Broome 2007 part 5

Twinkling parties about to set off

20th At dawn go to passerine bore and I am successful with a recording of about 500 Plumed Whistling Duck. They came in and I was able to record them take off and circle back to the bore. The flowing bore was a constant background noise to the left and also the bore pump was set into action soon after I arrived by the stockmen on their morning bore rounds. We catch a Sacred Kingfisher and see two Tawny Frogmouth roosting in the tree above our processing table!

Brolga at the bore

Plumed Whistling Duck coming in at the bore

Plumed Whistling ducks about to pitch in at Passerine Bore.
A very Peter Scott scene!

Sacred Kingfisher


Tawny Frogmouth at the Passerine Bore

Brown Snake at the bore

Again out to south of old dunes camp to about 7 km and a late catch with views of what I think was a Flatback Turtle Natator depressus laying at the foot of the fore dune after we had finished processing. Nobody seemed to be sure of its identity.

Two nets fired synchronously today!

We fire two large-mesh 4 cannon nets but make a catch of only 114 birds; Great Knot (75/8), Red Knot (14/1), Bar-tailed Godwit (4/1), Curlew sandpiper (4), Grey-tailed Tattler (2/1), Common Greenshank (2), Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (1) and a White-winged Black Tern.

Turtle tracks in the sand.
The vehicle track follows the most recent high tide line

Turtle egg laying at the foot of the dunes

There are often tracks of turtles to be seen crossing the sand from the last high tide and returning afterwards to sea later as the tide recedes. We use large nets today and tonight we reset the nets in the dark under car headlamps for a catch early tomorrow. The tides are weak and will be almost identical in height today and tomorrow so we can safely leave everything overnight. Net set in very wet sand! Andrea, Chris’s partner, arrives to bring Dianne and stays the night.

Silver Gull at the tide's edge

Bar-tailed Godwit and a few Greenshank with a couple of Terek Sandpiper at the tide's edge

Fire! Another synchronous effort

21st Up early and out to the beach leaving at 0630. Meal Team day again. We make a reasonable catch of 102 at 7 km with a strong bias to terns. We take a team photograph. Again, today we fire two large-mesh 4 cannon nets! Red-necked Stint (58/2), Curlew Sandpiper (2), Greater Sandplover (2) Red-capped Plover (1), Gull-billed Tern (18/1), Crested Tern (7), Common Tern (6) and five Whiskered Tern.

Common Tern with a Gull-billed Tern passing a breaking wave

Silver Gull

Two Gull-billed Tern and a Crested Tern with Common Tern.
No, that is not a dirty lens!

Gull-billed, Crested and Common Tern with a Bar-tailed Godwit

Gull-billed, Crested and Common Tern







Common Tern

A mixed flock with Common, Whiskered, Crested and a Gull-billed Tern

Mixed waders and terns.
Note that several birds are leg flagged


More mixed flocks along the tide edge


Mixed flocks being slowly shifted along the tide's edge


Great Knot with some Bar-tailed Godwit

Mandy and Larry leave us today to return home to the USA and also Jing Li who goes back to Shanghi.

Larry, Mandy and Jing Li leave with Andrea to return to Broome

Good comparison of Gull-billed Tern of both races; the migrant visitor affinis and the local macrotarsa. This macrotarsa must be candidate for species separation as the endemic Australian Gull-billed Tern.

Transition plumage of an Australian Gull-billed Tern

In the late afternoon almost everyone goes off for a recce south along the beach to about 40 km. They find several turtles on their return after sunset but do not find a large tern roost on the beaches to the south that Clive had been hoping for. In the late afternoon I find large numbers of Agile Wallaby grazing the lawns about the homestead area and drinking from the sprinkler points. In all there must have been several hundreds of them. I count about 80 not far from our quarters. Amazing!

Agile wallabies

Agile Wallabies on the move

We have a very nice corned silverside beef for late dinner starting at 2130. Another hot day and the bush flies at the beach were appalling! Some Rainbow Bee-eater came down onto the beach and took advantage of the concentration of flies and probably more importantly the shade under of the vehicles!

