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Islands - Christmas, Kangaroo, Tassie

Added December 2009

Since we were last in touch with everyone we had just completed a traverse of the Great Victoria Desert and had emerged at Kalgoorlie.

After that last trip across the desert, we spent a bit of time in interior southwest Western Australia (finding Western Quail-Thrush and Grey Honeyeater, the latter the last of Australia’s honeyeaters for us). We weren’t sure if we would be this close to Perth again anytime soon, so we somehow managed to organise a week on Christmas Island at very short notice. Jon has wanted to go there for 20+ years due to its two endemic seabirds, Abbott’s Booby and CI Frigatebird, but it was also a great opportunity for a relaxing break from what can be a pretty tiring process of constantly being on the move.

We unexpectedly found all ten of the island endemics on the first full day (and night, in the case of the Christmas Island Hawk-Owl), so had lots of extra time for relaxed birding and other activities. We spent the last couple of days snorkelling. Anne has snorkeled/dived in a few different places with good diversity of corals and fish, but this was like nothing she’d ever seen before…it was spectacular. Jon is new to snorkelling, and has probably been spoilt for life by starting in such an amazing place. And the best part was you just had to walk a few minutes to the public beach at the town cove to access it.

Christmas Island Imperial Pigeon, Christmas Island, 27th September 2009

After CI, we returned to Perth just long enough to catch up with our friends Mike and Liz (greynomads.net) who we met last year, and like ourselves are working their way around Australia, although at a slightly more leisurely pace than us!

We then headed east across the Nullarbor Plain, the last main desert area in Australia we hadn’t crossed, where we caught up with the very distinctive Nullarbor Quail-Thrush, and some Southern Right Whales with calves. We were now into country where no new birds were possible, but we enjoyed camping in the mallee country north of Ceduna, probably our favourite area from our 2002 trip, where we found several Scarlet-chested Parrots, among other nice birds.

Then on the ferry for a week on Kangaroo Island. This was the only time in six months that the weather was mediocre, but we were determined to camp anyway and had an excellent time. We saw almost all the 19 endemic subspecies on the island (one or two of which may be valid species). We had wanted to catch up with friends Mel and Steve Berris, who we had met in May on the Mitchell Plateau, and it was great to see them. They let us know that by remarkable coincidence, our visit to KI coincided with the annual survey for the endemic subspecies of Glossy Black Cockatoo, which we then volunteered with for three days.

Off Kangaroo Island and past the Coorong, the subject of so much environmental concern, where we found a stunning flock of at least 50,000-60,000 Banded Stilts (at least a third of their World population). Then down to another friend near Geelong, Paul Eason (who volunteered with us at BBO last year) and his adorable red heeler dogs. Paul lives in great rolling hill country in SW Victoria and it was a great shame not to have spent more time there.

Then it was over to Melbourne for a couple of days largely for “business” which meant catching up with more friends and colleagues at the Birds Australia head office in the city. We were especially interested to see the building in which BA has a floor, as it is one of the most progressive green buildings in the World (search for Green Building Melbourne online, its interesting stuff).

Anyway, we had been on a bit of a tight schedule up to now, as we had some commitments on Tasmania. So, onto the overnight Spirit of Tasmania ferry.

We’ve now been in Tasmania for about six weeks. Initially, we were based near Hobart for a while and helping with a BA project, the first ever comprehensive breeding season survey of Swift Parrots (a species we helped to survey on its wintering grounds on the NSW coast back in August). Then we spent a week or so camping and hiking in some national parks in the east before heading to the west coast for the main reason we came to Tas.

We have been out of contact for the past couple of weeks living in our hut (“Frog Lodge”) at Birchs Inlet on the south end of Macquarie Harbour in south-west Tasmania whilst working on the Orange-bellied Parrot recovery project. It would be considered very rustic by most folks, but after six months almost solid camping, it is luxurious for us!

