Oooops...

It seems that in updating to a new email address yesterday and deleting my old blogger account, I also deleted every single photo on the blog...

@#$%^%^&!!!

Will take me a while to replace everything, so for a while all the blog archives may just be text reports.

Cheers,
A Very Annoyed Joshua Bergmark

Western What?tlebird

Max turned 18 on the 14^th of April. When asked by his mum whether he would like to go get drunk with his friends, he replied something along the lines of “nah, I’d prefer to go looking for birds (the feathered kind of course)”. Good choice!

Max subsequently asked if I would like to join him and his mum Sarah on a 7 day whirlwind trip to South-West Western Australia. The planning done, and the first set of Year 12 exams over, we found ourselves landing at Perth airport. Taxi to the hire car place, and we picked up our car. This was our car.

Bad omen? We’ll see. Off we went to find a supermarket to stock up. We got lost, and Sarah pulled over so we could get out the GPS. In a shrub right next to the car was a pair of LAUGHING DOVES. Excellent start!

We headed off to Dryandra Woodlands, attentively watching the roadsides en route hoping to get a few early ticks. Max called out Black Cockies! whilst we were traversing the Perth hills – luckily they were Red-tailed Blacks as they didn’t land and ID would have been impossible otherwise!

While passing through Wandering only a few kms out of Dryandra, Max yelled out STOP! Right next to the road in a dead tree were 14 CARNABY BLACK COCKATOOS! The first endemic had fallen.

13/14 Carnaby's Black Cockatoos

We arrived at Dryandra Village to be greeted by John, whom on learning that we were birders, handed us a map complete with annotations on every species we asked about  - these annotations proved to be almost 100% accurate and helped us a lot. In the birdbath next to reception, we had WESTERN ROSELLA, many Brown and New Holland Honeyeaters. The trees held both pardalotes and a number of thornbill species (not Western), Brown-headed Honeyeaters, etc. After a quick unpack, we headed straight to Old Mill dam where we had been guaranteed dead cert RUFOUS TREECREEPER. We were not disappointed! Also WESTERN THORNBILL, Western Gerygone, and a Kings Skink. We drove up the road about a km, and stopped because I had accidentally turned a dead stump into a Numbat… however, it was a good mistake to make, as the surrounding area was fantastic, with Jacky Winter, Scarlet and Red-capped Robins, SWAN RIVER HONEYEATERS, Yellow-plumped Honeyeaters and the beautiful spotted White-browed Scrubwren (why is this not a full species?!) We continued on to the start of the Ochre Trail where we had been told to look for Shrike Tit. When we stopped, there were no birds, and the habitat looked pretty terrible. We decided to walk up the road a bit and realised we had stopped in the wrong place! We got to the Ochre Trail parking area, and the birds fell quickly – a party of BLUE-BREASTED FAIRY WREN (no breeding males unfortunately), Elegant Parrots flying over (which was a tick for me but I refused to tick them from that view), Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Dusky Woodswallow, a group of the supposedly rare White-browed Babbler, and best of all, an obliging female “WESTERN” CRESTED SHRIKE TIT. The rest of the afternoon was fairly unproductive. After dinner, we headed off spotlighting. We could not get close to the Bush Stone Curlews and unfortunately missed seeing them. A pair of Barn Owls were heard (I did try to turn them into Masked originally, but Max put me in my place ;) ), an Owlet Nightjar was heard, a Tawny Frogmouth seen briefly and a few Brushtail Possums. Unfortunately no Bilby or Wyolie or anything else of particular interest. A Southern Boobook was heard later that night.

Dryandra

"Western" Crested Shrike-tit

The next morning we attempted to find those curlews again. The best bird to be seen up behind the village was WESTERN YELLOW ROBIN! Bird #499 for me – what would be #500? By this stage, we had seen every bird we had hoped for in Dryandra minus some unpredictable parrots, Western Spinebill, and Western Wattlebird. We decided to try up at Lol Gray, which was meant to be good for the two honeyeaters. On arrival, there wasn’t much about. We had a walk around, a few more Western Thornbills, a few honeyeaters (neither of the two we wanted), and then we saw two parrots fly into a tree. And they weren’t 28-Parrots! We slowly approached the tree and the  two parrots flew out to landed in a bush. Juvenile RED-CAPPED PARROTS - #500! Wohoo! High-fives were exchanged, and I marvelled at how these juveniles were actually surprisingly colourful – we weren’t to see an adult male for 4 more days. We drove back through Dryandra to the south-western exit. Just before getting onto the highway where stopping would be impossible, Max spotted some parrots, and we jumped out to get Max his tick, a pair of REGENT PARROTS. The biggest dip here was… Well… We saw all the birds we needed to get here plus more. The biggest dip was probably Numbat! So far, the slogan on the car door had proven completely incorrect ;)

Typical Dryandra Woodland

On to that little well known patch of heath known as Cheynes Beach. We were handed the birding folder on arrival complete with maps and annotations from various people over the last 3 years. We decided to head straight to the “Scrubbird Loop”, ticking off a lovely male WESTERN SPINEBILL on the way. On arrival we heard one scrubbird calling. Literally 1m from the road where we were standing. Did we see it? Nope! In frustration, we headed further up the road and walked around the rocky shoreline. Osprey and Pacific Gull were nice finds. Back near the beach, a white bird flew onto a branch – WHITE-BREASTED ROBIN!

