1/10 213km
We arrived from Africa at about 12.30 and made a quick transit through customs etc and got the train into the city and the bus out to Marangaroo which all took until about 15.00. We packed up the car and hitched up the trailer which took another hour and hit the road. We picked up fuel and food and headed out the Great Eastern Hwy to Mooranoppin NR Mission Rd near Kelleberrin where we had a quick bite to eat and bed. It had been a long day. There was lightning off to the west but we got nothing here.
2/10 534km
Ended the survey with 8sp including about 100 Masked Woodswallows. First stop was Goldfields Rd Merridin for 7sp. At rail bridge Yerbillon the only thing happening was some work on the railway line. Mt Rankin Moorins Rd only had Galah. Being October we were at the end of the flower season, which is best expressed in heathland, powerline Emu Fence Rd Ghooli is heathland and there was a good show of colour, with the likes of White-fronted Honeyeater taking advantage. Kiralee Rocks camp had a Little Black Cormorant as did Boondi Rock camp. Dry lake 47km west of Coolgardie was the site of the day. This is in the national park. They’ve run a bulldozer parallel to the road as a fire break and the lake as such was dry, but I flushed a Chestnut-backed Quail-thrush and then got scolded by a pair of Southern Scrub-robins. Coolgardie Gorge was dry as usual now but I got a threesome of Red-backed Kingfishers. It was getting on dark when we camped at Hyden Norseman Rd east with rain threatening. Sure enough we’d just started to eat when the rain arrived and we had to hastily get things put away before we ate. Bed not long after.
3/10 560km
It was a blustery night with only the odd shower. In the morning the cold wind came howling out of the west, so for most of the day the birds were hunkered down against the cold wind. I only got 4sp at camp but one was a Redthroat, so the area is slowly coming back to life after the 2019-20 fires. Many of the regrowth trees though are still only head high. Refueled at Norseman and headed on east. Buldania Eyre hwy only had 2sp, Dundas NR had 6sp, Parkbay Fraser Range had the usual Rufous Treecreeper. Newman Rocks had lots of Brown Honeyeaters in the shrubs but I never saw one. Wrecked house Eyre Hwy had a Banded Lapwing. The small pool had Wheatbelt Frog and Western Toadlet calling. 90km east of Baladonia only had some Yellow-throated Miners chasing an Australian Raven. There had a been a few light showers to go with the perfect tail wind I had all day so there were a few pools around. My site at Nuytsland reserve had one and there were lots of birds making use of it at this barren looking spot. There were 150 Budgerigars, Crimson Chat, White-fronted Chat, Australian Pipit, Brown Songlark and a Black-faced Woodswallow in the only tree on the site, a rather exceptional 20min for this site. From there we went to Hampton Tableland west of Madura to camp just on dark again.
4/10 595km
There were some Little Button-quail calling for a lot of last night, I don’t hear them very often so had to get the app out to check the call in the morning. Ended with 14sp and hit the road at 6.20. First stop was Hearder Hill Repeater Station Rd which had a Redthroat. We put some oil in the troopie as it hasn’t made it to the next service without loosing too much oil again, then headed on east to Eucal dunes which was choked with dried sea grass on the shore, but that’s good for the waders and sure enough I found some Red-necked Stints and a Red-capped Plover a short way up the beach. Border Village had Purple-gaped Honeyeaters again, so I managed a poor shot of one as they will be flagged as an unusual sighting again, even though I’ve got them 3 times in a row now. Nullarbor was a late lunch with another Redthroat and a few White-winged Fairywrens. We used Wikicamps to find the free camp at Cheetima Beach, no shade and no facilities but no one else here, just the way I like it. I’d heard one of the shockers in the trailer rattling on a dirt road early in the day, but on our way down to the beach I heard nothing, didn’t think much of it until I was walking back to the car and saw the offending shocker dangling down. It’s the same one hat got damaged in the Kimberley, so they didn’t do a good job of fixing it. The bolt was gone, so I used a tie strap to stop it from dangling, another job to get done after we get back from Tassie. After dark I wandered down to where I’d seen some water in a dell between sand dunes just in case, but no frogs calling.
5/10 363km
Didn’t add any birds in the morning, but I did see one of the Pacific Gulls take a mussell shell up into the air and drop it on to the rocks, not quite satisfied with that he did it again. Returned the 30km back to the main road and headed on east. Cundilippy station didn’t have much happening. Rail reserve Ceduna was quieter than normal. Ceduna head of bay right next to the quarantine station had some loafing Red-necked Stints and Red-capped Plovers at high tide. Through the quarantine station and in to Ceduna where we did, shopping, refuel and a nice hot shower at the Motul servo. This time they didn’t charge us for it. By now it was lunch time at Backshall Rd east of Ceduna for only a hand full of birds. At last it was time to get off the highway and onto the back roads at Pimbaacla Rd Pimbaacla, but the birding didn’t improve. Ten Chain Rd Pirbea CP was even worse. Here I saw that my tie strap hadn’t worked for long, so I tied it back up and when we got to camp at west Poochea I took the shocker off. The woodland here is grazed so there’s not much ground cover but I did get a Jacky Winter on arrival, one our disppearing woodland species, and just on dark an Owlet Nightjar called. I went to see if I could find it, but couldn’t. The wind has been friendly all the way so far with each day a rising westerly pushing us east and improving my fuel economy.
