In October of 2017, three birders went into the woods…
Two years ago I did my first “Big Day”, an attempt to see as many birds as possible in a single calendar day. I went out with Paul Coddington and managed 136 species in and around Adelaide in an unofficial twitch that we decided to do just for the hell of it.
Last year (2016) Birdlife Australia resurrected the idea of National Twitchathon that we thought might be fun to join until we realised that SA was the only state not participating, perhaps because of the weird relationship that exists (not) between Birds SA and Birdlife. No matter – I contacted Birdlife and it turned out all that was needed was a state coordinator and the job was mine if I wanted it. So I became SA National Twitchathon coordinator and Paul and I duly formed the “Gang Gang Gang” with Ady James and set about planning.
It was a name we were quite proud of except that Gang Gang Cockatoo is rarely found in SA and then only in a small pocket in the south-east nowhere near we would be birding. Not only that, but it turned out a NSW team had also thought it was a nice pun and adopted the name. We would need a new one for 2017. Names aside, 2016 was a weird year, with tons of water both inland and on the coasts. The effect of this was that many species stayed in the interior to breed and were thin on the ground around Adelaide. Compounding this was that most of the local wetlands were full of water and so unattractive to waders and crakes. We also had very little time beforehand to scout out sites, so we stuck pretty-much with the previous year’s route, with the exception that we started at Paiwalla for some easy water birds before hitting the remnant mallee in the Monarto area. We also had to shave time from each site to accommodate the 12-hour time limit. In the end we had a fun day but finished with a disappointing 116 species in the 12 hours, soundly beaten by The Lakeside Lorikeets who bagged 123.
I remained state coordinator for 2017, but until quite close the event I imagined that I would be away in Venice at the International Conference on Computer Vision and unable to participate. Not long before the conference I decided that another week away was probably not in the interests of domestic harmony and bailed on the conference. As well as scoring brownie point at home, this also opened the way for a crack at the 2017 Twitchathon: I joined forces yet again with Paul and we added Sam Gordon and Sam Matthews (who were keen to participate but had not yet formed their own team). We settled on the name “Belair Twitch Project”, in part because we fancied a diversion for the SA rarity Square-tailed Kite which have been known to breed in the hills near Belair. We also hope that by adding Sams, their luck – which we have come to know as “The Sam Factor” – will override an interesting quantum effect, the so-called “Paul Exclusion Principle”, in which Paul and a rare bird can never occupy the same point in space-time.
Our original route had us starting in Brookfield, then travelling south parallel with the River Murray to pick up most of our route from 2015. This would be even more pressured at each site, but the detailed probabilistic analysis we did (Come on! What can I say? We are scientists!) yeilded an expected value of around 150, about 10 more species than the expected score of the previous year’s route (a number we fell well short of). A week before the event I scouted Thompson Beach and found a few good wader species we would otherwise find difficult, but when I checked the tides I realised we’d be visiting with the tide several hundred metres out, greatly decreasing our chances of scoring quickly with key species.
Instead, by dropping Thompson Beach from the route, and reversing the order of our sites to travel anti-clockwise, we could pick up a reasonable tide at St Kilda Beach (increasing the chances of key birds there), cut 100km from the itinerary (and hence add an hour of birding time) and consequently add in a bit more hills birding and one or two short diversions for specific taxa.
4:15 Toorak Gardens, 0 species
My alarm goes off at 3.50 and Paul is outside my place at 4.15. By 4.30 we are on the road north to Brookfield having picked up Sam Gordon. Sadly the other member of the team, Sam Matthews, has had to drop out with less than a day to go. He’d got his day wrong and was booked to work all day Saturday. I comment that it was just as well we have realised this on Friday, and not at 4.30am wondering where he had got to!
After a coffee and quick fuel top-up (so we won’t have to waste time later in the twitch) in Nuriootpa, we are opening the gate at Brookfield at around 6.10, about 10mins before dawn.
I drive in slowly, all of us listening for species we hope to pick up on the way out (once the timer has started). It’s just as well I am travelling slowly because out of nowhere a fast-moving, big, hairy lump dashes across the road below the roo-bar and down a burrow: Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat! An Inland Thornbill sings from near the entrance and we file this potentially useful gen away. We see several Red Kangaroo but bird-wise it is pretty quiet as we trundle north, then east into the blue-bush section. A tree holds some Masked Woodswallows (estimated pre-trip as the lowest probability of the 3 possible woodswallow species) and so like the Thornbill we make a mental note of the spot hoping this will be a gimme when we retrace our path later.