It’s a lovely spot and we’ve been lucky to have beautiful warm, dry weather, which isn’t too common any time of year in Tas. We basically spend two hours every morning and evening watching for parrots with uniquely marked color bands to come in and feed so we can document which individuals are around and if they seem to be forming breeding pairs. The bulk of the day is left for us to read, write, go for a walk, take a ride in the dinghy, etc. The only way to get here is by boat, and we’re about an hour ride from the nearest accessible town. The hut is basic but has all the necessary comforts, including a small propane fridge and heater.! There’s even an outdoor shower, which we’ve made good use of, given the warm weather.

It is certainly remote though, our only contact with “civilisation” being a nightly safety call to base. Access is via a chartered catamaran that leaves from Strahan and crosses Macquarie Harbour, passing the infamous Sarah Island, before disappearing into the narrow forested channel that is Birchs Inlet. The big boat stops at a small landing, and you transfer to a dinghy with a little outboard to proceed up the creek to the start of the boardwalk that leads a few hundred metres to the Lodge! Transferring two weeks worth of food, gear and LPG takes a few trips by the dinghy and then wheelbarrow up and down the boardwalk.

Our experience of El Nino years in California was very wet winters, but on the other side of the World that means hot, dry summers in SE Australia, and it looks like this year will be no exception. We have had the most remarkable weather for SW Tasmania, where the notoriously wet, cold, and windy conditions are comparable to western Scotland, and that was certainly our experience at Melaleuca in 2002. In two weeks we have had highs at or above 22 degrees on all but three days, largely calm conditions, and only 5mm of rain, almost all on one day. On 9th Nov we peaked at 30.5 degrees. Perfect for those of us more used to the desert, but the locals are starting to grumble about the “hot” weather!

The birds are great, very few species of course but high quality, and super-approachable because they never see people. The OBPs are doing fine, just starting to get fruity with each other, all activities we record thoroughly. There are ten regulars around here, individually identifiable by numbered and coloured metal bands, but when you spend as much time watching them as we do, we can usually tell them instantly by appearance and personality. Ten doesn’t sound like many, but the entire wild population is probably under a hundred individuals now, so we’re looking at 12-15% of the World population every day. Which makes you think, and we certainly have plenty of time for that.

Anyway, Tas Parks and Wildlife asked us to stay on for another fortnight as they had a staff shortage, and we have taken advantage of our great flexibility to accept. We had to make a few calls to reorganise our ferry back to Melbourne, and a couple of meetings we had pencilled in at the Birds Australia office, but we were able to make it work.

We are now back to Strahan for 24hr to restock supplies (and check/send emails!) but we head back to Frog Lodge on Saturday 21st until Thursday 3rd December.

One hundred nights under canvas

Written 15 September 2009

We thought we would use an anniversary of sorts, our 100th night in our tent since we left Broome on 1st May, as an opportunity to let folks know how our travels were going. We’re back in WA having crossed the Great Victoria Desert from east to west on the Anne Beadell Highway over the last couple of weeks.

In the past few months we’ve crossed the Great Sandy Desert on the Canning Stock Route, the Simpson Desert from west to east, the Gibson Desert (twice east-west on the Gary Junction Road, and once north-south on the Sandy Blight Junction Road), the Strzelecki Desert, and we’ve travelled throughout the Kimberley, Pilbara, Top End, Channel Country, Lake Eyre region, and the Barkly Tablelands. It’s probably safe to say we’ve seen more of Australia than 99% of Aussies!

On a dune top in the eastern Simpson Desert with our beloved Troopy, August 2009

Also safe to say we’ve seen more birds than 99% of keen Aussie birders too, as we’re left with just a couple of Australian mainland endemic birds unseen (so far). The toughest is going to be Letter-winged Kite, as there has only been one record of one bird one evening all year in the whole country. This classic boom-and-bust bird is clearly in a very down cycle right now, and we’ve spent significant time in all its known haunts, with no sign by us or anyone else. We’ll keep trying of course.

