After that I decided to do another night drive to go down to Corackerup NR because it is supposed to be good for Purple-gaped Honeyeater (which I’m pretty sure I miss-IDed at Dryandra), Scrub-robin and Heathwren. The 4h drive turned into a 6h one because it started raining fairly heavily and I had to stop a lot to take pictures of all the frogs that were out on the road. I had about ten Burrowing Frogs and one Toadlet (which was a lucky find since it’s small as). Also saw another Tawny Frogmouth, some rabbits and two foxes. Animals seen: Günther’s Toadlet As yet un-IDed Burrowing Frogs Tawny Frogmouth Rabbit Red Fox
Sunday morning at Corackerup started out very slow (maybe because of the crap weather). Even New Holland Honeyeaters were hard to come by and I only found one Southern Scrub-robin. So I decided to have another nap and when I woke up towards noon it got a bit better though there was still not a huge amount of birds around. This NR has the most Western Greys I’ve seen on my trip so far though. Animals seen: Western Grey Kangaroo Southern Scrub-robin Swamp Harrier Red Wattlebird New Holland Honeyeater Purple-gaped Honeyeater Yellow-rumped Thornbill Western Wattlebird Wedge-tailed Eagle Silvereye Around three I headed to a fuel station and had my only food for the day (a super-expensive ham and cheese sandwich). I then decided to stay at Corackerup for some spotlighting (had wanted to go back to Stirling Range initially) because there were a few flowers around that I thought would be good for Honeypossum. This time my thermal really did prove its worth because I wouldn’t have found any of the critters otherwise (not sure if Honeypossum even has eyeshine). The first two animals I picked up were actually Honeyeaters getting ready for the night. Number three was a Western Pygmy-possum (not in a good spot for pictures and didn’t hang around too long) and then I got a heat signature at the top of a tree. It took me forever to find whatever was up there even when I knew where it was supposed to be. Anyway long story short: it turned out to be a Honeypossum. Because my camera doesn’t have too much of a zoom I then had to climb up the tree in full gear to get the nice pictures (if I can say so myself) you can now find in the galleries. Animals seen: Noolbenger Mundarda Red Wattlebird New Holland Honeyeater
Since I didn’t have to go to Stirling Range Retreat anymore I decided to head to Perup in hopes of photographing Brush-tailed Phascogale with a good camera this time. On the way I had another couple of frogs, rabbits and a fox on the road. Of course by the time I got to Perup the weather had worsened and I only got to see Grey roos, Common Brushtails and two Woylies (trying to see wildlife on a 110km/h street is still annoying). Was a bit of a waste of time and money really. Animals seen: Moaning Frog Western Banjo Frog As yet un-IDed frog Rabbit Fox Western Grey Kangaroo Common Brushtail Possum Woylie
On Monday I went to Lake Muir to tick Western Corella (there’s no Little Corellas here so less hassle with getting ID right). Found them fairly easy and also had three Wedgies (seems to be a good area for them). Not much going on on the lake itself though. Then I drove to Albany, did a grocery run and checked into my hostel. The weather was the worst it’s been so far so I just stayed in for the rest of the day. Animals seen: Western Corella Wedge-tailed Eagle Australian Magpie Australian Raven Australian Shelduck Laughing Kookaburra
On Tuesday, after spending months setting the whole thing up, I got to go out with Parks and Wildlife for one of their Potoroo surveys. Basically we’re checking two lines of traps everyday and catalogue whatever turns up in there. Day 1 was very successful: we had two Quokkas, two Gilbert’s Potoroos and three Bushrats. Getting a picture is a bit of a problem though because everything just dashes off immediately when you release it. Animals seen: Gilbert’s Potoroo Quokka Bush Rat The weather wasn’t too great again so I just ended up running a couple of errands and catching up on some sleep after . ————————— Today (Wednesday) we were back out again but this time only found two Quokkas in the traps. Animals seen: Quokka And now we’re all caught up. I’m still waiting for the IT place in town to tell me if they can recover any of my lost pictures and I’m hoping to get out on a whale tour to see Southern Rights but with the weather and it still being early in the season I’m not sure if it’s gonna happen...
