In an inspired move, they decided in the 1990s to preserve this large area of bushland, near the coast, about 15km north east of Perth city. It is named after the longest serving Town Clerk of Perth.

Again, birds were fairly hard to come by despite the lovely varied forest. Still managed to capture a few in action.

Red-tailed Black Cockatoos – these looked like kiddies and seemed to be calling for the big people to come back.

This young Rainbow Lorikeet was hiding deep in the bushes for a preening session.

The White-cheeked Honey-eater was particularly photogenic against the white and yellow of the banksia.

A first sighting, this time of a Striated (black headed) Pardalot, race Substriatus.

There were lots of Brown Honey-eaters, so luckily we finally identified the one that hangs around this garden.

This Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike certainly was going to make sure the poor caterpillar was real dead – I mean there is nothing worse than eating a live one is there.

Finally a couple still to be positively identified (although i suspect the last one is a baby Striated Pardalote).

 Michael Monaghan

11 April 2018

Drove out along various “great” something highways, an acknowledgement that the distances here are immense, to York, the first inland European settlement in Western Australia.  It dates back to 1826, but the earliest buildings are mid 19thC. Still, there is much history in them there parts.

In the John Forrest National Park and at the last of the great railway dams, Lake Leschenaultia, the birds were all on an RDO. However on the Avon River (pronounced with a short ‘a’ as in ‘apple’, not, as you would expect, the long ‘a’ as in Avon) in both York and Northam there were a few new birds. The Avon is effectively the upper reaches of the Swan.

These hoary-headed grebe were in their breeding caps.

The very young Northern Mallard is just starting to show the green in the top of the head. They are not commonly found in Australia, and in Western Australia, are only found around Perth itself.

My first sighting of Black Winged Stilts was on the Avon at Northam. Dad is saying to mum, hang on, here comes junior.

Michael Monaghan

10 April 2018

Nothing a cockatoo likes more than those gum nuts. A flock got stuck into a tree across the road – some of the tree is still there!

The male has black head and black beak with a very bright under tail. The female is a duller black, with specks over the head and shoulders, and an orange black barred undertail.

 

 

The one getting cleaned up looks like a juvenile female.

Certainly weird looking critters, and the description of cacophonous falls well short of the noise.

Michael Monaghan

9 April 2018

Pretty quiet in the park today. We didn’t see many different birds but there were two birds I have not seen before.

First, the Western Wattle Bird, bereft of a wattle:

Then the White Cheeked Honeyeater, which was very similar to the New Holland Honeyeater, but with no “chest hairs” and a much bigger white circle below the eyes:

Wally here shows how well camouflaged they are.

 Brown Honeyeaters are widespread but I haven’t seen them before:

 

 

Also the Western Corella is unique to just around Perth and south east of here. The jury is out on whether it is a little corella – but my expert friend says it is so the jury may well have to yield.

 

Not so newly sighted were the ubiquitous Rainbow Lorikeet:

Also plenty of the Laughing (Turtle) Doves, unique to just this tiny corner of WA:There were many bushes in flower, especially many types of banksia:

 

 

Lastly our own garden visitor, a brown honey-eater. It almost never deviates on its visit – in from the bushes about 20 metres away, always lands first on this plant hanger, then grabs some insects from under the shade cloth, then heads to some closer bushes on the side and back through the bushes to the starting point.

 

 

Michael Monaghan

April 7, 2014

 

Perhaps fortuitously, my planned boat trip got cancelled for want of sufficient numbers (I guess they heard I would be on it), so I drove out to Cape Le Grand. Fantastic place and would have been a shame to have  missed it.

The first thing was the bush, which was like a massive bonsai garden. The undercarpet was generally only about 500cm high, and was dense and varied. Then the highest trees were between 1.5 and 2 metres high, generally with clean trunks and clipped leaf –  as per bonsai.

 

Not far into the park you come right under the Frenchman’s Cap. It is quite a monolith, 267 m high, with a natural bridge structure under the back of the “cap”.

Lucky Beach was named by Matthew Flinders ,when he sheltered there in a big storm in 1802.  He normally went out to sea in storms, but this time decided he was too close to shore so took a punt (history doesn’t record if it was a flat punt or a drop punt) on what looked like a nice sheltered bay. As luck would have it, he was well able to call it Lucky Bay. He survived and it is indeed incredibly picturesque.