White-breasted Robin

"Spotted" White-browed Scrubwren

It was approaching dusk, so we headed back to the scrubbird loop (not before again trying to see the bird calling from right next to the road) and sat down. We waited. Suddenly a Noisy-Scrubbird-Like-Dark-Shape ran across the road. Max and I looked at each other quizzically. Well that was shit. It was calling again, so we walked down and again got within 1m of it. Then it must have crossed the road without us noticing because it started calling from the other side! We gave up and went for dinner.

The next morning we got up early and walked back down and sat in the same spot. As we sat down, we could hear the scrubbird calling from only a metre in from the dirt track. We waited. It called. We waited. It called some more. We waited some more. It stopped calling. We tensed, binoculars pre-focused at the correct distance. Movement. The NOISY SCRUBBIRD hopped out of the bush, looked at us, ran back in. Came out, ran back in. Came out. Stopped. Ran across the road. Stopped. Ran into the scrub. The highest of fives were given.

"The Road" on the Scrubbird Loop

Cheynes Beach

Our spirits high, we walked up past the caravan park to the track leading east. We heard a Western Whipbird calling from right next to the track. We were 10m away when a bristlebird started calling from 5m behind us. Dilemma. We chose the bristlebird, and within a few minutes had fantastic views of a WESTERN BRISTLEBIRD calling right in front of us on a low bush before running away like a mouse into the scrub. The Whipbird had stopped calling, and not a single whipbird would call in an accessible location again for the next 3 days. Heading further along the track whilst trying to relocate a possible heathwren, we heard the mournful whistle of a firetail. Max whistled back, and soon two RED-EARED FIRETAILS flew in and landed on a dead tree. We walked all the way to the beach and back seeing almost nothing else. We did hear one whipbird, but after walking through 100m of heath it had stopped calling… Honeyeaters were in abundance, but we couldn’t find any Western Wattlebirds, only Red… After breakfast, we walked up the beach to try and find a lagoon mentioned in a few of the bird notes. We found it, and there was not a single bird there except for a Caspian Tern roosting with the gulls at the lagoons mouth. We headed back towards the caravan park and decided to bird the beach scrub. We finally found a flock of RED-WINGED FAIRY-WRENS, which was very exciting as unlike the Blue-breasts at Dryandra, this flock contained two breeding males!

Male Red-winged Fairy-wren

During the middle of the day, we headed over to the Waychinicup NP camping area, which was a fantastic place. Not many more birds except a Peregrine Falcon, but the scenery and large numbers of Kings Skink was satisfying enough!

Waychinicup NP

King's Skink

The afternoon was spent traversing large areas of heath in search of Whipbirds. Just before dinner, Max went to have his nightly chat with Layla, whilst I chose instead to head out for spotlighting. Back down near the scrubbird loop, I spotted a Quokka feeding right next to the road. As I was walking back to the caravan park, I passed the scrubbird road, and realised there was a bird calling a little off to the right. I sat down and waited. It ran across. I waited a bit more. A female ran across. Not as good as the views from the morning, but still an impressive(ly difficult) bird.

Quokka

South-western Rock-skink

Day 3 was dedicated to whipbird hunting. The previous day we had walked at least 12kms after that bristlebird and had not pinned down a single whipbird. On day 3 after successfully re-staking out the Noisy Scrubbird, we walked all morning and didn’t even hear a single peep out of anything remotely similar to a Whipbird. Max’s mum was heading to Albany, and we decided to join her out of sheer frustration, and hoping to see a Western Wattlebird which we were still missing! Over the day, we added a number of birds the trip list and saw the SW Purple Swamphen – much more vibrant than their eastern counterparts. When we returned to Cheynes, the wind had picked up. In Albany, Max had re-read Grants trip report from 2010, and we decided to try his route up the hill which he so bitterly despised. By the end of it, we also bitterly despised that hill.

The Top of the Hill

At the Top of the Hill

Max skipped spotlighting again, and I headed out in search of Honey Possum. An hour later, I learnt that Sod’s law also applies when looking for mammals. I was 50m from walking back into the caravan park when I heard a rustling in a bush just off the track. I stood at the side of the track and waited. I could see the bushes moving, and the creature zig-zagged through the scrub for a few seconds and then ran straight towards my foot where it stopped. A lovely Honey Possum. It crawled around in the vegetation next to me then moved a metre away. I decided pishing would be a good idea, and surprisingly it was – the Honey Possum ran right back up to my foot and sniffed it, then stopped. I took a step back, and it stayed put. I got the camera out and took two photos with it just sitting there. I then poked my finger at it, which it sniffed, then after a few seconds turned around and headed back into the heath. For me, that made up for the lack of whipbird!

