Sabine's Gull in Bremer Bay

With a real dearth of gull species in Australia it is always great when we are graced with a rare visitor. Rumours began to surface of a rare gull in Bremer Bay on 14th January, photos were taken the next day and it was then identified as the 6th Sabine's Gull for Western Australia.

The bird could give extremely close views on the small beach

The bird was located at the town's fisheries harbour and very soon took to the fish being offered by eager birders, who made their way down to see this dainty arctic gull.

Bremer Canyon Killer Whale Expedition Report - 9 April 2017

Summary: The Bremer Canyon Killer Whale Expeditions are run by Naturaliste Charters from late January until mid-April from Bremer Bay. While the focus of the trip is whales and the boat does not stop to chum, it is a useful boat to look for seabirds. It was a great day out with very calm conditions. We started off seeing Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross, Flesh-footed Shearwater and Little Shearwater. We continued on to the Bremer Canyon where we immediately saw a Great-winged Petrel and Wilson’s Storm-Petrel but the main species seen was always Flesh-footed Shearwater. The highlight of the trip was at least 5 Black-bellied Storm-Petrel and fantastic views of Sperm Whales. Other good sightings included distant views of two Wandering Albatross, at least 25 Shy Albatross and a minimum of 10 Soft-plumaged Petrels. A Black-faced Cormorant in the Fishing Jetty area was a surprise.

Flesh-footed Shearwater at Bremer Bay (Photo: Robyn Pickering) 

Fremantle Pelagic Trip Report – 21 August 2016

Summary: An excellent day out started off with a small pod of Orca, including a large bull, just off Rottnest Island. We continued on to the head of the Perth Canyon for two berley and drift sessions with a good mix of eastern Indian Ocean birds, where the undoubted avian highlight was a single Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross. It left it late and only joined the birds on the slick for five minutes towards the end of the day. Other good sightings included a single Arctic Tern, two Southern Giant Petrels and up to 35 Soft-plumaged Petrels (including a darkish morph bird and several intermediate morph and streaked individuals).

Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos off Fremantle Western Australia. The ‘puffin-like’ black triangles around the eyes made this Atlantic easy to pick out from the closely related and common Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses (photo: Plaxy Barratt)

A Western Australia Big Year 2015 (Part 2)

A Big year on a small budget (The Kimberley)

 I was ready to put the final preparations in place for our 2 week odyssey in the Kimberley! Unfortunately, my plans were a little sabotaged by influenza. My daughter went down with it first and I became full time nurse for a very sick and grumpy 12yr old. Four days out from the trip and I woke with a sore throat...........oh oh............ I went to the doctor and got some antibiotics (and even though I took them for 2 weeks they proved to be as effective at fighting the flu as crossing your fingers).

 To be honest, I can't really remember the flight to Broome or picking up the hire car, but the adrenaline kicked in once we got out of the airport. It was "game on" and I needed to focus. New birds for the year came thick and fast, Little Curlews on the town oval, Red-headed Honeyeater in the court gardens, Red-collared Lorikeets feeding in the palms. We booked into the Broome Bird Observatory and then promptly left, to head down the highway to see Flock Bronzewing (a species I had never seen before). Our second day in Broome proved to be even better, having got the tides completely wrong, we arrived at the beach to find the tide so high that all those thousands of waders that Broome is famous for, were nowhere to be seen! Disaster...........until, we found a small group of waders in a secluded cove. In amongst them was a Eurasian Curlew! A mega-rare bird for WA and a completely unexpected find. Add in a couple of Redshanks and the disaster had turned into a success. The day got even better when searching for Eastern Yellow Wagtails at the caravan park, when we came across a stunning breeding plumage Yellow-headed Wagtail (a race of Western Yellow Wagtail). Having never been officially seen in Australia before, this was without doubt one of the two best birds of the whole year. On our third and final day in Broome we went out birding with George Swann, what he doesn't know about birding in the Kimberley isn't worth knowing! We had a whistle-stop tour of the various wetlands and lakes, picking up Little Ringed Plover, Swinhoe's Snipe and White-throated Gerygone amongst others.