Yesterday (Thursday) we went out again. This time we had three Quokkas and one Potoroo in our traps. On the way back we had to wait for a Brush Bronzewing to get of the street for about five minutes. Animals seen: Garlgyte Quokka Brush Bronzewing ----------------------------------- Of course the I.T. place I'd given my SD card to proved absolutely useless. (Solutions I.T. Albany). After stringing me along for an extra two days for what should have been a one day thing they told me that they couldn't recover any of my pictures. Funnily enough they couldn't even get the Honey Possum ones that I still had regular access to before so I'm not sure what they did but I'm guessing sh*** all. So I ended up sending the card to another I.T. place in Perth (Payam Data Recovery). We'll see if they can do anything with it, but I'm not all that hopeful, which is why I scrapped all my plans (last trapping day and whale tour) to retrace my steps and at least try to get some replacement pictures. Yesterday evening I got to go into Barna Mia again for a last minute private search (above and beyond) but we couldn't find the bandicoot. It was a long shot seeing as how long it took me last time. This morning I had another go at Mt Caroline (the pictures weren't as good as last time but at least I got some) and tonight I'll visit Wadderin Sanctuary again. This whole thing has cost me so much time, nerves and money and with everything that's gone wrong overall I'm just not having fun anymore. Oh well, one more day and then I'm flying home. Animals seen: Warru Euro Western Grey Kangaroo Pallid Cuckoo Ornate Crevice-dragon
That sucks. I lost a whole lot of photos off one of my cameras at the start of one of my trips once. @devilfish and I think @Hix have also talked about the same thing happening to them. Not much can be said except "oh well..."
In the evening I had another visit to Wadderin Sanctuary. This time there were four other people on the tour which didn't bode well for my cause of getting good replacement pictues and well, I didn't. Animals seen: Mernine Kenngoor Quenda Woylie Common Brushtail Possum The next morning on the way back to Perth I had a run-in with a kangaroo, so now I'll have to deal with all the insurance paperwork in regards to the damage to the rental car. Cherry on top of what was already a headache of a trip. I'd originally planned to give Herdsman Lake a quick visit but at that point I was just done.
Updated target list: Marsupials: Cape York Brown Bandicoot Long-nosed Echymipera Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat Southern Common Cuscus Common Spotted Cuscus Scaly-tailed Possum Mountain Brush-tail Possum/Southern Bobuck - (?) Little Pygmy-possum (Broad-toed Feathertail Glider/Narrow-toed Feathertail Glider) Long-footed Potoroo Bennett's Tree-kangaroo Monjon Rothschild's Rock-wallaby Purple-necked Rock-wallaby Cape York Rock-wallaby Godman's Rock-wallaby ----------- Mulgara Kaluta Kultarr False Antechinus Ningaui Planigale (Stripe-faced Dunnart - Alice Springs Desert Park) Marsupial Mole Birds: (Nightjar) (Painted Snipe) Tropicbird Quail-thrush (Grasswren)
Last Friday me and R.'s (from Perth) brother J. went out to scout out some locations for Rothschild's Rock-wallaby around the Tabba Tabba area not too far out of Hedland. The first couple of hills we were unsuccessful with only woodswallows, Grey-headed Honeyeaters and Spinifex Pigeons for company. At the last rocky outcrop we arrived to after dark I saw a small rodent or dasyurid but couldn't get a good enough view for an ID. As usual we'd just decided to call it a night when I turned around to find a rock-wallaby just calmly climb down the rocks we'd just passed a minute ago. We got very good views as it stayed around for a while and didn't seem to bothered by our presence, even let us get fairly close. On the way back we saw a Red Kangaroo, a cat and a brown bird that we startled off the street before we could get a good view at it. Animals seen: Rothschild's Rock-wallaby Red Kangaroo Feral Cat Nankeen Kestrel Spinifex Pigeon Grey-headed Honeyeater Little Woodswallow Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Hoping to get this trip going but need at least one more person. PM me for more details. Kimberley trip - Bachsten Creek Bush Camp Planning a trip to Bachsten Creek Bush Camp in Australia's north-west and looking for a second person (or more) to join me and my thermal imager. Bachsten Creek is one of the two main reliable sites for Kimberley endemic mammals (like Monjon, Scaly-tailed Possum, Golden-backed Tree Rat, Golden Bandicoot, etc.) as well as a good set of birds (f.e. Black Grasswren, Kimberley Honeyeater, etc.). Dates: 02.09.-09.09.18 (might be able to add a day, depending on my work situation) Two travel options: 1.) Rental Car This option would mean getting a rental 4x4 from Broome which would cost roughly $2500 (incl. insurance, excess reduction, fridge and two spare tires) + fuel. Additional costs would be track fees for the Munja track at a $100 and then cost for the chosen accommodation/meal option. Cost for the Camp: Bachsten Creek Bush Camp As the drive via Mt Hart Station is fairly long this should give us 4 nights at the camp itself. 2.) Helicopter Charter With this option we'd get a helicopter from Derby and fly straight to Bachsten cutting out the long drive and giving us the full 7 nights at the camp itself (3 pax with light luggage max). The flight would be $3102. Additional costs would only be meals/accomodation for the pilot during our stay as well as for yourself (s. link above). As the camp is set to close mid-September this is one of the last chances to see it in it's current state before the arrival of the Cane Toad, which is thought to get there this wet season. If needed I could offer a ride share from Port Hedland, pick up in Broome or anywhere in between and could maybe even try to organize a second tent (if we were to choose the camping option).