Honey Possum

Day 4 – the wind had picked up even more overnight. We trekked up the hill. There was nothing. We came back down and left Cheynes Beach (not without checking out a few more Whipbird spots on the road out to no avail). Our Cheynes bird list stood at 60 species – on the bottom of our bird notes to be added to the birding folder, we wrote a note. “If only Western Wattlebird were as easy as Noisy Scrubbird”. We still hadn’t found one.

On the drive to Stirling Ranges, we spotted some ELEGANT PARROTS on the side of the road which I was able to tick. We got to Mt Trio. It was windy. We heard a whipbird 200m away. We left. We got to Salt River Road. It was windy. We heard a possible fieldwren. We left. Fairly annoying. We did have a good look at this shingleback though.

Shingleback - LEAVE ME ALONE

Elegant Parrot

The afternoon was spent relaxing at Stirling Range Retreat, which had some excellent birds, but nothing new (Max and I both had our best ever views of Elegant Parrot). The wind eventually died down in the evening. The next morning, we packed up and left for Mt Trio. The wind had stopped! But as we pulled into the road to Mt Trio, we realised that at this slightly higher elevation, the wind was actually stronger than it had been yesterday!!! Despite our despair, we forced ourselves to go looking for Western Fieldwren and Western Whipbird. While attempting to tape out a Whipbird, we heard a chattering trill right behind us. We turned around, played the fieldwren call, and a wren-like bird ran across the road. The bird was calling, but we couldn’t see it. I eventually said to Max “I’m going to try and get eyes on it”, so I stood up from our crouched position and right in front of us was the WESTERN FIELDWREN sitting on top of a bush singing its heart out! Soon after, we gave up on the Whipbird front and accepted our first dip for the trip. We finally found a male Red-capped Parrot drinking from a puddle on the drive out.

Western Fieldwren

We headed west, where we eventually reached Rocky Gully. Just outside of town, I spotted a huge flock of white birds on the side of the road - WESTERN CORELLAS. Funny to think that we pretty much saw the whole southern “Muirs” subspecies on one flock! Max and I decided that they were probably just about the most endangered birds that either of us had seen.

"Muir's" Western Corella

We headed further west and eventually reached Augusta (after a rather depressing lunch when we realised that we left our whole bag of tuna in a cupboard at Stirling!). Whilst Sarah was checking into the hotel, Max and I spotted a flock of black cockatoos land in a tree just across the road. We headed over, and yes indeed they did have very long bills! BAUDIN’S BLACK COCKATOO! We were very happy with this, as this flock was only the 4^th in the whole trip which we had had the opportunity to scrutinise. Now could spend the rest of the trip not worrying about the SWWA endemics...

Oh wait.

I turned to Max – “You know what this means?”
“What?”
“We’ve seen ever endemic except Western Wattlebird”

We had consistently failed to find this damn bird and we were starting to get worried.

Baudin's Black Cockatoo

Over to the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin we headed, but on Rock Parrot we were to dip, despite spending the better half of the afternoon checking out the waterwheel and lighthouse grounds. Apparently the grass had just been mown, and hence the Rock Parrots didn’t really have anything to feed on. Back to Augusta where we decided to check out the beach after some fish and chips at “The Last Eathouse Before Antarctica”. There were a number of people and dogs on the beach, so we weren’t really expecting much, until we realised that the beach contained the most Red-capped Plovers either of us had ever seen in our life! Every 3 metres there were another 3 plovers! While walking along, I spotted a different bird. “Double-banded Plover over there Max”. We had a look, then Max commented “wait, isn’t that a rare bird over here?” When we got back to the hotel, we checked, and found out that only one other Double-banded Plover has ever been reported to the atlas west of the Eyre Bird Observatory! We had just found a WA vagrant on par with birds such as Hudsonian Godwit or Little Stint, but it wasn’t even a lifer for us – haha! Also on the beach were 28 Sanderling, an Aus tick for Max (and my first sandpiper for the year, ticked before Red-necked Stint!).

Vagrant: Double-banded Plover a long way from NZ

The next morning, we tried again in vain for Rock Parrots at the lighthouse and in the dunes behind the beach. This was to be dip number two after Western Whipbird. We headed north towards Perth, windows down in case we heard a Wattlebird…. En-route we stopped at the northern end of Lake Clifton to see if we could find the Grey Plover reported a few days ago. Max and I were impressed when we got out of the car that we had accidentally found the viewing platform for a colony of Stromatolites – the most prehistoric organisms in existence which we had been learning about in biology for months. No Grey (or Hooded) Plovers unfortunately.

Stromatolites at Lake Clifton

Eremaea had told us one of the best sites in WA for Western Wattlebird was the nearby Marina Bay Drive. This was where we headed next. It seemed promising, and the suburb was excellent for birds including Red-capped Parrot, Night Heron, Yellow-billed Spoonbill… and mosquitoes. I have never hated a birding site so much in my life. The whole back of my neck was one big itchy lump. No Wattlebird. Now we were very worried. The words on the side of the car door mocked us.