6:27 Brookfield, 0 species
At about 6.20 we pull up in a good-looking section and wander a little way into the blue-bush. Sam’s keen ears pick up a song that for all the world sounds like Shy Heathwren, but mindful of a singing “Rufous Fieldwren” that Paul and I had found in the Flinders last year that turned out to be an exceedingly good impersonation by a Redthroat, I am not happy ticking this without a visual. In fact within a couple of minutes we have seen a couple of Redthroat (and no Heathwren), and we start the clock ticking at 6.27am.The reel of a fairywren is obviously White-winged, so this becomes bird number 2 of the day.
We immediately retrace our steps back to the mallee track, stopping at the woodswallow tree which is now disappointingly empty, but add easy birds Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Galah, Singing Honeyeater, and Australian Magpie. A Crested Bellbird pumps out its distinctive song before another brief stop yields more easy birds: Crested Pigeon, Willie Wagtail, and Red Wattlebird. A couple more of the mallee specialties fall before we hit the mallee proper: Yellow-throated Miner, Brown Treecreeper, Australian Ringneck.
At the first decent tract of mallee we park and walk into the bush. Almost immediately a White-fronted Honeyeater sings (and then is seen), followed by a several Mulga Parrot. A Grey Shrike-thrush warbles its sweet song and we pick up a female Hooded Robin, closely followed by a male clacking in its rather un-robin-like manner. A couple of Purple-crowned Lorikeet screech overhead (we will see and hear these incessantly later in the day at Browns Rd), White-winged Chough are conspicuous as usual, and as we follow the song of a Grey Butcherbird, we score Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, a good one to get because Brookfield is our only site. A low booming comes to my attention and the neurons click for a while before I realise we can hear a female Painted Buttonquail advertising. A visual on this would be a lifer for Paul so we trek off in the hope of running into it. We fail and cannot devote time for a proper search – I am disappointed for Paul who has now heard it both here and at Browns Rd but has repeatedly dipped on his bogie bird. Perhaps this is a manifestation of Sam Factor meets Paul Exclusion Principle — we can hear but not see it! We do find a small group of White-browed Woodswallow. The clock is ticking and we walk back to the car to explore some other parts of the park. A Rufous Songlark sings, Sam and I lock onto a couple of Chestnut-crowned Babbler and we all hear them babbling (quite different from White-browed). Before we are back in the car we also note Brown Falcon and Tree Martin and a stunning flock of 100 or more Masked Woodswallows (we quickly scrutinise as many as we can in the hope of a Black-faced, but though we try hard to string one, it’s just not happening — perhaps we are too good?) As we drive off I see three birds flying off and realise these are Black-faced Cuckooshrike.
At the Three Habitat Walk and picnic ground it is very quiet and we hear only Weebill before pressing on to the eastern edge of the park, picking up Little Raven and Nankeen Kestrel en route. We scrutinise all corvids as we go in the hope we will hear an Australian Raven call, but the only birds that vocalise are Little.
We stop at a couple of spots and walk into the mallee, finding Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Variegated Fairywren, Striated Pardalote, and Grey Currawong. A largish bird on an exposed branch as we drive along has us thinking cuckoo but by the time I have managed to stop and manoeuvre the car to a suitable spot it has dropped out of sight, still unidentified and never to be seen again. I think possibly Pallid, but we cannot count it. My instincts are given more weight when the following day in correspondence with The Lakeside Lorikeets, it turns out they also saw a large cuckoo, probably Fan-tailed or Pallid, in a similar spot, just a few minutes behind us on the track. Like use, they had untickable views.
We stop at another spot on the return part of the loop knowing we are still missing both Red-capped Robin and Splendid Fairywren. The latter is only possible here so it is imperative we find one, while the former can be found at Browns Rd, but usually take quite a bit of time there. Fortunately we score both, first hearing Red-capped Robin’s creaky door song, then Sam’s ears once again to the fore as they pick up a fairywren singing. Sam tracks it down and we all get nice views of a male and female Splendid Fairywren together. Even though I have seen these birds many times, I am still blown away every time by their amazing colour. As we drive the track another silhouetted bird on an exposed branch sees me come to a rapid halt, and we are able to add White-eared Honeyeater, a mere minute after Sam announces that this stretch is where they often see one. As we approach the last stretch of mallee another woodswallow swoops overhead and we gratefully add Dusky Woodswallow.
