Check my birding map for specific location.
I haven't made it into central Perth, preferring to stay a little south of Fremantle at Coogee. Woodman Point was the first place I stayed at in my 2016 visit and I loved it. Good decision to stay there as the busy city traffic was a bit of a shock to the system after thousands of kilometre in the outback and rural Australia. It was also a good decision because it was a beautiful as I remembered. The caravan park I was in backed onto the beach and Woodman Point Reserve but my first stop was at Woodman Point itself. A very small rocky outcrop into the ocean marks the end of a small bay. I arrived on a Sunday morning and in the sunshine were lots of walkers, divers and fishermen. Terns and gulls circled looking for a free feed.
As I looked north I saw another, similar outcrop at the other end of the bay and I couldn't see any people so I wandered down the beach to it. The Indian Ocean sparkled and looked very inviting but and there were people enjoying it. No crocs or stingers here but I wasn't fooled. There is always something and here it is sharks. I walked along the shoreline.
I spent a bit of time each day for the 3 days I was staying there at this small part of beach. It was just wonderful. At the end was a small grassed area that was fenced off for a Fairy Tern colony to nest. Beyond that was a small, rocky area that was home to cormorants and terns. And wandering around, anywhere in this area were waders.
My first target was the Black-bellied or Grey Plover. I had seen them once in New Zealand and a couple of times in Australia but I had no decent photos. With the sun shining every day and relatively few people around, this was my chance. Like most waders, they were very shy but if you keep low down you can get closer to them. Still, a large lens helps enormously. The plovers ran along the sand, fed and dozed in the sunshine.
Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
That done, I spotted a wader amongst the plovers that was similar (as waders often are) but obviously different. A Great Knot which I don't think is very rare here but it was interesting to see a single bird mixing with the bigger plovers.
Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris)
Also on the shore and in the rocks were several Ruddy Turnstones. They are easy to identify with their very short, orange legs. Stunning in breeding colours, they are also attractive when non-breeding. They tend to scrabble around rocks looking for food and if disturbed, will fly up with a harsh cry.
Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres)
On the rocks furthest away, in a small group were the very elegant Pied Cormorants. They were flying around the whole area and would, very helpfully, approach very low and their spread wings always makes for a great photo.
Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax varius)
There were also Little Pied Cormorant spread across the area. Less social than their bigger cousins, they tended to find their own rock to dry out their wings or just rest. As soon as one took off, others would grab any better real estate and so they seemed to shuffle around a lot. Very interesting to watch.
Little Pied Cormorant - (Microcarbo melanoleucos)
On the second day I was here, I spotted a tattler. The Wandering and Grey-tailed are tricky to tell apart. Having said that, I have only ever seen the Grey-tailed! Initially they look rather plain but I think they have an elegance about them and the white eye stripe make them look quite striking.
Grey-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes)
Mixing together on the rocks were Caspian and Great Crested Terns. These are the largest of the tern species and both of them have very bright plumage.
Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)
Great Crested Tern (Thalasseus bergii)
However, all the other birds paled into insignificance when I saw the Fairy Terns. These birds are tiny (especially when compared to the Caspian and Great Crested) with a bright yellow bill and black head. They make the most delicious squeaking noises as they chatter with each other.
Australian Fairy Tern (Sternula nereis)
There were several nests in the area and I got a good look at one in particular. The adults took it in turns to sit on the eggs and when they moved position, I got a chance to look at the eggs (look bottom left). Thank goodness for the zoom lens!
The terns would fly out and back regularly and often sit on the beach and court. I watched terns offering fish to each other many times and it was fascinating. One poor tern kept calling and trying to get another bird interested in its fish but to no avail. Another were so busy chattering about their fish that they didn't see a gull approach and it promptly pinched it from them!
The trickiest photos to get were of the terns in flight. They were so fast and small, I struggled to capture them. Even with a shutter speed of 1/2500 of a second, the wings are blurred.
It was such a privilege to be able to spend time amongst these incredible creatures and this experience is a highlight of my trip that I will never forget.
eBird Lists
No comments:
Post a Comment