Swinhoe's Snipe - Lake Eda (near Broome)

A Western Australian Big Year 2015

A Big year on a small budget (Part 1)

If you haven't heard of a "Big Year" then search around in the bargain bin in the local DVD shop and find the "The Big Year" starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. I think it just about covers it all, although being an American Big Year, it doesn't have any crocodiles!

A Big Year in birding terms, is trying to see as many bird species as you can in a single calendar year. The area you cover is up to you, some people do World Big Years, others do countries and I chose my home state of Western Australia (even though it's only a state, it is larger than many countries and twice as hot).

Why, you ask??? Well, why not! Birders talk about doing things and sometimes just never get around to it and that had been the case with a WA Big Year since Archaeopteryx decided to take to the wing. I was going to be the first, which has positives and negatives.........first you've bound to get the record but on the other hand you have no benchmark to aim for.  I pored over the maps and books and came up with a rough target. I reckoned a birder with bottomless pockets and all the time in the world could get 450+  (probably closer to 460) in WA, those with either limited time or money could get 435 and those less fortunate could get 420.........so 420 it was! I decided on a couple of rules, to only includes birds I saw and identified myself (no heard only records) and to not use "playback". Living in Perth, the southwest of WA would be where I would have to find the majority of the species. A rough calculation produced a figure of around 300 species within a days drive of Perth, added to that I had a total of 4 weeks holiday when I could venture further afield.

New Year's Day came around and before the crack of dawn I was ready at Lake McLarty (RIP) to try to start the year with some waders. Luckily for me the lake had one more day left before it baked dry, the birding gods were smiling on me and I managed to see a good selection of waders including Pectoral Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper and Long-toed Stint with the bonus of a Ruff at a nearby wetland. I spent the rest of the day racing around to various habitats and by nightfall I had a total of 110 species, a good start to a very very long race. The rest of January was spent gradually picking off the relatively easy species and by the months end the total was up to 175. February held the exciting prospect of adding some seabirds to the list with pelagics scheduled in Albany (on the south coast of WA).

Black-browed Albatross - Albany pelagic 8th Feb 2015

WA State Checklists

Frustrated by the lack of a regularly updated and published checklist of Western Australian birds, we here at Leeuwin Current Birding have decided to create our own. We will aim to keep this updated at least annually via this post to account for new vagrants, and also for taxonomic changes according to the latest IOC checklist.

The 'official' State list (at least for legislative purposes) is maintained by the WA Museum as part of their official "Checklist of Terrestrial Vertebrate Fauna", but their list differs from ours in including Ashmore Reef, and also in applying its own rather unique taxonomic decisions (which, for example, recognises Western Whistler as a full species, but not Western Yellow Robin). 

Our WA list includes island and sea-based records from Australian waters out to 200 nautical miles from the mainland, unless closer to another country. That last clause excludes Ashmore and Cartier Reefs, which are not only much closer to Timor than Australia, but are also explicitly excised from Western Australia geopolitically as External Territories. However the vagrant-rich Browse Island is much closer to WA and also gazetted as a state nature reserve, so is included.

Download the latest LCB WA State Checklist here:

       WA State Checklist IOC 14.1 2024

The many 'Westerns' of Western Australia. From top left: Western Corella, Western Rosella, Western Spinebill, Western Thornbill, Western Whistler (no longer endemic), Western Wattlebird. 

We also maintain a handy checklist of the endemic (and 'almost endemic') bird taxa of WA, including endemic subspecies:

     Checklist of WA endemics 2024

or see our previous blogs on the topic:

     WA Endemic subspecies:
     Part 1: Southwest
     Part 2: Pilbara and arid zone
     Part 3: Kimberley

Western Australia Birder's Totals

There has been much talk in the birding community in WA over the years about replicating the very popular Australian Birding Totals run by Tony Palliser, based on WA alone. Western Australian birders are becoming more focused on their state lists than ever before with the run of extreme rarities in WA in recent years (Hoopoe, Eurasian Hobby, Kamchatka Leaf Warbler).

