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.

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

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

Franklin’s Gull at Cervantes

Breaking a bit of a dry spell for vagrant gulls in the south-west (well, twitchable ones at least), a co-operative Franklin’s Gull has been present in the Cervantes town beach area for at least 6-8 weeks. It has mostly been seen in and around a small park outside the caravan park entrance (end of Aragon St), or on the adjacent beach, in the company of Silver Gulls.

Vagrant Franklin’s Gull Leucophaeus pipixcan on the beach at Cervantes

Photos clearly show all the hallmarks of Franklin’s Gull: slightly smaller than Silver Gull, with darker grey upperparts; more compact body in flight; short tail with diagnostic grey centre (unique among adult gulls); well-developed black half-hood; prominent thick white eye crescents; black bill with red tip, and black legs. 

Another South Polar Skua - Woodman Point

UPDATE: The identity of this bird has now been accepted by BARC.

Another intermediate-morph South Polar Skua Stercorarius (Catharacta) maccormicki has been reported in south-west WA, seen on the 3rd of May flying briefly over the end of Woodman Point, south of Fremantle. Unfortunately only the silhouette and underside of the bird were able to be photographed, but nevertheless several key diagnostic features confirm the bird’s identity:

Underbody contrast
Though the early morning light is not ideal, the bird shows the diagnostic hallmark of strong contrast between the fairly uniform, cool-toned, paleish grey-brown body, and the evenly cold black underwing coverts and axillaries. There are no rusty or rufous tones in the plumage as is frequent on Brown Skua [1, 2]. Other supporting plumage features include a fairly substantial white ‘flash’ in the primaries; a small but distinct dark loral eye-mask on the paler head; and the suggestion of a whitish grizzled area in the interramal area at the base of the lower bill.

South Polar Skua Stercorarius maccormicki (NB. subject to BARC acceptance) at Woodman Point, 3rd May 2012. Note the strong contrast between the pale, evenly grey-brown body and cold black undercoverts; whitish area at the base of the lower bill (interramal area); long narrow wings and short tail.

South Polar Skua at Bremer Bay

An intermediate-morph South Polar Skua (Catharacta maccormicki) was observed around the Bremer Bay area over the Easter weekend, from Saturday 7th April 2012 until at least Monday 9th April. Authenticated sightings of this species are extremely rare in Australia, particularly Western Australia, and even these records are typically pelagic or offshore, making this sustained inshore sighting most unusual.

The bird was first seen distantly on the afternoon of 7th April, harassing Crested Terns and Silver Gulls around the rocky point and offshore island east of the Fisheries harbour (end of Swarbrick Rd) at Bremer Bay. Its contrasting pale head and neck, and relatively small size raised suspicions of South Polar Skua, but unfortunately this could not be confirmed before the bird disappeared.

South Polar Skua at Bremer Bay.

Streaked Shearwaters near Rottnest Island

Streaked Shearwaters are relatively common visitors to waters off northern Australia, but there are few (if any) records from the seas off Perth, and certainly no recent records. Hence it was something of a surprise when the recent pelagic trip organised out of Hillarys Boat Harbour recorded good numbers just north of Rottnest Island. The first birds were recorded c. 12km NNE of Rottnest Island (c. 15km off the mainland) on the outward passage of the boat. Several birds were seen in this area, but no further birds were seen on the outbound journey. However, on the return journey, several more Streaked Shearwaters were recorded c. 8km NW of Rottnest, and larger numbers (probably 20+) 2-5km due N of Rottnest Island. Overall, it was estimated that 40+ birds were recorded on the trip.

A Streaked Shearwater with the Perth skyline in the background, April 2012.



Location of Streaked Shearwater records on April 2012 pelagic. Click here for full Google Map.



3 People, 50 Hours, 4,474km, One Bird - Eurasian Hoopoe near Broome

In early November this year, the Australian twitching community went into overdrive with news that a Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) had turned up near Broome. Eurasian Hoopoes occur widely across Europe and Asia. The Broome bird has been identified as the strongly migratory race saturata, which breeds mostly in east Asia (Japan, Siberia, South China etc.) and migrates south to winter, making it the most likely candidate for vagrancy to Australia. Nonetheless, most Aussie twitchers would probably admit that the species had not figured highly on their list of likely new birds for Australia.

