William woz here. Dampier that is. Twice, in 1688 and 1699. He left his name on the peninsula and both his ships have also been immortalised in the names Cygnet Bay and Roebuck Bay. In the latter there is a little island called Buccaneer Island in his honour. Behind Roebuck Bay the Roebuck Plains stretch off into the distance, open country, occasionally flooded, few trees. sometimes swarming with ducks and Magpie Geese, the nesting place for terns. Other times a dry grassland, home to the beautiful Spotted Harrier and the Red-backed Kingfisher. And like most of Australia’s Kingfishers the Red-back wouldn’t know what a fish is.
Dampier was a pirate, a naturalist and an author. He circumnavigated the world three times. His botanising increased the sum of human knowledge, his writing added plenty of new words to the English language and inspired Banks, Humboldt and Charley Darwin himself. He published the first English language recipes for Guacamole and Mango Chutney. Where would we be without guacamole? Living in Broome I trip over his name almost every day but on the whole he is not as well known as he should be. I recently watched a YouTube video that gives a reasonable account of the guy. You may enjoy it …
Not Ar Derby pronounced in the English style, they’ll look at you funny. This is the far north of Western Australia we’re talking about. Population 3,325 unless someone has gone to Broome for the day which is a little over 200km to the south. The main tourist attraction is the Prison Boab and it has a port and some interesting sculptures. There are no take-away alcohol sales on Sundays or Mondays. The sculptures are best seen at sunset (Tuesdays to Saturdays).
The birding is good. The number one hot spot is the water treatment plant and the adjacent wetland. Access is via Conway Street off the Derby Highway and can be interesting in wet weather. You are sure of a good list of the regular suspects and it gets more than its fair share of rarities.
The port area is also good. It lies across a causeway on the shore of King Sound famous for its 11 metre tides. A lot of mud at low tide, good for waders in the summer not so much in the dry. Always a chance of a nice crocodile. All the mangrove species are close at hand but they are easier to see in Broome (take the Broome Bird Observatory Mangrove Tour).
Munkajarra Wetlands are 21km south of town, the last couple of kilometres are on an unmade track. Easy going if the weather is dry. The lake will be on the eastern side of the track therefore best in the afternoon. Mosquito repellant, long sleeves. You know the drill.
In town the ovals and even the median strip can turn up some nice birds especially in the wet. I have seen Little Curlews running around down the main street.
For a nice quiet drive birding from air conditioned comfort start at the Pioneer Cemetery and follow Lovegrove Street south east until it meets the Gibb River Road. It’s, for the most part, a one lane sandy track through open savanna and tidal flats. It’s about 8km and I have yet to encounter another vehicle on the route.
Where to stay? Birdwood Downs Station, about 17km out of town and there is a nice walk among the Boabs and some good birding. Cabins and un-powered camp sites.
The Pied Butcherbird is sitting in a Jigal Tree Lysiphyllum cunninghamii otherwise known as the Mother-in-law tree. In Aboriginal culture a man does not talk to, or sit facing his mother-in-law. The paired leaves of the Jigal face away from each other. It has nice red flowers. Click on the gallery for a better look.
About half way between Cygnet Bay and Broome, close to the community of Beagle Bay, there is a turnoff to the west that leads to Banana Well. The road is unmade and presently the last 4km is pretty rough. The camp site is grassed and the facilities are adequate. There are some ponds adjacent to the camping area. It’s a couple of kilometres from the “beach” across tidal flats that are not without hazard. It’s a great spot for the birdo, hopeless for a family beach holiday, seems popular with some fisher folk but would be a bugger of a place to launch a boat.
It’s not hard to get into this situation but expensive to get out. I’m pleased to say that’s not me. I took the photo on a previous visit. Had he taken his foot off the accelerator when the wheels started to slip we could have pulled him out. He gunned it and managed another 150 metres ending up well beyond solid ground. The momentum system of four wheel driving has its drawbacks!
There is a marked walking trail starting from the camp ground that visits the ponds, some savanna woodland, tidal flats, mangroves and some fairly dense Melaleuca. Birding is excellent around the ponds.
There is a large population of feral Donkeys in the neighbourhood.
The Grey-crowned Babblers were busily building a nest but this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s breeding season for them. They build dome shaped nests for roosting as well as for egg laying.
I finished the gallery with the two noisy ones. The Donkeys seemed less shy this visit and the Kookaburras are never shy.
We got home to Broome. I heaved a sigh and settled into a torpor.
