Recent Travels

Northern Australia
(Birding in Northern Territory and Cape York)
October & early November 2007

• This was my fifth visit to Australia, bringing my total time there to five months, though my first experience of the Top End and Cape York. As England had knocked Australia out of the Rugby World Cup a week beforehand we made a conscious effort not to mention rugby, but it was not easy!
  
  Northern Territory - Flew into Darwin and hire car south and west via Pine Creek, Katherine and Victoria River Crossing, as far west as Timber Creek. Best new birds for me included Hooded Parrot, Northern Rosella, Black-breasted Buzzard, Oriental Plover, Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, Masked and Star Finches, plus Gouldian Finch; the latter difficult to find so late in the ‘dry’, or that was my experience. Hooded Parrot was found at both Pine Creek and Chinaman Creek, though more at latter site. Good views of Freshwater Crocodile at Katherine Sewage Works. Mangrove Grey Fantail at Palmerston Sewage Works, south of Darwin with Mangrove Robin on nearby river bank with Rainbow Pitta at Howard Springs; latter species surprisingly easy if you go quietly. While up in this part of Australia it’s important to bear in mind some authorities now split White-browed Robin, Poecilodryas superciliosa, birds in the Northern Territory and northwest Queensland being known now as Buff-sided Robin, Poecilodryas cerviniventris. Within the Top End almost the only finches seen (other than Double-barred and Crimson) were at Timber Creek; Masked and Star Finches on the road down to Policeman’s Point. Again I assumed this was linked to it being late in the dry.
  
  Returned to Darwin via Kakadu and Fog Dam areas. Highlights of this section included Banded Fruit Dove, at Nourlangie, and White-browed Crake, at Fog Dam, plus the whole Yellow Waters experience, including the Saltwater Crocodiles. Disappointments included the fact that the road out to Waterfall Creek and the escarpment were said to be too bad for non-4x4’s at that time, so we missed Chestnut-quilled Rock-Pigeon, having already failed to find White-quilled Rock-Pigeon and Sandstone Shrike-thrush at Victoria River.
  
  Cape York – Flew Darwin to Cairns early morning and two nights thereabouts before being picked up by Ben Blewitt of Cassowary Tours (www.cassowarytours.com.au) for the trip up Cape York, as far as Iron Range National Park; two days driving up and five in the rainforest, before flying back to Cairns. The 10k luggage limit on the light aircraft meant we left surplus luggage with friends in (expensive) Port Douglas beforehand, but could not camp on their lawn because of Saltwater Crocodiles in garden. Australia is always interesting!
  
  Two nights at Musgrove and a day in the Lakefield National Park added the first of the Cape York specials, including Golden-shouldered Parrot and Black-backed Butcherbird, plus Square-tailed Kite on the way up and fantastic view of Red Goshawk. Black-throated Finch was surprisingly numerous. Our Iron Range accommodation was close to the rainforest and coast, with Fawn-breasted Bowerbird and Noisy Pitta in garden and Frigatebirds from window. Main highlights of this part of the trip included Palm Cockatoo, Eclectus and Red-cheeked Parrots, Black-winged Monarch, Magnificent Riflebird, Trumpet Manucode, Green-backed Honeyeater, Rufous Owl, the easy-to-hear but hard-to-see Chestnut-breasted Cuckoo and the stunning Yellow-billed Kingfisher. Also of interest was the red-faced marshalli race of Double-eyed Fig-Parrot, which I was later able to compare with the less well marked macleayana race in Cairns.
  
  Although not my first time in rainforest it had lost none of its fascination, plus the very real threat of some serious snakes, both there and in the nearby dry country, added a sense of occasion; those snakes we saw dead on the road were an impressive size. As always, getting there was a major part of the overall experience, which was made all the better by Ben’s intimate knowledge of both the habitat and the bird species involved. But even without the birds any trip up Cape York is an experience in its own right.
  
  Back in Cairns we fitted in a day’s trip to the Great Barrier Reef, opting for the further-out Michaelmas Cay where I picked up breeding Brown Booby, Sooty Tern, Black-naped Tern and Common Noddy, plus a single Black Noddy; having already had breeding Bridled Tern close inshore up Cape York. All of which was topped off by a male Cassowary accompanied by three small young up at Kuranda and all of which took my Australian bird list just past 500.