 

The sand is not crustaceous material like most beaches, but quartz sand. It crunches when you walk on it. Some,who clearly have never been to Wineglass Bay on the east coast of Tasmania, say it is the whitest sand in Australia. It must be accepted it is a close call.

Rossiter Bay is a bit further east and more secluded. I was driving my very generous friends’ Prado, so I chose to take the advice on the sign, as not recovering their vehicle seemed a good way to not be their friends. If I had had my own vehicle I would have, well, followed the advice on the sign and stayed back.

Headed back to Thistle Bay, which is west of Lucky Bay. I don’t know the origin of the name, but I assume a committee sat on it! (apologies to Yes Minister)

The rocks at this area were quite dramatic and well carved by the wind and storms – some even looked like artworks.

Hellfire Beach presumably has its days, being narrow and rock edged, so I imagine the surge of a storm would be accentuated by the narrow long passage,but it was serene today.

The most western beach in the Park is Le Grand Beach. It is much more open and, indeed, grander than the others.

Many of the rocks were clearly animals turned to stone for some ancient misdemeanour and even Chewbacca was there..…without the gun.

This is clearly a Vogon, fingers entwined on its grotesque stomach, about to intone the worst poetry in existence as punishment on Ford Prefect.

And it wouldn’t take more than a few facial dabs to turn this into the critter hidden inside.

When Flinders stopped over here it was for 4 days. No doubt much was spent swimming and sunbathing.  The botanist did find time to gather some plant samples, over 130, of which over 100 were unknown to the Europeans at the time.

All in all a fascinating area. There is a lot of new well structured infrastructure (roads, parking, trails, campgrounds, and bbqs)

Michael Monaghan

5 April 2018

I walked out along the Kepwari Trail, running along Woody Lake, and also to Lake Monjingup, about 10 km north of Esperance. Haven’t yet seen any of the birds unique to this area and the hides were, in both cases, quite a way from where the birds would be likely to be.

Still here we go. Ah yes, the more observant will note these are not birds. But they attract birds, well except for the dead cone. Die-back is a huge problem in southern West Australia, and many places have brushes and shoe sole sprays.

 

Australasian Ibis were found in abundance at Kepwari, as were Yellow Billed Spoonbills. (which unlike their Royal cousins seem very concerned about being in the open).

 

The shags, ooops I meant, Welcome Swallows, were the subject of their own blog. Still, an encore seems appropriate.

 

A bit of excitement thinking this was the first time i had seen a Blue-Billed Duck, but turns out it is a Hardhead (the white eye is the key).

There were lots of Hoary-Headed Grebes.

 

And the omnipresent White Faced Heron.

Late afternoon I drove out to Monjingup Reserve, about 10 km north of Esperance. There were substantial new structures which suggest they want to get school groups out there – to be lost there perhaps? Whatever this red treat was, it was much appreciated by the junior raven.

 

Most other birds too far away, but there were Black-fronted Dotterels over there:

and this fella which my expert friend picked as a young Wattlebird – again the eyes (sic) have it, with the red eye being the key.

Michael Monaghan

3 April 2018

 

Near Albany, WA, are some rugged and spectacular formations of Gneiss (pronounced Nice) which is a metamorphic rock formed when massive pressure (the Antarctic and Australian plates colliding) turns the granite underneath and converts it to magma. Then the magma is forced into the Granodiorite forming thin patterned layers. Something like that anyway. Whatever, the effect is indeed spectacular. I took these photos there on 28 March 2018.

The Gap, as it is known, is now approached with another engineering marvel in the form of a storm proof metal walkway and hangover. In the good old days, insane young lads impressed their new wives by getting as far out into mortal peril as possible to take an unforgettable photo of the loved one. No names, no pack drill.   It is a seriously murderous spot, and I reckon you would last about half the way down, which is just as well, because hitting that water would be like being slapped with a cement roller.

The engineering is awesome.

Nearby is a natural bridge formation, wrought by millenia of pounding of the waves. One day in the 70s (of course), a lad thought it would be a good idea to pop down to the base rock and take a picture of the massive foaming seas – as you would. Much to everyone’s surprise, except probably Neptune, a wave did come in and before he could say Kodak, he found himself being sucked way below, then shot out to the surface hundreds of metres out to sea. Even more astonishingly, Neptune must have thought he was a kid with promise because he somehow stayed afloat till a very dangerous rescue was achieved. Not one to rely on precedent, I took these photos from behind the fence, with the big sign saying something to the effect: mortal danger, don’t be a moron, stay behind the fence which may well be here for a purpose!