There is a limit to how much torpor I can do. So the van was rolled out again for a short expedition up the Dampier Peninsula. Broome is on a little peninsula hanging, – like a little boy’s tossel, off a big peninsula. The big peninsula is named for William Dampier (1651-1715), the first English man to explore Australia. In January 1688 his little ship the Cygnet was careened near the tip of the peninsula.
Off to the east of Cygnet Bay is King Sound with Derby near the southern end, an area famous for it’s 11 meter tides. The other blue stuff on the chart is the Indian Ocean. Highway 1 comes up from Perth on the left hand side of the map then curves around and heads east towards the Northern Territory. The country enclosed by the highway is the Great Sandy Desert. The peninsula is not desert and therein lies much of its charm.
Until just a few years ago the road up the peninsula was dirt. It was a great adventure for the tourist in the dry but a nightmare for the aboriginal communities in the wet. It is now a beautiful sealed road. The drive takes you through savanna, a few patches of open grassland and, in places, genuine forest. The blacktop stretches out in front of you fringed by bright red dirt. The dirt gives way to spear grass, some of it twice my height and the trees. Soon the Woollybutts (Eucalyptus miniata) will flower and the scene will go from beautiful to spectacular.
At Cygnet Bay and in other odd places on the peninsula there are patches of semi-deciduous tropical vine forest. That’s quite a mouthful, unpack it if you will or just think – jungle.
This is the western end of the north coast and the western limit of a number of north coast birds. It is still in the Shire of Broome so guess where every Broome birdo worth their salt comes to add Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Shining Flycatcher and Mangrove Robin to their year list? Pathetic isn’t it? There is a very pleasant campground, a restaurant and a pearl shop. The Fruit Doves can be found conveniently close to the bar, and there are plenty of other birds to find as well.
That’s a hermit crab in the Beach Stonecurlew’s grasp. I don’t know if it would crush the shell or just swallow the lot. It is a ferocious looking beak.
We spent three nights ay Cygnet Bay. On the way home we spent another night at Banana Well.
The road trip comes safely to its end. The trip meter ticked over to 23,258km. The new van performed admirably. The binoculars feasted on 305 species of bird. It was a hugely enjoyable journey. The final few days looked like this …
Cyclone Errol did eventually fall in line with predictions (not hard for it. Just about every possible scenario had been predicted over the last few days). It had reached category 4 strength but was weakening as it headed for the coast north of Broome. We were bracing for possibly damaging winds and heavy rain but have only had overcast skies, moderate winds and high humidity. The top of the Dampier Peninsula was expected to take the brunt of it. Hopefully it has done little damage there.
It’s good to be home. Now to plan my next road trip.
I saw the the gorgeous and rare Letter-winged Kites at the Athelle Outback Hideaway where we stayed the night. Nice place, 28km off the Stuart Highway north of Alice. Naturally I posted the sighting on eBird. I got a phone call today from the owner of the camp ground to tell me that her phone had been running hot and asking for more information.
These birds are usually confined to a small area in central Oz where they enjoy a diet of rodents, especially the Long-haired Rat. If the rat population booms they boom. When the rat population goes bust they wander far afield in search of food and can even turn up at the coast.
If you’re in the neighbourhood click the link above and get out there before they are completely depixelated.
The Flinders was as dry as a chip. We took the scenic route through the Parachilna Gorge – not as scenic as Glass Gorge but gentler on the trailer. Then north up the Outback Highway. There was some green pick after Leigh Creek, then some surface water and by the time we pulled into Farina actual grass and even some mud. And by all accounts there’s a lot more of that ahead of us.
This route north brings you face to face with history, John McDouall Stuart followed by the Overland Telegraph, then the Ghan, the birth and death of little towns like Farina. How could you not love this country?
A number of things had conspired to draw people north from Adelaide. As dry as it is, cattle and sheep can be grazed in the hinterland. The railway provided a good way to transport them to market. The telegraph and the railway provided employment. And of course, at the time it was thought that the rain would follow the plough. Plant your crops and the rain would come, a theory promoted by scientists of the day such as the noted American climatologist Cyrus Thomas. The settlement here was founded in 1878 as Government Gums. Its name was changed to Farina to reflect the intention to grow wheat. It grew to reach a peak population of approximately 600 in the late 1800s. It was the rail head for a time. In its heyday, the town had two hotels (the Transcontinental and the Exchange) and an underground bakery, a bank, two breweries, a general store, an Anglican church, five blacksmiths, a school and a brothel. Wild oats were sewn but no wheat was grown. All that remains today are the ruins and the cemetery.
