• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Two Months of Lifers Down Under (1 Viewer)

Thanks so much etudiant, I'm so glad you're feeling inspired by my tales.

Indeed, none of this would have been possible without the kindness and generosity of my hosts.
 
Still on the wetland walk I got the second sighting of my holiday of a Nakeen Night Heron. Saw my first only the day before!

Then the closest views I've had of an Australian Ibis and a Great Crested Grebe, and that one in a pose I've long wanted to get!! I told you we saw a few in there!

Now heading back towards the car, came across a Little Corella and a rather untidy looking Magpie Lark.
 

Attachments

  • BF Nankeen Night Heron thread.jpg
    BF Nankeen Night Heron thread.jpg
    98.8 KB · Views: 14
  • BF Australian Ibis thread.jpg
    BF Australian Ibis thread.jpg
    73.5 KB · Views: 10
  • BF Great Crested Grebe 2 thread.jpg
    BF Great Crested Grebe 2 thread.jpg
    126.6 KB · Views: 15
  • BF Little Corella thread.jpg
    BF Little Corella thread.jpg
    47.7 KB · Views: 7
  • BF Magpie Lark thread.jpg
    BF Magpie Lark thread.jpg
    64.7 KB · Views: 10
Still making our way back to the car, a delightful Willie Wagtail was beside the path.

There were plenty of warnings about the Tiger Snakes, but I didn't go looking for them!;) It wasn't until I was processing this picture that I realised there was a bird sitting on the fallen branch.

It was nice to see some Pacific Black Duck ducklings out and about with mum - a nice wee group there. Then the last one for this part of the lake was an Australian Swamphen.

We then reached the car and drove further down the lake to see what was about there. Lots of Pacific Black Duck here.

The reed bed on the far side is actually a rather large island that dominates the centre of the lake.
 

Attachments

  • BF Willie Wagtail thread.jpg
    BF Willie Wagtail thread.jpg
    147.1 KB · Views: 7
  • BF Tiger snake sign thread.jpg
    BF Tiger snake sign thread.jpg
    111.8 KB · Views: 14
  • BF Pacific Black Duck 1 thread.jpg
    BF Pacific Black Duck 1 thread.jpg
    59.8 KB · Views: 6
  • BF Australian Swamphen 2 thread.jpg
    BF Australian Swamphen 2 thread.jpg
    115.7 KB · Views: 8
  • BF Herdsman Lake view.jpg
    BF Herdsman Lake view.jpg
    68 KB · Views: 5
Great report and photos Delia. Dragonflies in flight are real demons, you need a wide open shutter and a fairly high ISO setting to give you the fastest shutter speed coupled with a very large dollop of luck.
 
Kings Park 19 November 2019

Now for my very last tale from that remarkable holiday.

Before we left Herdsmans Lake There were two Australian Ravens completely engrossed in something and took absolutely no interest in me at all.

Up in a tree, against the light was a honeyeater, which I've failed to identify, but think it must be Brown Honeyeater.

We then moved on to Kings Park, which the people of Perth are very proud of. It was certainly a lovely place.

We had a lovely lunch in the cafe before wandering down to look at the view over the water. Then walking along the path with the intention of going along the cliff walk. But it was just so hot (41 C and humid with it) that I began to feel a little faint. So called that off and went and sat in the Jarrah Pavilion for a little (that's where I took the arty view;))

After returning to the cafe for a cool drink, it was decided to call a halt to the day and head for some friends of Alex and June's where they were staying the night.

Such lovely people, who made me feel very welcome.

The first picture at the park shows the long view of the War Memorial and Flame of Remembrance, then two views overlooking Perth Water.

I flew out that evening with Emirates via Dubai and arrived back in Edinburgh to a temperature of 2 C. Bit of a shock that LOL

I do hope you've enjoyed my travels in this remarkable country.

There are not enough words really to thank my wonderful Birdforum friends and hosts for their kindness in helping me organise this trip; it was just incredible the work they put in.:t:

I now need to finalise the lists, so bear with me while I sort them.
 

Attachments

  • BF Australian Raven 1 thread.jpg
    BF Australian Raven 1 thread.jpg
    122.5 KB · Views: 10
  • BF Honeyeater thread.jpg
    BF Honeyeater thread.jpg
    72.4 KB · Views: 11
  • BF War Memorial thread.jpg
    BF War Memorial thread.jpg
    73.5 KB · Views: 9
  • BF Overlooking Perth Water thread.jpg
    BF Overlooking Perth Water thread.jpg
    55 KB · Views: 7
  • BF Jarrah Pavilion view thread.jpg
    BF Jarrah Pavilion view thread.jpg
    46.5 KB · Views: 12
Last edited:
Ooops! Forgot the extras... also seen/heards around Herdsman Lake:

Maned Duck, Australasian Grebe, Dusky Moorhen, Silvereye, Gerygone, Western Whistler, Black-faced Cuckooshrike, New Holland Honeyeater
 
Delia, what will I do without your daily accounts of your fantastic trip? Especially now that we are stuck at home?

