Trip Report

Pelagic—Ashmore Reef      

23—30 October 2006

The annual Pelagic Trip to Ashmore Reef aboard the Flying Fish Five continues to grow in popularity and considering the number of exciting species that we see including birds, cetaceans, turtles and sea snakes etc it is hardly surprising.  In shallow water north of Broome lots of Terns including Roseate, Brown Boobies and Lesser Frigatebirds.  Once in deep water on the second day we started to see Tahiti Petrels and Bulwer’s Petrel.  We eventually saw all possible 3 Jaegers, Long-tailed, Pomerine and Arctic.  Overall we saw lots of Storm Petrels including Matsudaira's and Swinhoes.  The cetacean highlight for the trip was the discovery of Fraser’s Dolphins amongst a large pod of Short-finned Pilot Whales and Spinner Dolphins.  Calm conditions are ideal for spotting these animals and we were graced with several days of what the boaties term as a “glass off”.  It was a fantastic trip for cetaceans with 8 species seen.  Ashmore Reef itself was spectacular, we had access to all three islands care of Her Majesty’s Customs escorting us which was very good of them.  This is an exclusive opportunity to witness the spectacular seabird breeding opportunities of Middle and East Island.  As for rare vagrant birds on West Island, it’s hard to believe that we found two species of vagrants namely Asian Brown Flycatcher and Middendorff’s Grasshopper Warbler that were found last year.  Had they stayed on the island from last year? Who knows?  Everyone had excellent views of these two rare birds in an Australian territory.  A pair of Black-faced Cuckoo Shrikes were also on the Island and with further research there is a good chance they are actually Wallacian Cuckoo Shrikes—a close Indonesian relative to the common Australian bird. 

 This trip is a MUST for any keen birdwatcher and worth every penny.

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      8 Day Island & Inlet Cruise

7—16 October 2006

 This charter was a unique opportunity to visit the Lacepede Islands and Adele Island. Both islands are A class reserve’s and are recognised  internationally for their importance as seabird breeding sites and wintering areas for migratory shorebirds.  The extraordinary number of seabirds breeding here defies belief.  The Lacepedes is an extraordinary place, mating Green Sea Turtles greeting us to West Island.  I must admit I feel sorry for the females having spent all night digging holes, laying eggs and as soon as they are back in the water they are accosted by randy males attempting to mate and in doing so drag them under the surface.  We had a welcoming committee of several hundred immature Brown Boobies flying over the dingy within arms reach.  Massive rafts of Common Noddies forming huge black patches on the beach.  We saw Masked Boobies, lots of shorebirds, breeding Common Noddies—all in all a very exciting visit.  With excursions to Secure Bay, South-east Twin Island, Rankin Island, Montgomery Reef and the Sale River, we took on a large part of the south-west of the Kimberley coast and certainly some of WA’s most spectacular scenery.  The mangrove birds were particularly exciting, the Gallery Rainforest on the Sale River was fantastic with glimpses of Rainbow Pitta and the most beautiful fresh water swim.  We left the best till last our visit to Adele Island some 150km due north of the mainland.  One of the highlights was to dinghy over the surrounding reef on the incoming tide; a beautiful calm day allowed us with the water like glass.  We had our very own aquarium, fish, sharks and turtles everywhere—it really was spectacular.  The birdlife was also exciting with Wilson’s Storm Petrels, White-winged Black Terns and Black Noddies amongst the more numerous Brown Noddies—it was a very exciting morning, and that was before we even went ashore!  Once on land we quickly found Red-footed Boobies and Great Frigate birds amongst 1000’s of their more common relative Lesser Frigatebird.  Common Noddy and Bridled Terns were also breeding and the number of shorebirds was quite extraordinary, identifying over 20 species.  The highlight as we left the island was watching female Great Frigatebirds forcing returning Masked Boobies (full of fish) to crash land on the beach rather than regurgitate their prey—a clever ploy as the Frigates were then unable to pursue them any longer.

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 13 Day Bachsten Creek Tour Fly/Drive

22 August—3 September

 With Peter & Brenda Wilson and John and Audrey Threadgold both from the UK.  This was to be an exciting trip, 13 days driving into the Walcott Inlet via Mt. Elizabeth with my customers flying out by light aircraft back to Broome.  The trip entails driving through some of the most remote and beautiful country the Kimberley has to offer.  We had some stunning birding on this trip including some real rarities in the Kimberley, Masked Owl at a roost site, several excellent views of Bush Hen, Black Grasswrens on numerous occasions, Pacific Baza.  We also witnessed an extraordinary sight when a Blue-winged Kookaburra consumed with some difficulty a large Pale Field Rat Rattus tunnei a common native rodent that lives in the area.   We also saw some good mammals including the quaint Monjon or Kimberley Rock Weasel.  Northern Quolls invaded our camp on numerous occasions and we also saw Brown Bandicoots and Sugar Gliders.  The Walcott Inlet and Munja Lagoon was crawling in birds.  Some of the country had recently been burnt attracting large numbers of Australian Bustards, some of the highlights here were Yellow Chat, Oriental Plover and Broad-billed Sandplover, Star Finches and numerous very large salt water crocodiles.   If you want an exciting tour in the Kimberley this is the tour to book—You’ll love it.

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10 Day Black Grasswren Accommodated Tour

9—18 August 2006

With Julie and Werner Neumann, Keith Brandwood and Bryan Wood.  We had a great old time on this trip starting  with a couple of Flock Bronzewings at Lake Eda and numerous returning migratory shorebirds including Long-toed Stint and the trip just got better and better.  A Great-billed Heron at Derby, finches galore including Gouldians, Pictorella and Star Finch in the Kimberley ranges.  Gouldians everywhere , Shrike Tits and Purple-crowned Wrens, oh boy what a place!  Black Grasswrens were easy (not always the case) and we did eventually find Yellow-faced Partridge Pigeons, these seem to be getting much rarer on the Plateau these days.  We visited a secret wetland and found 69 species in 4 hours!  Even though I say so myself this was an excellent trip and was intense birding from start to finish.

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16 Day Best of the Kimberley Camping Trip

19th July to 2 August 2006 

Moira and David Edwards, Margaret & Michael Beck, David & Cathy Cook, Miriam Glucksmann and Mark Harvey joined in this wonderful camping trip.

This is a lovely time of year to travel with beautiful sunny days and cool nights.  We starting the trip at a cracking pace finding some excellent birds at Windjana Gorge, Green-backed Gerygone and Figbird.  In the King Leopold Ranges we bumped into the biggest flock of Pictorella Manikins that I have ever seen.  Sandstone Ranges in the central Kimberley for Gouldian Finches, Crested Bellbird and Shrike Tit.  On the plateau Black Grasswrens were successfully seen and sever Northern Quoll showed really well at the same time—an unexpected surprise.  Rainforest patches proved well with an impressive list of Rainbow Pitta, Emerald Dove, and Orange-footed Scrub

Fowl to name a few.  Parry’s Lagoon in the East Kimberley was unbelievably fantastic with huge selection of Australian waterbirds and large numbers of returning migratory shore birds.   At the Bungles we saw excellent views of Square-tailed Kite and Peregrine Falcon.  Towards Halls Creek we finished off with some desert species including painted Finch and Grey-headed Honeyeater.

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 10 Day Black Grasswren Accommodated Tour

2-11 July 2006

Another successful trip with Phyllis Bentley, John & Jan Summers and Chris & Debra Campbell. 

Fantastic start at Lake Eda finding Mangrove Gerygone breeding and a young black-eared Cuckoo.  We had a lovely experience with a flock of Black and Red faced Gouldian Finches in the King Leopold Ranges.  The weather was beautiful with cool mornings and 25 degree days.  Our visit to the Mitchell Plateau was a success with great views of the Black Grasswrens, Partridge Pigeons and Rainbow Pitta.  Another highlight was seeing a male Cicadabird—not an easy bird in Western Australia!

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14 Day Darwin to Broome

16—29 June 2006

 A private charter for an American group of bird watchers, Stephen Schneider and his partner Terry Root and Paul and Anne Ehrlich.    I flew to Darwin to meet the party who had hired a 4wd in readiness for our accommodated trip.  Our first day in Darwin included numerous chores to gear up for our two week expedition however we did manage to visit the botanic gardens and had great views of the famous Rufous Owls.  At Nightcliffe we saw Beach Stone Curlew and at Buffalow Creek a Black Butcher Bird and Grey Whistler.  We had a fantastic visit to Howard Springs seeing Rainbow Pitta, Cicadabird and Rose-crowned Fruit Dove in the space of 10 minutes.  At Fogg Dam we saw an amazing selection of waterbirds before driving on to Mary River Park.

At the park we saw red form of Partridge Pigeon and on the Mary River Cruise we saw Grey Goshawk and the largest saltwater croc I have ever seen named by the cruise operator Sir William Grey.  This animal must have been over 5.5 metres in length. 

 At Gubara Pool we saw Banded Fruit Dove, Sandstone Shrike Thrush again.  We tried in vein to find White-throated Grasswren at Waterfall Creek.  At Pine Creek we found a pair of Grey Falcons and loads of Hooded Parrots, and also our first Gouldian Finches for the trip.  At the Victoria River area we saw Star Finch and Yellow-rumped Mannikin, the feeding flock also included Chestnut-rumped Mannikin and Gouldian Finch.  Once we crossed the WA border we visited Parry’s Lagoon where we found Zitting Cisticola. 

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 10 Day Mitchell Plateau Accommodated Trip

4—13 June 2006

10 day Black Grasswren Trip with Cameron Platell, Sandra & Ron Dunglison , David & Robbie Leslie.

Our first day from Broome to Derby was exciting with a great mix of species including Comb-crested Jacana and Imm. Pied Heron at Munyakarra Swamp.  Our trip visited Mornington Station seeing numerous Gouldian Finches then on to Mount Elizabeth and Drysdale River Station. At Mt Elizabeth we had a great mornings birding finding Northern Shrike Tit and Gouldian Finch. 

At the Mitchell Falls we saw Black Grasswrens, Green-backed Gerygone and Sandstone Shrike Thrush.  Rainbow Pitta and Little Shrike Thrush showed  really well.   We returned to the Mitchell Falls car park to find yellow faced form of Partridge Pigeon.  Square-tailed Kite and Black-breasted Buzzard were also seen on our journey and several groups of Purple-crowed Fairy Wrens.

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14 Day Private Cruise Charter

13—26 May 2006

 May is great month to visit the Kimberley coast with loads of water about and generally beautiful weather, we were not disappointed.  Our first stop was the Lacepede Islands such a fantastic place we marvelled at the number of breeding sea birds including good numbers of breeding Caspian Terns.   A visit to Ruby Falls was fascinating we found  Hoary Wattle Bats roosting on an overhanging rock with the high tide allowing us great views from the dinghies.  As we continued north on the coast we visited Rothsay Water a large inlet to the north east of the Prince Regent River.  On an early morning dinghy ride we enjoyed a fantastic mornings birding seeing nearly all the mangrove species of birds that occur on the coast in one spot including Chestnut Rail.  A trip to this coast is not complete without visiting Kings Cascade and we found Black Grasswren here excellent stuff what a place. 

Our journey continued with visits to Lamark Island finding Rose-crowned Fruit Dove and Rainbow Pitta.  Lamark is one of thousands of beautiful islands dotted along this coast and many of them rarely explored and often supporting vine thickets and range of interesting species.

 If you would like to charter me to guide on your own personal cruise, please contact me.  

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Mornington Station

7 Days    1—7 May 2006

May is a fantastic time of the month to visit the Kimberley.  A weeks trip with Ian & Janet McLaughlin, and Hugh & Fiona McLaughlin to Mornington Station and Beverley Springs emphasised the ideal timing. We not only had the place to ourselves not easy these days in the Kimberley. Mornington was great, we saw Spinifex birds, Gouldians  and Painted Finch.   We were also privileged to see Gouldian Finch in the hand having been invited by the principal scientists at Mornington for a mornings banding.  We also enjoyed views of Purple-crowned Fairy Wren which are common along Annie Creek.  Beverley Springs recently renamed Charnley River Station  by owners Peter and Cheryl Camp who provide various facilities for tourists and do a great job.  The station incorporates a fascinating mix of Kimberley habitats associated with an extraordinarily rich bio diversity including black soil flats, volcanics and Kimberley quartzite sandstones.  Wetlands abound at this time of year, every pool and puddle a riot of colour formed by tiny delicate ephemeral bladderworts  and sundews.  We explored Dowitba Creek and Donkey Hole, the most beautiful creek cascading over a solid sandstone escarpment forming perfect swimming holes along its entire length. As one walks upstream it is hard to believe that every bend you come around your are presented with even more beautiful pools than what you have already passed.  We shared this beautiful place with a pair of Black Bitterns and their young.

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Dampier Peninsula

5 days 9—12 April 2006

A 5 day trip to the Dampier Peninsula with Greg and Alana Dare & John and Caroline Walmsley went really well.  Although it is difficult to get away from the high humidity at this time of year the benefits were fantastic. 

We enjoyed numerous excellent sightings including Chestnut-backed Button Quail just about everywhere we went, with recent rain and coming to the end of a good wet, this shy and elusive species were going mad, calling throughout the day including at our exclusive campsite.  We found Gouldian Finch and perhaps a new record for the area a White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike found in Woollybutt woodland.

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Wildlife Expedition Cruise

18 March to 1 April 2006

Here we go again  - our fabulous, exciting, thrilling, boat journey around the Kimberley coast and as with previous years we boarded our charter vessel at Wyndham wharf late in the afternoon prior to cruising up the Cambridge Gulf to an impressive sunset, drinks and nibbles including gooey cheese that’s so bad for you but so delicious! The tide allowed us to enter the Berkley cruising up this tidal river gorge with its thirty metre high Pentecost Sandstone cliffs. Water falls cascaded every where, the noise of falling water sometimes drowning out the noise of our vessel. Bright yellow spikes of flowering Acacia delibrata occasionally festooned the cliffs adding a spectacular contrast to a rich palette of greens from spinifex to bloodwoods.

We had fantastic views of several Short-eared Rock-wallabies Petrogale brachyotis close to the fresh water influence.  The highlight on our return journey down the Berkeley River was finding a Peregrine Falcon.   A dinghy excursion to Casuarina falls, a pretty spot was home to an unexpected surprise, a male Black Bittern. Mangrove birds received our attention as well and we managed to spot an Immature Mangrove Golden Whistler, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher race tormenti (Kimberley Flycatcher/Brown-tailed) Shinning Flycatcher and Red-headed Honeyeater.

The King George Falls were magnificent and flowing strongly, always a spectacular sight and a great favourite with the  photographers. One spectacular sighting we had on the King George while zooming along in the dinghy, an immature Great-billed Heron that landed close by. 

Our next venue was Lesueur Island  a fascinating place, named by Nicolas Baudin after Alexandre Lesueur A young artist who had impressed Baudin and sailed with Baudin’s expedition to Australia in 1801. Lesueur became good friends with Francois Peron, the captain of the Naturaliste and Peron trained Lesueure in drawing natural history. The Island today is rarely visited except occasionally by charter vessels and contractors who maintain the unmanned navigation light. 

