"Australia, Oct-Dec 2002 ..." a Australia Travel Page by JustinJansen

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me in front of the opera house....

Day-by-day account

Tuesday, 22 October

Arrival in Sydney. We arrived from a three-day birding stop in Hong Kong in the morning, and as it is common practice amongst birders, we were already birding while the plane was still on the runway. Justin had predicted Welcome Swallow would probably the first bird we would see and he was right. Rational thinking tells you it will just be the first of many, many new bird-species, yet it gave me that well-known feeling of anticipation. It has started, we?re off. Bring on the birds!
A taxi took us to our hotel, we saw some Silver Gulls (the second species Justin predicted) and when arrived at the hotel we took a short rest after having settled in. Not for too long though. we were finally here and now we wanted to see birds. Sydney?s Royal Botanical Gardens were to be our destination. On our way there we encountered the first representatives of those typical Australian bird families. Our first honey-eater, Noisy Miner and our first parrots: Rainbow Lorikeet and Galah?s. I was a bit disappointed with the distant views of the latter, but that would soon change.
The park greeted us with a fantastic sight of a Tawny Frogmouth, a huge bird compared to the European Nightjars I was familiar with. This bird was bigger than a Common Buzzard!. The trees surrounding it were filled with Fruitbats and birds started to come as well. Crested Pigeon, Australian Magpie, Pacific Black Duck, Little Pied- and Black Cormorants, the first Sulphur-Crested Cockatoos, Pied Currawong, Maned Duck and Buff-Banded Rail to name just a few. Since the Botanical Gardens are adjacent to both the Opera House and Circular Quay we visited them as well while we were here. And two excaped once Common Starling and the irritating Common Myna.

Wednesday, 23 October

Our first day of real birding. First we had to pick up our rental car. The better part of the first week would be spend in the Sydney-area and our stop for the night would be Glen Davis, on the other side of the Blue Mountains. On our way there however there was first some birding to do, with Rock Warbler (or Origma) being our first target-species. This bird is the only NSW-endemic.
The Blue Mountains had been falling victim to bush-fires for a while however and at our very first stop at Pierces Pass we were asked to leave by the local fire-brigade because of the fire-hazard, which we did. .Luck wasn?t on our side at the other Rock Warbler sites either, the wind made it very difficult to do some relaxing birding and after a while we realised Rock Warbler was not going to happen. We still saw a steady amount of other birds though, and this being a new country for me all of these were new species naturally. We made our way westwards most of the time, birding at various spots in this part of the Blue Mountains. We had planned to stay the night in Glen Alice, at April Mills house. The house is located on the other side of the mountain range in the Carpentee Valley and would serve to be a strategic location for several species we wanted to see, most important being Regent Honeyeater, a beautiful black and golden bird.
Getting to the other side of the mountain-range also meant our first experience with ?roo time?, the relatively short period at dusk when the kangaroos are getting active and start crossing roads. This is the time to drive very carefully, as we soon found out and were able to see from the dead kangaroos lying along the roadsides. The kangaroos there were alive were mostly Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Common Wallaroos (Euro?s) and smaller darker wallaby?s, most likely Swamp Wallaby.
We did have to make a phone call to Jane Miller at April Mills? house however since we were a bit lost. It was after dark when we finally arrived at the house. Outside a Southern Boobook was calling and Jane told us about the birds we were likely to encounter around the house and in the rest of the Capertee Valley. I could hardly wait.

Mammals

Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Common Wallaroo

Thursday, 24 October

Birdsong woke me, and since the birdsong was totally unfamiliar I quickly got up and peered out of the window. The first thing I saw was a kangaroo hopping through the garden, and I saw a whole armada of small birds outside drinking from the various drinking pools. I had to get downstairs and get my bins fast!
From the living room and from the kitchen we observed the birds around the house at first. Lots more honey-eaters this time; the fantastic Yellow-tufted Honey-eaters, which we would not see again until the last week in Australia, Black-chinned- and Fuscous Honey-eaters. There was a single Noisy Friarbird as well and a Brown-headed Honey-eater made a short appearance. Two more parrot species appeared: Red-rumped Parrots, which I had seen as an escape in Holland and Eastern Rosella, a real stunner. Zebra Finches were breeding adjacent to the house, and Jane showed us the Tree Frog that was sharing our toilet.