We are still missing some birds we had hoped for at Brookfield, but have scored with most of the ones we expected, particularly the birds we will have no chance for later in the day, and we’ve got a few we had not counted on like PBQ and White-eared HE. But there has been a price. Our schedule requires us to be leaving now, but we are still 15mins from the park entrance even if I drive rapidly and non-stop. I drive as quickly but smoothly as I can along the tracks until we reach the entrance track. Here we slow down again, and pick up Australian Pipit, and a short why down the track we are grateful to hear the down-slurred whistle of Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo, and see Southern Whiteface. Both these can also be found at Browns Rd, but are no means regular, so we are glad they are in the bag. A raptor cruising over the track is the common Black Kite, and we also find Yellow-rumped Thornbill before we really must get on, now 20 min behind schedule. Sadly we do not hear the Inland Thornbill on the way out and resign ourselves to dipping.
On the 40min run from Brookfield to Freeling along Sturt Hwy we are lucky to pick up Emu but none of the dozens of ravens we see is minded to call as we pass, so we cannot add Australian Raven, another dip for the day. My deliberately conservative travel time estimates help us here, because we have been able to recover some of the extra time we spent at Brookfield and are now only 10mins behind schedule.
Outside Freeling we quickly add trash birds Common Starling, Maned (Australian Wood) Duck, House Sparrow, and Magpie-lark, Pacific Black Duck, Grey Teal and Common Blackbird as well as our first from Black-shouldered Kite.
8:55 Freeling, 53 species
We drive through the town to Neldner Rd towards Templers. Freeling local Chris Steeles has found some Orange Chats here, well out of their normal range, but reliable enough for me to have scouted successfully the previous weekend. We immediately find several Brown Songlark and a chat flies up from the road, but disappointingly this is a White-fronted Chat – new for the day, but a gimme at Tolderol so not really needed here. Sadly we drive this stretch of road back and forth and back again, but fail to locate the O.C.s. Annoyingly I find out from Chris the next day that they are still present. We do however, get another bonus bird here – it is still fairly early and cool and we are rewarded for stopping and turning the engine off with a nearby We-Whit call of Stubble Quail. A hovering lark is clearly not Skylark from its song and we are able to verify it is Horsfield’s Bushlark by listening to the song quietly on Sam’s phone; it’s an exact match. We have added Rock Dove and Crimson (Adelaide) Rosella by the time we rock up to Pengilly Scrub.
9:35 Pengilly Scrub, 59 species
Before the Pinery fire 2 years ago, Pengilly was an amazingly rich little bushland oasis of native bush and scrub in the vast wheat-fields of the northern plains. It was decimated in the fire, but after a quiet year in 2016 it is now starting recover and attract some good birds again. Straight away we hear White-browed Babbler and see Red-rumped Parrot flying off down the track. Rainbow Bee-eater and White-plumed Honeyeater are common, but we are primarily here for neophema parrots. I saw both Elegant and Blue-winged in a very quick visit a week ago, but sadly all the neophemas we scrutinise are clearly Elegant Parrots and we cannot afford to waste more time. On the way out, I scratch a couple of nest boxes hoping an Owlet nightjar will pop its head out. I fail. But even worse, Sam (much to their own surprise) succeeds – but hasn’t checked to see if anyone else is looking. An Owlet-nightjar zips out, seen only by Sam, then disappears into a hollow somewhere else and we have to leave without this on the list. The rules are clear that more than half the team has to record the bird, so we have missed a dead cert bird through unforced error.
10:15 Roseworthy, 64 species
A mere 1 min diversion from Horrocks Hwy south on our way back to suburbia we pull in under the Roseworthy silos. A Spotted Dove makes it’s way onto the list but our real quarry is roosting on one of the silos – a cracking Peregrine Falcon – and we even see another soaring behind the silos. We also have a site at Morialta where we might see Peregrine but it is nice to have this one under the belt for virtually no effort and time lost. Before we get onto the expressway back to Adelaide we have one more minor diversion. Chris Steeles has alerted me to a long-staying Cattle Egret. We drive a short connecting road between Thiele and Sturt Highways and between the cows pick out a white blob that is indeed confirmed as Cattle Egret in the bins. We also pick up Masked Lapwing and White-faced Heron for the first time during the day.
10:40 St Kilda, 69 species.