Eurasian Hoopoe at Roebuck Roadhouse near Broome.

The bird was found on the 10th November hanging around near the Roebuck Roadhouse, 30km out of Broome, by Kim Onton, Chris Hassell and Marten Hulzebosch. Being a first record for Australia, and a particularly charismatic species to boot, it was no surprise that news of the sighting sent twitchers into something of a frenzy, as many raced to work out the feasibility of a mad dash to see the bird. Fortunately for those that have made the trip, the bird has generally remained in situ since the initial sighting (still present Saturday 3rd December), although it hasn't always been easy to locate and a few people dipped several times before connecting.

The Broome Eurasian Hoopoe feeding up!

Intermediate Morph Soft-plumaged Petrels off Perth

The Soft-plumaged Petrel (Pterodroma mollis) is a common visitor to offshore waters of southern Western Australia, predominantly from late autumn to early spring. Pelagic seabird trips off Perth, run since 1996, have recorded the species on 27 of the 31 trips run (an 87% recording rate). The species has been recorded less commonly on pelagic trips off Albany, run since 2003, having been recorded on five of the nine trips run (a 56% recording rate).

Soft-plumaged Petrel off Perth.

Soft-plumaged Petrels are one of several petrel species to exhibit polymorphism. The pale morph is easily the most commonly occurring variant, but dark morph individuals are also regularly (but rarely) recorded. Intermediate individuals have been recorded, but these are particularly rare. Indeed, Onley & Scofield [1] report only “a few scruffy intermediate specimens … in museum collections” and “no recent records at sea or from breeding grounds”. This assertion is clouded by differences in treatment of intermediate individuals between authors. Shirihai [2] for example appears to include all intermediate morphs, along with the wholly dark morph, under the dark morphs. He describes the dark morph as being “partially (mottled) to wholly dusky-brown/sooty-grey on underparts, with variable breastband, but rest of plumage as pale morph”. Much of the confusion is likely down to the fact that in reality there is not a distinct intermediate morph; rather intermediate birds can fall anywhere on a spectrum between typical pale morph birds and fully dark individuals.

Pale morph Soft-plumaged Petrel off Perth.

Arctic Tern at Hillarys Boat Harbour

LATEST UPDATE: Still present and showing well late this afternoon (13/08)

An Arctic Tern is currently hanging out around Hillarys Boat Harbour in Perth's northern suburbs. The bird has been very co-operative and allowed close views, but appears in reasonable health. It was initially seen on the 4th August by Michael Hancock, then again by others on the 5th and 6th. It's now been seen again by a number of people on the 11th and 12th August.

Arctic Tern at Hillarys Boat Harbour.

Northern Pintail at Erskine Lakes

LATEST UPDATE: Northern Pintail still present on Monday, back on the smaller lake - per Bruce Greatwich (11 April)

A female Northern Pintail has again been reported from Erskine Lakes near Mandurah. This is the same location as a female was located in July 2010 and is likely to be the same bird. There are five previous records from Australia (including the 2010 Erskine record), three of which have been from WA.

Northern Pintail at Erskine Lakes

Common Terns at Herdsman Lake

The BAWA Sightings page received a report of 12 Common Tern at Maurice Hamer Park, Herdsman Lake on the morning of the 7th February. A subsequent search that afternoon revealed one bird still remaining at Maurice Hamer Park. Other areas of the lake, particularly the northern end, were not extensively searched, so the others may still be present. The single bird was initially seen hawking over the water, then perched on a piece of wood near the lake shore about 200m around to the left (north) of the carpark off Lakeside Drive near Heron Place.

Common Tern (& Pacific Black Duck) at Herdsman Lake

The Living Ghosts of Twitches Past

A pre-Christmas visit to Rottnest Island appeared to confirm the rumours were true – the Indian Peafowl control program may well have removed the last peahen from the island [1]. Long-time island residents confirmed that, to the best of their knowledge, the two adult male peacocks currently hanging around the Thompson Bay settlement are the last remnants of this historic population.

Peacock memories, Rottnest 1994.......OK, laugh at the hair if you must!