That sounds really awesome. I really wish I could do it (although there's no way I can justify the expense) that's about the most badass mammal watching possible: chartering a helicopter to go into the middle of nowhere to get in before the wet season closes it off and to beat the cane toad. I hope you get to do it. Have you tried mammalwatching.com?
I'm back on the road again for several trips. I won't have time to do daily reports (we already barely get enough sleep) but will try to update my year list as regularly as I can at least. First trip started in Broome, down to Shark Bay (where we get to today) and then going to Brisbane via Alice Springs and Mount Isa. Second trip will be Epping Forest and maybe some other place in SEQ. Third trip will be nine days up Cape York from Cairns.
I'm just doing a quick Zwischenfazit of the birds and mammals I've seen in the wild in what is now just over one year of me being in Australia. Based on The Australian Bird Guide by Peter Menkhorst et al. and listing only species with distribution maps therein; with newer splits, vagrants, other additional species as +x in [] Birds Casuariiformes Cassowaries (1/1) Emus (1/1) Anseriformes Magpie Goose (1/1) Ducks, Geese, Swans (19/21) Galliformes Megapodes (3/3) Guineafowl (-/-) [+1 Helmeted Guineafowl (no distribution map)] Pheasants, Fowl and allies (3/3) Sphenisciformes Penguins (1/1) Procellariiformes Austral Storm-petrels (0/5) Albatrosses (4/13) Petrels, Shearwaters (5/36) [+1 Grey-faced Petrel (split from Great-winged Petrel)] Northern Storm-petrels (0/2) Diving-petrels (0/1) Podicipediformes Grebes (3/3) Phaethontiformes Tropicbirds (0/2) Ciconiiformes Storks (1/1) Pelecaniformes Ibises, Spoonbills (5/5) Herons, Bitterns (11/14) Pelicans (1/1) Suliformes Frigatebirds (2/2) Gannets, Boobies (2/4) Cormorants, Shags (5/5) Darters (1/1) Accipitriformes Ospreys (1/1) Kites, Hawks, Eagles (15/17) Otidiformes Bustards (1/1) Gruiformes Rails, Crakes, Coots (10/14) Cranes (2/2) Charadriiformes Button-quails (2/7) Stone-curlews (1/2) Oystercatchers (2/2) Stilts, Avocets (3/3) Plovers (12/13) Painted-snipes (1/1) Jacanas (1/1) Plains-wanderer (1/1) Sandpipers, Snipes (20/28) Pratincoles, Coursers (2/2) Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (13/23) [+1 Aleutian Tern] Skuas, Jaegers (1/5) Columbiformes Pigeons, Doves (19/25) Cuculiformes Cuckoos (9/12) Strigiformes Barn Owls (5/5) Owls (3/5) Caprimulgiformes Frogmouths (3/3) Nightjars (2/3) Apodiformes Owlet-nightjars (1/1) Swifts (3/3) Coraciiformes Rollers (1/1) Kingfishers (10/10) Bee-eaters (1/1) Falconiformes Falcons, Caracaras (4/6) Psittaciformes Cockatoos (12/14) Parrots (25/41) Passeriformes Pittas (1/3) Lyrebirds (1/2) Scrubbirds (2/2) Bowerbirds (10/10) [+1 Black-eared Catbird (split from Spotted Catbird)] Australasian Treecreepers (5/6) Australasian Wrens (12/23) [+3 Purple-backed Fairy-wren (split from Variegated Fairy-wren) and Pilbara and Sandhill Grasswrens (split from Striated Grasswren)] Honeyeaters (60/75) Bristlebirds (3/3) Pardalotes (2/4) Australasian Warblers (31/40) Australasian Babblers (2/4) Logrunners (2/2) Whipbirds, Quail-thrushes (5/11) Boatbills (1/1) Woodswallows, Butcherbirds and allies (13/15) Cuckoo-shrikes, Trillers (7/7) Sittellas (1/1) Australo-Papuan Bellbirds (1/1) Whistlers and allies (11/14) [+1 if splitting Crested Shrike-tit into northern (not seen), eastern and western] Figbirds, Orioles (3/3) Drongos (1/1) Fantails (5/6) Monarchs (12/13) Crows, Jays (4/5) Australian Mudnesters (2/2) Birds-of-paradise (4/4) Australasian Robins (15/22) Larks (1/2) Bulbuls (0/1) Swallows, Martins (3/5) Reed-warblers and allies (1/1) Grassbirds and allies (4/5) Cisticolas and allies (1/2) White-eyes (2/3) Starlings (3/3) Thrushes (3/4) Flowerpeckers (1/1) Sunbirds (1/1) Old World Sparrows (1/2) Waxbills, Munias and allies (12/19) Wagtails, Pipits (1/2) Finches (1/2) Total: (506/712) [+8]
Based on the Field Companion to The Mammals of Australia by Steve van Dyck et al.; with newer splits, other additional species as +x in [] Mammals Monotremata Platypus (1/1) Short-beaked Echidna (1/1) Marsupials Dasyurids (13/57) Quolls (1/4) Dibbler (0/1) Pseudantechinuses (1/6) Kowari (0/1) Mulgaras (0/2) Kaluta (1/1) Tasmanian Devil (0/1) Phascogales (2/3) Antechinuses (5/11) Planigales (0/4) Ningauis (0/3) Dunnarts (3/19) Kultarr (0/1) ----- Numbat (1/1) Bandicoots (3/7) [+3 Western and Cape York Brown Bandicoot (split from Southern Brown Bandicoot) and Northern Long-nosed Bandicoot (split from now Southern Long-nosed Bandicoot)] Bilbies (0/1) Koala (1/1) Wombats (2/3) ----- Pygmy-possums (4/5) Wrist-winged Gliders, Striped and Leadbeater's Possum (6/6) Ringtail Possums, Greater Glider (7/8) [+1 if Greater Glider split into northern, central (not seen), southern] Honey Possum (1/1) Feathertail Gliders (2/2) Brushtail Possums, Cuscuses, Scaly-tailed Possum (5/6) [+2 if Coppery and Northern Brushtail split from Common Brushtail] ------ Macropodiformes (37/50) Musky Rat-kangaroo (1/1) Bettongs (3/5) Potoroos (2/3) Tree-kangaroos (1/2) Hare-wallabies (1/2) Wallabies, Kangaroos (11/13) Nailtail-wallabies (2/2) Rock-wallabies (12/16) Pademelons (2/3) Swamp Wallaby (1/1) Quokka (1/1) Banded Hare-wallaby (0/1) Marsupial Moles (0/2) Total: (84/152) [+6]
Placental Mammals Shrews (0/1) Megabats (9/12) Ghost Bat (0/1) Horseshoe Bats (1/2) Leaf-nosed Bats (1/8) Sheath-tailed Bats (1/8) Free-tailed Bats (1/11) Bent-winged Bats (1/4) Vespertilionidae (5/38) Rodents (12/57) Dugong (0/1) Eared Seals (0/5) True Seals (0/5) Dingo, Red Fox (2/2) Cat (1/1) Rabbits, Hares (2/2) Donkey, Horse (1/2) Pig (1/1) One-humped Camel (1/1) Horned Ruminants (2/4) Deer (4/6) Southern Right Whale (0/1) Pygmy Right Whale (0/1) Rorquals, Humpback Whale (1/8) Sperm Whale (0/1) Pygmy and Dwarf Sperm Whale (0/2) Beaked and Bottlenose Whales (0/12) Ocean Dolphins (2/20) Spectacled Porpoise (0/1) Total: (48/218)
Those are Green- and Goldfinch. The ones you're presumably thinking of are in the Waxbills, Munias and allies-category.