Now it was time to enter the valley and do some serious birding. We had a couple of target-species, most important being Regent Honey-Eater, Plum-headed Finch and Turquoise Parrot, one of the beautiful Neophema-parrots
We left for the town of Glen Davis, and the birds just kept coming. Three species of Woodswallow (White-breasted, Dusky and Masked), an Australian Kite, Double-barred Finch, our first Fairy-Wren (Superb) and many others. A White-backed Swallow was a highlight and as far as I can remember the only one for the trip. I also quickly found out what the Australian way to say ?hi? is. No further explanations here, you?ll find out?
The Regent-Honey-eaters were to be found at a farm called Rivendell, and soon after we arrived there we saw the first bird cross the road. Jane told us about their characteristic song and about their favourite trees. This was a great help when we finally found five our six birds feeding and singing away nicely. Jane was right in pointing out the amount of yellow in especially the tail is not always depicted correctly in the field guides. Beautiful birds nonetheless, the first real target we saw after all, and only the second new species for Justin (first was Yellow-tufted HE), this being his third trip to Australia.
After a short break at the house with tea and crackers (for a coffee-drinker like me, Australia is hell in that aspect, there?s is no such thing as a decent cup of Australian coffee).
The afternoon was mostly spend with trying to find the other targets. We had to make a deal with one of the local farmers to enter his lands. Fortunately Jane knew this farmer and managed to convince him to let us enter. A new experience in itself, driving your car over farmland.
The pastures were divided by a river running through the entire valley. This river, mostly dry now, proved to be very productive. Yellow-faced Honey-eater, Sacred Kingfisher and Rainbow Bea-eater were all found soon enough, just like the Plum-Headed Finches once we had entered the farmer?s fields. Their calls reminded me somewhat of our own Bearded ***. We also got our first taste of introduced animals, a red fox looked to be right at home, yet wasn?t. We continued the birding though and counted ourselves very lucky when we spotted a small group of Budgerigars, which are notoriously difficult to find, or so we thought. The birds kept coming, groups of Red-rumped parrots were flying around and the calls of Crested Pigeons were ever present. The Turquoise Parrots continued to elude us however. We?d have some more changes, like we would have for most of the targets. Justin had been preparing this trip for six months at least, and had we planned to visit all the sites he had prepared we?d still be there!
The day was ending now, we were hungry, yet extremely satisfied. We filled up the car in a ?nearby? town and got a bite to eat as well. My head was spinning, I had seen over 50 new species and I was in heaven. The drive to the house made it even better, we spotted a Common Wombat by the side of the road and missed a Eastern Grey Kangaroo by 38 centimetres. Outside the house we tried our luck with the spotlight and tape-recorder, just for Australian Owlet-Nightjar. As soon as Justin turned up the volume a Sugar-glider stuck his head out of one the birdhouses in the half open carport. Not something we anticipated but a very welcome guest nonetheless! Things got even better when two Owlet-nightjars made an appearance, calling and even briefly showing themselves in the spotlight.

Mammals: Common Wombat, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Swamp Alibi, Euro, Sugar-glider

Friday, 25 October

From Glen Davis to Barren Grounds

Our last morning in the Capertee valley, we had to be in Wollongong for the evening to catch the pelagic the next day, We said goodbye to Jane, after a brief look to the drinking spot in front of the house, to our fantastic guide for the last few days. Without her we would have missed a lot of good birds. We took a brief stop at the Regent HE site and saw some more of these stunning birds (5 in total). A Hooded Robin also gave presence. We also saw our first Wedge-tailed Eagle and were perplexed when we passed a Common Wombat sitting by the side of the road in broad daylight! This was a great opportunity for some video-footage indeed. After a while the wombat realised this wasn?t normal behaviour from his point of view and quickly retreated in his hole.

Barren Grounds was not too warm, but the birds were fine. As usual the first birds were already around when we stopped the car at the ranger-station and we easily ticked a male Satin Bowerbird and some equally stunning Eastern Spinebills.
It took a while to figure out the birds responsible for the drawn-out whistling notes were actually Fan-tailed Cuckoos. There was not a whole lot of bird-activity though, and some birders we met told us about the Ground Parrots they had just seen. This was one of the target-species for the area and we decided to check that spot out first.
At first we thought we were at the right spot, considering the habitat and the tracks we saw of visitors before us. My energies were a bit depleted and I wasn?t too sure this was the right place, keeping the site-description in mind. So I decided to stay near the car and Justin got in the fields. A strange sound drew my attention and I noticed a small group of Glossy Black Cockatoos taking off from a group of trees I couldn?t recognize, not realising the species? status for the moment. Justin also tried to draw my attention, he had found something which he thought was one of the skulking wrens, perhaps Shy-heathwren. It wasn?t, they were Southern Emu-Wrens, an extremely small bird with a ridiculously long spiny tail. Truly delightful. No Ground Parrots though, and since we had more ground to cover we moved on. We later found out this site hadn?t been the correct one after all.
We got back to the reserve, this time taking another trail. One of the most elusive birds in this area is the Eastern Bristlebird, and we came prepared. Barely a 100 metres on the track a Red-bellied Black Snake crossed our path and missed Justin by centimetres, a quick reminder that this was Australia after all and soon after found a group of huge and very noisy Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. We enjoyed these for a while and moved on. Our attention was drawn to a Eastern Yellow Robin that seemed to produce a sound we were not familiar with. It turned out the sound wasn?t coming from the robin, but from somewhere in the grass. Suddenly a brown bird with a long tail stuck it?s head out off the grass and hopped on a tree stump for a short while. It was a Eastern Bristlebird, and we had it on film as well!
Last bird we tried was at the Ranger Station, and for this we did need a tape recorder as we were trying to find the Pilotbird. After a while (and after a spontaneous bloody nose) we managed to hear one briefly.
Since it was getting late and we still needed place to stay for the night we decided to take the quickest route to Wollongong, which was a lot more difficult than we had expected. The road down from Barren Grounds was steep and full of hairpin-curves. We were very glad when we finally managed to find a motel room and something to eat at Wollongong. The wind did make us a bit nervous though, we had a pelagic to do the next day?

