karratha. No doubt the Red Dog had been there looking for his mate...

 

A mixed bunch of waders arriving at their high tide resting site at Nickol Bay, Karratha.

December is generally not regarded as the most pleasant time to visit the Pilbara, especially if you are hotness adverse or bush fly adverse, but so far this year it has been surprisingly cool and according to the Old Mate only a half a million bush flies to the acre.

 

A Pheasant Coucal foraging among esturine mangroves.

For bird watchers this year has been a great time to be along the northern coast of Australia (and everywhere else) because of the abnormally high rainfall over the last year or so. For instance, the BOM website gives the average rainfall to December for Karratha as 273 mm (10 inches... so it’s arid) and the total for the year up to December in 2010 as 55 mm... parched! So far this year (2011) a total of 765 mm has been recorded, almost three time the average and fifteen times the 2010 total. As I write the first cyclone of the 2011/2012 season (Cyclone Alenga) is dispersing north west of Australia without touching land... always gets everyone’s attention in the Top End.

 

A very relaxed Magpie Lark...

2011 has been an exceptionally wet year across the length and breadth of Australia. South western WA was last on the list and finally got it’s rains by midwinter. So for the first time in I would imagine, many many years the whole of the Australian continent was green. Right across the normally arid areas of central and northern Australia high rainfall has turned the desert verdant. Some parts of central Australia instead of being its usual dust bowl looked like a cow paddock. In the Pilbara there are still many pools of water lying in the creeks and rivers where most of them would normally be bone dry.

 

While there are not so many as there was earlier in the year the Sturt Desert Pea is still in flower. This one looks like the head of the "Red Devil", not a "Red Dog".

At this time of the year the migrating waders are well established in their southern hemisphere summer habitat. Across the several thousand kilometers of coastline along the top of Australia there is an almost boundless expanse of mud and sand flats exposed by the high tidal movement... up to 10 metres in places. Most of this area is remote and difficult to access. It is almost impossible to get a handle on just how many birds are potentially out there but at least here in Karratha it is not too difficult to get a taste... and a hunger to explore further.

 

White-plumed Honeyeaters were very active around the Miaree Pool. These northern birds seem to have a large dark eye and a pale bill.

Nickol Bay boat ramp is a great coastal location to visit for both a richness of species and abundance of birds and is only a few minutes from the centre of town. It has a bustling interface with the wide expanses of tidal mud and sand flats out to sea, the mangroves that fringe the coast in many places, the estuaries of mangroves, samphire and open mudflats; and the grasslands, shrubs and rocky outcrops immediately behind the coast.

 

Singing Honeyeaters are common along the coastal fringe.

The Miaree Pool is under the North Western Coastal Highway a short drive west of Karratha. It is one of the many places where the Maitland River flows down over rocky outcrops into a series of wide and deep pools. The banks are fringed with tall eucalypts, reeds and shrubs. Triodia spinifex grasslands and sparse acacia bushes cover the surrounding undulating hills.

 

Whistling Kites, Black Kites and Wedge-tailed Eagles are frequently seen at the Miaree Pool area.

The Pilbara, while's its probably not on the "hot spot" bird watching map is a really interesting destination for bird watchers looking for something a little bit different and who enjoy exploring areas that are off the beaten track. Who knows... you might see a red dog!

Waterbirds At Gluepot

Mallee at Gluepot Reserve at Picnic Dam. abundant growth after good rainfall seasons has benefited the whole reserve.

 After a month in Italy... lakes, quaint villages, mountains, Duomo’s (cathedrals), Sacra Monte (Sacred Mountain) heavenly risottos pizza and seafood... yummy... good as it was, what I needed more than anything was to sit under a gum tree, breathe the fresh scent of the bush and see the southern stars by night. So, after a visit to the grandkids and a quick mow of the lawns it was off to Gluepot. The last time I went to Gluepot was August 2009 when it was still in drought. And has it changed since then.

 

Mallee re-generating after the 2006 fires. A good spot for Rainbow Bee-eaters who can sit on the high dead branches watching for prey.

