Tag: WA

Meet Roderick Percival Smith, all the cows out here have individual names and wear their initials in their ear …

Well no. They all have the same tag and RPS stands for Roebuck Plains Station. The point of introducing you to Roderick is simple. There’s a lot of good birding out on the plains but it is a working cattle station and private property. You will need permission to visit and it’s a huge place. Local knowledge and permission is readily available if you go with the redoubtable George Swan or with staff from Broome Bird Observatory.

George is a top bird guide and lovely guy. He can be found at <Kimberley Birding>. The link for Broome Bird Observatory is <BBO>.

What’s happening on the plains depends on the weather, it might be dust or it might be under water. Presently it’s in between, some dust and some water. It’s nice although the temperature did reach 42°C (107°F) the other day.

You may be lucky enough to encounter Yellow Chat. They are not easy to find but if they’re about George Swan or the guys at the Observatory will know where they are. In breeding plumage they are a knock out. The ones I found this time were not at their finest but hey, that’s the way it goes.

Last year the rain gods were very generous to Broome. The last wet was a big wet. Even after the intervening dry season, lakes out on the Roebuck Plains still hold a good amount of water. The birds are loving it.

First a couple of photos for the true aficionados, answers at the bottom …

Like the two above, many of our shorebirds are very long distance migrants breeding in the far north of the northern hemisphere and coming to Australia to escape the northern winter. Dual citizens as it were …

Whilst others are resident.

Others aren’t shorebirds at all, they just have long legs, well adapted for feeding in shallow water. This would include the Brolgas in the headline photo, herons and Ibises – waders in the American sense.

Now the answers, these two individuals have been discovered in the last few days. The upper one is a Pectoral Sandpiper. These breed in Alaska and the Russian far east and most winter in South America. A few join the east Asian flyway and find their way to Australia or New Zealand.

The second bird is a Little Stint. Their breeding ground is in the Eurasian high arctic. Most go to Africa to escape the northern winter. A few find their way further east. It’s only a small minority that find their way to Australia.