We arrive at St Kilda pretty-much back on schedule and with a decent total building. We first scan the trees before the salt pan where a Barn Owl has been seen roosting recently but we are out of luck. At the Salt Pans we add Shelduck, and more trash birds: White Ibis, Silver Gull and Welcome Swallow. Numerous very distant Whiskered Terns are tickable but we will see many more later in the day. I’m not a fan of this spot, it’s all a bit desolate and regularly birdless, but sometimes it can produce and we have to have it in our itinerary in the hope it does, because we have no other sites for some key birds. Fortunately today our luck is in. I pull up on the bank next to the pub overlooking the beach. The tide is at an ideal spot for waders with quite a few congregated on shore. Best of all we immediately find 20 Banded Stilts and a small group of Sooty Oystercatchers. Carefully scanning by Paul reveals a single Pied Oystercatcher as well. There are tons of Black Swan here and a few Little Black Cormorants. In the scope I pick out several Greenshank on the far bank near the Stilts. We drive quickly around to the boat ramp (seeing the first of several hundred Black-tailed Nativehens for the day) and a New Holland Honeyeater. I run down to scan Barker Inlet. Fortunately in the scope I pick up a single adult Pacific Gull at the very distant far end of the groyne, about 500m away. Paul and Sam, who have found a Little Egret in the channel, come over to look through the scope and I dash over to tick the Egret.
I now make another unforced team error. There is a chance that some incredibly distant black and white cormorants might Black-faced, so I suggest a jog down the groyne. 5 mins later, heart pounding I can now make out they are simply Little Pied Cormorants – new for the day, but easy at our next sites, so 10 minutes wasted. We do find a Great Egret has joined the Little as we get back to the car. Despite my unnecessary waste of time it has been a better-than-expected haul here, and we leave really only missing Common Sandpiper which Paul saw last week.
11:25 Whites Rd Wetlands, 87 species
We have added Whites Rd wetland to this year’s itinerary because of a certain set of celebrity rarities which we hope are still about, and hope will not take too long to find – but it is a risk! However one advantage of coming here is that Fairy Martins are nesting right next to where we need to park the car, and sure enough a couple of these are wheeling about as we pull up. We scan a spot where Sam has had Latham’s Snipe a few days ago but draw a blank. Easy birds Rainbow Lorikeet, Noisy Miner, Eurasian Coot, Chestnut Teal, Australasian Grebe, Superb Fairywren, and Dusky Moorhen are all seen as we walk quickly up the side of the pond, and when we are in position to scan the degraded sedge a Musk Lorikeet flies in to the flowering gum a few metres from me.
We try a few positions scanning down into the sedge and seeing nothing, but eventually form the bike path I spy the slightest movement and can see the side strap of a female Australian Painted Snipe. I didn’t bring the scope with me so it takes a while for Paul and Sam to get on the birds, but in the end we all have tickable views and move on. From here I think it would be best to make a bee-line back to the car and cache some spare minutes for later in the day, but Sam and Paul point out that the stretch along the bike track gives us chances of accipiters, so – at the risk of falling behind schedule – we take the long route back to the car, via the bike track and second pond. In the end it is good that we do, because it brings us both of the day’s kingfishers: first we find a Laughing Kookaburra, then a short way along, on instinct, I check out a distant shape on a wire that is not quite right for starling and come up trumps with a Sacred Kingfisher, a bird I have seen at Whites Rd before but very rarely. We have no other regular site so I’d rated this only a 15% chance during the day. Also by scanning the distance I find a Pelican soaring with a group of around 7-8 Straw-necked Ibis. At the second pond Freckled Duck are easy and we also add Royal Spoonbill and Hardhead. All should appear elsewhere in our itinerary but it’s good to have them on the list already, because this could save us time later.
Back at the car there are two more birds we hope for: I run up and have one last look for Latham’s Snipe – no dice – but we drive a little way down Ryans Rd until we hear a characteristic high-pitched, up-slurred raspberry: European Greenfinch.
We have lost time at Whites Rd but did manage to pick up some good birds, so without even realising it we have gone through 100 before midday!
12:00 Magazine Rd Wetland, 109 species
It is just a short drive down Port Wakefield Rd to the Salisbury Hwy turnoff and as we pull up to the lights I think I see a compact dark raptor on wires from the corner of my eye. Fortunately I can pull off the side of the road and allow the traffic past while I wind the window down and get a visual. Great, it’s an Australian Hobby! Somewhat disbelievingly Paul and Sam also get it in their optics and confirm the ID.
We arrive at the turnoff to the wetlands, and are alarmed to see it coned off, road closed sign and a road worker guarding the entrance. I decide to chance our arm and pull in to talk to him. Fortunately he is completely reasonable and lets us drive down 200m to the small parking area from where we can explore this rich urban wetland.