At the Drysdale River, Francis Taylor, a faithful customer of mine and I were collecting mangrove specimens so we could identify them. Amongst our specimens Francis discovered an odd one which after studying the book we decided it must be Yamstick Mangrove Scyphiphora hydrophylacea. I sent the specimen to the WA herbarium and it turns out to be the third record for the state, so we were pretty chuffed about that.

The Mitchell River estuary is one of my favourite spots for birding and with good reason the mangroves here are loaded with birds and its no wonder that Grey Goshawk can make a living here. We saw two white morph birds well plus a great list of other goodies including Chestnut Rail, Little Bronze Cuckoo, Nankeen Night-heron, Broad-billed Flycatcher and Mangrove Golden Whistler. By nine o’clock the incoming tide enabled us to visit Gurrbirri Creek; the creek forms a small gorge and some great fresh water swimming holes.  This is Black Grasswren territory and I had to find them! So we tramped into a spot I know and tried our luck, I heard them but they didn’t show. I had just turned to make our way back to the Creek when Terry, one of our intrepid Grasswren searchers spotted a dark bird behind us. It was a male Black Grasswren fifteen metres away under some shrubbery, as if on cue the bird then popped up on top of a small rock and started to sing his heart out, it was breath taking, the smiles on everybody’s face told the story and the bird stayed there for a full 60 seconds moving from one position to another, we had front, rear and full profile views, how lucky can you be, well spotted Terry, you saved my skin!

We enjoyed a fabulous dinghy ride up Porosus creek clocking up 40 odd species including Chestnut Rail, Grey Goshawk, Pied Imperial Pigeon, White-breasted Whistler, Spangled Drongo, Azure Kingfisher, Red-headed Honeyeater and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. Kings Cascades was the best I have ever seen it, looking like an elaborate wedding cake the noise and spray added to the spectacle. We also ventured right up the Prince Regent River with the big tide and flooding river allowing safe access to these remote areas, one memorable spectacle for me here was a “flock” of fifteen or so Pale Green Triangle swallowtail butterflies Graphium eurypylus nyctimus drinking from a puddle beside the river. 

Our trip was coming to an end what a memorable trip and I don’t think any of us would have missed it for the world.   

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8 Day Ashmore Reef Pelagic Trip 26 Oct—2 Nov 2005

Leaders Mike Carter & George Swann.

 Participants:- Rohan Clark, David Stickney, Sean Dooley, Frank Pierce, Reg Clark, Peter Crabtree, Murray Grant, Lynn Scott, Adrian O’Neill, Trish Pepper, Dave Dureau.

 The 8 day Ashmore Reef Charter runs every year usually in October.  This seems to be the best time of year for tubenoses and of course vagrants on Ashmore Reef itself.  So the trip has become famous for finding rare birds including species not previously recorded on the Australian list. These trips have pioneered birding on the Sahul Shelf and Ashmore Reef, two areas that are under watched. The charter enables birdwatchers to visit an isolated Australian territory that very few people get to see unless they have their own boat.  Over the years several species of sea birds that were absent from the Australian List or rarely recorded are now regularly sighted on the journey including Bulwer's Petrel, Matsudaira's Storm-petrel, Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel, Leach’s Storm-Petrel and Jouanin’s Petrel.  The trip also allows participants to access all of West Island and to visit, via circumnavigation East and Middle Island which are closed to the public.  This represents a unique opportunity for birders who join the trip.  Full access to West Island allows birders to search for unusual vagrants that can be found on the island.  This year was no exception with possibly three new species to the Australian list.

 So if you look at the overall trip, it is a unique and exciting birding holiday, with a great selection of seabirds, vagrants and irregular migrants (eg Grey Wagtail) and migratory waders.

  We pulled the anchor at 08:30 and set off past Entrance Point with a SW breeze of 15 knots and a bit choppy but fine and sunny.  For the first hour we saw the usual terns including Common Tern, Lesser Crested and Crested Terns, White-winged Black Tern and Whiskered Tern.  A little further away from Broome and we started to see Roseate Terns in large numbers, and the odd Brown Booby, Wedge-Tailed Shearwater and Wilson Storm-Petrel. By lunchtime we were out of sight of land and by five o clock we had seen our first Matsudaira’s Storm-petrel, our first for the trip in about 90 meters depth.

 Day 2 had us well and truly over the continental shelf in 300 metres of water and by 07:30 we had see our 1st Bulwer's & Tahiti Petrel and plenty of Bridled Terns.  At 09:30 we had 3 and sometimes 4 Swinhoe's Storm-Petrels following the boat and by now we had various fish frames, oil and burley going out the back.  We then spotted a Long-tailed Jaeger flying across the wake showing its fine almost tern like structure. Matsudaira's Storm-Petrel were less frequent then Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel but several showed well with the pale base to the outer primaries clearly visible.  Matsudaira's also seemed longer winged and with a slower wing beat when compared to Swinhoe's  the tail also appears longer and more deeply forked but some of these features are difficult to use as definitive and diagnostic field marks.  Our 2nd day at sea was proving to be a mixed bag with an Arctic Jaeger and Sooty Terns to add to the day list and plenty of Roseate Terns.  By 17:30 we were approaching Scott Reef but it was too late to land on Sandy Islet by the time we had made our way into the lagoon.  However we did catch a large Wahoo which was delicious, freshly barbecued on the hot plate for our evening meal.  Our protected anchorage at Scott helped everybody get a good sleep as conditions were still choppy even though our north northeast course meant we were cruising on a following sea.  We left Scott Reef early in the morning so we would be in deep water at first light.  From past experience the deep water between Scott Reef and Ashmore Reef is always an exciting leg of the journey and we weren’t disappointed with 20 Tahiti Petrels, 18 Bulwer's Petrels, 2 possible Jouanins Petrels and 2 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, 7 Swinhoe's and 2 Matsudaira's Storm-Petrels.  Our approach to West Island Ashmore Reef at lunchtime was highlighted by welcoming Red-footed Boobies, Black & Common Noddy, Sooty Terns, Masked Booby and Lesser Frigate Birds.  We were ashore on West Island by 15:40 that afternoon and by 16:00 we had discovered our first Arctic Warbler, everybody saw the bird well.  We also recorded Barn Swallow, Rainbow Bee-eater, Horsfield Bronze cuckoo and Tawny Grassbird, Nankeen Night Heron, Sacred Kingfisher, Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike, Buff-banded Rail and numerous common wader species including Little Curlew.  Eastern Reef Egrets were everywhere.  The next day we arrived on West Island at 05:30 in the morning and re-found not 1 but 4 Arctic Warblers, numerous waders including Pacific Golden Plovers and several nesting Red-tailed Tropic birds, 3 White-tailed Tropic birds were also present on the island and provided plenty of photographic opportunities.  Greater & Lesser Frigatebirds were roosting in shrubs on the western end of the island.  By 07:00 I had dropped back from the main group who were working their way around the island, I had been studying an Arctic Warbler when I heard shouts and the group waving at me frantically.  They had flushed what looked like a Lesser Coucal Centropus bengalensis and were very decently waiting for me before they re-flushed it from where it had gone down, but to no avail and we didn’t re-find it that day.  In the afternoon on West Island Rohan Clark made a very exciting find and what we think is an Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa sibirica. Extensive notes were taken and an excellent series of photographs by Rohan, again everybody got fabulous views of this bird.  By this stage everybody was euphoric, it looked like we had 2 new species for Australia on the island plus an interesting selection of more common species like Oriental cuckoo, Fork-tailed Swift, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, Australian Pratincole and Yellow Wagtail.  We left West Island to visit Middle Island a short dinghy ride away.  We had permits to circumnavigate but not to land.  That was fine as we were able to get very close to many of the seabirds breeding on the island including good numbers of Red-footed Booby’s lots of Common, Noddy, Sooty Terns and Waders.  Brown Booby's were in huge numbers with well over a 1000 birds.  The next morning we were back on West Island to try and re-find the Coucal which we managed to flush again this bird was shy and fast quite unlike Pheasant coucal in Australia.  Later that morning Sean Dooley found a Grey Wagtail on the large rock bar on the south east end of West Island. This bird stayed the next day and everybody saw it well.  East Island was fantastic and we were able to land and walk around thanks to the DEH warden. we observed vast flocks of Sooty Terns (10,000) displaying and getting ready for what looked like a major breeding effort, perched on the ground and calling continuously, the noise was deafening.  We recorded 25 species including 2 juvenile Bridled Terns, Great and Little Egrets breeding, Buff-Banded Rails, swimming in the ocean.  Masked Booby 2 White-tailed Tropic birds and 10 Red-footed Boobies, 5 Great Frigate birds, 800 Lesser Frigate birds, 3000 Common Noddy and 20 Black Noddy.  An amazing experience.

 Back on West Island in the afternoon some of us returned to look for the Grey Wagtail which was re-found quickly in the same spot.   Later in the afternoon another crippling find, again by Sean Dooley close to the Beach Spinifex site, Sean spotted a small passerine in the Argusia shrubs and it wasn't the Tawny Grassbird seen earlier in the day .It was quickly established that it was a Grasshopper Warbler, a Locustella sp  characterised by a graduated tail and long under tail coverts, these old world warblers are hard to see let alone identify and are inveterate skulkers and cryptic to the extreme. We had hit another jackpot, and what was even more amazing was that everybody managed to get good views of it. Rohan Clark performed a miracle by actually  photographing the bird several times and from these shots and notes taken at the time the bird appears to match Middendorff’s Grasshopper Warbler Locustella ochotensis a northern hemisphere migrant that breeds on the north pacific coast and island off Siberia and Northern Japan.  The excitement was intense everybody was shaking their heads in disbelief—what a bird ! Our journey back to Broome was not marked by any great ornithological feast, conditions were rough and fewer seabirds were seen on this leg.  Our visit to the Lacepede islands on our last morning was spectacular with huge numbers of birds everywhere.  What a fitting finale for a fabulous trip.

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9 day  Charter Broome to Mitchell Plateau Fly Drive

A charter with the UK birding company Avian Adventures included several days around Broome and then visits to Mornington and the Mitchell Plateau. The first day in Broome concentrated on mangrove birds and waders of Roebuck Bay.  The second day was spent exploring Roebuck Plains for bush birds, Little Curlew, Yellow Chat and Oriental Plover.  The Yellow Chats were fairly easy and appeared to be pairing up with the male birds looking very bright with a complete black crescent on the upper breast.

 The 9 day Kimberley section started from Broome to Derby, with a good list of waterbirds, waders and bush birds.  Collins Lagoon on Roebuck Plains provided a great start with Wedge-tailed Eagle, Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Black-fronted and Red-Kneed Dotterel, Sharp-tailed, Wood and Marsh Sandpiper, Greenshank, Australian Wood duck, Green Pygmy Goose and Pink-eared Duck, Grey Teal, Hardhead all provided good comparisons for the UK birders.

 The Derby Sewerage Works overflow increased our wader list by two with great views of Long-toed Stint and Black-tailed Godwit.  The Derby Wharf next morning was alive with Great-Billed Herons, well two anyway and we had excellent views of these huge herons.  We did well with other stuff too including a selection of mangrove birds and waders including Broad-billed Flycatcher, Kimberley Flycatcher (Lemon breasted) and both Mangrove-Golden and White-breasted Whistler.  Brahminy Kite, Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Terek Sandpiper and Greater Sand Plover.  From Derby to Mornington Station we enjoyed numerous sightings but the evening drive towards Glenroy Station with Mount Clifton to the west took the prize with two huge feeding flocks dominated by 300 Pictorella Mannikin, 250 Zebra Finch, 150 Star finch, 20 Long-tailed Finch..

Mornington Station is now owned by the Australian Wildlife Conversancy and we spent two nights here enjoying the excellent facilities.  

 Mornington has also become famous for Gouldian Finch research with large numbers of the endangered finch found on the property. We were lucky to see several groups of Gouldians coming into drink during our stay.  I first saw Gouldians at Mornington in 1996 when the property was still run as a pastoral property and tourism was only just starting to impact on this part of the world.  Our visit to Mornington was very enjoyable with an excellent selection of species under our belt including Painted Firetail , White-browed Robin, Black Bittern and Barking Owl.  On our return to the Gibb River Road we made a short detour to Lake Gladstone and recorded 53 species in 2 1/2 hours including Freckled Duck, Oriental Plover, Little Curlew, and Yellow-billed Spoonbill.  On the way to Mt. Elizabeth a pair of Northern Shrike-Tits showed well plus Crested Bellbird

Pallid Cuckoo, Red-backed Kingfisher, Black-chinned Honeyeater and Black-tailed Treecreeper.  On the Drysdale I was completely conned by an Olive-backed Oriole imitating a Northern Shrike Tit’s alarm call, both these species being accomplished mimics  The trip just seem to get better as we went north and the Mitchell Plateau was ‘hot’ and I am not talking about the temperature, because its always hot at the plateau!  We found a group of 5 Black Grasswrens and enjoyed stunning views, as usual they were hanging around with Willie Wagtails and the Kimberley form of Variegated Fairy-Wren race rogersi. At the Mitchell Plateau camp ground we eventually found the Yellow faced form of Partridge Pigeon. Chestnut-backed Button-Quail were a breeze we had them so easily I couldn’t believe our luck, well it wasn’t really luck but very good spotting by participant Steve Scholes who managed from the back seat to see the quail crossing the track. We were able to scope up one of the four birds in the covey and  watched it for 15 minutes from a distance of 10 metres. Not long after this exciting moment we ventured into a small monsoon vine thicket finding  Pied-Imperial Pigeon, Rainbow Pitta, Rufous (Wood) Fantail, race dryas, Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Green-backed Gerygone, Figbird and Emerald Dove. This had been a good day if you consider seeing Black Grasswren ,Partridge Pigeon Chestnut-Backed Button-Quail, Rainbow pitta White-lined Honeyeater Green-Backed Gerygone and Sandstone Shrike-Thrush all in one day. Total trip list 186, total seen 182.      

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Black Grasswren Accommodated tour 29 Aug—7 Sept 2005

Our second Black Grasswren tour with Joan & Charles Sandbrink, Frank O’Connor and Ian & Corrie McCartney.