Interesting birds Capertee: Wedge-tailed Eagle, Regent HE, Crested Shriketit, Little Eagle, Hooded Robin

Mammals: Common Wombat

Reptiles: Red-bellied Black Snake

Saturday 26 October,

Pelagic day, but not for us? As soon as we got out of bed we knew we were in trouble. The winds were strong and it was raining. At the boat the shipper** told us he would probably not go out at all and if he did decide to go he would certainly not go all the way to the continental shelf. Some birders wanted to go anyway, despite the reduced chances of seeing albatrosses and petrels, but Justin and I decided we wouldn?t go and try our luck from the mainland. We decided to go to Magic Point, Sydney instead, this after seeing the first Kelp Gull of the trip and several 100-s of Wedge-tailed Shearwater on the shelf!
Getting there makes you realize once more how important it is to have a decent map. We did, and we managed to actually find Magic Point as well. The place itself was spectacular, a perfect sea watching spot looking out over the turbulent Pacific. Birds were there as well, but no petrels or albatrosses. Main items on the menu were Fluttering- and Wedge tailed Shearwaters and several odd Australian Gannets.

The beach had Crested Terns flying around. We were lucky finding a Double-banded plover, the only one we saw on the trip. In the scrub around Magic Point we found some more Southern Emu Wrens, and it took a while before Justin noticed the constant song of Eurasian Skylark, an introduced bird that is obviously so common to us we almost overlooked (or overheard) it. I did make me realize I really love these birds.

Bird species: Kelp Gull, Australian Gannet, Wedge tailed Shearwater, Fluttering Shearwater, Double-banded Plover, Southern Emuwren, Little Pied Cormorant, Little Black Cormorant, Silvereye, Cattle Egret, (Mute Swan), (Eurasian Skylark).

We decided we had seen enough and were on our way again, this time to a small remnant of Mangrove-forest in a suburb of Sydney called Wariewood. This did require a drive through the Sydney city-centre, which gave us the chance to cross the Harbour Bridge. Quite impressive, but it?s still just a bridge.
Warriewood offered great birding, it was one of the places where we would have a chance to hear Lewin?s Rail (we were told, seeing it would be out of the question), but other birds came first. I was happy to find a wonderful male Satin Flycatcher and was finally able to study a group of Red browed Firetails, a bird Justin had been seeing continuously but had equally continuously managed to elude me. We saw another treecreeper, Red-browed this time and another fairywren, Variegated Fairywren. I was surprised by the tameness of the Purple Swamphen, the Purple Gallinules I had seen in Israel were extremely shy, and these were literally walking through gardens. We finally got some decent looks of a pair of Eastern Whipbirds, their song is just about the first birdsong you learn in Australia, yet it always takes a while to see it, as it is a real skulker.

Now it was time to head back towards the Blue Mountains, a little further north this time, which would be the general direction anyway, eventually going all the way to Iron Range.
Our destination was Dharug NP, since this was one of the places where Superb Lyrebird might be found. It was also our last chance to see Rock Warbler, a bird I took a particular disliking to by now, mostly because I hadn?t seen one yet.
We stopped at a small camping place after we had crossed the river ** at Wiseman?s ferry, got out of the car and saw a Superb Lyrebird a minute later. And then another one, and another! A lot easier than expected, too bad they weren?t singing? (yet!). Even easier was the Brush Turkey, that walked right up to us, obviously used to being fed by hand.
The forest immediately behind the camping place gave some very nice additions to our triplist and to my lifelist of course. We saw Wonga Pigeon, Brown Cuckoodove, Leaden Flycatcher and Bell Miner, amongst others. I like birds that have got a distinctive voice, and Bell Miner certainly qualifies. ?TIENK?, constantly repeated in chorus seems to be best way to describe it
All there was left now was getting some food, finding a place to eat and see a Rock Warbler. ************** we climbed a mountain, dipped a bird and descended a hill. We decided we were doing something wrong, and tried to tape out a Lewins Rail instead at a nearby river. That miraculously worked, as one bird briefly responded to the tape. We did not want to stress out the bird too much, so we decided to call it a day.
Our plan was to spend the night at Newcastle, which was still a long drive from Dharug. When we got there however it turned out there was some sort of convention in town, which sounded like something I had heard on film, and one hotel manager was kind enough to reserve a room at a bed and breakfast for us some 20 miles out of town at Salamander bay. Although it was quite expensive, we decided to take it. It was however the best bed and breakfast I ever stayed in.