Just before crossing the Great Victoria, we had spent a lovely couple of weeks in the South-East in August. We went looking for Regent Honeyeaters and Swift Parrots, and ended up doing some volunteer survey work on both species for Birds Australia projects. One day we saw about 400 Swifties, 20% of their known World population, including nearly 350 in one pre-roost site. A real highlight was spending time with our new friends Jemima and Nick Cook (the parents of our friend of ours from BBO days) at their property in the Blue Mountain foothills west of Sydney, where there were some Regent Honeyeaters thinking about nesting, conveniently visible from the Cook’s deck. We went there for an hour or two to see the birds, and ending up staying for three days, the Cook’s hospitality was so wonderful!

The bird highlight of the past few months goes hands-down to Princess Parrot, generally considered Australia’s best bird, combining rarity, remoteness, and beauty, and one of the World’s finest parrots. This species has not even been seen by the majority of serious Oz birders, and on our travels we have now found them on several occasions in three different places. This was the primary target of our entire Aus birding, and initially we had worked very hard to look for them. Despite having seen over half the World’s birds, our first sighting was undoubtedly a highlight of Jon’s birding career. Our sightings near Jupiter Well on the Gary Junction Road in the Gibson Desert (800km due W of Alice) actually sparked a bit of a twitch among Aussie birders, with at least three groups that we are aware of following up on our sightings, all successfully. We enjoyed our first successful trip to the Jupiter Well area so much we actually went back three weeks later, and found PPs again, and have just seen a few more in the Neale Junction area of the western Great Victoria Desert. The attached digiscope was taken by Jon near Jupiter Well on 26th June, the day we first saw Princess Parrots.

We haven’t had a single problem with our fantastic Troopy despite a 30,000km beating, largely off-road on many of the worst tracks Oz has to offer, in the past four-plus months. She’s having a well-earned check-up as we write, and will be able to take it easy on boring old tarmac over the next few weeks.

So, what next? Yesterday when we arrived in the mining town of Kalgoorlie, we got an email inviting us to help with Birds Australia Swift Parrot surveys on Tasmania, and simultaneously got confirmation of our dates for volunteering on Orange-bellied Parrot work, also in Tas. These two are perfectly timed just a few days apart in late Oct and early Nov. So it looks like we’ll be heading across the Nullarbor, the last main area of the Oz outback we haven’t seen, sometime in mid October. Between now and then we are planning a week on Christmas Island, where there are half-a-dozen endemics to catch up with, and some welcome time back north of the Tropic of Capricorn! (Hey, we can’t complain about the weather despite so much time in the deserts in winter. We’ve had only two sub-zero mornings, and the worst of those was only -1.5. We’ve just got soft after all the years in hot climates!)

Princess Parrots

Written 2 July 2009

We have just returned from a superb week-plus in the Jupiter Well area along the Gary Junction Highway in WA, where we found the incomparable Princess Parrot in two different areas. Having tried along the Canning Stock Route from Billiluna to Kunawarritji in the first week of May, and Jupiter Well for three days from 6th-9th May, dipping in both areas, we felt we had probably finally earned it!

The dunes were very different in late June versus early May, with lots of flowering and loads of good birds that had not been present in the area in May, including many Pied, Black, White-fronted, and other honeyeaters, and hundreds of Budgies everwhere, with many prospecting and defending apparent nest sites. We had Golden-backed Honeyeater possibly well outside normal range, and bizarrely a flock of Black Swans flying WSW one morning (there is probably no habitat for the latter within a 500km radius of Jupiter Well).

After searching for a full day on 25th June (when we had some rain) we finally found some parrots on the morning of 26th, 2.7km NNE of Jupiter Well, after Jon had first heard one several hundred metres north of the dune top we were on. We watched 6-8 for several minutes near 0930, then saw where they went to day roost. We left them alone, returning at 1500, just in time for them to break roost, where they accumulated in another Sand Dune Bloodwood. We had scope views here down to 20m for nearly half-an-hour of a flock of 12, even getting some reasonable digiscopes. They shot off strongly to the E at 1609. All these observation were within a short radius of 22 51 12.5 S, 126 36 17.9 E.