 The tour started off well with the discovery of a Black-breasted Buzzard nest several kilometres east of the Roebuck Roadhouse.  Luckily one of the pair flew directly over the road in front of us carrying a  stick, an emergency stop soon found us scoping up a very respectable nest in a large white gum Eucalyptus flavescens not 150 metres from the road with both nesters admiring their handy work—what an extraordinary raptor they are with that massive bill and golden occipital crest.   Munkayarra, 20 km south of Derby was drying out fast and we had difficulty getting decent views of a Long-toed Stint that insisted on hiding in pot holes created by cattle around the edge of the remaining water, the odd Wood sandpiper and Black-fronted Dotterel showed well and a lonely male Black-necked Stork, 5 loafing Red-necked Avocets joined the ubiquitous Greenshank, Masked Lapwing and Black-winged Stilts.  “Lets go to Derby” was a suggestion and have a look for Great-billed Heron.  20 minutes later we were watching a Great-billed Heron and although it was half a kilometre away, with the scope it was a respectable look and certainly tick able.  The next morning before breakfast and back at the Derby Wharf more looks at the Great-billed Heron but closer again until it decided to fly off.  Little-Bronze Cuckoo, Mangrove Gerygone, Kimberley Flycatcher, White-breasted Whistler, Yellow Whit-eye and Broad-billed Flycatcher all showed plus brief views  of Mangrove-Golden Whistler. Then off  to  Mt Hart Homestead.  We had great views of a Spotted Harrier  on the Mt Hart track in that lovely golden evening light.  The gardens at Mr Hart are great in the morning and we  saw Bar-breasted Honeyeater, Masked Finch and Azure Kingfisher.  Later in the morning on our way back out to the Gibb River road we found  a small feeding flock including Pictorella Mannikin and several Spinifex Pigeons.  On the Gibb river road while crossing Snake Creek three Ground Cuckoo-Shrikes showed well.   Drysdale River Station is excellent value and a great place to stay. The birding on the river and surrounding bush is always good and we enjoyed the usual great selection of birds including Purple-crowned Fairy-Wren but we failed to get views of Northern Shrike- Tit.  We decided to make a run for the plateau.  The next morning having stayed at the A.P.T Camp on Camp Creek we found the Black Grasswrens at 6:20 am after a nail biting search for about an hour.  We had got up at some ridiculous hour (much to Charles’ disgust) as the plan was to be at the site on first light (and we were still late).  The drive from the camp to the falls car park takes about 45 minutes.  Anyway we all celebrated our find and while on our walk back to the car park we bumped into another group of Grasswrens right beside the track. This time we were on top of them with one male approaching us on top of a rock only about 2 metres away, the group consisted of three males and 2 females.  We spotted over 45 species for the morning walk including White-lined Honeyeater, Sandstone Shrike-thrush and White-quilled Rock-Pigeon.

 We decided to target some rainforest species at a couple of great patches that I know and we successfully spotted Rainbow Pitta, Yellow Oriole, Little Shrike Thrush, Emerald Dove, Figbird, Green-backed Gerygone, Varied Triller and Pied-Imperial Pigeon.  The next morning we were forced to return to the Mitchell falls car park to find the Yellow faced form of Partridge Pigeon, which we eventually found, 10 birds feeding on a small patch of burnt ground.  Flowering paperbarks were also attracting Northern Rosella and Red-winged Parrot.

 The afternoon was spent on a fruitless search for Chestnut-backed Button- Quail at several sites that I know.  Our return to Drysdale was rewarded with lovely views of Black Bittern on the King Edward River.  We finally found Northern Shrike-Tit on our way back to Mt. Elizabeth for our last night. On the long journey back to Broome we found a flock of 60 Gouldian Finches East of the Barnett river. We had time to drop by the Derby Sewerage Works for a quick look and we turned up Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Long-toed Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit amongst Red-necked Avocets, Black-winged  Stilts and Masked Lapwings.  Not a bad haul and a great finale to a most enjoyable trip.  Our final new bird for the tour, a Yellow-billed Spoonbill at Ski Lake on the Great Northern Highway.

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16 Day Best of the Kimberley 19 Aug—3 Sept 2005

The Best of the Kimberley tour has been running annually for more than 10 years.  The trip covers just over 3000 km in distance and visits many of the famous places in the Kimberley excluding of course many of the splendid spots on the coast.  This years 2005 trip was successful with several of the participants saying it was the best holiday they had ever had.  We had a great group including Alan Ford from Canberra, James (Jim) Martin from Ontario, Canada, Patsy Robertson, Melbourne, Michael & Rachael Anderson and Peter and Pam Mynot both from the UK.  On our first day we travelled from Broome to Windjana Gorge in the West Kimberley a distance of approximately 400 km, and recorded 50 species.  The most unusual sighting for the day were Marsh Sandpipers a species that rarely over winter  in Australia. Windjana Gorge was spectacular as usual with lovely views of Green-backed Gerygone, Sandstone Shrike-Thrush and Azure Kingfisher.  On our way to Bell Gorge while travelling through the King Leopold Ranges I decided to stop where I had seen Star Finches on the previous trip.  A dense patch of spear grass very close to the road.  Sure enough they were still there camped in the tall grass.  I instructed everybody to open their windows, I then gave a series of squeaking sounds which caused about 50 Star Finches to fly towards the vehicle and perching in anything close by, the reaction was extraordinary and allowed some great views of these beautiful finches.  We also scoped up a Black-breasted Buzzard on her nest which is a sight you don’t see everyday.

 While travelling into Bell Gorge on the Silent Grove track we bundled into a massive Finch flock, and scrambled off to follow the flock which we estimated contained 300 Star Finch and 350 Pictorella Mannikin plus 30 odd Long-tailed Finch thrown in for good measure.

 Bell Gorge was busy but we enjoyed a swim and also found some Purple-crowned fairy-Wrens on Bell Creek at one of the camp sites.  White-quilled Rock-pigeons, Variegated fairy-Wrens and a few Masked Finches were lovely to see.

 A day later we experienced another great finch event finding a flock of 150 Gouldian Finch.  On the Mitchell Plateau we were successful in finding the Black Grasswren, Partridge Pigeon, Bush Stone-Curlew and White-browed Robin.  A rainforest patch on the Surveyors Pool track turned up Little-Bronze Cuckoo, Rainbow Pitta, Little Shrike- Thrush, Emerald Dove, Barking Owl and a pair of Carpet Pythons entwined around each other half way up a small tree.  The Gouldians put on another show for us in the Pentecost Ranges while we were searching for Crested Bellbird and we got ridiculously close to 30 birds perch in one small tree including 5 Black-faced males and 2 red-faced males perched in a row you wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it!

 On Russ Creek we found Purple-crowned Fair-Wrens.  Parry’s Creek wetland is a fantastic birding hot spot and  we had crippling views of Zitting Cisticola, Yellow Chat and a mixture of waders including Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Red-necked Avocets, Black-winged Stilts, Red-capped Plover and Black-fronted Dotterel.  The excitement increased when we spotted a large flock of birds coming into drink, 250 Flock Bronzewings powered into the site dropping into the shallow water to drink and were gone as quickly as they had arrived.  The hide at Marlgu the official viewing spot of Parry’s Lagoon produced stunning views of so many waterbirds including Pied Heron, Black-tailed Native-Hen, Green Pygmy Goose, & comb-crested Jacana.  We also spotted a very large saltwater crocodile on the opposite bank. 

 The Bungle Bungles were as beautiful as ever but very dry,  we saw loads of birds here including breeding Painted Firetail, good looks at Spinifex Bird and new for me in the park a Western Gerygone at our camp spot.   We continued our journey through Halls Creek to Laugher Creek so making our morning journey to Fitzroy a little easier for the boat trip along Geikie Gorge.   The boat trip was great and everybody enjoyed it.  Our long drive back to Broome was uneventful except my obligatory stop to show off Black-footed Rock Wallaby’s at the Erskin Range who are, dear things very reliable—thanks again guys.

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10 Day Private Charter to Bachsten Creek 6-15 July 2005

This tour to Bachsten Creek and Munja with participants Hugh & Fiona Mc Lachlan and Ian & Janet Mac Lachlan was not short of interest in the Kimberley with both couples having a long time fascination and desire for knowledge about the Kimberley bush, its plants, birds and animals. We found some great birds including 3 large groups of Gouldian Finches, Black Grasswrens were found on several occasions but the highlight of this trip was to find a pair of Masked Owls roosting amongst the leafy canopy of some large Syzygiums in a vine thicket. We also had a grand finale watching several very large saltwater crocodiles moving in with the tide and then maintaining a position at the mouth of the Calder River and hunting for prey as the tide rushed past them.  We also found up to 60 Yellow Chats at Munja Lagoon a new species for me at this site.

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10 Day Black Grasswren Tour 20—29 June 2005

Well this trip with participants David Torr of Melbourne, Vivienne Dare from Fremantle, Julie Barber & Betty Seddon from New Zealand was good fun with the combination of David’s sense of humour and Betty’s enthusiasm, the rest of us were just swept along and had a good old time seeing loads of birds and consuming the odd bottle of wine for good measure.  Things started slowly on our way to Derby from Broome, we found Long-tailed Finch, Pallid Cuckoo & White-throated Gerygone early on, plus the usual bush birds that are common in the Pindan like Rufous-throated & Singing Honeyeater, Red-backed Fairy-Wren, Double-barred Finch and Rainbow Bee-eater. At Taylor’s Lagoon it was fairly quiet even after several 100 millimetres of rain we had locally earlier in the month. So we continued to the Fitzroy River Crossing at Willare Bridge to try our luck in the usually rich riverine scrub. Again nothing much there either in fact we had trouble finding a Yellow-tinted Honeyeater, no Brush Cuckoos and we struggled to find Leaden Flycatcher, Variegated Fairy-Wren, Grey Shrike-Thrush and White-throated and White-gaped Honeyeater.  Sometimes it’s just to slow, so we zoomed off to Derby finding the bird of the day—a Great-billed Heron at the Derby Wharf.  Next morning in the Derby mangroves it was torturously slow and we struggled to find anything, the spring tides had rendered walking into the mangroves a no go area as Derby mud is very sticky and slippery.  We did see Mangrove Grey Fantail, White-breasted Whistler, Kimberley Flycatcher (lemon breasted), Mangrove Gerygone, Yellow White-eye and heard Mangrove- Golden Whistler.  The King Leopold Ranges were good value  while on our way to Mt Hart Station, we disturbed a large feeding flock close to the road comprising of Star finch and Pictorella Mannikin, things were looking up! The Mt Hart gardens  were excellent as usual with about 25 species and on our way back to the Gibb River road we hit the big one with a flock of 11 Gouldian Finches. Close by we saw an adult Spotted Harrier, Pictorella Mannikin, Varied Sitella and Black-tailed Treecreeper.  The Phillips Range was splendid, Silver-leaved Bloodwoods were flowering and the place was crawling in Black Honeyeaters a very uncommon bird this far north. The mornings at Mt Elizabeth were bright and almost crisp and we did see some super birds including Hooded Robin, Northern Shrike-Tit, Gouldian Finch, Red-browed pardalote, Masked Finch, Banded and Grey-fronted Honeyeaters with a total of 40 species before breakfast.

 Drysdale River was fantastic as usual huge numbers of birds everywhere including Purple-crowned Fairy-Wrens, Northern Shrike-tit Black-chinned Honeyeater and Banded Honeyeater, Masked Woodswallow and Collared Sparrowhawk. Crimson Finches worked the grassy banks of the Drysdale while the silver backed form of Grey Butcherbird made their lovely fluty calls from the paperbark canopy that line the river.

 On the Mitchell Plateau we finally found a pair of Black Grasswrens after a worrying four hours of looking—phew!!  We then found another group several hours later. Lots of other birds showed well on the day like White-lined Honeyeater, Yellow Oriole, Bar-breasted Honeyeater and Green-backed Gerygone.  Other highlights on the plateau included fantastic views of Chestnut-backed Button Quail crossing the track and numerous rainforest species including Rainbow Pitta and Orange-footed Scrubfowl.  The Partridge Pigeons in the camp ground eventually proved to be reliable.  On a secret swamp on our way south and back to Broome we were very lucky to see Yellow Chats and Australian Bustard, Comb-crested Jacana and Freckled Duck and a total of 45 species.  We ended up with a good haul of  birds on this trip and I know I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

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Kimberley Coastal Cruise 29 March to 11 April 2005

 Our cruise started on the evening of the 29th March and with everybody aboard we departed the Wyndham Jetty on sunset, our destination the Berkley River.  We woke up early to the gentle lapping of waves against the hull of the KQ2, Pearl Sea Coastal Cruises new luxurious charter vessel, the Kimberley Quest Two.  We were anchored between the mainland and Reverley Island about 1km south of the mouth of the Berkeley River.

 A pre breakfast explore in the dinghies was a great idea and well received by everybody with the highlight of our short excursion being 5 Beach Stone Curlews.   The big advantage of travelling at this time of year is how green and lush the country looks and the Berkeley and King George Rivers were both spectacular for wild flowers. The woodland above the King George Falls really put on a show particularly a spectacular white flowering lindernia (Lindernia macrosiphonia) first collected by Joseph Bradshaw in the 1890’s.  Small streams and pools fed lush water meadows alive with colourful herbs and flowers.  All this life and vitality in what can be dry harsh woodland savannah a couple of months later in the year.  This contrast is difficult to get across to visitors who don’t see it with their own eyes and the early explorers and scientists were equally confounded by it.  We enjoyed some great views of White-bellied Sea Eagles, Brahminy Kites, Peregrine and Short-eared Rock Wallabies.

 Our journey continued with a visit to Jones Island situated well to the north of Vansittart Bay.  This tiny island was apparently mined for guano in the 1890’s indicating that seabirds have bred there for a very long time.  As we approached Jones we could see a cloud of what looked like smoke over the island—it turned out to be birds.  How exciting was this going to be!  The vast majority of birds on the island at the time were Bridled Terns, which were still breeding.  We found several nests well hidden under large clumps of beach spinifex containing almost fully fledged juveniles.  I estimated between seven and eight thousand Bridled Terns were present at the time of our visit.  We recorded 26 species of birds including plenty of migratory waders, terns, oystercatchers, Tawny Grassbirds, Brown Quail, 2 Sea Eagles and 2 Ospreys.  I look forward to going back.  Vansittart Bay has plenty of attractions and we explored several small vine thicket patches and mudflats in the early morning.  In one patch we teased out a lovely White-browed Robin and a couple of Green-backed Gerygones, Northern Fantail and a White-lined Honeyeater.  Mudflats a short dinghy ride away at Symons Point, produced several full breeding plumaged Red Knot, Pacific Golden and Grey Plover and about 30 of each of the following waders, Red-necked Stint Grey-tailed Tattler, Greenshank and Greater Sandplover a couple of Lesser Sandplover and a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

 An afternoon excursion to Pauline Creek with the crew while our participants were having an afternoon snooze was a bitter sweet experience for me. We landed on a rock bar very close to the fresh water influence of Pauline Creek on the south eastern side of the bay, within five minutes I was watching a pair of Black-faced Gouldian Finches drinking from the creek and with them 5 Chestnut-breasted Mannikins, 15 Double-Barred Finches and 11 Long-tailed Finches.  This is the first time I’ve seen Gouldian Finch on a coastal charter but what a disappointment not to be able to share the sighting with anybody!

 The Mitchell River and Surveyors Creek are highlights on the charter and this year was to be no exception.  We found Black Grasswrens on Gurbiri Creek which leads to Surveyors Pool.  Plenty of other birds were  seen including the Kimberley form of the Variegated fairy-Wren, Sandstone Shrike-Thrush, White-Quilled Rock Pigeon, White-lined Honeyeater and Little Woodswallow .

 The next morning we concentrated on Mangrove Birds, with 26 species including Chestnut Rail, Mangrove Robin, Little-Bronze Cuckoo, Azure Kingfisher, Mangrove-Golden Whistler, and Broad-billed Flycatcher.