It’s a great camp site and an excellent spot for birding. Inflation has hit, the fee is now $10 per person per night, a 100% increase in 9 years. The bakery has been restored and is in action during the winter months when the camp is busy. At the moment we have it almost to ourselves.
It was the 2nd of April 1989, opening day of the new metropolitan park. It was extremely busy. In I drove through the northern gate. I followed the road which ringed the picnic area. Traffic was nose to tail, moving at a snail’s pace. Each of the carparks were full and having completed the circuit I was decanted back onto Lower Dandenong Road. I found a carpark at the second attempt.
In the early days I coordinated bird counts in the park and I was involved in a long running banding project. The bird list grew apace. A walk around the park’s 310ha (770 acres) would yield about 50 species in about 3 hours at a bird watcherly pace. According to eBird the list now stands at 188 species.
Braeside Park is one of the first places I head to when back in Melbourne. The number of bird watchers is up, the number of bird species is down. Many of the birdos are carrying cameras with very long lenses. It seems that the advances in photography have attracted many more people to the hobby.
The decline in species is probably due to a number of causes. There has been considerable development surrounding the park. Previously raptors such as Swamp Harrier could range over the park and extensive grasslands outside the fence. Now they just have the park which may not be enough for full time habitation. In addition Melbourne has had a very dry summer which may have caused some species to go looking elsewhere. And it’s autumn, the summer migrants have gone.
Nonetheless the park remains an outstanding place to watch birds.
Australasian ShovelerPink-eared Duck with chicksFreckled DuckRainbow Lorikeet
A simplified map of the road trip so far looks like this …
There is a considerable discrepancy between the distance shown on the map and the trip metre in the car which stands at more than 15,000km. Simplification does that sort of thing. We have been exploring!
Marvelous Melbourne is where I spent the largest part of my working life, it’s where my small family lives and it’s also en route to becoming the most populous city in Australia and bankrupt. Each to his or her own, I can see many advantages to living in Broome, beautiful beaches, little traffic, warm winters but of course there’s a but. Medical facilities are very limited. Getting to see a doctor takes ages and you’re unlikely to see the same doctor twice. Anything sophisticated is a 2000km journey to Perth. Melbourne continues to be where I take care of the routine side of my medical care. I’ll be here until my new glasses are ready.
Meanwhile it’s great to catch up with my family and my friends and to go birding in old haunts such as Braeside Park and Phillip Island. The year list is up to 274 species (safe until October 1 in the calendar game but finding new birds is getting much harder).
Australasian SwamphenAustralasian SwamphenCape Barren GooseLittle PenguinNankeen Night HeronFreckled DuckChestnut TealGreat EgretFreckled DuckWhite-eared HoneyeaterPink-eared DuckRoyal SpoonbillAustralasian GrebePacific Black Duck
As I recall Statistics is something you can do with independent observations taken at random and assembled into a sufficiently large sample. It’s a dark art, lies, damn lies and statistics etc. Bird watching stretches it even further into the kingdom of the devil. Bird watchers choose their sites to generate large lists, large list are more fun. Will we turn left or right? Depends where the Red Goshawk’s nest is or the owl’s roost. It’s called bias. Bird watching and citizen science make for a turbulent marriage
The year list is coming along very nicely, thank you for asking. Bird watchers tend to disparage introduced species, the plastics, but we do make sure to get them on our lists. If numbers give you an inner glow then they all count. I have my Goldfinch for the year. Port Fairy is very good for Goldfinch. But where is my Greenfinch? If I don’t get it here I am unlikely to get it this year.
Port Fairy is also a very good place to find the Striated Fieldwren. They live in rank vegetation and low scrub. In spring the males get up on rocks or taller plants and sing their little hearts out. The rest of the time they are a challenge. It’s not spring but this visit they have been very cooperative. I even have photographs! (Notice they all face to the left, n=2, the sample size is too small, p is nowhere near significant).
Striated FieldwrenStriated Fieldwren
That thing they do with their tail is very endearing. Shame the one in the better light didn’t do it.
Port Fairy is not only famous for Fieldwrens it is also home of the Port Fairy Folk Festival. Secombe Park has been transformed into a reasonable facsimile of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The town benefits greatly from the revenue raised. Fortunately I will have left before the festivities reach full swing.
Just over a day to find the furtive finch. I haven’t connected with the snipe either, it may be too late in the season for them. I may have to come back in the spring. But the birding has been excellent …
bobmcgee 