Worryingly there are no cormorants on the roost where usually there are usually two, and often three species. We do find a Red-kneed Dotterel (missing for here and everywhere else last year) and easily add Pied Stilt and Hoary-headed Grebe. Sadly there is no sign of the Black-tailed Godwit that Sam found a couple of weeks earlier and has been hanging around (it’s still there at the time of writing, just not conspicuous enough on Saturday 28th!). Another reason for coming here is that over the last month Baillon’s Crake have been common and sure enough as we walk on the bund between ponds one flushes from water-logged reeds across the water and we are able to get it in bins to confirm its identity. Another good one to get here is a Yellow-billed Spoonbill, a bird we had worried was less common this year. At the top of the loop we scan the samphire for crakes and waders, finding numerous Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, some of which I try to string into Wood Sandpiper, but am rightly put in my place by the others. I make amends by picking out a smallish but tall, elegant wader – like a mini stilt – and realise we have Marsh Sandpiper for the day list, one that was very low probability on our expect list. We also locate around 10 Red-capped Plovers in the next pond.
While I continue to look for Wood Sandpiper Paul has found a Red-necked Stint. It’s distant and I do not pay sufficient attention, reasoning that it will be hard to find in the samphire and we’ll pick them up easily at Tolderol. Foolishly, then, neither Sam nor I gets onto the bird and we will not connect with another Red-necked Stint all day – big mistake!
On the walk back to the car we find some Pink-eared Ducks while scanning for elusive Musk Duck, and Paul finds a definite Wood Sandpiper (we see 2 in the end). A Whistling Kite cruises over. We leave the wetland but to get on the southbound carriageway of Port Wakefield Rd we have to head north then double back. This has the advantage of taking us close by an isolated pond south of Salisbury Hwy; I pull over onto the hard shoulder of the slip rd and as hoped, find two Great Cormorants roosting on a dead tree. A detour via O.G. Road fails to deliver a Barbary Dove, unlike my recce only 3 days earlier when they were “easy”.
13:10 Morialta Conservation Park, 120 species
We have added Morialta Conservation Park for two main species which we know will be hard elsewhere, but it proves to be very productive in other respects too, despite the fact that we rush in and out. As we drive up the entrance road I hear a Crescent Honeyeater. Paul has heard it too so we can add it to the list. At the carpark we also hear Grey Fantail and Common Bronzewing before walking directly under a Tawny Frogmouth on its nest. Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo have been thin on the ground this year, though I saw a dozen at Morialta when scouting a few days earlier, so we think this is our best chance. Fortunately we hear one calling almost immediately, and also pick up Eastern Rosella, Yellow-faced Honeyeater and White-throated Treecreeper as we walk briskly up to the fourth bridge where Sam and I regularly see White-naped Honeyeater. Sure enough there are some here. A Golden Whistler sings and we note Silvereye as we walk a bit higher up where Sam has had Scrubwrens the day before. At that spot just below the falls we dip but barely 20m lower down we stop and pish, and a White-browed Scrubwren appears on the far side of the creek. As we descend a Mistletoebird is singing, heard and indentified by Sam and Paul and which I too eventually hear.
From Morialta we drive through the eastern suburbs to connect with the SE Freeway which will take us rapidly up to Mt Lofty. We have one minor diversion planned, and call in at my house where Little Wattlebird performs as hoped, costing us less than 4 minutes overall.
We have screamed through last year’s total and are only one behind the 136 of 2015’s Big Day and we are only just beyond halfway. It’s looking good for a decent score, though we realise we will have to dump the idea of a diversion to Belair. It would yield a new bird for sure, but the combined extra drive and walk would cost us 25min.
14:00 Mt Lofty Summit / Warre Track, 135 species
Our plan for Mt Lofty was originally to have lunch and recuperate in the Botanical Gardens, but for family reasons Paul has had to pull for the plug on lunch to get home early. We head straight for the Warre Track on the southern side of Mt Lofty summit. A twenty minute walk down the track yields the two main ones we need here: Striated Thornbill and Brown Thornbill. But even better, the track also gives up two low probability birds before we are done: as we walk back the others call out Brush Bronzewing. I see a bronzewing flying away (a typical view!) and wonder how they can have been so unequivocal, until Sam puts me on to a second bird that has landed on an open branch and is showing brilliantly. A Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo sits unobtrusively nearby, the only one we actually see during the day. As we reach the top of the track Sam’s sharp ears pick up a song and we all go silent. Sure enough, some way down the hill we can hear a Scarlet Robin singing.