A pair of adult Princess Parrots, near Jupiter Well, Gibson Desert, Western Australia, 26 June 2009.

In the same area on the morning of the 27th we had at least three parrots for a few minutes. Their footprints were very obvious on the dune tops, and we were able to identify the grass species they were eating. However, searching this same area on 28th and 29th, we saw no more.

On the drive in from Alice, we had passed through some dune areas 40-60km E of Jupiter Well that we thought (in our relative ignorance at the time) looked potentially good for parrots. Reluctantly leaving the great birding at Jupiter Well, we stopped in this area on the way out. It was even more packed full of nomadic birds, honeyeaters, Budgies, etc.

Incredibly, at 0715 on the morning of 30th June we found a flock of eight Princess Parrots some 44km E of Jupiter Well. Watching them on and off for nearly half-an-hour feeding in several shrubs (later identified), the flock swelled to 21 by 0746, but then disappeared to the south, and could not be refound that morning despite extensive searching. We returned to the same area in the late afternoon, and had a pair fly strongly overhead going SE at 1611, but saw no more. We searched the same area the following morning, and a few kms to the east, but with no more sightings. All of these observations we in the area of 22 45 37.9 S, 126 58 11.6 E.

Australia is a land full of great parrots, but Princess Parrot is truly stunning and is arguably the best. It is very well worth the effort involved in seeing it. It is enhanced, if possible, by the great habitat in which it occurs, and this is even better when it is flowering and packed full of great nomadic birds. 

Many thanks to Janet Morris (of North West Safaris) who originally told me of her sightings at Jupiter in late April 2008, Don Hadden for his 2008 update from there and Well 44 on the CSR, and Merilyn Browne for her more recent observation from Jupiter Well.

On the road in Oz

Written 17 June 2009

As many of you know, we left Broome Bird Observatory on 1st May, choosing to head out birding around Oz rather than staying for another season. Our plans were initially changed dramatically when the Perth office of the Dept. of Immigration decided to only extend our visa by three months. In fact they initially wanted us to leave the day we finished at BBO, but we managed to negotiate and plead an extra three months out of them!

Undaunted, we headed out with our beloved Toyota Troopcarrier and started tearing (actually we never go above 95kmh!) around The Great Sandy Desert, the Pilbara, Gascoyne, north Kimberley, and then the Top End. The birding has been superb, with great rains in most of these areas over preceeding months producing superb flowering and hence loads of birds. We have successfully targeted all the grasswrens en route, that most iconic of Australia's bird genera, actually finding all rather easily, and now we need only Dusky to complete the genus (even most serious Aus birders have not done that). Another recent highlight was about 10,000 Flock Bronzewings coming to roost on the Barkly Tablelands. We're now down to only about a dozen Australian endemics that we have yet to see.

Non-birding highlights have included driving the challenging northern half of the Canning Stock Route, one of the Worlds great 4WD tracks, and camping in perfect isolation on Dirk Hartog Island in Shark Bay for four nights, among many others.

On an earlier suggestion of Anne's, at the first city of any size we reached, Darwin in the Northern Territiory, we went to the Immigration office there. The immigration office experience there was little different to the US - no bullet-proof glass, no massive lines, no taking tickets, actually almost no people at all, except plenty of personalised help! As we had hoped and suspected, everyone we spoke to there agreed that Perth's decision seemed strange, and we heard yesterday by e-mail that they have extended our visa not by three or six months, but by a full year to May 2010! They actually issued the decision in one day, we just haven't seen e-mail for over a week. So now we can slow down a little, and really see everything we want to.

It also allows us time to do the volunteering that we had hoped to, in Tasmania and elsewhere, and catch up with the host of friends we made while at BBO. So if you live in Oz, beware, we may be turning up on your doorstep sometime in the next 10-11 months! In the meantime, its on to Alice Springs, and thereafter, well, not sure yet.