 Our cruise continued through the Bonaparte Archipelago to Lamark Island, a beautiful little island that supports an interesting selection of birds.   Several  vine thickets afford plenty of shade and we recorded 20 species including Rose-crowned Fruit Dove which were common Rufous Fantail, Mangrove Golden Whistler and Rainbow Pitta.  An active Orange- Footed Scrub fowl mound  was located and unfortunately only a few people saw the  Rainbow Pitta.  However everybody enjoyed great views of the Rose-crowed Fruit- Dove.

 Careening Bay is a fascinating stop for its historical significance. The site where Phillip Parker King’s crew engraved their vessel’s name and the date into a squat boab at the point where they had careened the vessel for much needed repairs.  One can still see the clearly inscribed graffiti “HMC Mermaid 1820” the letters are stretched by 185 years of growth!  We saw an interesting selection of birds here, an Osprey mobbing an immature Sea Eagle for about ten minutes, the mobbed Sea Eagle performed numerous victory rolls to present its talons to the attacking Osprey.  We heard Cicadabirds but never set eyes on them, however Sacred Kingfishers, Leaden Flycatcher, Little Shrike -Thrush, Yellow Oriole, Pied Imperial Pigeon and Red-backed Fairy- Wrens were far more obliging.  Onwards to the Prince Regent and famous Kings Cascade, where we found the tiny Monjon Rock Wallaby.

 Our next major stop was the fabulous Sale River where a glorious walk through the Rainforest Gully (gallery forest of sysigium and cluster fig) was spectacular with sightings of Rufous Owl and a juvenile Rainbow Pitta, Yellow Oriole,  Figbird and Azure Kingfisher. 

 The obligatory visit to Montgomery Reef was undertaken and some were lucky to see several very large sharks in the channel and the odd Green Sea Turtle.  We found a nice selection of waders and terns including Caspian Tern and breeding plumaged White-winged Black Terns.  From Montgomery we decided to visit Secure Bay, this spectacular place is even more exciting at this time of year because of the huge spring tides.  To dinghy through the “Funnel” a narrows, on the incoming tide is a thrilling experience not to mention the extraordinary scenery including vast dollops of black dolerite scree.  We had views of Square-tailed Kite and Sandstone Shrike-Thrush, several rainforest patches were located for future exploration and Rainbow Pitta was heard to call from one of them.

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Ashmore Reef Pelagic Trip 24 - 31 October 2004

This was a very successful trip with some exciting birds sighted with 4 BARC (Birds Australia Rarities Committee) rarities found on Ashmore including an Island Monach found by George Swann - a new bird for Australia.

Click on the address here www.ecology-solutions.com.au/ashmore_reef/ashmore_reef.htm to view a full trip report and photos compiled by Simon Mustoe one of the trip participants.

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3 Day Dampier Peninsula - 9 - 11 November 2003

A camping trip with Patricia Croft and Terence & Angela Blacker to the top of the Dampier Peninsula at the beginning of November started with spectacular displays of Fork-tailed Swifts flying over one mile and Roebuck Estate as we left Broome.  At Beagle Bay we found 8 Little Curlew on the football oval.  Our camping area up on the Peninsula was the hunting ground for an adult Australian Hobby who continued a terror campaign over Peaceful Doves, Honeyeaters and Finches during our visit.  We enjoyed some great sightings of bush birds including a Hooded Robin who insisted in calling incessantly at about 4am and the Brush Cuckoos who called all night!  We found and enjoyed fantastic views of Chestnut-backed Button-Quail 2 separate coveys with 12 & 20 birds in respective groups—great to see this unusual bird in good numbers and so well.  Silver-crowned Friarbirds were seen on several occasions feeding on the flowers of cocky apple Planchonia  careya.  We searched for Gouldian Finch but failed to find them and again no Fruit Doves.  However we accumulated a respectful list of bush birds, mangrove species waders and terns.  At Thomas Beach Lombadina we enjoyed an invigorating swim, lunch on the beach and a tern identification workshop.  Distinguishing Common Terns from Roseate Terns who were obligingly roosting about a 100 meters from the vehicle.  Little Terns were discovered breeding also about a 100 meters from us on the landward side of this extensive beach and dune field.  One extraordinary sighting late on the same afternoon while searching a feeding flock in Woolybutt woodland close to Lombadina was to see Long-tailed Finches hawking for insects in the very top canopy of these big eucalyptus.  We watched in amazement as these finches repeatedly flew vertically upwards hovering and catching what looked like small mayflies.  Black-tailed Tree Creepers worked the ground picking up ants, 6 Varied Sitellas twittered around us while a pair of Grey Shrike Thrush called repeatedly in response to my very poor imitation of the melodious song, a beautiful evenings birding.  A good trip with some lovely sightings.

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4 Day Dampier Peninsula 11 - 14 October 2003

Another short camping trip, this time up to the Dampier Peninsula with Carole Breedlove from the USA and Graham Johnson from the wheat belt of WA.  This tour concentrated on birding the top end of the Dampier Peninsula.  Ecologically rich but under watched, the diversity of habitats in a small area makes it an ideal place.  Setting up a camp and radiating out on daily excursions to explore these different habitats is the way to go.  We worked mangroves early in the morning enjoying magical moments with specialist species like Mangrove Robin, Shining Flycatcher, Dusky Gerygone, Red-headed Honeyeater, Mangrove Grey Fantail, Kimberley Flycatcher, White-breasted and Mangrove Golden Whistler, Broad-billed Flycatcher and Yellow Whiteye.  Beyond the mangrove fringe another equally rich habitat of estuarine mudflats presented the observer with delightful views and challenges to their skills.  A pair of Beach Stone Curlews less than 50 metres away.  Little Egret, Striated Heron, Eastern Reef Egret, White-faced Heron, Great Egret and 6 Black Necked Storks of varying ages.  Migratory waders included noisy Whimbrel and the odd Eastern Curlew.  Grey Plover, Pacific Golden Plover, Great Knot, Greater and Lesser Sandplover, Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers, Bar-tailed Godwits, Eastern Curlew , Red-necked Stint, Grey-tailed Tattler, Terek Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper and Greenshank.  The surrounding savannah woodland and and pockets of vine thickets harbour some lovely and unusual species which are the highlights of the trip. We managed to find two of these target birds on the first day with great views of 6 Gouldian Finches, a red-faced male, a black faced female and 4 immatures.  This sighting was complimented by finding a covey of 8 Chestnut-backed Button Quail at the same location.  We did fail to find Rose-crowned Fruit Dove which can be quite common in the area but the lack of fruiting rainforest trees could explain their absence.  A visit to Cape Leveque and Thomas Bay turned up at lease 7 Tern species and some Sanderlings.  A great trip with solid results, so anybody looking for a short trip with excellent birds should consider this tour.

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4 Day West Kimberley - 28 September - 1 October 2003

 With Jacqui Shepperd and Barbara O’Brien and Kate Buckley.  A short camping trip into the Kimberley went extremely well with some lovely experiences which I know I shall treasure for a long time.  We started well with my first Yellow Wagtail for the season at Cockatoo Creek on the Great Northern Highway and a new bird for all my clients.  Black-breasted Buzzard was also a great sighting and we found a good selection of common Kimberley birds.  We drove to the Phillips Range and camped there the night but the birding  was a bit slow so after a dip at Galvan's Gorge we decided to visit Old Mornington Station.  We had some good solid birding here with Barking Owl, White-browed Robin and Purple-crowned Fairy Wren.  An early morning vigil at a lonely waterhole produced a plethora of good birds from 5:30 to 6:15 we watched 80 Gouldian Finches, 96 Pictorella Manikins, 140 Long-tailed Finches and 25 Painted Finches, coming down to drink—now that’s enough to take any birders breath away!  In the King Leopold ranges we found Sandstone Shrike Thrush and White-quilled Rock Pigeon.  I’m sure these three ladies will treasure their Kimberley experience.

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8 Day Pelagic Ashmore Reef  - 20 - 27 September 2003

With beautiful weather for Kimberley Birdwatching’s annual pelagic charter to Ashmore Reef from 20th—28th September.  We boarded the “Jodie Anne” at 8:30 and were soon underway.  Sightings around the entrance to Roebuck Bay included an Irrawaddi Dolphin and Bottle Nose Dolphin, Common Terns still sporting full breeding plumage complete with black crowns, tail streamers and white rumps.  Little, Whiskered and a few Bridled Terns were seen amongst the larger flocks of commons as we moved north.  Our first procellariform was recorded at 11am a Wilson’s Storm Petrel and then another 2 birds all showing very well.  By 11:30 we had all experienced a sight that will be hard to forget.  Approximately 20 meters from the port stern a huge (adult?) Humpback Whale launched itself into the air completing a full breach of the ocean before crashing back into the sea with a deafening slap, this performance was repeated another 4 times but each effort slightly less dramatic as the mammal presumably ran out of steam, however this dramatic behaviour gave the impression that the whale was deliberately slapping the water as it landed back in the sea for maximum effect.  The only other cetations apart from Humpbacks seen on the remainder of the first day were a small pod of Spinner Dolphins numbering between 10—15 animals.  We recorded plenty of Brown Boobies, the odd Crested Tern Wilson Storm Petrels Common Terns, Lesser Frigatebirds and Bridled Terns.  The next morning we had reached the edge of the Continental Shelf with the depth steadily increasing  it wasn’t long before we started to see some interesting birds.  A Red-tailed Tropicbird started the excitement followed by the first of 8 Bulwer’s Petrels seen for the day followed shortly after by a Swinhoe’s Storm Petrel.  It was decided that we should try some attractant, so fish oil and a whole sliced up tuna were placed in a net dragged behind the boat. This method proved to be very useful attracting at times up to 18 Matsudaira’s Storm Petrels.  These birds did on occasions come very close to the boat as they followed our slick, allowing everybody on board fantastic views of these poorly known birds.  Swinhoe’s Storm Petrel were also seen on occasions on the slick mixed in with the Matsudairas although in some of the literature, Swinhoes, it’s stated do not follow boats.  We recorded a total of 34 Swinhoes Storm Petrels for the whole trip with 6 of these recorded on the 2nd day.  These two species cause an identification nightmare with Swinhoes Storm Petrels only recently being accepted onto the Australian list on the strength of observations from previous Jodie Anne trips.  Basically  Swinhoes are slightly smaller and lack the pale base to the primaries  that is often an obvious field mark for Matsudairas.  The numbers of these all dark procellariformes were relatively high for the trip and may reflect our September departure.  Day three was also very exciting with more sightings of the two all dark Storm Petrels, Tahiti Petrel, over 30 Bulwer’s Petrel and a Pomerine Jaeger.  Ashmore Reef as usual was crawling in seabirds and early morning views of Red-footed and Masked Boobies were well received.  West Island was visited with excellent views of 3 White-tailed Tropicbirds and 10 pairs of breeding Red-tailed Tropicbirds.  No Oriental Cuckoos were seen, a little bit too early for them but we did find a Tawny Grassbird which I am sure is a new bird for Ashmore and 3 Black-faced Cuckoo Shrikes.  A White-winged Triller was also present in non breeding plumage.  There is a possibility that this bird may be of Indonesian origin i.e. White-shouldered Triller, in the past it has been regarded as conspecific but recent work may split the two species.  Three Oriental Plovers joined the usual wader species found on the Island.  An opportunity to visit the important breeding colony of Middle Island circumnavigating with the inflatable dinghy requiring a decent high tide.  Our timing wasn’t too bad and we bird watched  from the tender experiencing vast numbers of seabirds crammed onto this tiny island including Brown, Masked  and Red-footed Boobies.  Various wader roosts were also scanned and counted and amongst a group of Red-necked Stints I spotted something different, a small wader in full breeding plumage.  It didn’t take long to realise this was a Little Stint, two cream coloured tramlines forming a V down the wader’s back with a characteristic golden rufous wash over the upper parts, head, neck and upper breast.  The legs and bill shape also differed from the surrounding stints, the legs appearing finer and the bill was slightly longer and fine compared to Red-necked.  An exciting bird to see and a new bird for many of the participants.  We left Ashmore Reef enriched by such an avian spectacle with everybody having thoroughly enjoyed their visit.  It was now back to searching and scanning for seabirds and we were not disappointed with sightings of 4 Tahiti Petrels, 15 Bulwer’s Petrels, 2 Jouanin’s Petrels, 27 Matsudaira’s Storm Petrels, 19 Swinhoe’s Storm Petrels and an Arctic Jaeger over the next couple of days.  The Lacepede Island were spectacular as usual, thousands of Brown Boobies and Lesser Frigatebirds were still breeding and a massive flock of 15,000 Roseate Terns were seen towards the late afternoon on West Island.  Some impressive wader flocks were also scanned.  Several pairs of Masked Boobies on Middle Island and Bridled Terns and Common Noddies were preparing to breed.  A fine finale to another successful Ashmore Reef trip aboard the Jodie Anne.

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10 Day Black Grasswren - 1 - 10 September 2003

 In early September we birded the Plateau with Roger & Margaret Vines, Val & Ray Scott and Julia & Bob Richardson.  September is always a great month for birds and the weather is starting to heat up!  Strong westerly winds dominated the trip but we got some good results.  Taylor’s Lagoon on Roebuck Plains is always a good place to start, we found twenty returning Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, still very smart in their breeding plumage and an Oriental Plover just to get the migrant thing going.  We also watched a Black-breasted Buzzard coming down to drink what a treat!  The mangroves at the Derby Wharf were very quiet and we didn’t see the Great-billed Heron that is often to be seen here.  We were lucky enough to see a  male White-breasted Whistler and Lemon-breasted Flycatcher, the Kimberley race tormenti.

Once into the Kimberley we started to find some good birds including the rare northern form of Crested Shrike Tit, race whitei, Hooded Robin, Gouldian Finch and Crested Bellbird.  We enjoyed great views of the Gouldians both black and red faced males amongst a group of 25 birds.  At Drysdale River Station we accumulated a good list of species including Varied Lorikeets and Purple-crowned Wrens.  Further north very exciting views of male Cicada bird which we were able to scope up, this location is also good for White-browed Robin but it took us about an hour to find them.  Once at the Mitchell Plateau Camp one of the delightful tasks I have to perform as a bird guide is to inform the group of get up times.  When I announced to the group that it was a 04:30 am start, there were howls of derision—but everybody made it.  The early start does make a difference considering our camp is at least half an hours drive from the Grasswren site.  Up at 04:30 am served hot porridge and on our way to the Mitchell Falls camp ground, ten minutes later we were watching Black Grasswrens, a party of four females and one male.  The rest of the day was spent enjoying the walk to the Mitchell Falls with good views of White-lined Honeyeater, Green-backed Gerygone and Peregrine.  The next day we explored some rainforest patches towards the northern end of the plateau with good results, Barking Owl, Emerald Dove, Little Shrike Thrush, Varied Triller and fantastic views of Rainbow Pitta with everybody seeing it, not easy in a scratchy Kimberley rainforest patch!  But more to come, on our way out and climbing back up the hill we flushed a large covey of Chestnut-backed Button-Quail.  Luckily several birds dropped down to the ground while still in view and we managed to scope up 2 birds.  We approached one of them to within 15 metres. We all had fantastic views admiring the bird’s superb camouflage, massive bill, yellow eye and thick short powerful legs.  All in all a great trip with a list close to 180 species.