Coto Donana, Spain
(Ringing)
September 2006

• A two week trip to this world-famous area, at the invitation of and working with local ringers. Special birds handled included Red-necked Nightjar, Iberian Chiffchaff, Zitting Cisticola (better know to some of us still as Fan-tailed Warbler), Orphean Warbler and Bonelli’s Warbler, with larger numbers of Pied Flycatcher (far larger numbers), Sardinian Warbler, Melodious Warbler, Savi’s Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler, plus some really ‘macho’ looking male Redstarts.
  
  Ringing this far south in Europe you get the opportunity to handle first-year individuals that have undergone a full moult, unlike their more northern counterparts which will normally have undergone only a partial renewal. Included in this are most of the Carduelis finches plus Blue and Great Tits, whilst by the time they have traveled that far south some migrant species, e.g. Pied Flycatcher, have advanced their moult beyond what we are used to seeing in the UK.
  
  Meanwhile, other species were doing their best to distract from the main purpose, not least the local group of Azure-winged Magpies (none of which were trapped) and a seemingly endless passing sequence of surprisingly vociferous Booted Eagles, of both colour phases. However, bird of the trip perhaps was an adult Spanish Imperial Eagle flying low over the ringing site two days before I left.
  
  I took the car down to the Coto, leaving Calais around 10am and sleeping in the vehicle for a couple of hours that night on the French side of the Pyrenees, before pushing on down past Madrid and arriving in El Rocio around 5pm. The drive back seemed even easier. I left El Rocio around 5.30 am and slept overnight in a surprisingly comfortable transport hotel in the mid-Pyrenees, where I arrived around 4pm. By 7.00 next morning I had crossed into France and was on the quayside at Calais by 7pm. I kept well to the west of Paris, via Bordeaux, Tours, Le Man and Rouen – the only non-dual carriageway section now from Calais all the way to the Spanish border is the short section around Rouen’s suburbs, which is surprisingly straightforward, if hardly scenic!

Wadi Rum Protected Area, Jordan
(Migrant Raptor & Sooty Falcon Survey)
Middle weeks of September 2005

• Primary purpose was monitoring numbers and frequency of migrant raptors passing through this still near pristine piece of desert country, and to pass on such information as might enable local park staff to continue this work in future years. But as luck would have it (or not have it) few birds were observed moving during much of this period, consequently the three of us Brits and two Park staff found ourselves with time on our hands. Which was fortuitous because although Sooty Falcon was already known to breed locally we very soon began to suspect substantially more pairs might be involved than was previously suspected.
  
  Deciding distances between sites is difficult in this habitat, mainly because light conditions make any visual assessment of distances next to useless. In addition to which although many Sooty Falcons seemed to be present, apparently mostly in pairs, few appeared to be breeding. However we did spend a great deal of time beneath one nest containing two rapidly growing young. No words can do justice to the experience of sitting in such a beautiful, but eerily silent place sipping extremely sweet Bedouin tea, whilst watching the male Sooty Falcon appear almost miraculously overhead and hear his excited screams as he summonsed the female to accept his latest hard won offering. Most of the time we were unable to identify prey involved but on at least one occasion he was seen (and photographed) bringing in a Corn Crake, though with obvious difficulty!
  
  In total, 20 or so pairs of Sooty Falcons may have been present within the protected area at that time. If these are in fact breeding, or potentially breeding pairs, then this would appear to be an important site (and the most northerly among important sites) for this species; though Wadi Rum’s position on the border with neighbouring Saudi Arabia means this is perhaps hardly surprising. The difficulty in coming to terms with this population is at least partly explained by the fact that getting around the Protected Area is far from easy and relies for the most part on the cooperation of the Park staff – the sand is deep and difficult to drive in and the whole area is extremely hot.
  
  A total of 66 bird species were seen in and around the Protected Area, best of which, probably, were Sinai Rosefinch (often encountered) and a female Cinereous Bunting that seemed quite settled and remained at least until I left, plus the occasionally encountered Hooded Wheatear and a single record of Red-rumped Wheatear. Most bizarre record of the trip by far, however, involved a single feather found well within the main desert area, which we were confidently able to accept as a blue and white upper wing covert from Eurasian Jay.