Fitzgerald River National Park – Stunning Scenery But No Western Ground Parrots

I knew it was a longshot but had to give it a go anyways.  Fitzgerald River National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 419 kilometres southeast of Perth.  It was once one of the last two remaining habitats for Western Ground Parrots but recent surveys have failed to locate any here, leaving Cape Arid as the last remaining habitat.

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FRNP can be approached via Albany and Bremer Bay in the west, Jerramungup and Ravensthorpe in the north and Hopetoun in the east.  The only accommodation inside the actual park are campgrounds.  If you want a roof over your head, you will need to stay in one of the towns just outside the park border.  Most of the roads within the park are 4wd track only but the Hamersley Drive from Hopetoun is suitable for normal cars.

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There is a nice picnic ground at Four Mile Beach with beautiful sea views.  Culham Inlet is a good spot for water birds.  A full bird list can be found hereFees are payable at the unmanned entrance via an honesty box.  You pay and tear off a receipt to display on your window.

The southern portion of Hamersley Drive is a sealed road that winds along a beautiful part of the coast between the park’s eastern boundary and Hamersley Inlet. This drive will take you to all the main recreation sites in the south-eastern corner of the park: Four Mile Beach, Barrens BeachBarrens Lookout, East Mount Barren, East Mylies, Mylies Beach, Cave Point and West Beach. – See more at: http://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/fitzgerald-river#sthash.GZi9Iv2e.dpuf

I didn’t get very many shots here but here’s a few!

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Esperance & Cape Arid National Park

If you are hoping to see the endangered Western Ground Parrot, Cape Arid is one of two places they have been seen historically albeit with extreme difficulty.  It’s always best to check with Friends of the Western Ground Parrot before heading out there.

The park is accessed via Esperance, Western Australia which is pretty easy to get to by either a long road trip from Perth or short flight with SkyWest.

Skywest

Esperance

ESPERANCE

Although there are two hotel chains represented here (Best Western & Choice), using them is not the best use of your points.  If you have points burning a hole in your pocket:

Comfort Inn Bay of Isles – CHOICE – 25,000 points.

Best Western Hospitaity Inn Esperance – BEST WESTERN – 16,000 points.

Personally, I think Esperance has better options if you go indie and earn points with Pointshound.  Save your Choice points for Europe and earn some airline miles with United or another program of your choice.

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More options are available on Wotif.com.

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VISITING CAPE ARID

No matter how you get to Esperance, you will need a 4WD vehicle to visit Cape Arid and drive on any of its tracks.

Cape Arid

You can download the whole park brochure PDF from DEC.  The only accommodation in the park is rough camping.  There are some gas BBQs but you will need to be self-sufficient.  If you don’t wish to camp, you can stay in Esperance and make an evening trip out to Cape Arid.  The day trips cater for whale watchers so you would need to organize a special trip if you are hoping to see Western Ground Parrots which are most active at dusk.  This group camped out for a few days but managed to see a few Western Ground Parrots in Cape Arid.

According to Eremaea you can see these birds in Cape Arid:

Sooty Oyster-catcher, Pacific Gull, Great Crested Tern, Rock Parrot, Blue Breasted Fairy Wren, New Holland Honeyeater, White-browed scrub-wren, Welcome Swallow, Silver-eye.

 

 

Western Ground Parrot (Pezoporus flaviventris)

Western Ground Parrot

The Western Ground Parrot (Pezoporus flaviventris) is an endangered species of parrot endemic to Western Australia and is a close relative of the Eastern Ground Parrot (P. wallicus) and the somewhat more distantly related and mysterious Night Parrot (Pezoporus occidentalis).  It is one of the world’s rarest birds with about 110 individuals remaining so it won’t be easy to see them in the wild.  Not only are they rare, they are extremely well camouflaged.

The nearest international airport is Perth in Western Australia and you can get there with frequent flier miles if you plan well in advance.  From Perth, you need to hire a car and get to one of the two habitats left to these extremely rare parrots – Fitzgerald River or Cape Arid National Parks.

Western Ground Parrot Habitat

This blog has a very interesting account of a survey group who were lucky enough to see them.  You can also find more information on the World Parrot Trust website and Birdlife Australia.  You can also follow them on Facebook and read the Friends of the Western Ground Parrot for the most up-to-date information.

This is a great video about Western Ground Parrots.  Embedding has been disabled so you have to view it on YouTube.  And this other video features a Western Ground Parrot up close and personal.