So I decided to get the ball rolling and set up a state list for birders, the only qualification is that you've seen 300 species or more within WA (see definition below). Just send me your total and I'll add you to the list. When you see a new species, just leave a message on the blog, message me on Facebook or drop me an email (alaninoz@iinet.net.au) with the details and I will update the list. Remember it's just a bit of fun and I am not going to go through your WA list with a fine-toothed comb. Trust is the name of the game!


Definitions

1) All birds must be seen and clearly identified within the boundaries of Western Australia. That included offshore islands (Browse, Barrow etc) but not those outside WA jurisdiction, so sorry but no records from Ashmore & Cartier Reefs, Christmas Island and Cocos Island!

2) Records of birds at sea are acceptable within a 200NM limit of the WA coast.

3) Taxonomy will follow the latest IOC list

Western Australia Totals (IOC 2019)

Name                                       Total                Recent additions to list

Frank O'Connor                         513                Brown-streaked Flycatcher
George Swann                          497                 Eurasian Teal, Sooty Albatross
Nigel Jackett                             480                 Common Cicadabird
Alan Collins                               471                 Collared Pratincole, Cory's Shearwater
Adrian Boyle                              469                 Night Parrot

Sue Abbotts                              469                  Tawny Grassbird, Dusky Honeyeater
Rohan Clarke                            460                  Shy Albatross, Black-browed Albatross
Stewart Ford                             451                  Grey-faced Petrel
John Graff                                 450                  Red-chested Button-quail
Peter Taylor                              441                  Tahiti Petrel, Streaked Shearwater

Bruce Greatwich                       437                  Chestnut-backed Button-quail

Chris Young                              431                  Nordmann's Greenshank, Grey Wagtail
Mark Newman                           427                 Grey-headed Albatross
Nathan Waugh                          426                  Eurasian Hobby
Bill Rutherford                           426                  Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross
Nick Brown                                425                 Grey-headed Albatross, Spinifexbird

Martin Cake                               423                  Kelp Gull, Collared Pratincole

Geoff Groom                             414                  Little Shearwater, Long-tailed Skua
Rose Ferrell                              411
Xenia Dennett                           404                  Collared Pratincole, Sabine's Gull

Robyn Pickering                        385                 Collared Pratincole, Sabine's Gull
Ross Jones                               349                  Ground Cuckoo-shrike, Roseate Tern

Keith Wilcox                              342                  Marsh Sandpiper
Carolyn Turnbull                        320                  Ground Cuckoo-shrike, Inland Dotterel
Lachlan Newman                      320                   Roseate Tern, Painted Button-Quail
Sean Van Alphen                      314 
Jenny Knox                               312                  Red-necked Phalarope, Gilbert's Whistler

The naming of Gilbert's Honeyeater

“If you have not already honoured my poor name in your works, I know of no species that would delight me more than … this beautiful bird”, wrote John Gilbert to the famous ornithologist John Gould in 1844. Gould rebuffed him, “…as I have lately named a Pachycephala after you I cannot with propriety add your name to this new bird”. The beautiful new bird discussed was the now-extinct Paradise Parrot, one of Gilbert’s most famous discoveries, and the Pachycephala was of course Gilbert’s Whistler. However Gould had erred, not realising he had already described the whistler a few years earlier. Thus the honorific was relegated to the western subspecies P. inornata gilbertii, and it is only by chance that the English name of an Australian bird still honours his faithful collector John Gilbert.

More than 170 years later, the influential IOC World Bird List [1] did what Gould found so difficult, when on 23rd April 2015 they quietly renamed Melithreptus chloropsis as Gilbert’s Honeyeater. The same English name was adopted when the species was finally split on the eBird/Clements checklist in August 2015. The background to this name change reveals an interesting story of a Western Australian ornithological pioneers, and of modern-day debates about taxonomy and nomenclature.

Gilbert's Honeyeater Melithreptus chloropsis (subadult). Donnelley River, WA

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 24 May 2015

Summary: A second good trip for the weekend, again with 13 tubenose species recorded, though the species mix varied a little from the Saturday trip. The highlights included an Arctic Tern, several Black-bellied Storm-Petrels, and a brief visit by a small group of Orcas.