Oh dear... so sorry Cristiana. Guess you could look in the Gallery and re-live it ;) (I'm still in Queensland with those uploads!!) LOL
 
Perth Area Species

  1. Little Corella
  2. Red Wattlebird
  3. Willy Wagtail
  4. Galah
  5. White-headed Stilt
  6. Black Swan
  7. Eurasian Coot
  8. Buff-banded Rail
  9. Australasian Grebe
  10. Bluebill Duck
  11. Australian Ibis
  12. Straw-necked Ibis
  13. Nankeen Night Heron
  14. Australasian Swamphen
  15. Little Grassbird
  16. Dusky Moorhen
  17. Hoary-headed Grebe
  18. Pacific Black Duck
  19. Pink-eared Duck
  20. Australian Shoveler
  21. Australasian Shelduck
  22. Grey Teal
  23. Red-kneed Dotterel
  24. Black-fronted Dotterel
  25. Australian Reed Warbler
  26. Singing Honeyeater
  27. Brown Honeyeater
  28. New Holland Honeyeater
  29. White-cheeked Honeyeater
  30. Rufous Whistler
  31. Western Gerygone
  32. White-faced Heron
  33. Australian Raven
  34. Australian Magpie
  35. Magpie Lark
  36. Weebill
  37. Welcome Swallow
  38. Tree Martin
  39. Silver Gull
  40. Laughing Kookaburra
  41. Grey Butcherbird
  42. Black-faced Cuckooshrike
  43. Ring-necked Parrot
  44. Striated Pardalote
  45. Yellow-browed Spoonbill
  46. Maned Duck
  47. Australian Pelican
  48. Yellow-rumped Thornbill
  49. Musk Duck
  50. Great Crested Grebe
  51. Silvereye

Link to Brisbane List
Link to Queensland List
Link to South Australia List
Link to Albany area list
 
Wow! It's hard to believe this epic antipodean odyssey has come to an end!

Great work Delia and truly the holiday of a lifetime! Many thanks indeed for sharing it with us!

It really has inspired me to start thinking seriously about visiting relatives in Queensland post Coronavirus! Rest assured I will have plenty of questions for you when I commence planning!

Chris
 
What a fantastic trip Delia ! :D
You've seen some very birdy places and lots of beautiful ones too. :t:
You've seen far more birds than we have in this area (ok a few hidden gems you didn't see) , and I think the regions you chose were excellent for showing a real diversity of birds in short time. :cat:

Thanks for your enticing field notes that unfolded day by day into quite the 'yarn' - lol :-O it reinforced to me that I am someone who just likes to go for a walk and see and connect to what's there - not one of these 'birding' nutters (no offense ! :) that seeks out specific targets to see and keeps lists about them ! :eek!:

Apols for the hot weather, but you missed the worst of it ! (48.9°C = 120°F). Since the drought mostly broke in February though we have had lovely 20 odd up to the infrequent 30° day, with lots of lovely gentle (and not so gentle !) rain.

Thanks for the enthusiastic story of your trip Delia - glad you enjoyed yourself :t:





Chosun :gh:
 
Fantastic effort to write up your trip Delia, well done lass:t: With most of us in various stages of lockdown I ‘m sure we’d appreciate any similar accounts of birding holidays if any Birdforum members fancy doing them!
 
Great report and photos Delia. Dragonflies in flight are real demons, you need a wide open shutter and a fairly high ISO setting to give you the fastest shutter speed coupled with a very large dollop of luck.

Practice, lots of time and a dragonfly that hovers help a lot more! :t:

I'm waiting on a day-by-day list of places we visited to do a Gambia report - lots of photos - coming soon to BF I hope!

John
 
Many thanks all of you, not only reading my thread but for the help and advice you've given along the way.

Chris said:
Being a bit lazy Delia, how many Lifers in total?

Being a bit lazy I used a spreadsheet to organise them all sooo....

Total Life sightings was 225

Break down:

Brisbane: 87 (12 days, virtually every bird was new to me)
Queensland: 85 (3 weeks)
South Australia: 26 (12 days)
Western Australia: 27 (12 days)
 
Many thanks all of you, not only reading my thread but for the help and advice you've given along the way.



Being a bit lazy I used a spreadsheet to organise them all sooo....

Total Life sightings was 224

Break down:

Brisbane: 87 (12 days, virtually every bird was new to me)
Queensland: 84 (3 weeks)
South Australia: 26 (12 days)
Western Australia: 27 (12 days)

Do you think South and Western Australia were less diverse, or was the reduced number of ticks down to having already nailed them in the first two locations?

Thank you for a great thread!

John
 
Hi John

No, certainly, both South and Western Australia have many species and areas I couldn't get to.

Remember, virtually every bird in Brisbane was a new one for me and many of them crop up all over Australia. I only had about 12 days each in SA & WA, whereas I was about a month in Queensland with 12 days in Brisbane and 3 weeks with Hans & Judy.

It was Hans and Judy invited me over, so I spent most time with them. I felt I couldn't go all that way without adding on visits to other places to make the long journey out there worth while. Being retired, time wasn't an issue.

Due to house insurance I wasn't supposed to be absent for more than 60 days without making special arrangements re someone coming in every week to check and leaving heating on etc.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 1 year ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top