Birding Bowra Part 1 – Road To Homestead Area

Since there are so many places to see birds, I am breaking this down into several parts.  The first area to explore is the part where you first enter Bowra Station at the letterbox and drive the main road to the homestead – about 5 or 6 km.  This is a fantastic area for parrots, as you can see from the photos below we saw many species just in this area such as Cockatiels, Mallee Ringecks, Galahs, Major Mitchell Cockatoos, Mulga Parrots and various Honey-eaters, an Emu and of course lots of kangaroos!  I also saw a Bluebonnet flying away at the speed of light near the gate.IMG_8570a IMG_8582a IMG_8583a IMG_8585a IMG_8561 IMG_8559 IMG_8554a IMG_8549a IMG_8544a IMG_8537 IMG_8834a IMG_8834b IMG_8840a IMG_8842a IMG_8852a IMG_8854a IMG_8870a IMG_8874a IMG_8881a IMG_8902a IMG_8905a IMG_8908a IMG_8911a IMG_8912a IMG_8916a IMG_8924 IMG_8925a IMG_8935a IMG_8936a IMG_8938a IMG_8947 IMG_8965a IMG_8970

Bring boots as sometimes you have to walk through the bush!

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Easy Birding At Yanchep National Park

In my last post, I talked about Yanchep as a destination.  The nice thing about Yanchep is you can be as active or as lazy as you want and you will STILL see lots of birds!  I’m in the lazy camp.  I did do one hike around the small lake opposite Yanchep Inn but mostly I just kicked back at a picnic table or my room’s porch.  Eremaea has a good bird list to give you an idea what to expect.  Here’s some of the birds I saw.

Lots of Waterbirds

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Cheeky Galahs

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Black SwansIMG_6459

Australian Ringnecks

IMG_6445a IMG_6609Laughing Kookaburras (they will try to steal your food!)

IMG_6540 IMG_6542 IMG_6446Purple Swamphens

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Scarlet Robins

 

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Brown Honeyeater

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Splendid Fairy-wrens (vivid males and duller females)

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Australian Wood Ducks (I think)

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Australian MagpieIMG_6438 IMG_6461

Red Wattlebird IMG_6469

Australian Wood Ducks (I think)

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Red Wattlebird IMG_6496

Australian Wood DuckIMG_6527

Red Wattlebird

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Welcome SwallowsIMG_6610

Meet The Parrots – Nallan Station, Western Australia

There are so many avian delights at Nallan Station, I will need to break them up into several posts.  Let’s start off with my favourites – the parrots!

BOURKES PARROTS

Seen mostly by Judas Well.  I have a profile on them here.

IMG_5756a IMG_5799a IMG_5980a IMG_5742aMULGA PARROTS

Also seen at Judas Well and in surrounding trees.  Note the brightly coloured male vs the duller female.

IMG_5697a IMG_5703a IMG_5762a IMG_5764 IMG_5819 IMG_5838aAUSTRALIAN RINGNECK

Found flocking with these Mulga Parrots.

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Seen near the shearing shed.  They weren’t the least bit afraid of the workers who were using some pretty noise machinery!

IMG_5852 IMG_5862a IMG_5866 IMG_5874 IMG_5879a IMG_5883a IMG_5886a IMG_5897 IMG_5903 IMG_5912See my post on Cue for more information on how to get here and Western Australia to learn how I organized this trip.

 

 

 

The Birds Of Stirling Range – Pictorial

I’ve already blogged about the Stirling Range National Park but it got too long so I saved the bird photos for this post.  Just as a reminder, here are the bird lists that have been recorded here:

Since we have the long Easter weekend coming up, over the next 4 days, I will get caught up on some bird profiles and then move on to the next stop which was Two People’s Bay.  So for now, just enjoy some of these beautiful birds!
Regent Parrot
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Galah
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Elegant ParrotIMG_5021 IMG_5024a IMG_5027a IMG_5037
Dusky Wood Swallows (I think)IMG_5044
Owlet NightjarIMG_5047 IMG_5051a
Honey-eaterIMG_5066
Elegant ParrotIMG_5069 IMG_5072
Singing Honey-eaterIMG_5074
Elegant ParrotIMG_5077 IMG_5078
Splendid Fairy-wrenIMG_5081 IMG_5084 IMG_5086
Elegant ParrotIMG_5100 IMG_5104 IMG_5105
Australian RingneckIMG_5113 IMG_5118 IMG_5126 IMG_5135
Regent ParrotsIMG_5157a IMG_5170 IMG_5173 IMG_5178a IMG_5184 IMG_5206 IMG_5213 IMG_5229
Western RosellaIMG_5261 IMG_5263 IMG_5265
Elegant ParrotIMG_5268
?IMG_5269
Elegant ParrotIMG_5270
?
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Elegant ParrotIMG_5280
Australian Owlet NightjarIMG_5285

 

Birding Foxes Lair, Narrogin, Western Australia

Foxes Lair is a small reserve on the outskirts of Narrogin, Western Australia.  It makes a perfect complement to nearby Dryandra Woodland, especially for parrot watchers.