Arctic Tern. Photo courtesy Dan Mantle.

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 23 May 2015

Summary: This was a good trip, with a good variety of seabirds seen (including 13 tubenose species). However, we didn't see anything different as a result of travelling further offshore to deeper water. The highlights were at least one South Polar Skua, an intermediate-type Soft-plumaged Petrel, better-than-usual views of a number of Little Shearwater, several Wandering-type Albatross, and a pair of Sperm Whales.

South Polar Skua off Albany. Recent observations indicate the species is a regular, moderately common passage visitor along the southern WA coast through April and May, and this was the fifth consecutive May pelagic off Albany where they have been recorded. Photo courtesy Plaxy Barratt

Cheynes Beach: Twitching in a skulkers paradise

Cheynes Beach is a superb birding location, best known for its opportunities to encounter the ‘Big Three’ endemic skulkers of the south-west: Noisy Scrub-bird, Western Bristlebird, and nominate race Western Whipbird. Prime target for most birders is the scrub-bird, which is generally a little easier to see here than at nearby Two Peoples Bay, as the birds here are more habituated to humans (note that’s easIER, not easy). However there are many other treats hidden in the scenic, botanically-rich heaths, and nature-lovers shouldn’t leave disappointed even if they don’t manage to glimpse one or more of the famous skulkers - which is certainly a possibility!

The track to Back Beach (Loop Track), with Baxter's Banksia (Banksia baxteri). NSB habitat to the left (dense cover and reeds), bristlebird habitat to the right (long-burnt low open heath). 

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 8 February 2015

Summary: This was also an interesting trip, with a reasonable variety of seabirds, though most species were the same as the previous day’s trip. 11 tubenose species were recorded, along with several skua and tern species. The highlights were more Sooty Terns and Short-tailed Shearwaters, and several close passes from a Wandering-type Albatross.

Wandering-type Albatross, suspected Gibson’s D. [e.] [antipodensis] gibsoni. Photo courtesy Plaxy Barratt.

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 7 February 2015

Summary: This was the first trip run off Albany in February (or any summer month, for that matter) so it was difficult to know what to expect. It turned out to be an interesting trip, with a reasonable variety of seabirds. 9-10 tubenose species were recorded, along with several skua and tern species. The highlights were close views of a large pod of Pilot Whales around the boat, and records of Sooty Tern, Long-tailed Jaeger, and Short-tailed Shearwater. The latter two were not unexpected at this time of year, but both represent the second records of the species for Albany pelagics. The Sooty Terns were more unexpected, and appear to represent the first records of the species off the south coast of WA.

Pilot Whales (suspected Long-finned Pilot Whales) off Albany. Long-finned and Short-finned are barely separable at sea in areas where they overlap. Long-finned is the more likely species off Albany, and the relatively prominent and well-defined pale saddles are also suggestive of Long-finned. Photo courtesy Plaxy Barratt.

New almost-endemic species for WA: Western Whistler

WA gained a surprise almost-endemic species recently when the south-western forms of Golden Whistler were split by the IOC (on Dec 31) as the full species Western Whistler Pachycephala occidentalis.

Western Whistler Pachycephala occidentalis, adult male at Wungong Gorge near Perth

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 16 November 2014

Summary: Once again, the calm conditions made this a relatively disappointing trip with low species variety and bird activity in general. The highlights were the first records of White-chinned Petrel on a WA pelagic trip, and more Wandering Albatross (though fewer than were recorded on the Saturday). Overall, 8-9 tubenose species were recorded, depending on the specific identity of the Wandering Albatrosses seen.

White-chinned Petrel, a first for Albany pelagics. Photo courtesy Plaxy Barratt.

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 15 November 2014

Summary: Overall, this was a disappointing trip, particularly for the pelagic veterans, as both species variety and bird activity in general were low, likely due to the calm conditions. The highlight was the large number of Wandering Albatross, more than we have seen on any previous Albany pelagic trip. However, the number of tubenose species recorded was a record low for Albany trips (seven or so, depending on the specific identity of the Wandering Albatrosses seen).