At the Botanical Gardens we have given ourselves only 10 minutes and immediately hear Eastern Spinebill. Things slow down though, when at an overgrown gully a high-pitched, drawn out “seeeep” call seems good for Bassian. Sam makes the initial ID and having spent some quality time with these birds earlier in the year for a Big Year effort, is confident enough to tick it on this contact call alone. I’m not, and nor is Paul meaning it’s not yet tickable. For my part, I am worried that Blackbird also makes a high-pitched alarm call and I cannot be sure of the differences in the field today. However when I review the Blackbird predator alarm from the comfort of bed later that evening, I realise that Sam was right and we did have Bassian. I check with the National Coordinators that a retrospective ID is ok, and with their permission, add Bassian Thrush to the day list. While we are listening to the Thrush a small passerine bombs down the gully and out of sight, but not before I have seen its bright-red rump, confirming it as Red-browed Finch. Sadly, neither Paul nor Sam has it so it stays off the list and never makes it on.
Our quest for Bassian Thrush and the finch has eaten into the time again and we are yet again behind schedule. Fortunately Laratinga should be quick today, because we have scored most of the ducks already. As we descend from Lofty we toy with the idea of checking out a site in Cleland where Sam has regularly had Buff-rumped Thornbill, but I am reluctant to roll the dice for single bird at a site we have not scouted. Despite ignoring a possible Buff-rumped and the Red-browed dip, we have done quite well in the hills and head for Laratinga pleased that we’ve come away with most targets and a few tricky ones to boot.
15:10 Laratinga Wetlands, 140 species
At Laratinga we pull up overlooking the poo ponds and run down to peer across the bigger settling pond that is favoured by the Pink-eareds and Blue-billed Ducks. Fortunately a few of the latter are instantly visible, along with Australian Shoveler. There are also Pink-eared here but we already unexpectedly have them on the list from Magazine Rd. We drive around to the Bald Hill Rd carpark, dash in to the swale and quickly find a Spotted Crake (though fail to hear or see Crested Shrike-tit). We debate whether to check out a more distant part of the complex hoping for Spotless Crake, but decide to return to the car and use the time to detour through Mt Barker where we have chances for Corellas and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, still worryingly not on the list. This will be our last chance. We needn’t have worried – within a minute a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo screeches loudly announcing its presence and very shortly afterwards as we are still walking back to the car we also find Little Corellas. A Sacred Kingfisher zips across the path and out of sight. Not new for the day, but new for me at this site, despite dozens of visits over the last few years. With no more high probability birds here we are now back on schedule and hit the freeway for our next stop of Browns Rd.
16:20 Browns Rd, Monarto, 145 species
Having done pretty well at Brookfield we do not need much here, and so we walk in and out fairly quickly. Worryingly the Restless Flycatchers that were in abundance when Paul and I visited a week previous are nowhere to be seen or heard. Likewise none of the usual hollows where I regularly see Owlet-nightjar is occupied. We do score with Peaceful Dove and Brown-headed Honeyeater, before finding one of the specialties of the site, Diamond Firetail. We go off-piste hoping for thornbills but it’s late in the day and not much is calling other than the relentless buzz of dozens of Purple-crowned Lorikeets (already on the list from Brookfield). Fortunately Restless Flycatcher finally calls and we all hear it, then near the new carpark on Browns Rd we have a small group of Yellow Thornbill.
We have one final site for a possible Owlet-nightjar on Frahn’s Farm Rd. We pull up at the junction only to see yet another unoccupied hollow. Fortunately, though, we do claw back a species we were expecting but had not yet found when the slightly upslurred whistle of a Shining Bronze-cuckoo is heard.
17:00 Monarto Conservation Park, 151 species
The next 15-20mins are the worst of the day. Monarto Conservation Park holds a number of other birds we need including four specialties: Shy Heathrwen, Southern Scrub-robin, Tawny-crowned Honeyeater and Purple-gaped Honeyeater. As we arrive, I venture that 2/4 would be a good return. We walk the loop trail hoping to hear any of these but after 20mins we have barely heard a thing, let alone a new bird and we cannot waste more time. We pull the plug, leaving with a pathetic 0/4.
As we travel south through Ferries MacDonald we vainly listen for either Purple-gaped Honeyeater or Spotted Pardalote – we have had both here regularly in the past – but the latter will be arguably our worst dip of the day. We also fail to see a Little Eagle I’d had on this road a couple of weeks earlier – we know another definite site for this species not far away, but the diversion will be too costly.
Mentally before the event I had decided that 150 was a good target number – nice and round and it matches our expected value. However despite our birdless last half an hour, we are already beyond this as we approach Lake Alexandrina with a potential 15 or more birds still on offer.