Point Peron was next, just in case there were any late Bridled or Roseate Terns. Nothing was seen here. There was now only a few hours of daylight left, and it was starting to really look like we would not see Western Wattlebird. We headed to Herdsman Lake, which we guessed should be a good site for this damn bird, and we might even re-find a Purple Heron in the process! We found neither, but we did find fellow birder Sean, who told us to try a spot 10 minutes up the road for the wattlebird – Lake Gwelup. We thanked him and hopped back into the car. The sun was setting and we were getting every red light… We arrived at Lake Gwelup and found the flowering Banksias Sean had mentioned. 

Wattlebirds everywhere. Red. Red. Red. Red. Red. Red. Red. Red. Red. Red. Western? Nope, Red. Red. Red. Red. Red. Red.
Max: “I’m getting seriously close to using callback”

But if we used callback for a wattlebird we’d never hear the end of it, so we kept looking.

Then. Finally.

WESTERN WATTLEBIRD!!! Two birds feeding in a banksia. Yesssss! We took a victory photo of ourselves and headed back to the car. It was at that point getting very dark.

And so, the next morning we found ourselves returning the hire car. Its slogan couldn’t taunt us anymore! Haha! Honestly, this trip could hardly have gone better. We saw every main target except Western Whipbird and Rock Parrot (which aren’t endemic anyway), and a few random subspecies which we had been hoping for. To have an idea of how well we went, here is our target list with the birds we saw highlighted green.

Oh, and of course we missed my damn bogey bird – Square-tailed Kite.

Anyway, Happy 18^th to Max, and thank you immensely to Sarah for letting me come along and doing all the driving and birding stops and cooking! Also to Sean for the wattlebird site, and all the birders on the WA mailing list who replied to our RFI! Time to get back to the HSC…

PS: We have since learned from the BirdsWA mailing list that Western Wattlebird can be a difficult species as it is generally quite site specific unlike its eastern counterpart. Make sure to have backup sites planned if you’re heading over this way in case you’re at Cheynes Beach during the time of year when the wattlebirds are not ! ;) Check out http://wabirdingblog.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/south-west-endemics-part-3-western.html for more info.

Cheers,
Josh

The Royal Record

With a nice early start, I was just pulling up to Max’s house at 5:30 when a small flock of Topknot Pigeons flew in front of the car. A good start to the day! After picking up Simon and Ashwin, we headed straight to Audley in the Royal National Park. Our hopes for the day were high, and the plan was to beat the Eremaea “day list record” of 62. On arrival at the northern end of Lady Carrington Drive, we quickly ticked off a number of species, but unfortunately only heard a Cicadabird, which we decided was not worth the bush-bash up the steep side of a hill to the ridgeline. By walking a few kilometres of LCD, we recorded some interesting birds such as Green Catbird (Sydney tick for Max and I), Leaden Flycatcher, heard an Australian Owlet Nightjar, Brown Cuckoo Dove, many a Superb Lyrebird, Black-faced Monarch, Satin Bowerbirds, etc, etc. Unfortunately (as we expected), we missed our target, the elusive Logrunner.

We arrived back at the car (not before spotting an Azure Kingfisher whiz past) then drove over to Wattle Flat. A white bird flew onto a branch, which Ashwin dismissed as a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. I wasn’t so sure, and quickly rectified his mistake by pointing out that it was actually a stunning Grey Goshawk perched not 4 metres away. Of course it took flight straight away, but a lovely sighting none the less. The next surprise came as few minutes later, when from across the Hacking River, we heard the unmistakeable “Guinea-a-week” call of a Pilotbird – an exceptional bird to see in Sydney! Alas, we could not get eyes on it, it did not call again, and we were not able to be sure the call didn’t come from a very skilled lyrebird (which had just recently done an impressive White-throated Nightjar impersonation).

With a total of about 55 species, we headed to Wattamolla to mop up a few more birds which we all needed to see for our 2012 year lists (unfortunately the possible Beautiful Firetail which flew across the road remained unidentified). A Red-whiskered Bulbul surprised us, as did a female Spotted Pardalote (both unexpected birds for the Wattamollan-Heathland), but we were all very happy when Simon spotted target #1, a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater. Before it had even disappeared from view, I saw an interesting bird in a small bush, which subsequently flew revealing that it was indeed a Chestnut-rumped Heathwren! We all got great views of this shy species (Ashwin even got a photo), and I was extremely happy to have finally seen one without having to use callback! Back over near the cliff, we sat down for a few minutes, and were rewarded with target #2, Rockwarbler. A Nankeen Kestrel hiding under a ledge saw us off, and we left the national park with a grand total of 74 species (a very nice new “site record”, but definitely no unbeatable, as we were only there for a few hours, and didn’t even visit the southern end of the park).

Off to Ashwin’s Pied Oystercatcher site next, Metromix Swamp. He confidently assured us that he had never missed them, and stupidly made the comment in jest that it was a “dead cert”. Due to the utterance of those two fateful words… Well… No Pied Oystercatchers for us. Luckily, we did see some nice birds – namely White-bellied Sea Eagle, Osprey, Little Tern and Great Egret.

