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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Andrew Whitehouse" data-source="post: 1547335" data-attributes="member: 3550">Day Five: 23rd June, Perth to Dryandra Forest WAI rose early in the hope of beating the Perth rush hour but it seems that 7am is already rush hour in Perth.  Despite the heavy traffic I managed to make my way fairly straightforwardly out of out of the city to Wungong Gorge near Armadale.  This is a site that's noted as being good for a number of southwestern endemics.  Sadly the weather wasn't too promising, with intermittent rain and rising winds but the area around the car park at the gorge was busy with birds and I was soon finding some new species.  Some attractive White-naped Honeyeaters were feeding in the flowering trees, together with New Holland Honeyeaters and Silvereyes.  A small area of short grass across the road from the car park was very productive.  An almost ridiculously smart pair of Scarlet Robins were entertaining and various fairy-wrens were hopping about on the grass.  I was hoping to see some gaudy males, but could only see eclipse males and females.  After some scrutiny I figured out they were all Splendid Fairy-wrens.  And they were sort of splendid, but not quite as much as they can be.  Two rather smart birds were a brightly coloured male Golden Whistler, a species I was to see regularly throughout the trip, and an intricately patterned Common Bronzewing dove.  A streaky Inland Thornbill was making its way through the brambles.After this busy beginning, the gorge was rather quiet.  I was hoping to see various of the black-cockatoo species that are found in the southwest and soon saw some small groups flying over in the distance.  I couldn't work out which species I was seeing but was immediately impressed by these almost other-worldly birds, with their dark plumage, strange soft wingbeats and eerie calls.  Eventually I had good views of a pair of Red-tailed Black-cockatoos in a tall tree.  These proved to be the only ones of that species I saw on the whole trip.I spent a lot of time rummaging about in the scrub along the streamside but very few birds were about.  I did eventually manage to connect with my first southwestern endemic though: a couple of female Western Spinebills.  Later I had views of a very handsome male.  Otherwise I just saw more of what I'd seen earlier.After the gorge I headed up the road to Bungendore Forest.  This was really quiet, and one of the only places I went in Australia that seemed almost birdless.  I did manage some views of another southwestern endemic though, a pale-eyed Western Thornbill.I then headed along the Albany road before turning off along the road at North Bannister and continuing through the excellently-named town of Wandering to Dryandra Forest.  Large and crow-like Grey Currawongs were often along the roadsides.  Larger still, and almost causing some emergency breaking, were two Emus that emerged from the forest just off the main road.  Wow - another iconic Australian bird.I'd booked into a cabin at <a href="http://www.dryandravillage.org.au/" target="_blank">Lions Dryandra Village</a>, staying in the small 'Magpie' cabin at the far end of the village.  I'd really recommend this as a place to visit if you're in the southwest, as you're really in amongst the birds and other animals.  I had enough time for a few hours walking and so set off around the large paddock, which is adjacent to the village.Dryandra was much busier for birds than Wungong Gorge had been.  Mammals were also an attraction and I was soon watching my first Western Grey Kangaroos bounding about the paddock.  Better mammal action was soon to follow when I noticed a brown lump moving slowly over the turf.  Much to my amazement this was a Short-beaked Echidna and I spent several minutes watching it methodically digging into the ground and snuffling about with its long nose.  An absolutely astonishing animal.There were some birds too.  I had good views of a very colourful pair of Western Rosellas and there were more (still dull looking) Splendid Fairy-wrens.  The scrubby parts of the paddock held some interesting species.  A small grey-brown passerine proved to be a female Red-capped Robin and eventually I managed to find some Bush Stone-curlews scampering through the trees.  Fantastic, weird birds like all stone-curlews.  In the trees at the other end of the paddock I found a group of white-tailed black-cockatoos and, through the scope, I was able to confirm that these were the expected Carnaby's Black-cockatoos.  I spent some time watching them quietly feeding - really characterful, engaging birds.Soon it was night-time.  I had a go at looking for mammals and nightbirds during the evening but all was quiet so I had an early night in the hope of finding some more birds the following day.</blockquote>

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