WESTERN AUSTRALIA PART 1 – Cervantes to Dalwallinu: Copperback & Western Quail-thrush

Copperback  Quail-thrush

I've returned from a 19-day sojourn (October 14-November 2, 2018) 

through southern Western Australian with my American/Panamanian birding friends Dodge and Lorna Engleman. Many thanks to Dan Mantle, Plaxy Barratt and Frank O'Connor for their generous assistance in planning sites for this trip. I met Dodge and Lorna in Perth and we headed north for our first night at Cervantes, calling in at the Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. Fabulous scenery as usual and a White-backed Swallow showed nicely.

Pinnacles

The next morning we had a pair of Blue-breasted Fairy-wren at Lake Thetis outside town before heading north again to Jurien Bay, then east to the small Wandoo Forest Reserve. We saw a few Western Corella (race derbyi) here and Western Gerygone was calling vigorously. 

Western Corella

Western Gerygone 

We continued in a north-easterly direction to the western end of the mulga belt of WA. We took a dirt track north of the tiny roadside station of Pindar in a successful search for Copperback Quail-thrush. Dan and Plaxy put me on to this and I was surprised the species occurred so far west. They were in the vicinity of the famed wreath flowers, which were in full bloom.

Wreath flowers

Copperback Quail-thrush

We continued east for a 2-night stay in the Yalgoo Caravan Park. I found during an earlier trip through this part of the world that Yalgoo is good birding country. Not far out of town we had a nice mixed flock of Black Honeyeater, White-fronted Honeyeater, Pied Honeyeater and Crimson Chat. We were to see plenty of the latter three species over the next few days.

Black Honeyeater

Crimson Chat

We had a party of Bourke's Parrot just north of Yalgoo.

Bourke's Parrot

A male Redthroat put on a show on the main road to the east of town, as did a confiding pair of Varied Sittella.  A few White-browed Treecreepers were about as were both Grey-crowned and White-browed Babblers.

Redthroat

Varied Sittella

White-browed Treecreeper

Also north of the town in a mineral exploration area we were shown a party of about 30 Inland Dotterel - a species we didn't expect to encounter. Banded Lapwing was more predictable.

Banded Lapwing

Inland Dotterel

Inland Dotterel

We continued east for a 2-night stay in Kirkalocka, a former sheep station that has become something of an ecotourism destination. This site is one of the more reliable for the often difficult Western Quail-thrush, and it took us a while to track them down. We eventually found quite a large group of 6-8 individuals including several juveniles.

Western Quail-thrush

Western Quail-thrush habitat - Kirkalocka

Kirkalocka Station

Slaty-backed Thornbill was high on the wishlist and we finally found a couple among the numerous Chestnut-rumped Thornbills (including plenty of dark-eyed juveniles).

Chestnut-rumped Thornbill

Slaty-backed Thornbill

 Red-tailed Black Cockatoo and Crested Bellbird were commonly encountered as we checked out the property.

Crested Bellbird

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

Black-eared Cuckoo was another uncommon species we hoped to connect with and we succeeded in doing so. A Black-tailed Native-hen was skulking by a small dam nearby.

Black-eared Cuckoo

Black-tailed Native-hen

We were surprised to encounter two Broad-banded Sand-Swimmers in the toilet of the lovely old mudbrick home that we stayed in.

Broad-banded Sand-Swimmer

Kirkalocka homestay

A male Western Bowerbird was vigorously defending its bower against rivals in the garden of the property's owners.

Western Bowerbird

Western Bowerbird

We headed further south to check out mixed mallee-shrubland-mulga country along the Mt Gibson Road. Here we found another Copperback Quail-thrush along with Bourke's Parrot, Shy Heathwren and Southern Scrub-Robin, along with our first Rufous Treecreeper for the trip.

Southern Scrub-robin

We spent our next night in a motel in the wheatbelt town of Dalwallinu. The following morning we had a few more Western Corellas along the road before finding yet another group of Pied Honeyeater, White-fronted Honeyeater and Crimson Chat at 27km south of the town - somewhat southerly for these arid zone birds.

Pied Honeyeater

On a salt lake 33km south of Dalwallinu we were delighted to come across about 400 Banded Stilts - a species we thought we might be struggling with.

Banded Stilt

Banded Stilt