Immature Wandering-type Albatross. The plumage of this bird suggests it could be any of exulans, gibsoni or dabbenena

The curious case of the Red-bellied Spinipig

NB: The following should be prefaced - in the manner of any modern climate debate - with “…I’m not a taxonomic scientist, BUT…”

The July release of the “Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines” (del Hoyo & Collar, Lynx Edicions/BirdLife) [1] marks the start of the brave new era in which BirdLife International team up with the Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) crew on the impressively ambitious, if slightly mad, project to review and illustrate the entirety of the world’s avifauna in two volumes. Since BirdLife Australia will adopt these changes by default, unfortunately this means Australia’s ‘official’ bird list is, yet again (groan), being decided by A BOOK. And in this case, a book extraordinarily revising all the species of the world on the premise of a single scientific paper, Tobias et al’s 2010 paper, “Quantitative limits for species delimitation” [2] [available open access here]. The Tobias paper outlines a hitherto untested numerical scoring method for defining whether a pair of related taxa are ‘distinct enough’ to qualify as separate species. The method uses sympatric (co-existing, hence undisputed) species pairs to calibrate a universal threshold, which can then be used to test allopatric (geographically separated) pairs, which can be much harder to define. The answer, it turns out, is 7.* 

In a rather left-field move, HBW/BirdlLife have thus resplit the Pilbara’s “Rufous-bellied Spinifex Pigeon” (or spinipig as the locals call them) Geophaps ferruginea, which compared to nominate plumifera (now White-bellied Spinifex Pigeon), is:

• generally redder [ferruginea = rusty]
• entirely red-brown below, lacking a white belly
• richer red-brown above (plumifera more grey-brown)
• only a grey and black pectoral band, i.e. lacks white band
• slightly smaller
• plume slightly shorter [3]
• iris red to orange-red (cf. yellow to orange-yellow) [4]

"Red-bellied" Spinifex Pigeon Geophaps [plumifera] ferruginea, Wickham WA. Note the red (not grey-brown) back.

Herdsman Lake: Urban wetland hotspot

Conveniently located within a 10-15 minute drive of the city centre, Herdsman Lake is one of the most popular birding sites in Perth. Over 150 species have been recorded at the lake, and at any time of the year, a couple of hours of birding at Herdsman should yield 50+ species, increasing to 60-70+ when at its best. The major attraction is usually the wide variety of waterbirds, but a reasonable variety of bushbirds and raptors occur in the area, and if the water level is low enough waders can also occur (unfortunately a rare occurrence in recent years).

Australian Reed Warblers are common throughout the extensive typha beds at Herdsman Lake

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 4 May 2014

Summary: This trip was another excellent trip, following on from the Sunday trip. 13 tubenose species were recorded, highlighted by more excellent views of Black-bellied Storm-Petrels, a dark intermediate morph Soft-plumaged Petrel, and large numbers of Little Shearwaters. Two South Polar Skuas were also seen on the return journey, unfortunately views were again rather brief and distant, and several Arctic Terns were seen at the shelf. As on the Saturday trip, albatross numbers were notably low.

Arctic Tern, one of three present around the boat for an extended period, note the fine, neat dark trailing edge to the primaries and relatively short, dagger bill. Photo courtesy Bernie O'Keefe

Albany Pelagic Trip Report - 3 May 2014

Summary: This trip was another excellent trip, continuing the recent success of early May trips from Albany – at least18 tubenose species were seen, a record for Albany pelagics, highlighted by several prions, including a Fairy Prion (a rarity in WA). A South Polar Skua (and probably a second) were also seen, strengthening suspicions that the species is a regular passage migrant off the WA coast in April-May – unfortunately views were frustratingly brief and distant. Although we saw a good variety of species, total albatross numbers were notably low.

Wilson's Storm-Petrel are abundant on passage off WA at this time of year. Photo courtesy Stewart Ford.