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| Western Whipbird |
After leaving the WA south coast town of Denmark, we continued eastward to Albany for 3 nights in an Emu Park van park, a few kms from the town centre in a lovely setting that we've enjoyed previously. Seppings Lake nearby was as productive as usual with good numbers of waterfowl including Musk Duck, Blue-billed Duck and Australasian Shoveler.
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| Australasian Shoveler |
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| Blue-billed Duck |
Showing on the lakeside track were a few White-breasted Robins, the first for the trip.
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| White-breasted Robin |
Also on the track, some more Red-eared Firetails.
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| Red-eared Firetail |
Around the van park were good numbers of the beautiful Red-capped Parrot and Western Rosella.
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| Red-capped Parrot |
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| Western Rosella |
I wasn't counting on Western Ringtail for this trip but numerous signs depicting the animal around Albany persuaded me to take a look. I found one outside the caravan park (Big4) with the thermal imager without much trouble.
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| Western Ringtail |
We enjoyed having a look around Torgadirrup National Park (below).
Glenn's birthday coincided with our visit here so we had a great meal in the quirky, historic Earl of Spencer tavern (below).
Then it was time to move further east to the iconic Cheynes Beach biodiversity hotspot, one of my favourite destinations. The pictures below speak for themselves. Glorious countryside ablaze with wildflowers.
Exploring the Arpentur Nature Reserve and adjoining Waychnicup National Park was again highly productive. Top drawer target was getting better images of Western (Black-throated) Whipbird and one finally showed nicely on one of the tracks.
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| Western Whipbird |
Another aim, to finally photograph Noisy Scrubbird, fell flat yet again, although I enjoyed good if brief views of 2 birds, and heard at least 3 others. Better luck with the third local skulker, Western Bristlebird, which was calling commonly and seen well. Red-eared Firetail was quite common – the third site in succession where this species was scored.
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| Western Bristlebird |
Brush Bronzewing was looking good, while Common Bronzewing was indeed common here, feeding around our caravan.
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| Brush Bronzewing |
Carnaby's Black Cockatoo was agreeably common.
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| Carnaby's Black Cockatoo |
I went out on two nights with the thermal imager, seeing a Western Pygmy Possum briefly and finding 2 Honey Possums, one of which permitted a photograph. An echidna was spotted.
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| Honey Possum |
Western Brown Bandicoot was common at night and during the late afternoon.
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| Western Short-nosed Bandicoot |
A Southern Right Whale and its calf were in the bay offshore.
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| Southern Right Whales |
As I reported in a separate post, I found a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles feeding on a Western Grey Kangaroo in a paddock not far from the caravan park. This animal, a young male, and an adult female with a pouch joey had been shot the night before by farmers. The female was still alive, her back broken. Its joey was taken into care as the National Parks and Wildlife Service launched an investigation into whether laws had been broken after I reported the matter to them.
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| Wedge-tailed Eagle feeding on Western Grey Kangaroo |
The kangaroos were delightfully common in the caravan park grounds (below). After Cheynes we moved on to Ravensbourne for an overnight stop.
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