The next stop was Quibray Bay, which provided us with nice views of three waders species which are difficult to find in Sydney: Red-capped Plover, Whimbrel and Eastern Curlew. Boat Harbour followed (after an exuberant $25 entry fee), but the tide was too low, and the birds were hiding on an inaccessible rock platform. With the aid of a scope, we picked out the usual species, but nothing exciting. Just before we left, I decided to do a quick sweep of the area. I was looking at a Great Cormorant when I noticed a large grey bird flying in. A Reef Egret! While we were still more than 30m away, it flushed... And proceeded to fly out to sea in the direction of New Zealand until we lost sight of it. An excellent bird (not quite making up for the $25), but a good end to the day, over which we recorded a little over 100 species, quite respectable considering we had only used up half the day.

I have no photos from the day, because they were all terrible ;) The sunburnt neck (with obligatory pale binocular strap line) was well worth it however, and in Ashwin’s words, “excellent company goes a long way to seeing more, and making those long treks in the sun go by so much quicker” – birding with friends is always the best way to do it!

Happy Pelagic

It was Happy Birthday to Ashwin on the day of the December Sydney Pelagic, and I decided to join him.

It was a fairly calm day, and the highlight for me was probably the large pod of False Killer Whales which graced us with their presence briefly. We also had a few flying fish, at least 5 Sunfish (Mola ramsayi).

Birdwise, I had 2 lifers: Wilson’s Storm-Petrel and White-chinned Petrel (which tried hard to convince us that it was the sought after Black Petrel.

We also had a few Wandering, Shy, Black-browned and Campbell Albatross, the usual Wedge-tailed, Flesh-footed, a single Huttons, and Short-tailed Shearwaters. Hundreds of Grey-faced Petrel was a sight to behold, and one late Providence Petrel was an nice surprise. All three Jaegar species (though I didn't tick the Long-tailed we saw from a km away) and a Sooty Tern rounded off the day. A possible Arctic Tern remains unidentified... :(

 White-chinned Petrel

 Gulp - Wandering Albatross

 Wandering Albatross

The Jesus Bird - Wilson's Storm Petrel

Arctic Dip

Max and I disregarded all school-work for the weekend and headed up to Newcastle for an attempt at Arctic Tern, one of which had been hanging around at Newcastle Baths all week. We stopped by at Max's relatives' place to watch the newly restored Catalina fly in for the annual Catalina Festival.

Catalina Flying

Catalina Landing

Headed up to the baths, hopes were high, but as we rounded the corner, we realised that the combination of high tide and large swell meant that a large portion of the rocks had been inundated. A few terns were sitting there though, so we checked them out, and were happy enough with two Common Terns, a lifer for me, though it was hardly the 200 tern flock that had been reported on Thursday. We resolved to return later.

Common Terns

Next was Stockton Sandspit, the premier NSW wader-watching spot, which I had somehow managed to avoid completely until today. As we drove over the bridge, we could see a huge flock of birds on the dykes, but it looked like they weren't going anywhere soon. At the sandspit, there was a small flock of Avocets, Bar-tailed Godwits, Pied Oystercatcher, Red-capped Plover, Little Egret, a few Eastern Curlew and a huge number of flies... A pair of Mangrove Gerygone were pished in, but other than that, it was quiet. However, as we were getting ready to leave, we noticed movement across the bay. Something had spooked the birds at the dykes, and a huge swarm of birds was heading our way! By hiding behind a bush, we were in a prime position to watch the waders fly in. A few Black-tailed Godwits were picked out, but unfortunately we couldn't find the single Banded Stilt in amongst the few thousand Avocets this time. Many Red Knots, a few Curlew and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers were spotted, and also a single Great Knot mixed in with them - a NSW tick for both Max and me!

Mangrove Gerygone

Max and Flies

Assorted Waders - no Banded Stilt

Great Knot

Feeling better, we headed back to Newcastle Baths for Arctic Tern. When we arrived however, the conditions had hardly changed, and there were no longer 20 terns sitting around like that morning, but only 10. After careful scrutinisation, we came to the conclusion that the Arctic Tern was definitely not one of the 3 "Commic Terns" sitting there. We drove back over to the bay and checked the terns sitting on the buoys, however they were too far away to ID any possible Arctic Tern which may have been amongst them. A last check at the baths was in vain, and we headed home - a dip it was to be...

Dodgy Drongos Twitchathon 2012 Report - Part 2

Overnight we had jagged Eastern Barn Owl, Tawny Frogmouth and Southern Boobook, however a southerly bluster had picked up and it was bitingly cold by the time we had bedded down on the rainforest floor.

Our half-sleep was disturbed by Golden Whistlers and Eastern Yellow Robins which kept at it all morning. During the dawn chorus, before heading down through the foothills, we came across the following: Both thrush, two scrubwrens, two monarchs, Noisy Pitta, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, White-headed Pigeon, Green Catbird, Rufous Fantail, Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Aus. Brush Turkey and, a corker, Red-browed Treecreeper.