6/10 395km
Up with the sun again, after a poor night’s sleep, my cold came back and my sinuses are all blocked up. Ended the survey with 18sp so not a bad spot considering it’s grazed. We took the road south ending on Dolphin Rd. It was a slow drive down tracks that may or may not have gone through. So it took an hour to do the 60km to Kukkiparu Cp north where there was a Spotted Pardalote that was happy to have its photo taken. Next was Polda Rock for 10sp. Back onto the main road to get to Darke Peak east of Koongowa for 7sp in the thin strip of remnant habitat between the birdless fields. Lunch was taken at Barna Rd Gillies NP but it was pretty quiet here. Took a look at Ironstone Hill CP dam which was dry with not much more than a pair of Golden Whistlers singing sweetly. Wyalla Wetlands id still looking good with lots of Black-tailed native Hens feeding like chickens out in the open. It’s also attracted a family of White-winged Fairywrens and a lone Whiskered Tern. I got some extra strength Sudafed to see if will help me get to sleep, then out to Fitzgerald Bay camp along the coast road to Port Augusta. There were only a handful of waders using the head of the bay here, but there was a large family of White-browed Babblers which are always fun to watch and listen to.
7/10 370km
What a terrible night I had, I barely got any sleep with infection ruling my head and my chest. Still managed to struggle out of bed and went down to the shoreline to count the 130 Red-necked Stints feeding, unfortunately so the the dog of the campers next to us, the damn thing wanted to play with me and despite the owners calling it refused to go away, chasing the waders as it cavorted around. Gads I hate pet owners too many of them are irresponsible. We headed of at 7am, not reading the map properly we thought that the road went through to Port Augusta. We eventually came to a dead end and had to retrance our drive all the way back to the Lincoln Hwy before we could head towards Port Augusta. We phoned up a doctor and met him at his practice where he gave me a scrip for drugs and after hearing what we do as far a volunteer work goes he decided to bulk bill me. So that was nice of him. The estuary Port Augusta was just across the road and just as we were finishing that the doc rang me up to tell me that the pharmacy was about to open. I had tried all the pharmacies in town, but it’s Labour Day and most shops are closed, so I had found a pharmacy in Port Pirie, but now I got the drugs here and we headed off south to Winninnie Cp beach which had no birds on the beach just a Singing Honeyeater and a few White-winged Fairywrens in the bushes by the track. Port Germein Pier had some flowering gums with Rainbow and Musk Lorikeets feeding. We had lunch at Weeroona Island. The tide was in but there were only a pair of Masked Lapwings near the causeway. On south to Broughton River Merriton which added Peaceful Dove and Australian Reedwarbler. Port Broughton Jetty had a Great Crested Grebe, and a few Pelicans and cormorants. Mona ruin had some Rainbow Bee-eaters. We camped at Clinton CP, I had hoped to do one more survey but my lack of sleep caught up with me and I needed to stop. The tide was out to start with so got a handful of waders feeding out on the flats. Later just before dark I went out at high tide and found the spot here is no longer popular with roosting waders with only a fly by of a Common Greenshank to brighten the sunset.
8/10 377km
With the aid of the drugs I had a much better night last night. Ended the survey with 27sp adding few like White-fronted Chat along the road to the old wool shed up the road. Still only got Silver Gulls at the roosting spot by the mangroves. Headed down to Parham where there were 200 Pied Cormorants on the point with a few Red-necked Stints and Red-capped Plovers. Inland now to Freeling Rail which had some Bottlebrushes in flower with a few Musk Lorikeets and a very patchy Adelaide Rosella. We had lunch further east at Lake Moodie which is still dry but with good woodland in the area I got Brown Treecreeper and Red-rumped Parrot as new for the trip. South now to Waterfall Reserve Mannum where the reeds were looking very dry with obly one Australian Reedwarbler calling. On south to Swanport Wetlands where when I got to the main pond and heard Banjo Frogs calling I realized that I’d left my phone charging in the car, so had to go back and get it to record them. There were also some Common Eastern Froglets in another pond, but they wouldn’t call when I got the phone out. 25Sp of bird including the first Little Grassbird. Down the main highway to Frost Rd Kiki where I heard a White-browed Scrubwren call, so I tried pishing it but instead got several Inland Thornbills, Weebil, Silvereye and a couple of Superb Fairywrens, not bad for one pish. At Cold and Wet Rd Field it was warm and sunny with a gentle cool southerly. Here there were some flowering eucalypts attracting lots of New Holland Honeyeaters and Red Wattlebirds and the first Brown-headed Honeyeaters announced themsevles with their klacking calls, only a pair though, this species usually hangs around in larger numbers. We then took the easy sandy 4wd track back to Mt Boothby CP Lutze Rd to camp. I had to back the trailer up the narrow sandy track some which was not easy. There were still some active birds like Australian Magpie pair feeding their well developed young on the nest regularly returning about every 5min to feed it until dark.
