Date : 17th. Jan 2010
Time: 6:00 am – 10:30am
Air temperature 26.3 ° Centigrade. Overcast and slight rain.
Participants : Steve, Sara and Musa.
Birdwatching track 17 Jan 2010
It was an early start, by the time I arrived at the Guardhouse, Sara was already waiting. Steve arrived not long afterwards. The three of u made up the paltry crew for AWC at Curtin University. It was slightly drizzling this being landas season and all. We jumped into Steve's car and headed to our target area. A short distance away, a Long-tailed Nightjar was still calling.
Still dark.
The sunrise was rather dull, muted and windy. The wind, coming from the thick-clouded area predicted rain.
Some waders by the water's edge.
We walked quietly in quick measured steps to the area we sighted some ducks among other waterbirds during last year's AWC. We could hear the White-browed Crake calling, mocking us from his hiding place.
There were already several waders standing in the shallows. One initially looked like a Greenshank, but we weren't able to positively id it due to the still relatively low light conditions. A bit later we counted almost 30 waders of mixed flock in the small pool water. The majority of them were Wood Sandpiper, several plovers ie. Pacific Golden Plover. There was also one Intermediate Egret among them.
Out at the reed end two Wandering Whistling Duck flew out. On the other end of the reed a Common Moorhen was standing by the side of another duck. Some sparrows were flying around us. From the southeast suddenly flew in an Oriental Darter, it flew right above our heads. We sensed that rain was near and made a quick dash to the car before the deluge.
Oriental Darter in flight.
We stayed in the car for a while waiting for the rain to pass, and later decided to move southeast. We entered another area and found several Pacific Golden Plover. We scanned the lakes but did not see any other birds.
Black-winged Kite, 8 birds were seen in the area!
We went out of the area and drove to another location east of the ASEAN Bridge. There we saw a few White-breasted Waterhen. On the way in we could hear a barbet calling. There were a few birds of prey circling the area but we weren't able to positively id them. We went back to Curtin Lakes.
Wandering Whistling Duck in the reeds.
When we got back to the lakes, the notice a quiet absence of birds. Not far from where we stood, two men were casting fishing nets by the water's edge.
Locals trying their luck catching fish near the lake.
We decided to check out the Curtin University compound, several small lakes were retained during the construction of Curtin campus. Along the side of the road we saw several Tri-coloured Munia, two Spotted Dove and two Richard's/Paddyfield Pipit. There were also several Wood Sandpiper.
Pacific Golden Plover.
An unidentified raptor.
A Blue-throated Bee-eater.
We went over to the east side of Curtin. There we saw Common Snipe. These birds were so wary and cautious, seeing them takes some patience. Sara went out of the car and move to the other side of the field to flush them our way. We made several successful pictures of the snipe.
Wood Sandpiper.
Over to the eastern part of Curtin compound, we found several more Pacific Golden Plovers, Wood Sandpiper and Common Sandpipers. Pacific Swallow and Tri-coloured Munia were also present.
Wood Sandpiper.
Grey Wagtail.
Pacific Golden Plover.
Wood Sandpiper.
Grey Wagtail.
Our birdlist for the morning:
1. Wood Sandpiper
2. Wandering Whistling Duck
3. Common Moorhen
4. Oriental Darter
5. Intermediate Egret
6. Purple Heron
7. Pacific Golden Plover
8. White-browed Crake
9. Common Sandpiper
10. Green Pigeon
11. Common Iora
12. Pied Triller
13. Black-winged Kite (10 in total)
14. Yellow-vented Bulbul
15. Little Egret
16. White-breasted Waterhens
17. Pacific Swallow
18. Tri-colored Munia
19. Ashy Tailorbird
20. Striated Grassbird
21. Barn Swallow
22. Spotted Dove
23. Peaceful Dove
24. White-breasted Woodswallow
25. Blue-throated Bee-eater
26. Richard's/Paddyfield Pipit
27. Common Snipe (??)
28. Pied Fantail
29. Yellow Wagtail (20)
30. Grey Wagtail
31. Little Ringed Plover
We left the area by 10:30hrs.
Musa Musbah, Jan 2010
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