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 12 Day Princess Parrot    12 - 24 August 2003

 Kimberley Birdwatching’s first Canning Stock Route trip with seven participants and 3 vehicles.

On the first morning of the tour we experienced some extraordinary weather, strong south east winds with  heavy rain.  At Fitzroy we joined the Geikie Gorge boat tour and camped the night at Brooking Springs.  The next morning as we drove out of Fitzroy it wasn’t long before we hit the jackpot at Pinnacle Creek close to the Cadjebut lead and zinc mine.  We enjoyed stunning views of Painted Finch, Pictorella Manikins plus Zebra Finch, Red-browed Pardalote, Grey-fronted and Yellow-tinted Honeyeaters.  We pressed on to Halls Creek with a quick stop at several old haunts of mine primarily for a chance to find Grey Falcon, but the falcon eluded us.  However we did find more flocks of Painted Finch and Pictorella Manikins, Spinnifex Pigeons and Zebra Finches. Wolfe Creek Crater was tops, we pulled up into the car park and who should be there but a pair of Pink Cockatoos.  We scoped the pair up watching them feeding on the gum nuts of Eucalyptus terminalis.  Close by wrens were calling, suddenly two full plumaged male wrens appeared on some dead acacia twigs above the Spinifex.  What a contrast and extraordinary sight to see Red-backed Fairy Wren and White-winged Fairy Wren together with their attending families flitting about below them.  Arriving at Lera Yard Lake Gregory a short rain squall tested us as we began to set up camp however it soon passed.  A great meal and a glass of red soon had everyone in a relaxed mood and looking forward to the next days birding.  Lake Gregory is recognised as one of the most important wetlands in Australia supporting huge numbers of water birds, the Great Sandy Desert comes into direct contact with the Lake adding to the huge diversity of wildlife.  Our itinerary allowed for two nights here giving us time to have a good look around.  An early morning walk along the shoreline revealed a great selection of birds. White-plumed Honeyeaters chattered around the camp and Willie Wagtails were constant companions.  Yellow-throated Miners inhabited the Mula like Acacia tephrina. The litoral fringe supported a complex assemblage of samphires, saltbush and smoke bush type plants. Amongst this rich plant life, White-winged Fairy Wrens and Variegated Fairy Wrens were common however the star bird had to be Yellow Chats, they were everywhere and we saw hundreds of them.  I have seen Orange Chats at this location but on this occasion no joy.  Flock Bronzewing are common in the area favouring the grass plains that surround the lake.  We recorded good numbers of this beautiful pigeon and  found a nest containing two eggs while walking up some Little Buttonquail.  The female pigeon flushed only to land several meters away and disappear in the low grass, we flushed her again thinking that she may be injured from predator attack but this was obviously a defensive strategy and I would liken it to the broken wing display that plovers employ to distract a predator away from the nest.  Another interesting observation while birding around the lakes edge were Little Grassbird calling from a dense fringe of bush tobacco stemodia sp.  We had good views of this shy little bird confirming its presence as it could possibly be a new record for the area.  The water bird species were too many to list but some species of note were Freckled Duck, Australian Wood Duck, Crested Grebe (in huge numbers).  Gull-billed, Whiskered, and Caspian Terns.  Loads of Pink-eared Duck and Black Swans, Australian White and Straw-necked Ibis, Red-capped Plover, Black-fronted Dotterel, Greenshank, Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper & Wood Sandpiper. Australian Pratincoles were also seen in small flocks.  Loads of Pied Cormorants in huge rafts, Hardhead Ducks, Little Black Cormorants, Australian Pelican, Great Egret—the list goes on.  On the raptor front Black Falcon stole the show with  4 individuals seen and a pair hanging around a nest situated in a dead acacia.  We enjoyed great comparisons with Brown Falcon and Kestrels that were in the air at the same time.  White-bellied Sea Eagles, Wedge-tailed Eagles, Black Kites, Whistling Kites, Swamp Harriers and Black-shouldered Kites were recorded.  Lake Gregory option had worked well for us with some great sightings.  Time now to hit the Canning Stock route, we took the southern route following around the bottom of the Lake system joining the Canning Stock Route at Well 51.  Grey-headed Honeyeater,  White-winged Fairy Wrens, Variegated Wrens, Brown Honeyeater, White-winged Trillers, Black-faced Woodswallows, Bee eaters, Willie Wagtails, Horsfields Bronze Cuckoo and Spotted Harrier were seen. We pressed on and made it to the Breaden Hills, a magnificent range of red sandstone and lateritic capped mesa’s, sometimes known as the South Esk Tablelands.  A great campsite was chosen looking east onto the red cliffs of the range.  Some of the group found Grey Falcons on the cliffs and Kestrels were common here.  We also found Painted Finch drinking from Breaden’s Pool, a small cupful of water remained in the muddy depression surrounded by eroded sandstone.  Grey-headed and Singing Honeyeaters were common about the ranges.  We pressed south following the stock route to Mount Ford picking up Crimson Chat, Budgerigar, Black-faced Woodswallows and Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike, Variegated Wrens and Rainbow Bee-eaters.  The habitat south west of Mt Ford looked excellent, this was reflected by the number of birds we saw.  We decided to press on to water, a better chance of finding the elusive Princess Parrots.  We camped south of a small clay pan called Pijallinga.  After packing up we struck a decent size feeding flock with a good selection of desert birds including Budgerigar, Red-browed Pardalote, Zebra Finch, Crimson Chat, Black-chinned, Singing, Grey-headed, Brown, Black and Pied Honeyeater.  Both Variegated and White-winged Fairy Wrens seemed reasonably common.  We camped at Well 40 situated several kilometres north east of the Lake Tobin crossing.  A good body of slightly brackish water was surrounded by paperbarks.  A selection of water birds congregated on the lakes surface, Grey Teal, Pink-eared Duck, Coot, Australian Grebes and a pair of Black-fronted Dotterel.  Two White-backed Swallows flew over the lake with some Fairy Martins. Several members of the group had seen Princess Parrots, flying south east, so we walked off over the dunes in the general direction of where they were seen to fly, scanning the horizon every time we reached the top of a new dune.  We searched Eucalyptus trees big and small in the hope that we would spot that long parrot silhouette, but no joy.  We trudged back to the camp only to meet Debbie and Mark in excited conversation.  Debbie had just seen more Princess Parrots, four birds had flown directly over her close to the camp.  Mark had been fiddling about packing up inside the 3rd vehicle and had also missed seeing them!  Debbie described the four birds accurately enough, colours shape and some behavioural stuff.  Double frustration for those of us that had missed these rare birds  however, we still had plenty of country to explore.  The two sightings at Well 40 certainly posed a few questions on what we should do to optimise our opportunities to see the Princess Parrots again. We decided to hang around Well 40 for a couple of house just in case they put in an appearance and then take off for Lake Tobin.  A visit to Tobin’s lonely grave and some nice observations of Black and White-fronted Honeyeaters and a rather surprised Brown Goshawk flushed from paperbarks.  Crossing Lake Tobin was uneventful but one can see how when inundated the lake would prevent any north or south traffic. The lakes habitat with large expanses of bare saltpan surrounded by areas of samphire looked ideal for Orange Chat and again some of the group did see some briefly.  Further south we found several feeding flocks amongst interdunal swales, flowering grevillea wickhami and eriostachya were attracting loads of birds, a new and perhaps unexpected find was a Chiming Wedgebill, very shy but with persistence we all saw it well.  This spot also came up trumps with another desert specialist Moloch horridus, the Thorny Devil, what a beautiful reptile.  This specimen was large, a great find and appreciated by everyone.   We camped at Well 36, a small freshwater wetland that could be the sort of spot that may attract the parrots.  The dune fields here are more complex than further north, mixed up and not formed in uniform linear dunes.  Groves of Desert Oak Casuarina decaisneana dominate the vegetation creating in some areas dense stands. Here male Pied Honeyeaters were performing their extraordinary song flights. The Princess Parrots were seen again at this location early in the morning but only very briefly disappearing behind a dune and not seen again.  We also saw a good selection of raptors here, Black-breasted Buzzard, Spotted Harrier, Brown Goshawk, Black Shouldered Kite, Kestrel, Little Eagle and Brown Falcon not a bad tally.  Well 35 also had plenty of water and was attracting birds.  We found Australian Hobby, breeding Black-faced Woodswallow, Rufous Songlark, Masked Woodswallow, White-winged and Variegated Fairy Wrens.  Our journey along the Canning was coming to an end, the Kunawarritji Community was our next stop, situated several kilometres south of Well 33, a well run friendly place where we re-stocked and fueled up. Red-backed Kingfishers called from the power lines and flocks of Zebra Finches came and went, a true oasis for thousands of thirsty birds.  From Kunawarrtji we joined the Wapet or Kidson track and did not see another vehicle or people until we reached the Gt. Northern Highway.  At Lake Auld we found Orange Chats and enjoyed some stunning views of these beautiful birds.  As we watched them we noticed they were carrying food but did not establish if they were breeding.  Close to this site we also found Spinnifexbird which was well overdue but as is often the case we continued to see them at several sites along this lonely track.  As we strode off into mounds of very sharp spinnifex in search of Spinnifexbirds, Debbie stayed with her vehicle, when we returned she described an animal she had seen very close to the vehicle.  A short red dumpy mammal, size, slightly larger than a common house mouse with a short dumpy tail. With the help of the field guide by Menkhorst and Knight we confirmed that she had just seen a Kaluta or Little Red Antechinus Dasykaluta rosamondae.  On our journey north we saw some nice birds, White-backed Swallows, Australian Bustard, Spotted Harrier, Richards Pipit, Spinnifexbird, White-winged Fairy Wrens and Crimson Chats.  When we finely arrived at the highway there was a sense of disappointment at being back in civilisation with traffic whizzing past, we took photos and reminisced on our adventure and a general consensus was that we should turn around and do it all again.  I can tell you it was tempting, not having seen the Princess Parrots myself!

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 13 Day Bachsten Creek Tour Fly/Drive - 2 - 14 July 2003

 What a fun trip this turned out to be, the weather was perfect with a great group of people who were determined to enjoy the remote Kimberley.

We set off from Broome on the 7th July, two vehicles, trailer and 10 guests with myself and Petrine as driver/guides.  On our first day we drove fairly hard and reached Bell Gorge by late afternoon having visited the Derby Wharf and found a Great-billed Heron.  The other highlight for the day, a pair of Square-tailed Kites flying low over pindan just east of Broome.

Day 2, we enjoyed the delights of Bell and Galvan's Gorge before travelling on to Mount Elizabeth.  Joining the Munja Track is always an exciting experience with road conditions that put both your driving skills and vehicles to the test!  The rock art around Mt. Elizabeth, was well received plus some stunning scenery really set the pace for the remainder of the trip.

We enjoyed some lovely campsites with  flowing creeks and refreshing swimming holes.  Our itinerary on the Munja Track allowed a relaxed pace so we could explore and birdwatch often spending two nights at a location, giving everybody the opportunity to really soak up this beautiful part of the world.  We climbed Mt Shadforth, a large sandstone hill that overlooks the Pearson River, what a view when we reached the top.  I whistled a rather unflattering imitation of Sandstone Shrike Thrush which had a dramatic result.  A pair coming very close to our perch and calling repeatedly.  This call fest attracted several other locals including Little Woodswallow, Leaden Flycatcher, White-bellied Cuckoo Shrike, Weebill and Silver-crowned Friarbird.  We investigated a couple of rainforest patches on our journey through the Caroline Ranges, finding specialist species like Green-backed Gerygone, Figbird, Yellow Oriole and Varied Triller.  Jameson’s Arch saw the first of many White-lined Honeyeater records for the trip, their distinctive call is a real give away.  Most if not all of our campsites were shared with Bush Stone Curlews, which did keep a few light sleepers awake, however its good to know these fabulous waders are still doing well in these remote regions.

Bachsten Creek was finally reached and we were now in amongst some real Kimberley country complete with Black Grasswrens—we just had to find them!  Our first attempt was also an opportunity to visit an art site so we combined our search.  The art proved more reliable however we did see a lovely group of Variegated Wrens with two fully plumaged males amongst the charming powder blue females of the Kimberley form rodgersi.  We also flushed our first White-quilled Rock-Pigeons a new bird for everyone except of course yours truly.

Bachsten Falls is one of those sort of places that you’ll find hard to forget, about an hours walk from our campsite and following downstream the creek forms a series of terraced waterfalls of incredible natural beauty, the falls create several perfect Kimberley spa baths, irresistible after a hot walk.  We set off on our walk to Bachsten Falls on the first morning, our target the Black Grasswren, I know several sights on this walk, on our first detour following a small tributary we heard that distinctive alarm call, the hunt had begun.  We clambered up onto a small plateau of flattish sandstone passing through tumbled boulders partially covered with sticky spinifex.  I could sense the trepidation “is this what we’ve got to do to see this bird?”  However there was also a sense of excitement surrounding us overwhelming all other feelings, the sense that we were very close to seeing the Kimberley’s only endemic bird.  As we crossed this small plateau of sheet rock we heard the call again, but closer this time almost instantaneously a splendid male Black Grasswren popped up on top of a small rounded boulder fifteen metres in front of us and shouted a rapid staccato alarm finishing with an inflected two tone whistle.   At this moment two female birds also appeared scurrying into view atop of surrounding low boulders.  It’s hard to say which is the more beautiful, the male, with his showy white streaks over black throat and upper breast or the female with her complete rufous orange chest.  We followed this family group for several hundred metres the Grasswrens showing themselves at intervals between ducking and diving amongst the Spinifex rocks and scrubby undergrowth.  Now it was warming up, a swim looked like a good option and I didn’t have any trouble selling the idea, ten minutes later  everybody was in the water at Bachsten Falls looking out over several pockets of ferny rainforest patches that hug the cliffs of the gorge. We continued to see Black Grasswren over the next four days.  Partridge Pigeons showed well, and were often found pottering around on the ground particularly on tracks.  Square-tailed Kites were seen on a number of occasions and White-browed Robins, Rufous Owl and Crimson Finches were seen at Wren Gorge, a beautiful swimming hole and lunch spot.  Once we had crossed the Calder travelling south west the geology changes being dominated by basalt, rounded hills swathed in spear grass or native sorghum and scattered eucalyptus.  This is good finch country and we were not disappointed with some impressive flocks of Pictorella Mannikins   and Long-tailed Finch.  A Bush Stone Curlew’s roost was found next to the track, lovely to see this amazingly long legged wader in broad daylight.  At Munja little remains of the station or mission that existed many years ago.  A fresh water lagoon also called Munja, being ephemeral, changes from year to year and season to season.  The lagoon had almost dried, however we found a good selection of water birds including Black-necked Stork better known as Jabiru, Intermediate Egrets, Brolga and Australian Pratincoles.  We were also lucky to find and see well several flocks of Star Finches.  A Black Falcon was seen to worry the swamp dwellers and was then joined by a Swamp Harrier and a Wedge-tailed Eagle.  Being close to marine influence Osprey, Brahminy Kite and  White-bellied Sea Eagle were also seen in the area.  Other water birds and migratory shorebirds recorded included Royal Spoonbill, Grey Teal, Black Duck, Coot, Australian Grebe, Magpie Goose, Red-capped Plover, Red-necked Stint, Greenshank, Great Egret, Gull-billed & Caspian Tern.  We had come to the end of a great trip with a crew determined to have fun and enjoy this fascinating environment right up to the grande finale, watching a large Saltwater Croc cruise effortlessly up the Calder River on the incoming tide.  Petrine & I bade farewell to our ten experienced Kimberley Birdwatchers who boarded their scenic flight back to sunny Broome.