We did well on the road down from the mountains, with Pheasant Coucal sunning itself, Torresian Crow, Scarlet Honeyeater and Pacific Koel making it onto the list.

Scaly-breasted Lorikeets at Seaham and 'Geoff' at Raymond Terrace were added amongst others and Grahamstown provided Musk Duck, Great-crested Grebe and Great Cormorant.

Our race took a disappointing turn, by arriving at Stockton too early. We picked up some of the basic waders, as well as the tereks, tattlers and PGP's nearby, but we agreed that a return trip to 'the spit' was absolutely necessary before the race end.

From here we cruised into Newcastle, through unusually light traffic (by Newcastle standards!) to the baths, but only picked up Crested Tern, Sooty Oystercatcher and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters offshore. Back to Stockton, and by now the waders had really arrived; Red Knot, both godwits, Curlew Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Ruddy Turnstone, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel and Gull-billed tern.

Now we headed inland, stopping in breifly at Hexham and Ash Island to pick up some raptors, White-fronted Chat and Brown Songlark! Overlooking Lenaghans we picked up some distant Glossy Ibis, then, down the road, we lucked upon Topknot Pigeons (where they'd been the previous weekend), Channel-billed Cuckoo and Latham's Snipe flushed, but no jacana.

Our list had passed 200 concisively, and thus the rest of the time we had was spent mopping up what we could. New-Holland Honeyeater, Eurasian Goldfinch, Yellow-tufted Honeyeater etc.

We made it to the wetlands centre with plenty of time to pick up the Magpie Goose and Wandering Whistling-Duck and finally Tawny Grassbird.

Our 24-hour race had ended and our tally stood at an impressive 223 species. We had come in 3rd place, after the Hunter Home Brewers who ended up with 224... However, they did restrict themselves exclusively to the Hunter itself. The winner, as expected, were the Menacing Monarchs on 234.

And so ended the Dodgy Drongos Twitchathon campaign for 2012, a weekend of stunning birds, long hours, little food, little sleep enjoyed by all drongos!

A species list can be accessed here: http://www.eremaea.com/Lists.aspx?List=149116

Dodgy Drongos Twitchathon 2012 Report - Part 1

It was that time of year again, the last weekend of October, the NSW Twitchathon 2012 was here. For the third year running I made my way up to Newcastle to rendezvous with the rest of my team (Grant Brosie, Nick Livanos, Robert Kilkelly) and make our way west.

For those of you reading who haven't heard of Twitchathon, it is basically a 24-hour race during which teams  of birders race around the state in an attempt to see/hear as many species as possible. For a bird to go down on the race list, the majority of the team must have heard or seen it, another rule being that there must be a three-hour break between birding in order for teams to get some much deserved rest. This break usually occurs in the wee hours of the morning, but is an unnecessary precaution in my opinion. Anyway, back to it...

Grant, Nick and myself made our way up the New England Hwy from Maitland heading for the small country town of Manilla. Here we would stay the night in preparation for the race, which would start at 4pm on Saturday. The Friday afternoon was our allocated dummy run, following the same basic route as the race, while at the same time sussing out sites to check the next day. The weather had looked promising all day, but as we began, a stiff southerly blew up and remained constant for the rest of the evening, bringing several brief showers and overcast conditions - sh*t for birding!

To put it simply, we returned to Manilla very disheartened that evening. We had only found 83 species, of which only 25, or so, were 'western birds' (birds that we deem as being, although not strictly western, species that are difficult or impossible to encounter on the Sunday). We had seen a taste of the birds that were on offer and it would be our mission to comprehensively scour our route the next day to greatly increase our chances for the race and not make a repeat performance of the dummy run.

Saturday morning dawned with the weather looking somewhat dodgy (hah!), but by 10am it had turned around and we were looking at superb race conditions for the afternoon! After Grant had collected Rob from Tamworth and I had done a spot of birding around the caravan park and adjacent park (54 species in 2 hours, including White-winged Triller, Pallid Cuckoo and Azure Kingfisher), we set off.

We began our western route backwards in order to end up at our starting point in time for 4pm. Our 'town site' had all the required species; Musk Lorikeet, Blackbird, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater as well as Yellow-billed Spoonbill. At a bridge just off the highway we came across small numbers of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows (both species we hoped would stick around). At our 'whiteface spot', a top a rocky knoll covered with pines we found no evidence of Southern Whiteface, but were superbly compensated with Red-capped Robin, Spotted Bowerbird, Blue Bonnet, Mallee Ringneck and Grey-crowned Babbler. Western Gerygone was calling from where it should be, as was Singing, Spiny-cheeked, Brown and Painted Honeyeater, but it was time to head for the starting line.

The 3:55pm alarm rang as we all tried desperately to keep eyes on a female triller moving about in the top of a swaying gum. The starting gun sounded and White-winged Triller went down as bird #1. The next 10 minutes went something like this:

"Diamond Firetail, there, on the ground!"
"Got it!"
"Yes, tick."
"Tree Martin above!"
"Where?"
"Just went behind that gum tree."
"Ah, yes, got it! Nick?"
"Yep, me too, let's go!"
"Brown Treecreeper calling!"
"Nup, didn't hear it... Yes!"
"Tick it up!"

