1st post!
Hi everyone,
Over the weekend I ventured down to ALCOA wetlands about half an hour south of Perth to meet up with several other birders/photographers. It was my first trip to this area and from all the reports it can be a pretty good spot for several rare species. I got there about 6:30am and got a Boobook Owl just after getting out of the car. The birdlife was reasonably active with several birds calling. I stopped in at the Warbler hide for about ten minutes to see what was about but it wasn't too busy, just the usual assortment of Pacific Black Ducks, Eurasian Coots and Australian Wood Ducks but there were also a few Great Egrets and White-faced Herons around the edges and the trees were packed with Australian White Ibis and Straw-necked Ibis.
While leaving the hide a small flock of Australian Ringnecks flew over followed by a few Red-capped Parrots. I'd seen Red-caps before but this was the first time that I got a really good look and they are a pretty spectacular bird with amazing colouration. Further along the path the Grey Fantails started flying about and displaying all over the place, they were one of the most abundant 'bush birds' of the day. At the next small lake the numbers of waterbirds was much higher than the first with several other species including Grey and Chestnut Teals, Hardheads, Blue-billed Ducks, Musk Ducks as well as all three Grebe species (Australasian, Hoary-headed and Great Crested). I spotted the first of several birds of prey here with a Swamp Harrier swooping low and taking something from the water, unfortunately I didn't have the camera out at the time so that was an opportunity missed.
Further up the path at the main lake there were hundreds of water birds with a further bonus of three species of Egret (Great, Intermediate and Little). The Ibis and Yellow-billed Spoonbills were working the edges while Australian Pelicans dabbled about in the center of the lake. On a small island in the middle were quite a few Black-winged Stilts with the smaller Red-kneed Dotterels feeding in between them.
By this time I had met up with several other people and we chatted for a while before heading back to the Warbler hide for our 10:30 meeting time. A small group gathered outside the hide and compared lists and photos for ten or so minutes before we were joined by another birder who operates the rare bird sightings page at http://birdswa.org.au/sightings.htm. A few people left at this point leaving just four of us to wander around the lakes again but this time there was a bit more success with a Collared Sparrowhawk, White-backed Swallow, Australian Shoveller, Little Eagle and Black-fronted Dotterels being spotted at one of the far lakes.
We arrived back at the carpark around noon and chatted a while, I even made some future plans to head out on my first pelagic birding trip in August so I'm looking forward to spotting some of the seabirds that we never really get a chance to see.
Cheers for reading!
Chris
Full bird list from the day.
Australasian Darter
Australasian Grebe
Australasian Shoveler
Australian Magpie
Australian Pelican
Australian Raven
Australian Ringneck
Australian White Ibis
Australian Wood Duck
Black Cormorant
Black Swan
Black-fronted Dotterel
Black-winged Stilts
Blue-billed Duck
Boobook Owl
Carnabys Black Cockatoo
Chestnut Teal
Collared Sparrowhawk
Eurasian Coot
Galah
Golden Whistler
Great Crested Grebe
Great Egret
Grey Fantail
Grey Teal
Hardhead
Hoary-headed Grebe
Intermediate Egret
Laughing Kookaburra
Little Black Cormorant
Little Eagle
Little Egret
Little Pied Cormorant
Magpielark
Musk Duck
New-holland Honeyeater
Pacific Black Duck
Pink-eared Duck
Purple Swamphen
Red Wattlebird
Red-capped Parrot
Red-kneed Dotterel
Rufous Whistler
Silvereye
Singing Honeyeater
Splendid Fairy-wren
Straw-necked Ibis
Striated Pardalote
Swamp Harrier
Tree Martin
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Weebill
Welcome Swallow
Western Gerygone
Whistling Kite
White-backed Swallow
White-faced Heron
White-necked Heron
Willie Wagtail
Yellow-billed Spoonbill
Yellow-rumped Thornbill
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