Brown Falcon (Falco berigora, Miaree Pool, WA, Australia). Another lifer for me!
Brown Falcon at Miaree Pool
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Category Archives: Birding
Birding targets for 2010
For 2009 my target was to increase my life list to 200+. It is currently sitting on 202 and will remain there unless something unusual appears locally…
For 2010 I am aiming to pass 250 – this should prove quite a challenge! A few of the target species are below:
- Common Pheasant and Indian Peafowl – going to have to take a day trip to Rottnest Island for these. Should also be able to pick up Rock Parrot and a wader or two hopefully as well.
- Noisy Scrub-bird/Western Bristlebird/Western Whipbird (a.k.a. the Big Three) – we are planning two trips to Cheynes Beach in 2010 so hopefully I can see these birds.
- White-browed Babbler (the first of many “inland from the metropolitan area” birds I want to see.
- Stubble Quail/Little Button-quail/Painted Button-quail – so far all quail apart from the Brown variety have eluded me.
- Cuckoos (generally). I have seen a few but should be seeing a lot more…
- Miscellaneous honeyeaters.
Please note that by targets I mean that I want to see and photograph these birds, not shoot them…
Grey-crowned Babbler
Bird number 202 on my life list is the Grey-crowned Babbler. I found a group of about 4 of them creating a ruckus amongst the trees on the edge of the Maitland River at Miaree Pool (near Karratha, WA, Australia). The name is descriptive on all counts.
It is worth noting that I have taken a bird off my list. The more I talk to other birders the more I realise that the Mute Swans at Northam aren’t really a free, breeding population anymore. Perhaps at some stage in the future they may be (again) but given that they are introduced I’m not too fussed.
BAWA Twitchathon 2009
The BirdsWA Twitchathon was held over the 12-13 December 2009.
I was a member of The Big Twits – other members were Martin Cake, John Graff and Alan Collins (all seriously good birders). I have learned a lot from these guys.
The event was a great experience – I added 12 species to my life list including (but not limited to):
- Little Penguin (swimming in the ocean, not at Penguin Island);
- Jacky Winter (Dryandra Forrest);
- Nankeen Night Heron (at Herdsman Lake).
We finished 3rd with 139 species in the 24 hour race. First place had 149 species, second place had 143 species.
New gadget/early Christmas present
I recently picked up my own Christmas present – a 3rd Generation 8GB iPod Touch. So far I have been very impressed. Current apps that I like are:
- BirdSight AU (pretty good, could do with some extra features like lumping/splitting);
- Convert Units (does the job well);
- Holy Bible;
- Mactracker (very good for a computer collector);
- TouchCalc;
- Sudoku (great apart from the fact that it tells you when you have placed a number incorrectly, which makes the game much easier than a paper version);
- To Do (basic To Do list manager);
- File lite (superb application that allows files to be stored on the iPod Touch and viewed).
All of the above are free (apart from BirdSight AU).
I also purchased a Belkin leather case and screen protector for it.
Bird #187
Bird number 187 on my life list is the Black-tailed Native-hen.
I saw a single bird at the Peninsula Ornamental Gardens in Maylands after a tipoff from the Birds WA sightings page. On two consecutive days I located the bird within 5 metres of the same spot. It seems to prefer foraging along the scrub/lawn edge where it can quickly duck for cover if disturbed.
Thanks to Peter Clifton for finding it!
The Burrup again…
I really like this photo – I took it while on the Painted Finch and Rock Art “expedition” I mentioned earlier.
Burrup Peninsula, Dampier, Western Australia
Took this photo when I went looking for Aboriginal rock art and Painted Finches. Didn’t find any Painted Finches but saw and photographed some impressive rock art.
Sigh…
From my office window I can see a pair of Australian Wood Ducks with a duckling in tow. They have been roaming around the park across the road for the past few days. What a nice life…
A bit of an update
It has been a while since I have blogged anything so here is a bit of an update:
- Work has been insane (both in terms of difficulty and work load) recently, so much for the downturn (I guess that is a good thing for me);
- Went on my second pelagic bird watching trip (both have been off Hillarys in Western Australia), added two new birds to my life list but felt quite seasick…
- The model trains have been going well – starting to clean up sections of ugly wiring, fix dodgy sections of track etc. Adding bits and pieces to the collection (most of it second hand). Starting to work on the scenery a bit too.
Yellow-nosed Albatross (Diomedea (Thalassarche) chlororhynchos, race bassi).