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Bristol to Kagu ?
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<blockquote data-quote="Larry Sweetland" data-source="post: 1584841" data-attributes="member: 27337"><p><strong>Broome and onward</strong></p><p></p><p>Thanks Scott :t:</p><p></p><p>We picked up Tony at Broome airport on the 5th and stayed a couple of extra nights in the Roebuck Bay campsite. Got drunk on the beach watching the staircase to the moon effect, and noticed had lost my bins when we were nearly back off the beach. It was dark and the tide was coming in. The 3 of us and another camper searched with torches for over an hour, and finally Tony found them just in time. 15 minutes more and they'd have been underwater.</p><p></p><p>We stayed for 4 nights at Broome Bird Observatory, and I must say that I liked it so much that I bought the T shirt, thus risking looking even more like a dorky birdnerd. The staff, with representatives from the UK, Colombia, USA and Australia,were infectiously bubbly, friendly and helpful, and lent me a scope to use while we were there. Various tours and involvement are possible for visitors, but one course that the staff should perhaps consider running in my opinion would be "how to MC your daily bird log", which I found to be the most entertaining one I can remember experiencing, and the first one to recall an episode of the Vicar of Dibley. These guys also weren't fooled for a second when we tried to pass off a photo of a leucistic Silver Gull taken in Broome as a 1st summer Iceland Gull. Of course.</p><p></p><p>We went on one tour, which is the tour out onto Roebuck Station to see the <strong>Yellow Chats</strong>. This costs 70 bucks a head, but truly came up with the goods as we ended up seeing more than 30 of them, a couple of which were the full custard. Prior to our visit there had only been one <strong>Oriental Plover </strong>sighting this season, but luckily for us they chose to arrive that day, with a flock of 30 odd on the <strong>Yellow Chat </strong>tour, then scattered sightings daily in with the other waders at high tide roosts.</p><p></p><p>I was over optimistic however when it came to other birds I hoped might be possible here. 3 species of <strong>buttonquail </strong>and even <strong>Grass Owl </strong> used to be possible out on the plains, but overgrazing has lead to their recent disappearance. There are long term plans for change of land ownership though, with management for wildlife, so hopefully some of these species will return in the future. <strong>Kimberley Flycatcher </strong>is also rarer here than I'd hoped, and I should have searched for it further east. </p><p></p><p>I was in with a chance however of <strong>Asian Dowitcher</strong>, 9 of which were seen not long before our visit. Unfortumately the height of the tides while we were there meant that getting a chance to effectively look through a decent proportion of the <strong>godwits</strong> was impossible. Most of them roosted far away. Even though I spent a lot of time looking through thousands of <strong>godwits</strong> I couldn't find one. Which the staff of course found progessively more amusing. Bless them. </p><p></p><p>The obs area was fantastic for waders, and we saw <strong>White-headed Stilt, Red-necked Avocet, Pied Oystercatcher, Far Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Great Knot, Red Knot, Curlew Sandpiper, Broad-billed S, Common S, Sharp-tailed S, Terek S, Marsh S, Red-necked Stint, Grey-tailed Tattler, Turnstone, Greenshank, Red-capped Plover, Oriental P, Greater Sand P, Lesser Sand P, Grey P, Pacific Golden P, </strong>and <strong>Australian Pratincole</strong>, with <strong>Sanderling</strong> and <strong>Masked Lapwing </strong>added in nearby Broome. As well as the <strong>dowitchers</strong> we also dipped some much rarer <strong>Redshanks</strong>, which funnily enough I wasn't quite as bothered about. </p><p></p><p>In fact my face took so badly to the <strong>dowitcher</strong> dip, that what started life as a small spot on the scope-side of my nose has now developed into a full-blown facial infection. One eye is partially closed and using bins is no longer possible without bashing the bump. I look a bit like something you might meet at a bar in Star Trek, and Nicky has started calling me Odo. I've been to the hospital and have just got some antibiotics, so hopefully I'll be able to use bins soon.