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 4 Day Dampier Peninsula - 19 - 22 April 2003

 A short 4 day trip from the 19th to 22nd April with Frances Taylor and Clare Gifford was a knockout trip.  We found Gouldian Finches on the first day drinking at a puddle on the Cape Leveque Road and then again at our campsite over the next two days with a total of 23 birds observed.  It’s great to see this species doing well on the Peninsula.  Rose-crowned Fruit Doves showed very well and mangrove birds like Shining Flycatcher and Mangrove Golden Whistler were very obliging.  The northern end of the Dampier Peninsula has such a range of rich habitats in close proximity that it’s entirely possible to see Beach Stone Curlew one minute, Gouldian Finch and Chestnut-backed Button Quail the next.  Talking of these spectacular Button-Quail—we saw them too!!  On the raptor front, Square-tailed Kites were seen regularly, often floating over dense mangrove forest.  Sea Eagles, Brahminy Kites and Ospreys are incredibly common up here, it easy to become blasé about these handsome birds of prey.  Our trip total was over 120 species with some cracking views of some rare and difficult ones.  Good luck Clare & Frances on future birding trips.

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Ashmore Reef 23rd January - 4th February 2003

Broome - Ashmore - Darwin.  An ornithological survey of Ashmore Reef for the second year in a row was an opportunity not to be missed.

The journey from Broome to Scott Reef was fairly uneventful having left Broome at 9:45 we didn't reach deep water until well after dark.  However, during the afternoon as we passed west of the Lacepede Islands there were plenty of birds to check out, mixed flocks of seabirds including Brown Booby, Bridled Tern, Roseate Tern, Common Tern, Common Noddy and Crested Tern.  We were punching into a heavy NNE swell, a tropical low had passed to the NW and conditions were blustery to say the least.  Thank goodness I don't suffer seasickness.  A Streaked Shearwater was seen later in the afternoon well to the NW of Cape Leveque.

The next morning I was up at dawn with our position about 70 nautical miles to the SSW of Ashmore.  A few Brown Boobies were spotted then a Wedge-tailed Shearwater flew across the bow at 07:00am.  We were in deeper water, 2 Tahiti Petrels were seen well.  At 08:00 I observed a petrel I was unable to identify, it was similar in shape and size to a Tahiti but the colouring was quite different with the upperparts similar in colour to a Bridled Tern.  A white wedge shape mark on the outer primaries base was a field mark I managed to get in this very brief view.  closer to Ashmore Great Frigatebird, Masked Booby and Sooty Tern were seen.  We arrived at Ashmore Reef late morning.  The weather was still unsettled with squalls coming from the NW.  My first visit to West Island in the afternoon I wasn't prepared for a tropical downpour and I had to crouch over my camera gear, telescope & binos for 30 minutes, using the dense cover of an Octopus bush for protection.

West Island is a fascinating place, a small island surrounded by reef and sand flats, a rich fringe of Argusia Bushes surround the perimeter and the central area is shaped like a vast football oval.  The vegetation is a low herb field of grasses herbs and prostrate creepers.  Waders loaf in the centre of the island and feed amongst the herbage on the high tide.  I was primarily looking for land birds or vagrants as I had plenty of time to conduct surveys and counts.  This is very exciting, as you know there's a good chance you'll find something interesting.  I found a single White-winged Triller, a half coloured male singing his heart out in between scoffing caterpillars that were on just about every leaf.  The Triller hung around for several days.  The recent rain has brought a welcome relief to these parched islands, the drought had affected Ashmore too, apparently the islands looked dreadful in late November, they were now a green oasis in a aqua blue sea.  A pair of Sacred Kingfishers occupied the Norwest point of the island using the shrubs to hide in,  while at least 5 Oriental cuckoos were flushed from the Argusia fringe during the afternoon.  Oriental Cuckoo are common on Ashmore and were present on every visit to West Island over the next week with a total count of 7, one of them being a hepatic form.  West Island is also home to both Red-tailed Tropicbirds and White-tailed Tropicbirds and both species breed on the island.

The next morning on West Island I discovered a Scaly-breasted Munia Lonchura punctulatus feeding on buffel grass seed, it was very shy but the bird did allow me to get some video footage of it.  I am not sure which race this individual was and more research is needed.  West Island continued to come up with goodies, a White-breasted Waterhen, race Leucomelanus  was flushed by myself three morning in a row from the same low bit of scrub.  I managed to get good enough views to confirm its identity although it was also very shy.  This race with a dark face is recorded for the nearby island of Roti.  Several days later I discovered two sub-adult Pale-headed Munias in exactly the same spot as the Scaly-breasted Munia and also feeding on Buffel grass.  I did manage to get some photographs and video of these delightful finches.  This is an extraordinary coincidence as I found three adults here in February 2000.  Other odd birds seen on West Island included 13 Black-winged Stilts, a Yellow Wagtail and a Horsfield Bronze Cuckoo.

At the mooring in the lagoon close to West Island, two interesting birds came to light, a dead Abbots Booby was found floating past the boat early one morning and placed in the boat's freezer.  This is a new record for Ashmore Reef.  The other bird was a Streaked Shearwater found on board one evening during a storm, this beautiful bird was checked for injuries and appeared to be fine, it had flown off by first light.  One other unexpected bird was a Gallinago Snipe sp., almost certainly Swinhoes snipe Gallinago megala.  I flushed the Snipe from a thick matt of Beach Caltrop Tribulus cistoides on East Island, I don't know who was the most surprised when I stumbled on this one, but I am sure it's new for Ashmore Reef. 

Now getting back to what was actually happening with the more regularly recorded bird life of the islands.  I'll start with the waders, this place is an absolute haven for shorebirds with an area of 239 square kilometres exposed on low tide including muddy sand flats, coralline sand bars and reefs, it is a huge intertidal diner.  Another bonus, no predators, i.e. Sea Eagles, Brahminy Kites, Grey Falcon, Peregrines etc and there's plenty of nice little sand bars to loaf on and if its a big tide 3 islands with heaps of loafing room.  The number of waders here is exciting, I counted a total of 13,000 birds but this I'm sure is a conservative figure.  The make up of species is also different to Broome, the most unusual mix are large flocks of Bar-tailed Godwits and Grey Plover mixed in together and nothing else, these are found on sand bars at high tide.  The highest count of Grey Plover for Ashmore on the 2nd February 2003 was over 1,400 birds.  This is a massive count by Australian standards, Sanderling on the same day - 1,117, 1,600 Turnstone and 1,400 Grey-tailed Tattler.  What is interesting is that I did not see one leg flag amongst them.  Pacific Golden Plover also have a stronghold here with over 500 counted.  The question is, are these birds wintering here or are they on passage? No doubt this will become better understood in years to come.  23 wader species were recorded during my visit including an odd Redshank, several Asiatic Dowitchers and 6 Black-tailed Godwits (see species list at end of this report). 

Ashmore is primarily known for its seabirds and the huge breeding colonies that occur particularly on East and Middle Island.  The most common seabird present on this visit were Sooty Tern - est. 10,000, however compared to last year the breeding cycle hadn't started although numbers were building up.  Loafing flocks forming rafts on the wet sand at low tide were interesting to watch, individual birds performing displays, their partners oblivious to the attention.  However, some of it must have been working with the odd freshly laid egg laid on the sand, only to be washed away on the incoming tide.  Obviously some birds just couldn't wait or weren't well synchronised.  However it was apparent that these beautiful terns were very close to breeding and there was now plenty of herbage like amaranthus interruptus for them to breed amongst.  Both Brown Booby and Lesser Frigatebird had started to breed in low numbers with the majority of birds still to establish breeding sites.  I'm under the impression that both these species are on the increase at Ashmore. 

Red-footed Booby numbers were up on last year however as they breed opportunistically throughout the year its difficult to judge.  the limiting factor for this species are the lack of shrubs for them to breed in, they apparently are reticent to nest on the ground, however they may eventually start to breed on West Island where there is plenty of shrubbery.  Considering when you look at the HANZAB distribution map for this species and then take into account the breeding activity on Ashmore and Adele Island its really good news and perhaps an indication that this rare birds is on the increase in WA waters, Middle Island had 42 sitting Red-footed Boobys.  Masked Boobys are also perhaps on the increase on Ashmore with a few more counted this year compared with 2002, however their numbers here are still comparatively low.  I have not actually seen eggs or nests but I have seen display by pairs and fully fledged juveniles on East Island and to a lesser extent on Middle Island.  A total of 16 adults were seen on East Island during the survey.

Frigatebirds are very common at Ashmore with Lesser Frigatebirds well outnumbering Great Frigatebird.  Great Frigatebird like Red-footed Booby have a strong preference for shrubs or small trees in which to breed in.  Middle Island holds more than East Island but that reflects the lack of shrubs more than anything, Great Frigatebirds happily breed cheek by jowl with Red-footed Boobys.  The number of Lesser Frigatebirds thermalling over East is a site to behold, several thousand birds in a loose column some so high they are barely visible through binoculars.  The Lesser Frigates were starting to breed with a small colony of 23 nests on the north eastern end of East Island.  Both male and female birds incubate the single egg.  It was obvious that many more Lesser Frigate were going to breed with birds loafing in favoured areas and starting to collect nesting material.  It has to be said many juveniles and immature birds can cause problematic identification issues and it pays to be cautious.  Common Noddies were less numerous compared with last year as were Black Noddies in fact I had difficulties finding Black Noddy, only half a dozen were seen on East Island amongst loafing rafts of Commons that were congregating around East Island toward the end of the 13 day survey.  However Black Noddy were also seen at sea in low numbers.  Noddy numbers were down compared with last year possibly because the counts were conducted during the middle of the day. It was found that many Noddies returned to loaf on the islands in the late afternoon.  On East Island on the 30th January 2,500 Common Noddies and 6 Black Noddies were counted.  Crested Terns were also starting to breed, a small colony of 300 birds were congregating on East Island.  Only one scrape contained an egg although a few other scrapes existed.  No Lesser crested Terns or Bridled Terns were observed during the survey although both are recorded as breeding species on Ashmore and this may be a seasonal issue.  One Common Tern and one White-winged Black Tern were recorded during this survey, none were recorded on Ashmore during last years survey however plenty were  recorded at sea between Ashmore and Darwin last year but none were seen on the journey this year.  Little Terns were recorded in better numbers than last year with a total count of 422 on 2 February 2003. 

This was an exceptional trip in so many ways. The sightings just goes to prove that anything can turn up on Ashmore. If you're interested in a trip to Ashmore we run an annual 8 day pelagic trip led by Mike Carter to Ashmore Reef we also visit the Lacepede Islands and Scott Reef for details just email us at kimbird@tpg.com.au.

Birds seen on this trip:

Tahiti Petrel, Streaked Shearwater, Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Red-tailed Tropicbird, White-tailed Tropicbird, Abbotts Booby (dead), Masked Booby, Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Little Black Cormorant, Great Frigatebird, Lesser Frigatebird, Little Egret, Eastern Reef Egret, Great Egret, Nankeen Night Heron, Buff-banded Rail, White-breasted Waterhen, Swinhoe’s Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Common Redshank, Common Greenshank, Terek Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Grey-tailed Tattler, Ruddy Turnstone, Asian Dowitcher, Great Knot, Red Knot, Sanderling, Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt, Pacific Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Silver Gull, Crested Tern, Roseate Tern, Common Tern, Little Tern, Sooty Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Common Noddy, Black Noddy, Oriental Cuckoo, Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo, White-winged Triller, Yellow Wagtail, Scaly-breasted Munia, Pale-headed Munia

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8 Day Mitchell Plateau Fly Drive - October 2002

The October 2002 participants were Angela & Nick Blackwood from the UK but living in Melbourne and John & Pam Smallwood also from the UK. Literally as the party landed on the strip at the plateau a Square-tailed Kite flew over my vehicle and followed the line of tress behind the landing strip only to disappear out of sight as the group struggled out of the light plane “You should have been here two minutes earlier” was my rather hollow welcome, of course we didn’t see Square-tailed Kite again on the whole trip. In fact in my experience you’re lucky to see one at all, this late in the year. I welcomed everybody to the Mitchell Plateau, we bade farewell to the pilot, loaded up everyone’s bags and headed off to the Mitchell Falls—we had an urgent appointment with a Black Grasswren! On our arrival we were greeted by a small party of Yellow-faced Partridge Pigeons, well that’s a good start but it was warming up.  We headed off to Little Mertens Falls, the pool below the falls looked very inviting and from here we did not move until it started to cool down. On our way to the swimming pool we found some nice birds, 20 Red-tailed Black Cockatoos making an awful racket while perched in some Woolybutts close to the creek A Northern Rosella and a few Sulphur crested Cockatoos. The rainforest patch below the falls was watched carefully with good results. An Emerald Dove, Brown Goshawk, Azure Kingfisher, Green-backed Gerygone, Yellow Oriole, White-lined, White-throated, Bar-breasted and White-gaped Honeyeaters all seen well. A family of Variegated Wrens worked the rock scree under the rainforest canopy, easy to approach if you go quietly, the male sporting his usually well disguised ‘lavender’ flank. The adult females with powder blue backs always seem a little more courageous than the males. On our afternoon foray for the Grasswrens we did enjoy lovely views of White-quilled Rock Pigeons and a male Leaden Flycatcher, but no Grasswrens!! In late October tourism slows down on the plateau and we were unable to arrange accommodation for our one night on the plateau so we camped the night. We were able to organise a shower and I cooked a steak and backed potato dinner, we were all exhausted and slept like babies.  The next morning was our last realistic opportunity for the elusive Grasswren. We were birding by 5:30am and found the Grasswrens by 6:30. Nick spotted them first bounding over rocks to our left, we gave chase and got very close views in fact we watched a family group of four for 20 minutes, with some stunning views. We watched the male with a largish caterpillar in his bill, he may have been feeding an immature in the group. We were all excited to have seen them so well. OK how do you better that, well we thought we could try for a Rainbow Pitta. I had a spot in mind—so off we went. After trudging around this particular patch for about two hours it became increasingly evident that we were being given the run around and to rub salt into the wound we then heard two different birds calling from opposite end of the patch! As we started to make our way out in disgust I glimpsed movement on the ground under some thick foliage and sure enough there was a Pitta. This individual not only saved the day but proved to be very confiding.