Great spot. No doubt which way the wind comes:

Michael Monaghan

 

It is correctly promoted as one of the west’s most spectacular and picturesque coastlines.

Nearby, and as luck would have it, to the west of the town, is West Beach:

From the Rotary Lookout there are 360 degree views. Frenchman Cap, named by Andrew Forrest in 1870 no doubt after the 1446 m Frenchmans Cap in the Franklin west coast wilderness area of Tasmania; and Cape Le Grande (see Observatory Point for nomenclature history) are the stand outs.

 

Twilight Bay was the most beautiful of the western beaches. Shallow and crystal clear, it was largely surrounded by giant boulders, replete with youths a frolicking. The Great Whites don’t come in to the semi-enclosed area apparently, because they can just wait outside for carefree youths to plummet from the boulders.

The redoubtable french explorers, Antoine D’Entrecausteaux (sailing the Recherche) and Huon de Kermadec (sailing the Esperance – yes you know what is coming) sheltered leeward of this Island, which they named, in a storm on 12 December 1792. They were on their way back after naming half of south eastern Tasmania, so what better to do whilst leewarding out the storm, than to name everything they could see here. The ship’s botanist (guess what his name was) wanted to call the bay La Baie LeGrande, but D’Entrecausteaux thought that an inappropriate play on female and male forms of “the”, so he called it Esperance, after his beloved ship. Lt Cretin (yes he was on board) didn’t really understand Antoine’s objection, but was happy when the big rocky thing they observed got named after LeGrande.

Not sure if they named the reef out in mid-water cunningly designed to take out the unwary.

Matthew Flinders, and his cat, were mightily peeved at all the french names and he did his best to anglicise those he understood. Espairauhnce might as well be Esprance, he hoped.

It is a very rugged coastline,  again featuring the metamorphic gneiss formed on the collision of the Antarctic and Australian plates a few years ago. I have tried to capture the power of the swirling ocean.

Michael Monaghan

4 April 2018

 

Sitting, as is de rigeuer, quietly in the bird hide on the Kepwari Trail, running along the Woody Lake, in Esperance, I noticed what emerged to be a female Welcome Swallow engaged in many minutes of careful thorough preening.

Whether in preparation, or enticement, next thing it was Wham, Bam……

… thank you, ma’am.

Michael Monaghan

3 April 2018

Great trip on the Kalgan River Queen.  Guide Jack’s family had run this cruise for many years. He was very knowledgeable and good company.

It seems that we can thank the english vs french antagonism for the name “Kalgan”. Ironically, it has a deliciously french element of insult to it. Gov Stirling had a healthy dislike for the French and decided to re-name all those naughty french type names. The word Kalga is an aboriginal word for a type of frog!

Jack and his family had saved many pelicans from entanglement with fishing lines and the like, and several followed us for much of the trip. A pelican and her daughter had both learned to dance around in a circle to get a treat.

 

We felt welcome thanks to dozens of Welcome Swallows. This one was making sure he knew what size fish he could catch.

Squawking and crashing tree pieces led us to a flock of Carnaby’s Cockatoos, my first ever sighting of  these.

At the Sound end of the Kalgan River were several families of Australasian Darters. The females are whiter with a yellowish bill, and the males have much more dark feathers. The one with some black on the chest I gather is a young male.

 

Down this end too, with the mudflats running up out of the Sound, Great Egrets stood majestically waiting for the fish to come to them.

The imaginatively named Black Cormorants also frequented down here.

Further up the river, dozens of Australasian (known locally as “sacred”) white Ibis sprawled through the trees, celebrating their recent status as Australia’s most popular birds.

 

Then we were up into bird of prey territory. The White-bellied Sea Eagles and Osprey knew the boat and that there would be fish to be had – albeit dead fish.

They didn’t have it all their own way, with the gulls quite happy to risk torture and death to nick the fish. You get a sense of the takeoff speed!

 

The Ospreys also enjoyed chasing dead fish.

Back out in the Sound, there was one of the few genuine Pelican rookeries on this side of the country.

These Western Grey Kangaroos have evolved in an interesting way. Some years ago, the owner of the land told the cullers not to kill any kangaroo with a white spot on its forehead. Now a significant number have a white spot.

Thanks to Jack and the Kalgan River Queen. A great trip.

 

Michael Monaghan