SW WA Inland Forest - Shannon National Park Area

Still a bit behind with the blog, but I have had a few weeks of holiday and a fair bit of photo selection and editing has been going on. So once again, I will dare to say that there should be more (old) news arriving at these pages fairly soon. I will look into the possibility of being much more ruthless and cut closer to the bone when publishing my ramblings, so who knows, I might catch up at some point in the next few years. Inland the south western corner of WA is not too shabby either! Great rain fall and protected from the wind, it feels like you can grow anything there in great volumes. We had some close encounters with a wonderful tightly packed walnut tree full of fresh nuts. Very different in taste from the dried version, which I have consumed during long dark Christmas nights in Denmark - A little search on the internet reveals that it should be fairly simple to grow a walnut tree in Denmark ... slightly harder to make it bear fruit, but probably worth a try(?) Going into winter is not the optimal time for birding the inland forest of SW WA. However, trees are much more reliable than the feathered inhabits and of all places, this probably the best place to see many of the hugely impressive eucalyptus species at their finest, in particular the Karri, Eucalyptus diversicolor, native to the area. A few birds were around though and they seemed fairly relaxed about my presence. I am particular happy with the bird in flight shot of the (White-tailed) Black-Cockatoo and the close up of the Scarlet Robin.

Short-billed Black-Cockatoos in The Hills East of Perth

Short-billed (White-tailed) Black-Cockatoo aka Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo is one of the endemic birds of Western Australia. It is not as difficult to find as its very similar Long-billed cousin (aka Baudin's Black-Cockatoo) and every time I have seen them, there has been a good size flock of them. This early morning in the hills east of Perth I was particular lucky spotting in total more than 50 cockatoos foraging the tree tops in small groups, giving very little attention to the shutter pressing, big smiling Dane running around down on the ground - What a great bird!


Conditions were absolutely fantastic, cold crisp morning air and since the birds did not mind me, I was free to walk around under the trees getting the best angle for the photos. Great start to a big day.

It is a peaceful place up in the hills away from all the shenanigans of the city, so peaceful that even the birds are more relaxed. I have seen Common Bronzewing many times, but usually I find them very difficult to approach without scaring them away. The male above, however, allowed me in close - who is watching who?

I have to include a kangaroo once and a while - at least for my international readers :-D and to remind myself of how different it is down under. I have lived down here for nearly 5 years and once and a while it is good to remember some of the things that stunned you when you arrived. I can reveal that Moreton bay fig and Australian White Ibis are on the list for a fresh off the plane Dane walking the Sydney parks.


After some excellent birding I decided to change to the macro lens and take a closer look. I am quite happy with the insect in flight shot above - if just the bee had turned around! ;-)

All good, great morning - temperature had started rising and it was looking like another warm day in WA, we were heading further inland for one of the most quirky ticks around: Mute Swan in Northam.

South-West of Western Australia - All The Rest - Wildlife

I have never been to WA without seeing a snake. After dipping on Rottnest I was getting afraid that this trip would end that record streak, however that scare only lasted until the little cutie above crossed our path - literally! :-) Western Crowned Snake Elapognathus coronatus, good tick I have never seen that one before. There is a great blog entry about the WCS here.

The coastal woodlands down south of WA proved excellent habitat for spotting reptiles. Despite only using little time we also managed to bag another Shingleback Tiliqua rugosa or as the locals call it "bobtail".

Our time down south was running out, it had been absolutely fantastic to see this very different end of Australia. Before heading home to Perth we still had half a day so why not make something of it? We started very very early in the morning with a walk into the Shannon National Park just around the corner from our base.

Great stuff, getting out of bed just before sunrise is very rewarding, just as the sun hit the 50-70m high trees a flock of parrots came flying in. I once again have to thank the Bigma for helping to identify a leaf colored, less than 20cm long bird, jumping around approximately 60m up in some equally leafy colored trees - giving me the 10th tick of the trip ... and probably little G.'s 25th.
Purple-crowned Lorikeet

Frogs are hard to see, I have seen many more snakes during my time in Australia than frogs. Dad spotted the one above, it had just started raining and it had probably decided to use the moist conditions to see if it could find a new home. Super colors and great camouflage my best guess is that it is a so-called Motorbike Frog Litoria moorei. Trying to identify it I stumbled upon this FrogWatch homepage, which is fantastically well made and if you follow the link you can even hear why the little friend above is called a Motorbike Frog :-)

All done! Time to leave for Perth and give the (wild) sheep some tranquility. Lots of fantastic nature down in the south west corner of WA, very different from other parts of Australia that I have visited. Unfortunately we did not see all of it so I am afraid I will have to go again .. ;-)

South-West of Western Australia - Day Two

After a absolutely fantastic sleep we woke up in the middle of the forest - how cozy does that hut look? :-) After some delicious and seriously fiber rich breakfast we were ready to hit some nature. A little morning walk had already delivered a few highlights including two new species:
White-breasted Robin
Western Thornbill
The W-b Robin was all over the place, whereas it took a lot of photos of Inland Thornbills before we finally got hold of the Western.

Once again the program was action packed! The plan was to head towards Walpole and Denmark in the very south end of WA, while making sure to see what the country side had to offer on the way.


After stops at Snake Gully - where we did not see the Purple-crowned Lorikeet - and Broke Inlet - where we saw a Scarlet Robin - we finally found our self in Denmark, WA. The place of the Valley of the Giants and the Tree top walk ... and a very large Welcome to Denmark sign :-)

To be continued ...

South-West of Western Australia - Day One

After our eventful day at Rottnest it was time to hit a very different habitat. We headed down to the big tree forests in the south-west end of WA. It is quite a bit of a drive south of Perth and luckily - despite the Magna being left in Sydney - we managed to team up with some decent wheels and some very knowledgeable locals that gracefully shared a steady stream of information about the areas we were driving through.

We were in for a treat - already the first day, the program was action packed and included quite a few events that were not in the usual Lonely Planet Guide. We started out by visiting a tree plantation full of Eucalyptus Regnans. Being a mono-culture we had not expected much excitement when it came to bird life and apart from a couple of cormorants and what I though was a Pied Currawong we mostly saw trees ... However, by coincidence I took a look in the book and realized the the Pied C. was indeed a Grey C. apparently the Grey version is nearly black in the south end of WA. I have seen the Grey C. in The Budawangs (where it is actually grey!), but little G. happily took another stab at my lead.

Next stop was a visit to an avocado plantation. Quite impressive! Having myself experimented with the possibility of growing a few avocado trees in every single apartment I have lived in here in Sydney it was an eye-opener to see the real deal ... guess I will have to aim for an entirely different size of apartment next time :-)

Approaching our destination for the night there was still time for a quick visit to the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree, a so-called "climbing tree" which in the old days was used for spotting fires and giving firefighters early warnings about the development of bush fires in the region.

Dad used the opportunity to show off some climbing skills - he could have made it all the way! Nice to see an activity where it is pointed out that this can be dangerous and that you do it on your own risk, but otherwise you are left to take the decision yourself. No nanny state there :-)

After an eventful day we finally arrived at our destination. Light was dimming really fast, but during a quick little evening walk I managed to "catch" this colorful Splendid Fairy-wren.