With a good tally of birds under our belt we decided to make a break for Drysdale River Station as we were due to be there that evening. Rain storms prevailed that afternoon so we made Drysdale in good time with only one short stop, seeing a Wedge-tailed Eagle, Australian Hobby and Common Bronzewing.  At Drysdale at this time of year there’s always a chance of Oriental Plover on the airstrip and sure enough we found 5. Just standing there as Orientals do occasionally running forward to pick up an insect. We had 3 days at Drysdale so plenty of time to get stuck into some birds. We enjoyed Purple-crowned Wrens and Crested Shrike Tits, Pallid and Black-eared Cuckoo, Pacific  Baza, Dollarbirds and Koel plus heaps of common species.   We found a lone Oriental Pratincole hawking over a large pool.  A local swamp was investigated and although it was almost dry we found a nice selection of birds, a young Black-necked Stork, Crimson Finches, Cattle Egret, Red-kneed Dotterel, Wood & Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Pacific Golden Plovers and another five Oriental Plovers. These drying out swamps at this time of year are a magnet for migrants, I've seen 20 Wagtails at this site in the past and 2 juvenile ruff.  We looked for Red-backed Button Quail and King Quail here but no joy in fact we flushed nothing other than Golden-headed Cisticolas and Red-backed Fairy Wrens.  The next morning we visited a favourite spot of mine for Chestnut-backed Button Quail and we got them, all nine of them, good views too, other birds included Crested Bellbird, Australian Bustard, White-throated Gerygone, Little Bronze cuckoo, Masked Finch, Crested Shrike Tit, Hooded Robin, Varied Sitella and Black-tailed Treecreeper. John spotted a pair of Bush Stone Curlews camped under a small Bloodwood and we watched a pair of Jacky Winters feeding their two recently fledged juveniles. We also found Blackfaced Woodswallow breeding, the nest containing 3 eggs.  While driving back to the homestead we found a pair of Ground Cuckoo Shrikes feeding on insects in recently burnt woodland.  Meanwhile back on the Drysdale River for an early morning walk on the 30th October we listed 61 species including Channel-billed Cuckoo, Collared Sparrowhawk, Black Bittern, Varied Lorikeet, Purple-crowned Fairy Wren, Crested Shrike Tit and another Black-eared Cuckoo.

On Plain Creek while searching for the elusive Gouldian Finch, (Nick by this stage was getting desperate and starting to give me a hard time—joking), we worked a small feeding flock of Long-tailed Finches. I then discovered a juvenile “greenie” Gouldian Finch perched discreetly in a Grey Box (Eucalyptus). “Gouldian Finch” I called , Nick was over like a shot and looked through the scope, he glanced up at me with a look of total disgust initially unconvinced of the birds identity. I have to admit it was a particularly dull individual but it was a Gouldian none the less!! We did find more Gouldians at Mt Elizabeth 5 half coloured immature birds, unfortunately no adults birds however the sightings were better than not seeing any at all.   While making our way from Mt. Elizabeth back along the Gibb River Road to Mt Barnett Roadhouse, we decided to search the Barnett Range for Sandstone Shrike Thrush which we found but also had great views of a pair of Peregrines. These ranges are also crawling in Short-eared Rock Wallabys, we had lovely views of these mammals. On our return to the road, I managed to bog the vehicle in a sandy but dry creek bed. I was trying to go too gently so that caused a bit of extra work with everyone helping to collect suitable material to put under the wheels, in no time we were out and back birding the Gibb.  Our next stop after indulging ourselves with ice creams at Mt Barnett Roadhouse was the local sewerage works, this visit proved to be almost as frustrating as the Gouldian Finch experience.  As we drove up to the ponds 30 ducks flew up, one of which was a Garganey.  "Garganey" I yelled as we tried to get out of the vehicle but it was too late the mob flew over the Gibb River Road and station yard and didn't even circle us for a second look.  Garganey are of course very distinctive in flight and as the ducks took off I could see the huge pale blue grey patch on the forewing highlighting the dark white bordered speculum (secondaries).   Our last evening was spent at the King Sound Motel in Derby, this gave us a real go at the Derby mangroves the next morning and we did ok but (see bird list) Great-billed heron stole the show.  The sewerage works turned up plenty of Little Curlew, Marsh, Wood, Sharp-tailed, Common and Curlew Sandpiper, some Yellow Wagtails and Australian Pratincoles.  Our last stop was at Taylor's Lagoon on our way back to Broome.  Although the flies were a bit of a nuisance we had some great birding here.  A procession of raptors coming in to drink including 2 Black-breasted Buzzards, 1 adult and 1 juvenile, Kestrel, Brown Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, 2 Spotted Harriers, Whistling Kite and Brown Falcon.  Cockatiels were a new bird for Nick a bird he was very keen to see, we also found several Oriental Plovers, a Long-toed Stint, Australian Bustard and to cap the whole trip off a female Yellow Chat!.  . A fantastic trip with over 170 species—well done everyone.   Birds seen on this trip:
Plumed Whistling-Duck, Australian Wood Duck, Green Pygmy-goose, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Garganey, Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Darter, Little Pied Cormorant, Little Black Cormorant, Australian Pelican, White-faced Heron, Little Egret, White-necked Heron, Great-billed Heron, Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, Cattle Egret, Striated Heron, Nankeen Night Heron, Black Bittern, Australian White Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, Black-necked Stork, Osprey, Pacific Baza, Square-tailed Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard, Black Kite, Whistling Kite, Brahminy Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Spotted Harrier, Brown Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Brown Falcon, Australian Hobby, Peregrine Falcon, Nankeen Kestrel, Brolga, Purple Swamphen, Australian Bustard, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Curlew, Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Grey-tailed Tattler, Red-necked Stint, Long-toed Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Bush Stone-curlew, Black-winged Stilt, Red-necked Avocet, Pacific Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Red-capped Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Oriental Plover, Black-fronted Dotterel, Red-kneed Dotterel, Masked Lapwing, Oriental Pratincole, Australian Pratincole, Silver Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Whiskered Tern, Emerald Dove, Common Bronzewing, Crested Pigeon, Spinifex Pigeon, Partridge Pigeon, White-quilled Rock-Pigeon, Diamond Dove, Peaceful Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Galah, Little Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Cockatiel, Rainbow Lorikeet, Varied Lorikeet, Red-winged Parrot, Northern Rosella, Pallid Cuckoo, Brush Cuckoo, Black-eared Cuckoo, Little Bronze Cuckoo, Common Koel, Channel-billed Cuckoo, Pheasant Coucal, Southern Boobook, Australian Owlet-nightjar, Azure Kingfisher, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Red-backed Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater, Dollarbird, Rainbow Pitta, Black-tailed Treecreeper, Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, Variegated Fairy-wren, Red-backed Fairy-wren, Black Grasswren, Striated Pardalote, Weebill, Mangrove Gerygone, Western Gerygone, Green-backed Gerygone, White-throated Gerygone, Silver-crowned Friarbird, Little Friarbird, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Yellow-throated Miner, White-lined Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater, White-gaped Honeyeater, Grey-fronted Honeyeater, Yellow-tinted Honeyeater, Black-chinned Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater, Bar-breasted Honeyeater, Rufous-throated Honeyeater, Banded Honeyeater, Red-headed Honeyeater, Yellow Chat, Jacky Winter, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, Hooded Robin, White-browed Robin, Grey-crowned Babbler, Varied Sitella, Crested Shrike-tit, Crested Bellbird, Rufous Whistler, White-breasted Whistler, Little Shrike-thrush, Sandstone Shrike-thrush, Grey Shrike-thrush, Broad-billed Flycatcher, Leaden Flycatcher, Restless Flycatcher, Magpie-lark, Mangrove Grey Fantail, Northern Fantail, Willie Wagtail, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Ground Cuckoo-shrike, White-winged Triller, Varied Triller, Yellow Oriole, Olive-backed Oriole, White-breasted Woodswallow, Masked Woodswallow, Black-faced Woodswallow, Little Woodswallow, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Torresian Crow, Great Bowerbird, Singing Bushlark, Richard’s Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, Zebra Finch, Double-barred Finch, Long-tailed Finch, Masked Finch, Crimson Finch, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, Gouldian Finch, Mistletoebird, Barn Swallow, Tree Martin, Fairy Martin, Rufous Songlark, Golden-headed Cisticola, Yellow White-eye,

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July/Aug 16 Day Camping Best of the Kimberley

A very exciting trip with keen English birders and a fast pace was set.  We all worked hard and it paid off with some terrific sightings with a total trip list of 208 species.

At Taylor's Lagoon an excellent sighting of Black Falcon on our first morning set the standard followed by a lone Yellow-billed Spoonbill, a rare bird in the West Kimberley.  However disaster struck, whilst we were driving to Willare Bridge only about an 1 hours drive out of Broome - a loud bang from under the bonnet of the land cruiser and a temp gauge in the red had my heart sinking.  A major breakdown on the first day of a 16 day trip is my worst nightmare!  The vehicle's plastic fan blade had shattered but luckily apart from breaking the radiator cowling it had not touched the radiator itself, a miracle enabling us to nurse the cruiser to Derby where we replaced the fan and cowing and were mobile by the next morning.

The Derby Wharf and mangroves were reasonably productive with Great-billed Heron being almost a sure thing at this location in 2002.  We struggled a bit with mangrove birds initially but our persistence paid off with cracking views of male Mangrove Golden Whistler and Broad-billed Flycatcher, the Kimberley Flycatcher i.e. lemon breasted race, tormenti , we ended up having to kick it out of the way! a female White-breasted Whistler obliged us, the male shy and we made do with half views.

A flock of 30 Star Finches on the roadside at the King Leopold Ranges really hit the spot and things were looking a whole lot better.  Several remote camp spots about the Leopold Ranges saw our bird list grow with great views of Azure Kingfisher, White-quilled Rock Pigeon, Silver-crowned Friarbirds, Blue-faced Honeyeaters & Yellow-throated Miners.  The widespread golden-backed race of Black-chinned Honeyeater was added to a list of 7 honeyeater species seen in the Bell Creek vicinity alone.  Little Button Quail, Masked Finch, Crimson Finch & Pictorella Mannikins were all seen well on the Gibb River Road.  The bird of the trip had to be Red Goshawk.  Excellent scope views perched, and in flight had to make us the happiest group of birders in the Kimberley that morning.  One hour later a male Black Bittern was flushed from long grass growing in a small creek bed.  The bittern landing in a nearby acacia, again stunning scope views as the bird made a valiant effort to remain obscured amongst a few leaves and branches.

Purple-crowned Fairy Wrens showed well after some reluctance.  I think the cold mornings had something to do with it, all the male birds we saw were in non-breeding plumage, nevertheless this species of fairy wren are hard to beat and we all enjoyed these handsome little birds.  We found Gouldian Finches at three different locations but unfortunately no adults which was disappointing.

The Mitchell Plateau and the Black Grasswrens showed mercy on us, we found them within the first fifteen minutes of our search and watched them for 20 minutes, superb views, we were all delighted including one relieved guide - me!!  White-lined Honeyeaters and Green-backed Gerygones showed off for us both seen singing close to our rocky lookout.  While Partridge Pigeons and Brown Quail were found in the camp ground.  Still reeling from our success with the Black Grasswrens a confident group approached a vine thicket well known to me to contain two pairs of Rainbow Pittas.  Well there could have been 2 dozen rainbow pittas in this patch but we didn't see any of them.  We did get one call, a response to a tape but that was it.  However, we did succeed with Little Shirke Thrush (race pervula), Pied Imperial Pigeon, Barking Owl, Emerald Dove, Northern and Grey Fantail (race alesteri) a winter visitor and both Varied Triller and Yellow Oriole were common.

Chestnut-backed Button Quail were found at several locations but only some of us had satisfying views, many of my known sites have remained unburnt this year making the job of showing birders this species very difficult.  An early morning stop in some likely looking woodland paid off with excellent views of a male Northern Shrike Tit a male Crested Bellbird and a pair of Hooded Robins.  Black-tailed Treecreepers, Jacky Winter, Grey-fronted and White-throated Honeyeaters, Masked Finch, Grey-shrike Thrush and Grey-crowned Babblers were also milling about and showing well what a magical mix of bird species on a fifteen minute walk in the bush.  Sandstone Shrike Thrush called up well, at a small gorge on Bindoola Creek.  This activity prompted a White-browed Robin to call from pandanus thickets below us as well.  Spinifex Pigeons at the Pentecost Crossing were new birds for some and large flocks of up to 500 Pictorella Mannikins were seen well close to the El Questro turn off.

Wyndham & Parry's Lagoon kept us pretty busy, success with Zitting Cisticola, Yellow Chats (6 birds) including a full plumaged male, lots of waterbirds including Pied Heron, and some returning migratory waders.  Rufous Fantail and Lemon-breasted Flycatcher (nominate race) Mangrove Golden Whistler and Red-headed Honeyeater did us proud in mangroves but we dipped on Collared Kingfisher which was very surprising as they're usually fairly reliable at the Wyndham Wharf.  Shinning Flycatcher, White-browed Crake & Chestnut-breasted Mannikin were new birds for the trip at Kingston Rest and the Bungles were excellent for bushbirds.  A splendid male Red-capped Robin graced our campsite here to everybody's delight.  Owlet Nightjars can be awkward to find and much searching of likely trees up to now had revealed nothing.  So an evening drive was undertaken with great success good views and plenty of video footage & photos taken as the bird sat quietly on the road.  A major dip was the Painted Firetails this really was unusual and unexpected, we searched so many known and usually reliable sites, perhaps we were trying too hard or its something to do with the dry season or cold weather.  Other highlights included Grey Falcon, Peregrine Falcon and Pink-eared Duck.  An exciting trip with great company. Thanks to all who participated, great birding in the future to all of you.