Pesky bush flies on the beach today in millions

22nd Set nets early morning after leaving for the beach at about 0630 and we catch a huge sample of 595 in the south net set by the Chinese! A large-mesh 4 cannon net. Curlew Sandpiper (311/21), Great Knot (73/7), Grey-tailed Tattler (54/4), Greater Sandplover (36/5), Red Knot (25), Bar-tailed Godwit (3), and singles of Marsh Sandpiper, Sanderling, Lesser Sandplover and Whiskered Tern. one of the Great Knot was from China and a Grey-tailed Tattler from Broome. The large number of Curlew Sandpiper in the catch was good. Back for lunch at about 1400. As we turn into the Homestead compound we see a Spotted Harrier close by the road under a small tree. Probably the one or one of those seen occasionally quartering the nearby paddocks. Tired and slept for a while in the heat of the early afternoon. A brief mist netting effort in the homestead area at least trapped a Pied Butcherbird and a Yellow-throated Miner. Talk in the evening by Ma Qiang about shorebirds on Chongming Dongnan Reserve, an island in the mouth of the Yangsi River which I visited in 2002. He showed how the hunters catch shorebirds with clap nets attracting them with specially made bamboo whistles. Catches are made to the tune of 70000 or more per annum for banding and colour flagging. The former shorebird hunters are now employed by the National Nature Reserve to catch waders for banding. A traditional method that will most likely die out over the next 20 years or so as the old hands give up and no younger recruits will take up the skills because they will most likely go to Shanghi where it will be easier to earn better money.

Curlew Sandpipers

Curlew Sandpiper, Terek sandpiper and Oriental Plover at the tide edge


Mixed flocks of 'medium' waders take off

Orietal Plover at the tide edge

23rd Another early set. We leave a 0630 and make a modest catch of 180 but it includes a small sample of Terek Sandpiper and some Greater Sandplover. We fired one large-mesh 4 cannon net at 10 km south. The catch included Great Knot (74/7), Greater Sandplover (37/5), Curlew Sandpiper (19/3), Grey-tailed Tattler (16/3) and Terek Sandpiper (16). Two of the Great Knot were from China and one of the Curlew Sandpiper was also from China. Otherwise mostly Great Knot. Frank O’Connor sees a Redshank in the twinkled flock viewed from the command hide. Oriental Plover again refuse to be involved. Hot. A tree full of Nankeen Kestrel on returning to the homestead. At least 7 of them in a small tree at the edge of the grass west of the northern house. We see a few Brown Falcon as we drive to the beach and on the beach there are some Brahminy Kite, but not many of them and a few White-bellied Sea-eagle. Not much else in the way of raptors although a Peregrine Falcon has been reported on a few occasions as we twinkle birds to the catching area.

Processing in the heat today

Zhang Guangming (Big John!) with a Greater Sandplover

The Greater Sandplover itself!

Mangoes!

Our location at the staion on Anna Plains.
Sue Abbotts and Xenia Dennett used the camper-trailer outside the house

Anna Plains water tower

Ablutions block.
Shared with the station stockmen



Views around the station at Anna Plains.
Note the swimming pool in John Stoate's garden!

The back of our house at Anna Plains with tents scattered around



Agile Wallabies again!

