birding – Page 7

Flitting About …

Yesterday we arrived in Port Fairy on Victoria’s south west coast and here we shall pause for a week . We will taking bracing walks in what passes for the summer heat and look for goldfinch and greenfinch to bolster our year list! Here is a simplified map of progress since Wilcannia. Simplified because since crossing the Victorian border we have been flitting about like flies on a cow pat visiting favourite places, favourite people and a caravan repair yard for a bit of plumbing work.

Rainfall in the interior of Australia and much of the west coast is unpredictable and usually sparse. For the north and east coastal fringes, north of Brisbane, summer rainfall is the norm. From Brisbane south and around the south coast and for a triangle in the south of Western Australia winter rainfall predominates. This pattern has held up on this trip, indeed it may be somewhat exaggerated this year. Since leaving Queensland the country has been as dry as a chip.

In Wilcannia the bird watcher should stay at Warrawong on the Darling. The camp ground is adjacent to a couple of billabongs. These are usually productive but on this occasion one had little water and the other was dry. The river Darling itself had plenty. There are some 4WD tracks across open plains to patches of River Red Gum woodlands along the banks and if clean toilets and warm showers are of any interest it even has those.

From there it was on to the banks of the mighty Murray not far from Mildura and then various much loved locations in the Victorian Goldfields. And now Port Fairy which is unique in Victoria in very nearly being quaint. The surrounding countryside, the Western District of Victoria, is brown and dry, drier than we have ever seen it.

There is a Short-tailed Shearwater colony in Port Fairy and I’ve just got back from watching the Shearwater parents returning to feed their chicks. They come in just after dark, land near their burrows and then run to the waiting chicks. It is a wonderful experience to sit in the colony and have them flying in around you.

Rocky …

Just north of the Tropic of Capricorn and about 40km from the coast lies the City of Rockhampton. European settlement occurred for the grazing, the discovery of gold in 1859 gave it a push on elevating it to the city of “sin, sweat and sorrow” according to Anthony Trollope. Some of the fine Victorian buildings still survive, the population now stands at close to 79,000 and the general look of the place is more tired old lady than red light district.

It stands on the Fitzroy River which floods occasionally and the city is also subject to cyclones. Possibly the earthquake of 1918 was the most exciting thing that happened here, but give it its due, the weather is quite nice in winter.

Our planned itinerary would have taken us further north but flooding has closed a few roads. The traffic Queensland map looks like this today.

This is a shakedown tour for the van, we have to be back in Caloundra for a service in a week. So time to turn. Presently we are at Kinka Beach which has been quite productive for bird watching between the showers.

The highlight was Kinka Wetland. This is about 1km off Kinka Beach Road via Young Avenue. Despite its name the alleged avenue is an unmade track currently subject to many puddles. The surface is nice and solid despite all the rain, no problem with traction but having 4WD in reserve was a source of great comfort. Kinka Beach and the Causeway Lake are also worth a look.

Bigfoot …

At Byron Bay we found our first Brushturkeys of the trip. They are found in rain forest of Australia’s east coast. They have large strong feet which they use to rake the leaf litter to find their food. Along with the Junglefowl and the Malleefowl they make up the Australian contingent of megapodes.

Megapodes have a very specialised mode of reproduction. The male megapode uses his big feet to create and maintain a mound which includes enough composting leaves to create heat. The females visit and once the eggs are fertilised they are laid in an excavated hole in the mound which then provides all the heat needed for incubation.

When the chicks hatch they have to dig their way out. They emerge into the domain of a father who wants nothing more to do with them and is very jealous of his territory. They must find shelter from him and from predators. Fortunately they can already fly and feed themselves. Henceforth they are on their own.

When the boys grow up they must either inherit or create a mound of their own. If they choose your back yard the petunias are in big trouble.

The road trip has moved up the coast to Brisbane.

Lazy Day in Byron Bay …

And just for a change torrential rain, thunder and lightning. Byron lost its electricity supply for a few hours. All in all a chance to take stock and catch up on some editing.

We are 4,800km from home. The trip bird list stands at 103 species. The symbols on the map show where I made my observations. The red symbols are places that are frequently birded, the blue ones are other spots where I found some interesting birds.

I would certainly have seen more if we could have taken our time, a lot of roses left unsmelt on the trip so far but the tempo will change.

I managed a few nice photos along the way …

Gayle has gone to catch up with a friend. Their friendship began on their first day at kinder and survived despite separation whilst still in primary school. I think that’s rather special.

Dog Farts …

Roma to Byron Bay – 618km.

Fifi McGee is a Fox Terrier. She is 15 years old and she has been with us for about 13 of those. No, we did not choose the name. She is blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other, she struggles to determine how far away things are. She is totally deaf, you could let a bomb off next to her and she wouldn’t notice. On the positive side she is no longer bothered by thunder, there is little downside – she never did take any notice of verbal commands.

She is a very widely traveled little dog and a good camper. There is one problem though. After a few days on the road she starts to fart. There is nothing more potent than a dog fart in a closed car. Shame it doesn’t kill flies.

The Roma dawn chorus this morning was dominated by the Laughing Kookaburra. There are two kookaburra species in Oz. Across the top end we have the Blue-winged Kookaburra which winds up ready for a laugh but just can’t finish the job. I feel quite sorry for it. The Laughing Kookaburra is an east coast bird, (also introduced to the Perth region of Western Australia). They overlap in coastal Queensland from Brisbane northwards. An English survivalist, Ray Mears, made a film about survival in the Top End. The soundtrack features a Laughing Kookaburra that isn’t found there. What would a pom know about survival in Australia? Loony.