Bird species seen on this trip.   C = call only

Emu, Orange-footed Scrubfowl = C, Brown Quail, Magpie Goose, Plumed Whistling-Duck, Wandering Whistling-Duck, Radjah Shelduck, Australian Wood Duck, Green Pygmy-goose, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal, Pink-eared Duck, Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Darter, Little Pied Cormorant, Pied Cormorant, Little Black Cormorant, Australian Pelican, White-faced Heron, Little Egret, White-necked Heron, Great-billed Heron, Pied Heron, Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, Cattle Egret, Striated Heron, Nankeen Night Heron, Black Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Australian White Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Black-necked Stork, Osprey, Black-shouldered Kite, Square-tailed Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard, Black Kite, Whistling Kite, Brahminy Kite, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Spotted Harrier, Swamp Harrier, Brown Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk, Red Goshawk, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Little Eagle, Brown Falcon, Australian Hobby, Grey Falcon, Black Falcon, Peregrine Falcon, Nankeen Kestrel, Brolga, Baillon’s Crake, White-browed Crake, Purple Swamphen, Eurasian Coot, Australian Bustard, Little Button-quail, Chestnut-backed Button-quail, Whimbrel, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Comb-crested Jacana, Black-winged Stilt, Red-necked Avocet, Red-capped Plover, Black-fronted Dotterel, Red-kneed Dotterel, Masked Lapwing, Australian Pratincole, Silver Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Whiskered Tern, Emerald Dove, Common Bronzewing, Crested Pigeon, Spinifex Pigeon, Partridge Pigeon, White-quilled Rock-Pigeon, Diamond Dove, Peaceful Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Pied Imperial-Pigeon, Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Galah, Little Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Cockatiel, Rainbow Lorikeet, Varied Lorikeet, Red-winged Parrot, Northern Rosella, Budgerigar, Pallid Cuckoo, Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo = C, Little Bronze Cuckoo, Pheasant Coucal, Barking Owl, Southern Boobook, Barn Owl, Tawny Frogmouth, Spotted Nightjar, Australian Owlet-nightjar, Azure Kingfisher, Blue-winged Kookaburra, Red-backed Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater, Black-tailed Treecreeper, Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, Variegated Fairy-wren, Red-backed Fairy-wren, Black Grasswren, Red-browed Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, Weebill, Mangrove Gerygone, Green-backed Gerygone, White-throated Gerygone, Silver-crowned Friarbird, Little Friarbird, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Yellow-throated Miner, White-lined Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater, White-gaped Honeyeater, Grey-fronted Honeyeater, Yellow-tinted Honeyeater, Black-chinned Honeyeater, White-throated Honeyeater, Brown Honeyeater, Bar-breasted Honeyeater, Rufous-throated Honeyeater, Banded Honeyeater, Red-headed Honeyeater, Yellow Chat, Jacky Winter, Lemon-bellied Flycatcher, Red-capped Robin, Hooded Robin, White-browed Robin, Grey-crowned Babbler, Varied Sitella, Crested Shrike-tit, Crested Bellbird, Mangrove Golden Whistler, Rufous Whistler, White-breasted Whistler, Little Shrike-thrush, Sandstone Shrike-thrush, Grey Shrike-thrush, Broad-billed Flycatcher, Leaden Flycatcher, Shining Flycatcher, Restless Flycatcher, Magpie-lark, Rufous Fantail, Grey Fantail, Mangrove Grey Fantail, Northern Fantail, Willie Wagtail, Spangled Drongo, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, White-winged Triller, Varied Triller, Yellow Oriole, Olive-backed Oriole, Figbird, White-breasted Woodswallow, Masked Woodswallow, Black-faced Woodswallow, Little Woodswallow, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Torresian Crow, Great Bowerbird, Singing Bushlark, Richard’s Pipit, Zebra Finch, Double-barred Finch, Long-tailed Finch, Masked Finch, Crimson Finch, Star Finch, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, Pictorella Mannikin, Gouldian Finch, Mistletoebird, Tree Martin, Fairy Martin, Clamerous Reed-Warbler, Spinifexbird, Rufous Songlark, Brown Songlark, Zitting Cisticola, Golden-headed Cisticola, Yellow White-eye

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12-21 July 2002

Accommodated 10 day Black Grasswren Tour

Another 10 day Accommodated Black Grasswren tour to the Plateau and this time we found the Black Grasswrens. A group of three finally showing very well for all of us but we still had to work quite hard.

Gouldians came fairly easy - a black-faced male showed very well sitting up in a Bloodwood with half a dozen juveniles.  These birds were seen amongst a discreet feeding flock on the Mt. Hart track on our second day, phew! that eased the pressure off a bit.  Taylor's Lagoon and other wetlands on our first day between Broome and Derby assured a respectable trip list and these waterbirds are also a great introduction to overseas birders.

Raptors are also attracted to these wetlands and we witnessed a young Hobby stooping directly at our group passing only metres from our position in an attempt to take a Black-fronted Dotterel but the predator was unsuccessful. Other raptor species seen included Square-tailed Kite, Black-breasted Buzzard and Whistling Kite.

An interesting addition to our trip list were three records of Black-eared Cuckoo.  One seen in saltwater paperbarks at Munkayarra Swamp (I've seen them here in exactly the same spot on 5 occasions over the years) and other on the Barker River and at Mt. Elizabeth.

Derby Wharf proved reliable for Great-billed Herons, 1 pair seen well but the mangroves were very quiet and we struggled to get views of Mangrove Golden Whistler, White-breasted Whistler, Yellow White-eye, Mangrove Gerygone and Mangrove Grey Fantail.  Pictorella Mannikins showed well, a new bird for some of the party.  This species and other finch numbers were well down, which I am sure is a reflection of the very dry wet season.  An unexpected Barking Owl at Yammera Gap flushed by us whilst looking for Green-backed Gerygones allowed a close inspection of this terrific nocturnal species.  Mt. Hart came up with splendid views of a fully plumaged male Red-backed Wren unusual at this time of year and an adult Spotted Harrier.  Large flocks of Masked Woodswallows seemed to be everywhere even though not many Bloodwoods were flowering.  We observed some amongst groves of Wandi Iron Bark, they appeared to be feeding on lerps.  Bush birds featured well on this tour with some great little feeding flocks found amongst savannah woodland, Varied Lorikeets working blossoming Northern Stringy Barks, Varied Sittella, Hooded Robin, Rufous Songlark, Masked and Long-tailed Finch and both Streaked and Red-browed Pardalotes.  Northern Rosellas were also obliging and we luckily found Ground Cuckoo-shrike amongst burnt Grey Box woodland.  Other birds on the Mitchell Plateau included Pacific Baza, Partridge Pigeon, Variegated Wrens, Sandstone and Little Shrike-thrush, White-browed Robin, Pied Imperial Pigeons.

After watching a small flock of Gouldians at Drysdale River Station on the lawn right next to our accommodation (how spoilt can you get) a successful search for Crested Shrike-tit was launched before our return journey to Mt. Elizabeth Station.  Our return trip to Broome was highlighted by the emotionally charged discovery of Spinifex Pigeons at Billy Goat Springs - good on ya Marg.  We ended up with a total of 175 species and enjoyed some spectacular country - a great trip with excellent company - thanks to all of you.

List of birds seen on this trip:

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10 Day Black Grasswren Tour - Accommodated

From Broome to Derby we visited Taylor's Lagoon, the Logue River and Willare Bridge on the Fitzroy River.  We did well for raptors including good views of Black Falcon, Little Eagle, Black-breasted Buzzard and Square-tailed Kite.  27 Red-necked Avocets at the Logue River pool were an unexpected surprise.  We finished the day off with a pair of Great-billed Herons at the Derby Wharf. 

The Derby mangroves in the vicinity of the wharf were quiet, perhaps the cool conditions had something to do with it, however Mangrove Golden Whistler, Broad-billed Flycatcher, Yellow White-eyes and Mangrove Grey Fantail showed well.  Small flocks of Terek Sandpipers and Whimbrel were seen on the mudflats and the odd Eastern Curlew. 

The famous Derby Sewerage Works has undergone some drastic changes, however it was still worth a visit with well over thirty species recorded.  Lovely views of White-throated Gerygone in nearby scrub made a good start.  In the King Leopold Ranges on our way to Mt. Hart several small flocks of Pictorella Mannikins were recorded. 

After a comfortable night at Mt. Hart an early morning walk revealed several Australian Bustards promenading down the airstrip, and a Yellow Oriole feeding on Mulberries in the homestead gardens.

A lunch stop on the Hann River, Gibb River Road, had a rather gory flavour as we witnessed a Brown Falcon capturing a Varied Lorikeet, which the Falcon proceeded to tear to pieces.

Mt. Elizabeth Station is a wonderful birding location and our stay here enabled us to bird a few good spots.  We were lucky enough to find 2 juvenile Gouldians but no adults!  Seconds later in the same spot an adult male Northern Shrike Tit and Crested Bellbird were found.  Masked Woodswallows were seen regularly in many different areas during our 10 day journey.  Unfortunately we did not see any White-browed Woodswallows amongst them. 

Our visit to the Mitchell Plateau was a little disappointing as we failed to see the main target bird the Black Grasswren and it wasn't for the want of trying!  We did however find both White-lined Honeyeaters and Green-backed Gerygones in good numbers.  White-quilled Rock-Pigeons were common and our efforts were rewarded as we also enjoyed excellent views of Partridge Pigeon.  Interesting raptors seen on the plateau included four Pacific Bazas performing undulating displays between prolonged thermalling, a single Peregrine Falcon was seen well, over Little Mertens Falls and 5 minutes later was followed by an adult Square-tailed Kite.  While searching for the Grasswrens we made up for their absence by enjoying on several occasions fantastic views of Variegated Wrens (race rogersi), we hoped in vain the Fairy Wrens were accompanied by their black mates but to no avail.  An interesting observation of Common Bronzewings coming down to drink at Camp Creek Crossing in the late afternoon, with failing light there may have been more than the dozen counted.  Other interesting species seen around the Mitchell Plateau area included Little-Shrike Thrush, Varied Triller and Figbird.

On the Drysdale River (another gory bit) we disturbed a Barking Owl still clutching its half eaten breakfast of Tawny Frogmouth.  On a lighter note super views of Purple-crowned Wrens, Black-chinned Honeyeaters and Crimson Finch.  On the Gibb River Road Masked Finch and rather frustrating views of Red Goshawk, very high up and thermalling until it descended in a gentle and continuous stoop out of sight, I believe the bird was a young male with worn plumage due to the indistinct barring on the underside of the flight feathers but darker belly.  Back at Mt. Elizabeth we had some splendid luck having almost given up for the mornings birding because of the strong cool easterly wind, we found a group of Gouldians, a stunning black faced male and twenty six juveniles.  We were eventually surrounded by these Gouldians having crept up to where they were feeding, a great experience indeed.  We also enjoyed close views of Black-tailed Treecreeper and Pallid Cuckoo.  The rest of the day on our return to Broome was pretty good also with great views of Sandstone Shrike-thrush at the "Bench" King Leopold Ranges plus a couple of Short-eared Rock Wallabys.  A pair of Ground Cuckoo-shrikes and Pictorella Mannikins at Donkey Creek and a Red-browed Pardalote on Wombarella Creek.

A great birding trip in June with cool nights and beautiful days.  Comfortable friendly homestead accommodation with home cooked meals and best of all - lots of birds.  Our final tally for the trip - 156 species.

List of Birds seen on this 10 Day Black Grasswren Accommodated Trip.

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Wet Season Visit to Ashmore Reef - January 2002

A 10 day private trip to Ashmore Reef in January, 10 days of pure birdwatching.  The journey from Darwin to Ashmore turned out to be a bit slow on the bird front.  A few Crested Terns were seen loafing on floating bits of timber and several Brown Boobies were perched on navigator markers in Darwin harbour, then to my great excitement four Irrawaddi Dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) bobbed past the bow - unexpected to say the least.

A few Lesser Frigatebirds and mixed flocks of Common and White-winged Black Terns were concentrating on baitfish,  several Streaked Shearwaters seen later that afternoon.  More cetacean excitement with a pod of 6 False Killer Whales followed shortly afterwards by several large pods of Tropical Spinner Dolphins (Stenella longirostris).  At first light the following day I saw the first Sooty Terns of the trip quickly followed by 4 Pantropical Spotted Dolphins (Stenella attenuata).  After a rushed breakfast - I didn't want to miss any action - more Sooty Terns were seen and a Green Sea Turtle (Chilonias midas).  By mid morning Common Noddies were mixed with Sooty Terns and excitement reached new levels with a superb view of one Tahiti Petrel.  The extraordinary sight of two lemon migrant butterflies Catopsilia pomona pomona, which were living up to their name, this species was also recorded on Ashmore later on the trip.  On the approach to Ashmore large numbers of birds were seen at sea, Lesser Frigatebirds, Sooty Terns, Common Noddies, Black Noddies and Great Frigatebird.

After our arrival I investigated West Island, hot conditions seemed to slow the bird activity down.  However a nice selection of species were found but unfortunately no vagrants.   Birds recorded on West Island included Eastern Reef Egrets, with white morphs easily outnumbering grey birds.  Other birds of the same genus included Little Egrets and 1 Great Egret. Red-tailed and White-tailed Tropicbirds were both breeding.   Nine Oriental Cuckoos, a Sacred Kingfisher, a pair of Magpie Larks and several Buff Banded Rails were the only land birds seen.  The Rails were splashing in saltwater pools on the foreshore.  A Crested Tern was observed picking up a Green Sea Turtle hatchling from the surface of the ocean, the Tern dropped the poor helpless hatchling twice back into the water before finally flying off with it calling madly as it was joined by another Crested Tern.  West Island usually has a good selection of waders, a large herb field in the island's centre often attracts loafing waders.  They feed on insects found amongst the low mat of grasses and prostrate weeds.  Whimbrels are common on the island and often use the shade of Octopus bushes that form the shrubby fringe around the island.  Wader species found as single birds on West Island included Lesser Sandplover, Eastern Curlew, Sharptailed Sandpiper and Oriental Pratincole.  Ruddy Turnstones, Greater Sandplover, Pacific Golden Plover, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Common Sandpiper, Sanderling, Greenshank and Red-necked Stints were all  common. 

Middle Island was heaving with birdlife with an estimated 7,500 pairs of breeding Sooty Terns protecting what appeared to be newly laid eggs.   Large loafing flocks of Sooty Terns and Common Noddies camped on wet sand calling continuously, the cacophony was almost deafening.  A constant stream of terns flying to and from the island,  these incubating birds soaking their belly & breast feathers with seawater, by flying low, skimming the surface of the  water, almost stalling before flying off again.  These birds then returned to their eggs to moisten and cool them down. 

Both Red-footed Boobies and Great Frigatebirds were breeding and sitting on eggs.  Hundreds of Lesser Frigatebirds were also present on the island some of which were sitting on newly completed nests but none were seen with eggs.  Several hundred Brown Boobies were also preparing to breed, their nests placed on the ground, unlike the Red-footed Boobies preference for bushes or shrubs.  Common Noddies and Black Noddies were loafing on the sandy beaches as the tide crept up with numbers getting up into the high hundreds - what an impressive sight.  Black Noddies are always less numerous but easier to pick out by their smaller size, long thin bill and their darker plumage.  Several Masked Boobies were hanging about to complete the trifecta, their behaviour indicating a readiness to breed.

Migratory waders congregated around East Island in large numbers when compared with West or Middle Island.  The muddy sand flats here must be rich in food.  It was interesting to note the mix of species with Sanderling, Great Knot and Curlew Sandpiper feeding together in substantial numbers,  in my experience this is an odd combination. 

East Island also has an impressive number of seabirds, for starters, an estimated 10,000 pairs of breeding Sooty Terns,  a smaller colony of Crested Terns and a pair of courting Masked Boobies.  Evidence of a previous breeding cycle of Common Noddies was apparent by numerous desiccated fully fledged juveniles.  What caused this partial failure in their breeding is unknown.  Several thousand Common Noddies and well over 100 Black Noddies were present loafing on the shoreline and sand flats with huge numbers of Sooty Terns.

Two sandbars were investigated during the high tide, one situated several kilometers south of East Island the other positioned mid way between Middle and East Island.  Over 10,000 migratory waders were counted including significant numbers of Grey Plover (600), Pacific Golden Plover (300), Greater Sandplover (1,200), Sanderling (320), Great Knots (1,600), Bar-tailed Godwit (2,500), Grey-tailed Tattler (1,300), Whimbrel (350) and Ruddy Turnstone (800).  Half a dozen Asiatic Dowitchers and Black-tailed Godwits were also seen.  Several of these species were seen in Internationally significant numbers.  Ashmore Reef really is a fascinating birding location.

NOTE: We are visiting the Lacepede Islands and Ashmore Reef this October 14-21 2002 on an 8 Day Pelagic Trip, if the above has wetted your appetite to birdwatch this superb area, please contact us as we still have places available - but be quick.  

Copyright Kimberley Birdwatching 2000                     Last Edited: 11/03/2007