Google Maps don’t show it but it is where I have made the yellow highlights.

Foxes Lair

It’s well worth planning both a morning visit and an afternoon visit here as you can get different birds.  I saw more Carnaby’s Cockatoos & Galahs in the morning and in the afternoon, I got my first look at Red Capped Parrots and Regent Parrots and of course more Port Lincoln Ringnecks.

Here’s a few pics of the birds I saw over 2 days.  Sorry about the silhouettes of the Carnaby’s Cockatoos, it was around 5:30am-ish!  You can see birds both on the side of the road near the caravan park opposite Foxes Lair and then drive into the reserve where there is a car park and a few trails you can follow.

You can stay in Narrogin where there are several options such as Bella’s Country Place (where we stayed-my review), Albert Facey Motel & Narrogin Motel.

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Dryandra Woodland, Western Australia

Dryandra Woodland offers amazing birding only a couple hours drive from PerthUse your miles to get here and then hire a car so you can explore this beautiful park on your own.

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Although you could visit Dryandra Woodland as a day trip from Perth, I highly recommend staying a night or two here so you can visit all the water holes and birding areas.  You can stay either in the park or in Narrogin, about a half hour’s drive from Dryandra.

The Lion’s Dryandra Village has the advantage of being right inside the park so no commuting and you can easily do the night tour at Barna Mia.  You do need to be completely self-sufficient and bring your own food and bed linens.

IMG_4587 IMG_4588 IMG_4590Otherwise you can stay in the closest town of Narrogin where there are several options such as Bella’s Country Place (where we stayed-my review), Albert Facey Motel & Narrogin Motel.

The official park website has a brochure you can download.  I have marked some prime birding location in yellow on the screenshot below.  The Old Mill Dam was the best place, I personally saw several Western Rosellas, Australian Ringnecks, Rainbow Bee-eaters and more (see bird list links below).

Dryandra birding spots

The bird list is very impressive and Frank O’Connor’s website has some great location details complete with co-ordinates for your GPS.  Eremaea also has a bird list for Dryandra Woodland.

Here are some photos I took at Dryandra Woodlands.

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Australian Ringneck

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Common Bronzewing

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Scarlet Robin wants a bath

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Some New Holland Honey-eaters join in.

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TBD

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Western Rosellas wait for the chance to drink.  I was really happy to see them after I saw a video that they were disappearing.

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Although this Ringneck didn’t approach too close to the Rosellas, they still flew off when he was joined by others.  It’s clear the Ringneck is the dominating species.

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The Kookaburra wasn’t fazed by the Ringnecks at all or vice-versa.

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Rainbow Bee-eaters put on a great show diving down for a drink and quick bath.

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Willie Wagtails were everywhere!

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A few kangaroos came down for a drink.

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More Bee-eaters

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Australian Magpies were also everywhere!

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More Australian Ringnecks

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Australian Ringneck Parrots

Australian Ringneck Parrots have been divided in to 4 subspecies.  The best way to tell them apart in the wild is by the colour of the hood and where you are in Australia.  Port Lincoln Parrots and Twenty-eight Parrots both have the darker blue hood but the Port Lincoln has more yellow on their bellies whereas the Twenty-eight’s belly is green.  You are most likely to see them in Western Australia where they are very common, you can even see them in King’s Park, Perth!   The Mallee & Cloncurry Ringnecks have the light blue-ish green hoods and the Cloncurry’s belly is yellow and they don’t have a red band over their beak.

Port Lincoln Parrot

Port Lincoln Parrot (Barnardius z. zonarius) – Found from Port Lincoln in the south east to Alice Springs in the north east, and from the Karri and Tingle forests of South Western Australia up to the Pilbara district.

Mallee Ringneck Parrot

Mallee Ringneck (Barnardius zonarius barnardi) – Found in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria

Twenty Eight Parrot

Twenty-eight Parrot (Barnardius zonarius semitorquatus) – Found in the south western forests of coastal and subcoastal Western Australia.

Cloncurry Parrot

Cloncurry Parrot (Barnardius zonarius macgillivrayi) – Found from the Lake Eyre basin in the Northern Territory to the North gulf of Queensland.

Range Australian Ringneck Parrots

 OTHER SOURCES FOR AUSTRALIAN RINGNECK PARROTS

Birdlife Australia

Birds in Backyards

World Parrot Trust Mallee Ringneck

World Parrot Trust Port Lincoln Parrot

Wikipedia

AUSTRALIAN RINGNECKS IN ACTION