Melbourne, Perth and Singapore (1 Viewer)

Mike/ John,

Thanks for the replies! Pretty much got a plan now.

Mike, is the sime road area still good for nightjar and safe?? My understanding is that SGP is safe in general but don't really want to test this theory!

Staying in Little India, is Sime Road the closest spot for nightjars or can you suggest anywhere else please? And is st john's island still the only spot for pied imperial pigeon and is it worth the trip out there, i.e. other species?

John, will be in perth over the weekend and wondered if you would be or whether you know of anyone who would be interested in a day's birding to the wungong gorge please? happy to cover the petrol costs.

Steve - no worries mate!

Cheers Iain

No worries, Iain

I'm normally happy to show visitors around some of the local spots but my car was damaged last week in a storm so I haven't got a car right now and I don't think it'll be fixed for the weekend (I assume you mean this weekend 3 & 4 April). I will ask around and see if I can find anyone to help out

EDIT: Being the Easter weekend, I suspect a lot of people will be tied up, but I'll ask and see. You could also try the birdingPal website http://www.birdingpal.org/Australianew.htm#7

Hi John,

thanks for the reply. Don't arrive in Perth until April 21st so it would be the weekend of April 24th/ 25th. if you have a car by then or know of anyone else who is keen that would be great. hoping to visit rotto during the week, may be busy saturday (i used to live in perth ten years ago) catching up with old friends but the sunday is good.

Cheers Iain

Oops! My mistake!

I had found someone who was happy to show you around, but I assume my car will be up and running by then in which case I'd be happy to take you out to Wungong Gorge and maybe a couple of other spots nearby. Is it safe to assume your main targets are the SW endemics? Otherwise, feel free to give me a list of things you'd like to see, or we can just head out and see what's around

John

Hi Iain,

The one thing you don't have to worry about in Singapore is safety! Yes Sime Rd is a good location. In fact all of the places you've mentioned going to have nightjars.

Pied Imperial Pigeons are I think pretty much restricted to the southern islands off Singapore. You could well see one if you head over the western part of Singapore but I wouldn't bet on them being wild as they're much more likely to be free flying birds from the Jurong Bird Park. The other species which is on the islands and not the rest of Singapore is Beach Stone Curlew but they're very rare.

Cheers
Mike

Iain,

Had a week or so in Melbourne last November and strongly recommend the Botanical Gardens - an obvious destination and well worth walking along the Yarra from Flinders St Station. If you can get there by public transport I would also head for Lysterfield Forest Park for Powerful owl and Tawny frogmouth, plus waterbirds on the Lake. Although a little further out, Werribbee Treatment Plant is so good it would be a shame to miss out - permit is dead easy to sort out, no hassle at all, and the site's only a 45min drive from Melbourne. You could pop by Altona on the way back and get Pacific gull and various seabirds.

All the best,

iain johnson said:

Hi John,

thanks for the reply. Don't arrive in Perth until April 21st so it would be the weekend of April 24th/ 25th. if you have a car by then or know of anyone else who is keen that would be great. hoping to visit rotto during the week, may be busy saturday (i used to live in perth ten years ago) catching up with old friends but the sunday is good.

Cheers Iain

Click to expand...

You are probably best not to visit Rottnest Island on a Saturday, anyway. It was a lot quieter for people when I went there on a weekday in July 2006 ("mid winter", 'tis true!) than when I went on a Saturday in November 2008. The relative crowds at Thomson Bay Settlement on the 2008 visit did not affect my birdwatching, however. Indeed, I walked south around Phillip Point, which is at the SE end of Thomson Bay and was a good place for terns, and had the beautiful white beach just round the corner to myself! Just offshore are a couple of small islands, on one of which a pair of ospreys was nesting. I wondered if rock parrots would be there, but I "dipped"!

Allen