At exactly the same location as last year, I saw (and photographed) two Rainbow Bee-eaters (Merops ornatus). I suspect they are nesting somewhere nearby. While they are fairly common it is still a highlight to see them.

Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys). Photographed at Craigie, W.A.

• Went on a Birds WA walk through Pinnaroo Vallery Memorial Park – highlight was the Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens).
• Bought a 17″ LCD monitor (analogue) – a ViewSonic VA702 with the silver casing. Very nice and means I can open documentation and sample code on one screen and Xcode on the other.
• Upgraded the RAM in Kylie’s iMac DV+ (Sage) from 320MB to 512MB.
• Upgraded the RAM in the G3 Server from 256MB to 448MB (should be 512MB but half of one of the chips is not being detected correctly).

Over the last few months I have been tinkering with a MySQL/PHP/Apache “application” to keep track of bird sightings and to maintain a primitive life list. Over the weekend I got some of the basic functions going and added nearly 60 sightings. I have records going back 5 years or more still to go through but currently my life list stands at 48. These are only for birds seen in W.A. Not really that impressive but at least I can now keep track of what I see. All I need to do now is find a sensible way to back the databases up (and enter about 100 other sightings!).

Here is the list of birds seen during a recent holiday to Cheynes Beach Caravan Park (alas no Noisy Scrub-bird):

• Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora)
• Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides)
• Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus)
• Crested Tern (Sterna bergii)
• Brush Bronzewing (Phaps elegans)
• Western Rosella (Platycercus icterotis)
• Red-winged Fairy-wren (Malurus elegans)
• White Cheeked Honeyeater (Phylidonyris nigra)
• Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor)
• Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
• New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae)
• Singing Honeyeater (Lichenostomus virescens)
• White-breasted Robin (Eopsaltria georgiana)
• White-browed Scrubwren (Sericornis frontalis)

Birds seen at Albany during the same trip:

• Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)
• Sooty Oystercatcher (Haematopus fuliginosus)
• Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris)

Birds seen on the roadside whilst travelling:

• Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang, between Wagin and Katanning)

Saw a handful of Sacred Kingfishers (Todiramphus sanctus) at the same location in Dampier as the previous post. They also seemed to shelter at the camp in bad weather.

Saw three Red-backed Kingfishers (Todirhamphus pyrrhopygia) at Dampier 20/01/2006. They appeared to be sheltering in the mining camp I am staying in while the cyclone passed.

• Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
• Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)
• Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa)
• Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides)
• Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)
• Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca)
• Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus)
• Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)
• Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
• Welcome Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

In Karratha (23/12/2005):

• Bar-shouldered Dove (x4 down near the mangroves, Geopelia humeralis)
• Ruddy Turnstone (actually seen near boat ramps in Dampier, Arenaria interpres)
• White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)
• Brahminy Kite (feeding on dead kangaroo, Haliastur indus)

At Pinnaroo Vallery Memorial Park (27/12/2005):

• Hardhead (Aythya australis)

All of these are birds that I haven’t seen before.