</p><p></p><p>Broome was good for mangrove birds too, and we picked up <strong>Mangrove Golden </strong>and <strong>White-breasted Whistlers</strong>, <strong>Broad-billed Flycatcher, Mangrove Grey Fantail </strong>and <strong>Dusky Gerygone </strong>around Crab Creek. We also saw <strong>Mangrove Golden Whistler </strong>and <strong><strong>Red-headed Myzomela </strong></strong>in the mangroves not far from Coles in Broome.</p><p></p><p>Hopefully Tony will fill in any bits I've missed out.</p><p></p><p>It was sad to leave, but what can you do? They probably had <strong>Asian Dowitcher </strong>in the bird bath next day. Our next stop for the night as we headed south was Cape Keraudren, where we camped at the cliff-top camping area. An on spec poke about in the grassy bowl below the camping area before breakfast came up trumps with at least 1, possibly 2 <strong>Little Buttonquail</strong>. There were also at least 9 <strong>Brown Quail </strong>and large numbers of <strong>Australasian Bush-Lark </strong>knocking about.</p><p></p><p>We made it to Mairee Pool for the next night, where Jonathan had seen many <strong>Painted Finches </strong>a few weeks ago. We saw several, maybe 30+, during the first hour of daylight, mostly in ones and twos in or over the spinifex and rocks along the track that loosely parallels the creek away from the highway. <strong>Star Finches </strong>were more prevalent in the evening at this site, and we also saw a <strong>Little Eagle</strong>, <strong>Cockatiels, Budgies</strong>, and western forms of<strong> Spinifex Pigeon, White-plumed Honeyeater </strong>and <strong>Australian Reed Warbler </strong>here.</p><p></p><p>After leaving the site, a midmorning stop to change drivers at the pull off on the east side of the road just after crossing the Fortescue river produced another 6 <strong>Painted Finches</strong>.</p><p></p><p>We're now in Exmouth and if anyone has the technology to PM me with link to calls of <strong>Spinifexbird </strong>and <strong>Rufous-crowned Emu-Wren </strong>that we could download onto Nicky's mp3 player that would be magic. We tried Shothole Canyon briefly yesterday evening, but no joy with these yet, though <strong>Little Woodswallow </strong>and <strong>Grey-headed Honeyeater </strong>were welcome additions to Tony's list, and we saw an Echidna and our first Thorny Devil yesterday too.</p><p></p><p>1429 <strong>YELLOW CHAT</strong></p><p>1430 <strong>ORIENTAL PLOVER</strong></p><p>1431 Mangrove Golden Whistler</p><p>1432 <strong>LITTLE BUTTONQUAIL</strong></p><p>1433 <strong>PAINTED FINCH</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Larry Sweetland, post: 1584841, member: 27337"] [b]Broome and onward[/b] Thanks Scott :t: We picked up Tony at Broome airport on the 5th and stayed a couple of extra nights in the Roebuck Bay campsite. Got drunk on the beach watching the staircase to the moon effect, and noticed had lost my bins when we were nearly back off the beach. It was dark and the tide was coming in. The 3 of us and another camper searched with torches for over an hour, and finally Tony found them just in time. 15 minutes more and they'd have been underwater. We stayed for 4 nights at Broome Bird Observatory, and I must say that I liked it so much that I bought the T shirt, thus risking looking even more like a dorky birdnerd. The staff, with representatives from the UK, Colombia, USA and Australia,were infectiously bubbly, friendly and helpful, and lent me a scope to use while we were there. Various tours and involvement are possible for visitors, but one course that the staff should perhaps consider running in my opinion would be "how to MC your daily bird log", which I found to be the most entertaining one I can remember experiencing, and the first one to recall an episode of the Vicar of Dibley. These guys also weren't fooled for a second when we tried to pass off a photo of a leucistic Silver Gull taken in Broome as a 1st summer Iceland Gull. Of course. We went on one tour, which is the tour out onto Roebuck Station to see the [B]Yellow Chats[/B]. This costs 70 bucks a head, but truly came up with the goods as we ended up seeing more than 30 of them, a couple of which were the full custard. Prior to our visit there had only been one [B]Oriental Plover [/B]sighting this season, but luckily for us they chose to arrive that day, with a flock of 30 odd on the [B]Yellow Chat [/B]tour, then scattered sightings daily in