And so we made our way around, back to the car, coming across such goodies as Little Friarbird, Black-fronted Dotterel, Fuscous Honeyeater, White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike, Turquoise Parrot and Rufous Songlarks galore.

Out along the dusty roads, "Apostlebird!", "Chough in the paddock!", "Red-rumps flying up!", out to our bushlark stretch... Dip. Further along and, wait a minute, yes, "Banded Lapwings, down by the sheep, just flew in!", after a bit of confusion we added Little Raven and sped off.

Our honeyeater spot turned up the goods, but we couldn't find the Red-capped Robins from eariler. Spotted Harrier and White-winged Fairy-Wren, but no Yellow-throated Miners. Cockatiel expertely picked up by Nick and then, our best bird for the race, a pair of Ground Cuckoo-Shrike we had come across earlier nest building.

The 'whiteface spot' was a major dissapointment, with only Blue Bonnet to show for our effort. Into the state forest, birds calling from all directions; Speckled Warbler, Peaceful Dove, Little Lorikeet, Leaden Flycatcher, Varied Sittela, Buff-rumped Thornbill and not Inland, but Chestnut-rumped Thornbill - quite unexpected!

We arrived in town with the sun setting, but all the required species turned out to meet us, unlike the woodswallows just previously. A quick pit stop and we were off along the highway, hoping to have enough sunlight to pick out Blue-billed and Pink-eared Ducks on the sewerage works. Success, and Hoary-headed Grebe a bonus.

With the day's end, we could relax a little, stock up, tally the list and make our way to the rainforest. We ended up with an impressive 109 species, of which 45 were 'western' birds after counting up at KFC! Our spirits and caffeine levels high, we drove off into the darkness, not even half way through the race, yet eager for more!

Australian Painted Snipe - 'Year Tick' Twitch

Making use of my Tuesday afternoon off, I opted out of study instead heading to Warriewood Wetlands on Sydney's Northern Beaches to twitch a pair of Australian Painted Snipe that had been first sighted two days previously.

The site was little more than a temporary wetland on the edge of a construction site and it took me almost half an hour to eventually locate the pair, hanging around on the south-western edge of the wetland. They were only viewable from a point north of the wetland where I could look over the man-proof fence surrounding the construction site.

Pair of Australian Painted Snipe - the bird on the right can be seen displaying it's defensive wing spread behaviour towards the nearby Australian White Ibis.

Not much else around; Little Grassbird calling, Intermediate Egret and Hardhead. Over at Irrawong I got decent views of Superb Lyrebird, Rufous Fantail and Oriental Dollarbird. 

Little Pied Cormorant - attempting some basic digi-scoping

Below are a couple of shots from last weekend during my failed Grass Owl/Aus. Bittern twitch at Hexham Swamp.

Large flock of Pacific Golden Plover and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper put up by an Australian Hobby

Disused railway near the supposed bittern pond

Fore! Four Rallidae at Eastlakes

A nice and early 5am start saw me meet Ashwin at Eastlakes Golf Course at 6:00. The primary aim today was to spot some crakes and rails. No golfers had arrived yet, so we staked out a small pond (which was really more of a muddy rubbish-filled depression in the ground) and waited. In no time at all, we had great views of a single Australian Spotted Crake, and brief views of a single Spotless Crake, disappearing into the reeds as quickly as it had appeared. A possible Lewin's Rail seen for less than a second was frustrating, but a Buff-banded Rail on the green was nice (and a Sydney tick for Ashwin). Max arrived at 7, and we showed him the Spotted Crake before moving on. A male White-winged Triller reinforced the fact that spring is in the air, and Ashwin was the only one to see a Lewin's Rail flush across a pond. A Latham's Snipe and two superb Baillon's Crakes were excellent nonetheless!

Australian Spotted Crake

\

Baillon's Crake

The same Baillon's Crake

Heading back to the cars, we heard a Skylark calling, which would be a Sydney tick for everyone, so we headed over to have a look (trying to not interfere with the golfers using the green at the time!). Before we found the Skylark, another buzzing call was heard, and out of a pine tree flies a lovely Common Greenfinch - a really beautiful bird (despite being feral!), and a tick for me! We saw the Skylark doing a display flight, and then headed off, not before flushing a Brown Quail next to the path.

Pretty Feral: Greenfinch

In all, 71 species here, an excellent morning, only marred by my muddy pants from stepping into a knee-deep patch of gunk which had looked like solid sand, and the lack of Lewin's Rail for Max and I. Even so, "fore" other Rallidae (Spotted, Spotless, Baillon's Crakes plus Buff-banded Rail) made the day well worth it indeed! A quick trip to Mistral Point was comparatively fruitless, although we did enjoy seeing the migration of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters on their way south, and the amazing spectacle of a pair of humpbacks breaching and playing around really close to shore.