The Roma Bush Gardens are mainly the work of local volunteers over a quarter of a century. They have done a magnificent job. It is a great place to find a good mix of bush and water birds. Bird of the day is awarded to Plum-headed Finch.

Plum-headed Finch, photo Roksana & Terry, borrowed from the Macaulay Library

And we crossed another border. Byron Bay is in New South Wales. Clocks forward one hour because NSW has Daylight Saving Time through the summer.

One More River …

Kununurra to Manbulloo Homestead – 481km.

It was the Croc Motel in Kununurra that was pet friendly. It was also clean and comfortable although there was a faint aroma of damp. The units are arranged around a courtyard where someone is doing much better with their Heliconias and ferns than I am in Broome.

Given that today would be somewhat shorter we took time to go birding in the Celebrity Tree Park on the banks of Lake Kununurra. Very enjoyable. Best bird goes to Comb-crested Jacana with Tawny Frogmouth a close second.

Then onward ever onward. Still Highway 1 but now called the Victoria Highway. That part of the Great Northern that we traversed yesterday and the Victorian together form part of the Savannah Way – I think we are overdoing the names here. But, anyway a new day, a new state, a new time zone and a new speed limit. Northern Territory, clocks forward one and a half hours (yes, Central Australian time is a bit weird. I haven’t encountered anything but whole hour shifts any where else.) and the beast could now be unleashed at 130kph (80mph) if you dared on a narrow, wet, flood affected surface.

The rain began around lunch time and continued on and off for the rest of the day. There were waterfalls coming off the escarpments in fairly spectacular fashion and the rivers were up. Plenty of water about.

Two important rivers are behind us now, the Fitzroy on day one and the Victoria today. In recent years both of these have flooded causing delays that lasted weeks. It’s good to have seen them in the rear view mirror.

Manbulloo Homestead is on the Katherine River and the birding is good. Tomorrow is a big day, long way to go, so there will be little time to enjoy it here. Must come back.

All is set for a classic day three tomorrow.

A New Year …

I do wish you a happy and trouble free 2025.

Bird watchers around the globe have been out chasing a big day to get their year list off to a good start. Me too. I was introduced to a competition of sorts by birders on Townsville Common. It’s simple. Your list has to be bigger than the number of days elapsed in the year. Easy at first, it gets tougher as you get deeper in the year. When you fall behind you’re out. I call it the Calendar Game and play just against myself. I have lost every year since the Big Panic changed my travel habits.

So on the first of the new year I got ahead of January and February. I have a road trip coming up so the list should move along well for a while.

While having a look at Broome’s Entrance Point a couple pulled up near me and asked, had I seen it? Not only had I not seen it, I didn’t know what it was. They’d found it on the oval in town and alerted the bird watching community. I was the last birdo in town to reach the oval … not long after it had gone. The alert had come through on my watch, which was at home charging.

It was a gull. It had been very happy to hang out with other gulls especially around anybody who looked like they had food. Next stop all the other places that I knew gulls congregated starting with Town Beach …

Americans will be wondering why the fuss? A Laughing Gull, so what?

It’s the first record for WA and new for my Australia list. Thank you Clare and Grant.

Singapore, A Garden City …

For such a densely populated place Singapore is remarkably green. Water and sunshine obviously help, but there has been a deliberate policy that nature should not miss out completely in the scramble for land. And it hasn’t. There are birds, mammals and reptiles in parks and gardens that are big enough parcels to sustain them. Yes, the glass is not full but don’t think of it as half empty.

In six days I visited ten parks and gardens. They were all worth visiting. My main interests are birds and wildlife so let me rate them with that in mind. (Gardens by the Bay is unmissable for different reasons). I’ll list them below the photos for any one planning a visit themselves. There are two groups – my favorites and the merely marvelous.

Favorites

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Jurong Lake Gardens
Dairy Farm Nature Park

Silver Medalists

Fort Canning Park
Gardens by the Bay
Hindhede Nature Park
Pasir Ris Park
Mount Faber Park
Punggol Waterway Park

Rain delayed play …

Last full day in Singapore, 7 am, and it’s raining. And boy, does it know how to rain. We have been lucky. Most mornings have been dry, afternoons not so much. Only once have we been soaked to the skin despite our umbrellas. Rain, of course, is the reason the city state is so green.

The birding has been fascinating. Forest birding is always tough, throw in the lack of familiarity with Asian birds and the list takes a while to grow. On the other hand novelty always adds spice. Here is a taste, more when I get home and start editing …

A Common Rarity …

Spring has sprung and the migratory waders are back in Roebuck Bay. These are birds that breed in the far north of the northern hemisphere taking advantage of their short summer period of great abundance. The abundance is so great that the hatchlings feed for themselves. That’s a great saving in effort for the parents but at the expense of a long flight to escape the coming winter and capitalise on abundance elsewhere.

In those species that breed across a range of latitudes those that breed furthest north generally winter further south than those that breed in the southern part of their range. This leapfrog pattern of migration appears to have been brought to science’s attention by J A Palmén as long ago as 1874. One particularly good example of this is the Common Ringed Plover Charadrius hiaticula. Those that breed in southern Sweden or Britain winter in southern Europe whereas those breeding in the arctic mostly take the trip to Africa.

Mostly, but for the last three or four years a single bird has been turning up a stone’s throw from the Broome Bird Observatory in Roebuck Bay. This is presumably the same individual which must make it a leapfrog champion. There have been sightings of Common Ringed Plover further south but they are decidedly rare here in Oz.

I caught up with the Roebuck regular last week …