9/10 334km
Cold night last night, it was still only 3C when we left at 8am with 20sp including a Hobby Falcon. Over to Raphael Rd Coombe for 9sp. Bordertown Lake had 18sp with the first Hoary-headed Grebe and quite a few species still breeding. Off the beaten track at Miram silo we had 15sp including a Rufous Songlark. Down the dirt track to Merwyn Swamp which was dry as usual but added Brown Treecreeper and White-winged Chough, we had a low fly by of a Wedge-tailed Eagle as we ate our lunch. Just to the east is Lawloit Hall for 11sp with Dusky Woodswallow. A few more back roads got us to Kinimakatka Rd for 8sp. Heading south now to Stringybark Walk Little Desert NP for a Hooded Robin. Further south to Kalinga Sf 1 where I got a Spider Orchid and Restless Flycatcher as special. Douglas Mine Iluka was its usual ratty self with 8sp. The guard came out to ask us what we were doing, as the site is on the boundary of their operations, but I hadn’t done anything illegal and I didn’t find anything rare or endangered for them to be worried about. We camped for the night at Fulham Streamside Reserve on the Glenelg River and added birds until dark. There is a Laughing Kookaburra chick being fed by adults just above our heads. As usual along rivers here the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos get unreasonably loud and screechy just on sunset, so I had to wait until they quietened down to go and record the frogs calling.
10/10 343km
Ended the survey with 42sp, that’s not a bad number. We headed off at 8.20 down to Dundas River Cavendish for a Shining Bronze Cuckoo. On east to Paracelmic Lake Lake Bolac which had a few Grey Teal amongst all the Silver Gulls. Still no waders here yet, maybe one day. South now to Olympic Lake Woorndoo which had a Little Grassbird. Lake 2km east of Dumbarton and Darlington Rds was busy with Australian Shoveler and Hardhead and a Swamp Harrier. Lunch was taken by a windy Deep Lake Darinellum where we were swooped by a Magpie that was feeding young on the best and wasn’t happy with us being so close. Wingeel rail only had 3sp. Inverleigh Flora Reserve had Yellow-faced Honeyeater. We then went to Ocean Grove for a few days of getting things done before the next leg of the trip.
14/10 47km
I really hate the night crossing to Tasmania. If you don’t want to fork out extra for a cabin you end up on airplane like seats which I can’t sleep in, why on a ship this size they can’t supply a place for everyone to lie down I don’t know. Anyway I wait until all the staff have gone to bed at 23.00 then find a couch to go lie down on. The ship is old and it shuddered and shook and rattled all night, so getting about 5hrs sleep was about all I could hope for. We disembarked at about 6.30 and went down to East Davenport Beach for breaky with Ruddy Turnstones and both species of Oystercatcher along with the Tasmanian subspecies of the Little Wattlebird. I applied for the pension recently and of course they want more info, so we went in to Centrelink to see if we could sort it out. We got most of it done, but I’ll have to wait for a phone call tomorrow to hopefully finalize it. We headed west to Leven River Ulverstone where I asked two dog walkers to put their dogs on leads to help mamma Masked Lapwing look after her two chicks that were out on the grass, neither argued about putting their dogs on a lead which was different. We had lunch there then went to Preservation Bay Penguin in the hope of camping there, but they now don’t allow camping there so we went a short way west to Midway near Sulphur Creek to camp out in the open grassy area, no facilities. I spent the afternoon dozing sometimes in the sun where it was too hot and sometimes in the shade where it was too cold. A few more campers arrived through the afternoon but it’s still early in the season so it didn’t get crowded.
15/10 70km
Today was mostly a lost day. We went back to Davenport to finalize documents for my pension and hopefully Bev’s work invigilating locally. We then went out to Moreland Beach Davenport on a cold blustery afternoon to have lunch only to find we had to spend most of the rest of the afternoon chasing down more documentation for my pension. Finally at about 16.00 we think we’ve dotted every i and crossed every T, and we headed south to Railton Rv park in the town. We took the free option which has a dirt base rather than paying extra for a grass base. There’s no other difference to the two sites that are next to each other. Nearby is the sewerage ponds which had Banjo Frogs calling early so I went and recorded them.
16/10 76km
Drove in to Deloraine to do our final shopping for a while then out to Oura Oura, a Bush Heritage property near Liffey Falls where we’ll be stationed for the next three months caretaking the small but historically important property. We did our induction with Mike then went for a drive back to Bucknall to pick up our new volunteer shirts from the post office. We then went for a walk around the property during which we came across an echidna with mange that Mike was hoping to find and catch, which he did, later taking it back to Hobart for treatment.
If you would like to contribute the well being of this world, our world, your world, an easy and effective way to do it is to join a quality environmental group. There are many spread across the world all plugging away trying to make the world a better place for wildlife. We belong to Birdlife Australia, Bush Heritage, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). You can donate your time and or money to these and many others knowing that the world will be a slightly better place because of your effort.