Check my birding map for specific location.
Ravensthorpe is a nice little town in-between Esperance and Albany. You could just drive through or stop for petrol and think nothing of it. I met my friend Louise there and we decided to bird for the morning. We started at a rest area about 5km east of the township. It was just a dirt pull in surrounded by some shrubs and then crop fields. The wattlebirds were hooning around making a lot of noise, outdoing the miners who are often the loudest bird around. A pair of Scared Kingfishers flew back and forth chattering to each other and we could hear a group of weebill calling constantly. It was a good place just to sit and watch.
Our first good find was fairywren. We couldn't establish for ages whether they were Blue-breasted or Red-winged. Our books said they were easy to distinguish between and we couldn't understand our difficulty. On consulting several books and our photos, we decided on the Blue-breasted Fairywren. As ever, the male was brightly coloured but the active nature of the females darting about made them interesting to watch too.
Blue-breasted Fairywren (Malurus pulcherrimus)
We could hear the double beep of the Striated Pardalote, a very common bird of any wooded area across Australia. This one came down low to catch bugs and we watched as it tenderised it by bashing it on a branch.
Striated Pardalote (pardalotus striatus)
Next we headed into Ravensthorpe and settled at the caravan park. It was very lovely with a small duck pond in the grounds. We saw Pacific Black Ducks, Grey Teal and Maned Ducks. There was a whole family of Maned Ducks with half grown chicks, still watched over by protective parents.
Maned Duck (Chenonetta jubata)
A rather gorgeous Australian Grebe in breeding colours was alone on the pond. Their escape route when people are too close is to dive but we got a few shots before it decided to disappear.
Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae)
The next morning we walked in an adjoining field and saw huge Western Grey Kangaroos who didn't want to be photographed. Across the way was a wooded area but the only sound we could hear was a distant Rufous Treecreeper. All the action was around the caravan park. It makes me curious why that is. I often find the best activity is around human areas. Anyway, we saw Tree Martins nesting in the hollow ends of horizontal bars on the electricity pylons. Still don't have a killer shot of these but this will have to do for now.
Tree Martin (Petrochelidon nigricans)
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