with the other waders at high tide roosts. I was over optimistic however when it came to other birds I hoped might be possible here. 3 species of [B]buttonquail [/B]and even [B]Grass Owl [/B] used to be possible out on the plains, but overgrazing has lead to their recent disappearance. There are long term plans for change of land ownership though, with management for wildlife, so hopefully some of these species will return in the future. [B]Kimberley Flycatcher [/B]is also rarer here than I'd hoped, and I should have searched for it further east. I was in with a chance however of [B]Asian Dowitcher[/B], 9 of which were seen not long before our visit. Unfortumately the height of the tides while we were there meant that getting a chance to effectively look through a decent proportion of the [B]godwits[/B] was impossible. Most of them roosted far away. Even though I spent a lot of time looking through thousands of [B]godwits[/B] I couldn't find one. Which the staff of course found progessively more amusing. Bless them. The obs area was fantastic for waders, and we saw [B]White-headed Stilt, Red-necked Avocet, Pied Oystercatcher, Far Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Great Knot, Red Knot, Curlew Sandpiper, Broad-billed S, Common S, Sharp-tailed S, Terek S, Marsh S, Red-necked Stint, Grey-tailed Tattler, Turnstone, Greenshank, Red-capped Plover, Oriental P, Greater Sand P, Lesser Sand P, Grey P, Pacific Golden P, [/B]and [B]Australian Pratincole[/B], with [B]Sanderling[/B] and [B]Masked Lapwing [/B]added in nearby Broome. As well as the [B]dowitchers[/B] we also dipped some much rarer [B]Redshanks[/B], which funnily enough I wasn't quite as bothered about. In fact my face took so badly to the [B]dowitcher[/B] dip, that what started life as a small spot on the scope-side of my nose has now developed into a full-blown facial infection. One eye is partially closed and using bins is no longer possible without bashing the bump. I look a bit like something you might meet at a bar in Star Trek, and Nicky has started calling me Odo. I've been to the hospital and have just got some antibiotics, so hopefully I'll be able to use bins soon. Broome was good for mangrove birds too, and we picked up [B]Mangrove Golden [/B]and [B]White-breasted Whistlers[/B], [B]Broad-billed Flycatcher, Mangrove Grey Fantail [/B]and [B]Dusky Gerygone [/B]around Crab Creek. We also saw [B]Mangrove Golden Whistler [/B]and [B][B]Red-headed Myzomela [/B][/B]in the mangroves not far from Coles in Broome. Hopefully Tony will fill in any bits I've missed out. It was sad to leave, but what can you do? They probably had [B]Asian Dowitcher [/B]in the bird bath next day. Our next stop for the night as we headed south was Cape Keraudren, where we camped at the cliff-top camping area. An on spec poke about in the grassy bowl below the camping area before breakfast came up trumps with at least 1, possibly 2 [B]Little Buttonquail[/B]. There were also at least 9 [B]Brown Quail [/B]and large numbers of [B]Australasian Bush-Lark [/B]knocking about. We made it to Mairee Pool for the next night, where Jonathan had seen many [B]Painted Finches [/B]a few weeks ago. We saw several, maybe 30+, during the first hour of daylight, mostly in ones and twos in or over the spinifex and rocks along the track that loosely parallels the creek away from the highway. [B]Star Finches [/B]were more prevalent in the evening at this site, and we also saw a [B]Little Eagle[/B], [B]Cockatiels, Budgies[/B], and western forms of[B] Spinifex Pigeon, White-plumed Honeyeater [/B]and [B]Australian Reed Warbler [/B]here. After leaving the site, a midmorning stop to change drivers at the pull off on the east side of the road just after crossing the Fortescue river produced another 6 [B]Painted Finches[/B]. We're now in Exmouth and if anyone has the technology to PM me with link to calls of [B]Spinifexbird [/B]and [B]Rufous-crowned Emu-Wren [/B]that we could download onto Nicky's mp3 player that would be magic. We tried Shothole Canyon briefly yesterday evening, but no joy with these yet, though [B]Little Woodswallow [/B]and [B]Grey-headed Honeyeater [/B]were welcome additions to Tony's list, and we saw an Echidna and our first Thorny Devil yesterday too. 1429 [B]YELLOW CHAT[/B] 1430 [B]ORIENTAL PLOVER[/B] 1431 Mangrove Golden Whistler 1432 [B]LITTLE BUTTONQUAIL[/B] 1433 [B]PAINTED FINCH[/B] [/QUOTE]
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