If you haven’t been to Gluepot then you need a good talking-to. Gluepot is just one part of a huge band of conservation mallee reserves that stretches from NSW around AWC Scotia, across the border into South Australia that includes Dangalii Conservation Park, Calperum Station, Taylorville Station to mention a few. It’s a must see!

Central Bearded Dragon on the road into Gluepot

Now if you are thinking that it’s too hot to go to Gluepot in November and December, then think again. The weather right up to Christmas does get hot, but between the hot days there are always fantastic days when the cooler air blown up from the southern ocean cools South Australia... and the days are longer too. It must be a secret because I was the only person camping on the reserve... how peaceful after the madding crowds of Milano.

A Rainbow Bee-eater taking advantage of the uninterupted view from the high perches available in the burnt areas from the 2006 fires.

Driving in from the Morgan Road what was most noticeable were the large number of Woodswallows. They were in good numbers throughout the whole reserve. They were flying overhead in large groups, feeding on the ground and congregating in large groups in trees.  It seemed to start with that they were all Masked Woodswallows and were probably the most abundant, but there were still lots of White-browed and a few White-breasted.

A few of the seventy mostly juvenile Black-tailed Native Hen foraging around a flooded area at the Old Gluepot Dam.

To start with I headed west to the Old Gluepot Dams. Even though the dams on the reserve have been bulldozed the rains have filled the remaining hollows into ponds of varying sizes. At the Old Gluepot Dam there was a large number of mostly juvenile Black-tailed Native Hens, along with Grey Teal, Pacific Black Duck, Australasian Grebes, Pink-eared Duck, a solitary Hardhead and a Coot. A White-necked and a White-faced Heron were also in attendance. Kangaroo Dam had Grey Teal, Pacific Black Duck, Australasian Grebes, a few Black-tailed Native Hens and a Hardhead on its much smaller pond area.

Pink-eared Duck and a Coot... unusual visitors to Gluepot. At the Old Glue Dam.

By the end of the first day the winds had died away and the night was still and quiet. The next morning dawned clear, cool and not a breath of wind... I needed my jacket. I had camped at the Babbler camp site just east of the Visitors Centre. The sun was just appearing through the trees as I began the South Babbler walk. It was so utterly tranquil and lots of birds. The track starts in Casuarina, crosses a low sand dune and into mallee. Hooded and Red-capped Robins, Bell birds calling, Mulga and Ring-necked Parrots, Grey Currawong and a gorgeous male Splendid Fairy-wren.

A Masked Woodswallow, one of the many woodswallows seen all over Gluepot and surrounding areas. (Species corrected to Masked Woodswallow - thanks Helga)

Back to the camp... infused the air with the aroma of cooking bacon that I’d got from the Adelaide Central Market before I left, some free range eggs... gallus gallus and then the North Babbler Walk.

Brown-headed Honey-eater at the South Babbler Walk.

Broke camp after and Emu parade to see what I’d left lying around and headed for home via Picnic Dam, Kangaroo Dam and Old Gluepot Dam.

The absolutely fabulous Splendid Fairy-wren at South Babbler.

The White-breasted Heron was at Kangaroo Dam and the ducks, minus the Pink-eared were still at the Old Gluepot Dam.

Adult White-browed Woodswallow.

Well... after sitting under a gum tree, breathing the scents of the bush and gazing at the myriads of stars, not to mention a good selection of birds and particularly water birds my visit to Gluepot restored my inner being and helped overcome the jet-lag. But it still left me pondering why and how water birds would come to Gluepot when in reality there was not much water there. Black-tailed Native Hens numbers seem to have exploded everywhere you look. I even saw a couple down at my local beach a Seacliff foraging around a permanent spring that flows out of the base of the cliff. The puzzle continues...

A White-necked Heron at Kangaroo Dam at Gluepot. Another uncommon visitor.

 The full species list and comments can be seen on http://www.eremaea.com/Lists.aspx?List=102950 and http://www.eremaea.com/Lists.aspx?List=103078