17:40 West Creek Rd, 151 species
On West Creek Rd we scan across the water-logged fields seeing 100s of Shelduck along with a dozen or more Cape Barren Goose. Paul notes a roost of cormorants and with the scope we are able to confirm they are (Great) Pied Cormorant. Also in the distance a Swamp Harrier cruises the fields and wet ditches and a few Caspian Tern fly over. Paul finds a Goldfinch on wires and though I take a while to see where he is looking, we all gratefully ID this pretty, introduced trash bird.
17:55 Tolderol Game Reserve, 159 species
We have just over half an hour to get the main birds we are expecting here, and we get off to a good start as Sam hears a Eurasian Skylark while opening the gate. I kill the engine and Paul and I hear it too. At Pond 17 we immediately scan two groups of conspicuous white birds in the middle of the pond, finding Red-necked Avocet and Greater Crested Tern along with Caspians. Sam brilliantly picks out a sub-adult Gull-billed Tern – a bird we had hoped for but not expected. Sadly we now spend the next 20mins scanning through hundreds of Sharpies trying in vain to find Stints or Curlew Sandpipers. With gimme bird cisticola still to be heard and only 10mins left on the clock we bail on the waders, drive around the pond to get Golden-headed Cisticola, and then return to the scanning waders for the final few minutes. Paul officially calls it all over at 18:27, fixing the total at 163 (incremented to 164 when the Bassian ID is confirmed and ruled legal).
Now the pressure is off we trundle around to the picnic spot by the lake where Birds SA have set up a Bittern monitoring workshop. We grab a celebratory (light) beer each, chat a bit with John Gitsham and Teresa Thompson-Jack and then begin the journey home. A Spotless Crake calls from the reedbed and a Wedge-tailed Eagle takes to the sky from a nearby field as we leave Tolderol, both species just a few minutes too late for our count.
| Brookfield | 1 | Redthroat |
| 2 | White-winged Fairywren | |
| 3 | Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater | |
| 4 | Galah | |
| 5 | Singing Honeyeater | |
| 6 | Australian Magpie | |
| 7 | Crested Bellbird | |
| 8 | Crested Pigeon | |
| 9 | Willie Wagtail | |
| 10 | Red Wattlebird | |
| 11 | Yellow-throated Miner | |
| 12 | Brown Treecreeper | |
| 13 | Australian Ringneck | |
| 14 | White-fronted Honeyeater | |
| 15 | Mulga Parrot | |
| 16 | Grey Shrike-thrush | |
| 17 | Hooded Robin | |
| 18 | Purple-crowned Lorikeet | |
| 19 | White-winged Chough | |
| 20 | Grey Butcherbird | |
| 21 | Yellow-plumed Honeyeater | |
| 22 | Painted Buttonquail | |
| 23 | White-browed Woodswallow | |
| 24 | Rufous Songlark | |
| 25 | Chestnut-crowned Babbler | |
| 26 | Brown Falcon | |
| 27 | Masked Woodswallow | |
| 28 | Tree Martin | |
| 29 | Black-faced Cuckooshrike | |
| 30 | Weebill | |
| 31 | Little Raven | |
| 32 | Nankeen Kestrel | |
| 33 | Chestnut-rumped Thornbill | |
| 34 | Variegated Fairywren | |
| 35 | Striated Pardalote | |
| 36 | Grey Currawong | |
| 37 | Red-capped Robin | |
| 38 | Splendid Fairywren | |
| 39 | White-eared Honeyeater | |
| 40 | Dusky Woodswallow | |
| 41 | Australian Pipit | |
| 42 | Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo | |
| 43 | Southern Whiteface | |
| 44 | Black Kite | |
| 45 | Yellow-rumped Thornbill | |
| Sturt Hwy | 46 | Emu |
| 47 | Common Starling | |
| 48 | Maned (Australian Wood) Duck | |
| 49 | House Sparrow | |
| 50 | Magpie-lark | |
| 51 | Pacific Black Duck | |
