Had the chance to take my lovely wife, Dani, to Broome over the third term holidays for five nights. It was a fantastic few days of sun, sand and relaxing - joy!! Dani also gave me the royal seal of approval to do a day's birding with George Swann, the resident birding guru, who graciously gave up a day to share the wonders of the birds of Broome with me. George is a wealth of knowledge and has a great love for birds, and he is a terrific guide, and I had a brilliant day with him, seeing 124 birds species, and getting 12 lifers and 14 new ones for Australia. VERY happy!!
The day started off early at 5:00am with George picking me up in his 4x4. We headed to the mangroves to the north of Broome on Roebuck Plains. We immediately heard the calls of a number of species and launched our way into the mangroves. With the use of George's knowledge and my Morcombe app, we soon called in a number of species, including Red-headed Honeyeater, Kimberely (Lemon-bellied) Flycatcher, Red-collared Lorikeet (not sure why this bird is a race of the Rainbow, but there you go!) Broad-billed Flycatcher, and a number of new ones for me - Mangrove Golden Whistler, Mangrove Grey Fantail, Dusky Gerygone and White-breasted Whistler. I got cracking views of all of them, but only managed a decent photo of the Gerygone. We headed back for the car where I belatedly put on some mozzie repellent - my legs were smashed by the sandflies! However, undetered, we drove around the plains, picking up some great spots, including over 90 Brolga, Long-tailed Finch, Orinetal Plover, and a Brown Goshawk hunting down a Brown Quail. Two Brown Falcons then turned up and attempted to rob the Goshawk of its breakfast! The fight was on, and there was a great deal of noise and dust! To top it off, an Australian Bustard (Lifer No 5) was spotted walking away from us across the plains.
We then headed off to George's special spot number two to chase down Yellow Chats. Along the way we had a beautiful White-bellied Sea Eagle pose on a fence post. After about fifteen minutes of hunting, we found a small group of the chats, and eventually a male agreed to sit on top of a small bush long enough for me to get great views through the binoculars and a very average photo! (Lifer No 6).
On the way back to town we stopped in a lovely section of scrub, which George said was good for White-throated Gerygone. I used my Morcombe app and managed to call in a stunning White-throated Gerygone male (Lifer No 7), along with a rather indignant Rufous Whistler within a few minutes. George was batting 7 from 7 so far, and I was in birding heaven!
Once back in town we proceeded straight to the Water Treatment Plant. This is one part of my birding hobby that my wife finds the hardest to explain to friends when they ask where I am birding. Her slightly embarrassed reply "The poo-ponds" elicits a smorgasboard of responses! However, every keen birder knows that these delightful places provide rich birding environments, and the Broome Water Treatment Plant was no exception. We picked up Barn Swallow (new for me for Australia), Pheasant Coucal and a large number of Rainbow Bee-eaters outside the ponds and then we scanned the ponds. There were hundreds of Plumed Whistling Ducks, along with a large number of other normal water species, the most memorable of which were a lone Oriental Pratincole (Lifer No 8) and George's first for the season, along with an immature White-winged Black Tern (new for me for Australia), and three Black-tailed Godwits. The only speciality that George was hoping to find that we dipped on was the Eastern Yellow Wagtail.
We then drove to the Broome Port, where George was certain of finding a Grey-headed Honeyeater. We pulled up in the car park and George pointed out a bush that mostly devoid of foliage, saying "I often see the Honeyeaters on that bush there". As he completed the sentence, a Grey-headed Honeyeater (Lifer No 9) flew in and posed perfectly on top of the bush for a few seconds before flying off again. Birding on a platter!!
It was then off to the mudflats for high tide. Unfortunately, the high tide was fairly innocuous, and the birds were not pushed very far up Crab Creek, one of the premier wader birding spots in Australia. However, we were still able to view a large number of different species, including Red and Great Knot, Greater Sandplover, Turnstone, Whimbrel, Little Curlew, Greenshank, Grey-tailed Tattler, Gull-billed, Crested, Lesser Crested, Caspian, Little and Common Tern, Little and Great Egret, Pacific Golden and Grey Plovers, and three Asian Dowitchers (Lifer No 10)!! Trekking through the mud-flats was entirely worth it, even though at times we were sinking deeply into the sludge - all part of the adventure! After a short stop at a wetland that produced very little, we headed home, tired but very happy with the day. Thanks so much George!!
The adendum to this is that the next morning I went for an early morning walk and used my app to call in a lively group of Black-chinned Honeyeaters (Lifer No 11), and a bird I have hunted for unsuccessfully on a number of occasions previously. It is hard giving your self a high five!). I also watched fascinated as a Striated Pardalote zoomed in and out of a hole in a bank on the side of a road. He and I watched each other warily, but eventually called a truce as long as I stayed where I was. Lots of Little Friarbirds, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes and Whistling Kites flew about above us. On the way into town to do non-birding stuff I did convince Dani to do a drive-by of the "poo-ponds" and I got cracking photos of a Rainbow Bee-eater and then spied an Eastern Yellow Wagtail on the grassy bank - YES!! (Lifer No 12). We then had a Collared Sparrohawk land near the car on the way to Cable Beach and it sat very still while I took a photo, and we also nabbed Blue-winged Kookaburras sitting on top of the light posts on the way home in the evening. Bird-watching can be great even when you aren't bird-watching!! All in all, a fantasitc birding adventure and one that I would definitely recommend. Oh and Cable Beach is pretty stunning too!! We will definitely be going back!
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