The Big 500 - Gloucester and More

Without wanting to waste any prime time Spring birding, upon arriving home from Vietnam, a trip to Gloucester was conceived. With Josh busy and having already had a week's birding in Victoria it was up to Ashwin (another teen birder from Sydney) and I to track down some cracking rainforest species.

All photos courtesy of Ashwin Rudder copyright.

We left Sydney at midday on a scorching hot Friday. Just before crossing the Hunter River towards Raymond Terrace we made a last-minute decision to check out Stockton sandspit (thanks to Ashwin's quick checking of the tide charts). As we drove across Stockton bridge (appropriately likened to taking-off in an aeroplane by Ashwin), we could see a large group of waders, primarily avocets, on the dykes and at the sandspit.

Upon arrival we made our way slowly along the shoreline to three other birders set up with scopes, checking out the flock. Our greeting was met with a frank "Would you like to see a Banded Stilt?" We were astounded, but after a quick view through a scope we realised they weren't joking!

A completely unexpected 500!

It wasn't until Ashwin's remark that I realised this was my 500th species of bird for Australia! I was assuming either Russet-tailed Thrush or Rufous Scrub-Bird would take the top spot, but I was nonetheless content with Banded Stilt - being such a scarcely reported species in NSW.

Banded Stilt hiding amongst the avocets

 Before leaving the spit, we were able to identify Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit (1), Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Red Knot (lifer for Ashwin), Red-capped Plover, Black-winged Stilt and of course Banded Stilt and Red-necked Avocet.

After the successful detour to Stockton we raced up to the Sharpe's Creek campsite at Gloucester Tops. Within 10 minutes of arriving we had observed about 8 individual thrush feeding in close proximity at the picnic area. We positively identified Bassian Thrush and then a Russet-tailed Thrush (lifer for both of us). After double-checking photos and spending more time observing the distinguishing features and noting behaviour we were confident with our ID.

Russet-tailed Thrush, note the rump colour and facial markings

Bassian Thrush, clearly plainer and displaying diagnostic 'upside-down hammer' markings on the upper wing coverts

 Other than the thrushes at the campsite, we found the following notable species: Rose Robin, Black-faced Monarch and Green Catbird. Once camp was set up and dinner had been downed, we set off up the Gloucester Tops Rd in the fairly vain attempt at Sooty Owl. Several Southern Boobook and Australian Owlet-Nightjars were heard as well as a distant Tawny Frogmouth, but at our last stop on the road we heard, for the first time, the 'bomb-drop'. We waited several tense minutes for another of the signature calls that the Sooty Owl is famed for. It called again, closer. Another few minutes, nothing. Switched on the spotlight and there it was! A beautiful Sooty Owl had been perched less than 5m away from us, but the spotlight startled it and was kind enough to land just another 5m back on an open branch.

We made the most of the precious time we had in the bird's company, attempting to obtain photographs (see below), before leaving it in peace.

The epitome of a record shot - Sooty Owl

 The next morning we woke early and did a brief bit of birding around the campsite before Grant and Rob arrived. We met David Bishop who was taking a client and his wife up to the tops in search of the scrub-bird who told us he had been up there the two previous days, with only mild success on the Friday - we remained vigilant.

Grant wasn't much longer and we were off up the road again, this time with one bird in mind. We met David again on his way back down after just getting fantastic views of one scrub-bird down Kerripit Rd. Grant knew where he was talking about so we tried our luck down there, but didn't hear any sign of one and only came away with Red-browed Treecreeper.

Now it was onto Grant's site. A spot he has had success at 3 out of 20 visits - not the most appealing ratio. He warned us that seeing a Rufous Scrub-bird is more a form of torture than any type of enjoyable birding and three hours later we could do nothing but agree with him. I'd prefer not to detail the ordeal, but can provide a brief, but typical insight into what it was like - Scrub-bird calling. Play the call. Scrub-bird calls back. This correspondence continues for 10 minutes. Scrub-bird seems closer. Wait patiently and quietly. Scrub-bird doesn't call for 10 minutes. Scrub-bird calls again from 20m away. Twenty minutes later the Scrub-bird is within 2m. Fleeting glimpse of something. Scrub-bird doesn't call for 10 minutes. Scrub-bird calls again from 20m away. And so on, and so on...

So yes, both Ashwin and I saw something move that must have been the Scrub-bird, but these were in no way tickable views. We tried again back at David's site, but turned up blanks after crashing around in the thick undergrowth. The only consolation was nice views of Crescent Honeyeater and Olive Whistler.
 

Stoopid twig - Olive Whistler

We left Gloucester Tops, slightly disheartened, but still satisfied with two exceptional lifers in the bag. The afternoon and next morning were spent around Chichester SF and checking out several sites in the lower Hunter in preparation for Twitchathon at the end of the month. Due to this, I don't wish to reveal too much about where exactly we went and what exactly we saw. Only that we came across some great rainforest species and some good quality birds in the foothills giving good premonitions for a great race in 2-3 weeks time!

In total we came away with 163 species for the weekend, with 4 lifers for Ashwin and 3 for me. I well and truly passed the 500 mark for Australia and it was great to do so in good company and with some smashing birds.