| 52 | Grey Teal | |
| 53 | Common Blackbird | |
| 54 | Black-shouldered Kite | |
| Freeling | 55 | Brown Songlark |
| 56 | White-fronted Chat | |
| 57 | Stubble Quail | |
| 58 | Horsfield’s Bushlark | |
| 59 | Rock Dove | |
| 60 | Crimson (Adelaide) Rosella | |
| Pengilly | 61 | White-browed Babbler |
| 62 | Red-rumped Parrot | |
| 63 | Rainbow Bee-eater | |
| 64 | White-plumed Honeyeater | |
| 65 | Elegant Parrot | |
| Roseworthy | 66 | Spotted Dove |
| 67 | Peregrine Falcon | |
| Argent Rd | 68 | Cattle Egret |
| 69 | Masked Lapwing | |
| 70 | White-faced Heron | |
| St Kilda | 71 | Shelduck |
| 72 | White Ibis | |
| 73 | Silver Gull | |
| 74 | Welcome Swallow | |
| 75 | Whiskered Terns | |
| 76 | Banded Stilts | |
| 77 | Sooty Oystercatcher | |
| 78 | Pied Oystercatcher | |
| 79 | Black Swan | |
| 80 | Little Black Cormorant | |
| 81 | Greenshank | |
| 82 | Black-tailed Nativehens | |
| 83 | New Holland Honeyeater | |
| 84 | Pacific Gull | |
| 85 | Little Egret | |
| 86 | Little Pied Cormorant | |
| 87 | Great Egret | |
| Whites Rd | 88 | Fairy Martin |
| 89 | Rainbow Lorikeet | |
| 90 | Noisy Miner | |
| 91 | Eurasian Coot | |
| 92 | Chestnut Teal | |
| 93 | Australasian Grebe | |
| 94 | Superb Fairywren | |
| 95 | Dusky Moorhen | |
| 96 | Musk Lorikeet | |
| 97 | Black-fronted Dotterel | |
| 98 | Australasian Swamphen | |
| 99 | Australian Painted Snipe | |
| 100 | Laughing Kookaburra | |
| 101 | Australian Pelican | |
| 102 | Straw-necked Ibis | |
| 103 | Australian Reed Warbler | |
| 104 | Sacred Kingfisher | |
| 105 | Little Grassbird | |
| 106 | Freckled Duck | |
| 107 | Royal Spoonbill | |
| 108 | Hardhead | |
| 109 | Greenfinch | |
| Salisbury Hwy | 110 | Hobby |
| Magazine Rd | 111 | Red-kneed Dotterel |
| 112 | Pied Stilt | |
| 113 | Baillon’s Crake | |
| 114 | Yellow-billed Spoonbill | |
| 115 | Hoary-headed Grebe | |
| 116 | Sharp-tailed Sandpiper | |
| 117 | Marsh Sandpiper | |
| 118 | Red-capped Plover | |
| 119 | Pink-eared Duck | |
| 120 | Wood Sandpiper | |
| 121 | Whistling Kite | |
| Port Wakefield Rd | 122 | Great Cormorant |
| Morialta C.P. | 123 | Crescent Honeyeater |
| 124 | Grey Fantail | |
| 125 | Common Bronzewing | |
| 126 | Tawny Frogmouth | |
| 127 | Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo | |
| 128 | Eastern Rosella | |
| 129 | Yellow-faced Honeyeater | |
| 130 | White-throated Treecreeper | |
| 131 | White-naped Honeyeater | |
| 132 | Australian Golden Whistler | |
| 133 | Silvereye | |
| 134 | White-browed Scrubwren | |
| 135 | Mistletoebird | |
| Toorak Gardens | 136 | Little Wattlebird |
| Warre Track | 137 | Striated Thornbill |
| 138 | Brown Thornbill | |
| 139 | Brush Bronzewing | |
| 140 | Scarlet Robin | |
| Botanical Gardens | 141 | Eastern Spinebill |
| 142 | Bassian Thrush | |
| Laratinga Wetlands | 143 | Blue-billed Duck |
| 144 | Australasian Shoveler | |
| 145 | Australian (Spotted) Crake | |
| 146 | Sulphur-crested Cockatoo | |
| 147 | Little Corella | |
| Browns Rd, Monarto | 148 | Rufous Whistler |
| 149 | Peaceful Dove | |
| 150 | Brown-headed Honeyeater | |
| 151 | Diamond Firetail | |
| 152 | Restless Flycatcher | |
| 153 | Yellow Thornbill | |
| 154 | Shining Bronze Cuckoo | |
| West Creek Rd | 155 | Cape Barren Goose |
| 156 | Goldfinch | |
| 157 | Pied Cormorant | |
| 158 | Swamp Harrier | |
| 159 | Caspian Tern | |
| Tolderol Game Reserve | 160 | Eurasian Skylark |
| 161 | Red-necked Avocet | |
| 162 | Greater Crested Tern | |
| 163 | Gull-billed Tern | |
| 164 | Golden-headed Cisticola | |