Free range Guinea Fowl

Yellow-throated Miner

Immature plumage of Pied Butcherbird

We are commonly setting two nets about 50 metres apart, firstly using the small mesh smaller nets but of the last few days we have resorted to the large mesh large nets. It is just too hot here after about 0800 for any worthwhile birding and little can be done until about 1800 in the evening leaving not much time before dark. Today we processed in a steady sea breeze which most of the time was cooling but often contained hot pockets of air that passed through the shaded work area. No birds seeking shade today. In the afternoon there is always flag making to do! Again I have a short nap after late lunch. Yahkat Barshep gave a very entertaining talk about bird work in Nigeria at Jos in the centre of the country of 137 million people! She works from an institute for ornithology sponsored by a wealthy Greek Nigerian with interests in Coca Cola. [J. V. Leventis?] She spoke about work in the highland rainforest reserves with interesting fauna at 1000m and above. Also the Institute is located in an area where a recently discovered endemic Firefinch occurs. She showed a selection of interesting pictures of the birds, mammals and various habitats of central Nigeria. The institute is involved with basic ornithological research at the simplest level - discovering what exactly is present in the country. Her own work will be on Curlew Sandpiper and their world migration routes. I must talk to her about Stephen Marchant. A dead and desiccated juvenile Pallid Cuckoo was found in the Homestead grounds this evening and it has been placed in a plastic bag and put into the deep freeze for the WA museum.

24th Election Day. Thankfully we have been blissfully ignorant of the final build up in the contest over these last two weeks and have no idea of how things stand although it seems the Howard Government is heading for a defeat.

Reactions later in the day as the first election results come through on the TV

The typical dune face on 80 mile beach

Off again at 0630 to set two large-mesh 4 cannon nets at 24km. All went well and during the twinkle Chris Hassell spots a Eurasian Curlew amongst his flocks from the north of the catching site. Several members of the expedition see it but many do not. We make a good catch of 349 mostly Greater Sandplover with Great Knot and Curlew Sandpiper but also useful samples of Grey-tailed Tattler and Terek Sandiper. he final tally was: Greater Sandplover (82/3), Curlew Sandpiper (74/4), Great Knot (74/4), Grey-tailed Tattler (56/2), Terek Sandpiper (40/4), Sanderling (4) and singles of Grey Plover and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

Waiting to start today's twinkle

80 mile beach

At the edge of the rising tide on 80 mile beach




Setting up for processing today's catch

Clive Minton allocating the teams

David Melville finding out what John Curran is doing at the AQIS table

Adrian Boyle, Chris, Andrea and Sue Abbotts

Yahkat and Roz

Chris, Adrian and Andrea

Roz and Maurice

The team of Nick, Yahkat, Roz and Maurice

Brian Little - resting at the end of the days work!

Feet of a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Hermit crab tracks


On the beach

We have lunch on the beach and go for a search for the Eurasian Curlew up the beach to the north but with no success. Back to the homestead and again I am tired and need a late afternoon nap! We plan a barbeque beside the pool for tonight, our last evening of the expedition at Anna Plains. It rained for a short time just on dusk and the barbecue was great fun with a capacity filling of the pool by 17 of the team! Needless to say I refrained from going into the pool despite much cajoling. Sat with Brian Little and Peter Jenkins and demolished a cask of Merlot!

A late afternoon shower

Roz looking at tents and other gear rescued from the rain

Poddy calves behind our house

25th Today we move back to Broome. No catching. Much work to be done packing up but despite this fact it was possible for several of us to go down to the beach and back to where some of our party saw the Eurasian Curlew yesterday. I organize to take Chris Hassell’s Toyota with Adrian Boyle driving together with Peter Jenkins Alice Ewing, David and Julia Melville. Another car load in Maureen’s Land Rover included Prue Wright, Sue Rice and Dianne Emslie. They set off ahead of us by 30 mins. After a bit of hesitation and potential disappointment we eventually got onto it and had some reasonable views as the tide rose much higher than it did yesterday. I have a GPS of the site and some passable shots at long range. The co-ordinates, using WGS 84 datum, were S19-23-41.3 E121-16-58.6 and the bird was supposedly at 4m altitude! I suspected that the bird was limping with a sore right foot. This foot was not obviously damaged but it was never seen using this leg while standing and it landed one-footed. However, subsequent encounters, by other observers, over the next few days suggest that it's feet were perfecty normal!

The Eurasian Curlew on 80 mile beach

We get back in time and eventually leave sometime after 1:30PM. On the way out we see about 7-8 Wedge-tailed Eagle, all immatures, at a small Agile Wallaby road kill. Nothing of note on the trip back to BBO and now I am settled into room 5 by myself.