Today was one of those magical days when everything is just about perfect. It's almost too good to believe but it happened. I started off this morning heading up the track that I meant to take last night but didn't. It was a lovely morning, cool and sunny with no breeze. Almost immediately after leaving the caravan park, I heard a Noisy Scrub-bird, just outside the park as advertised. After a few minutes of looking for it I gave it up and headed up the track to see what else I could find. I was beginning to be a bit worried as I hadn't heard much calling besides the throngs of New Holland and White-cheeked Honeyeaters. But after a few minutes, there was something different and sure enough, a Western Bristlebird!
The bird was calling from about 50 meters out into the heath so I headed out to see if I could find it. To my surprise, he found me. My first look at the bird was as it moved through the heath less than two meters from my feet and my tripod. For the next hour or so, I followed the bird around as it foraged and sange from various perches. Ultimately, it ended up completely exposed on a perch where it contentedly sang its little heart out why I frantically photographed it. By the time he moved on, I was absolutely thrilled. I knew the pictures were just about perfect and I could hardly believe that I had now photographed two of the three "skulkers" of the southwest.
I left the bird still foraging and singing and headed back on up the track hoping for a scrub-bird but really, that would have been icing on the cake. I still have tomorrow morning to focus on the scrub-bird anyway. But it was still fairly early and the light was good so Ikept on up the track. Over the next hour I managed to photograph not only the numerous New Holland and White-cheeked Honeyeaters as they fed on the banksias but also a pair of Western Spinebills, another southwest endemic. As if the morning could get any better, as I was arriving back at the caravan park, I found a Red-eared Firetail nest and photographed one pair as they flew around gathering nesting material. All that and it was only about 9:00.
Ispent the rest of the day just relaxing and reading and mostly waiting for the afternoon light. Finally, about 3:30, I headed back out into the park to see what I could find. My goal for the evening was to photograph some Southern Emuwrens I had found last night but if I heard a scrub-bird I was not against going to find it. I headed up the same track as yesterday to find the Emuwrens and did so without much trouble. These tiny birds are quite spectacular with their extravagntly long tails. I got some decent images of the male and a couple stunning images of the female before I continued on up the track.
I had heard a scrub-bird up the track last night but it was way off in the distance so didn't track it down. Tonight, it was calling again and since I figured this day was just about perfect, I might as well give it a shot. The Noisy Scrub-bird is aptly named. I could hear it quite plainly from where I was standing on the track. Turns out, that was over 700 meters from where the bird was. Now, that is a powerful voice.
I headed out towards the bird and eventually made it there though I deeply regretted not having on long pants this time. While I could plainly hear the bird from the track, it was nearly deafening here. I have read that it can be so loud that it is painful to the ears and Ican verify that this is absolutely correct. I also have read that the bird rarely leaves the ground or flies; I can say that I saw it do both while Iwas there. It didn't fly much but I did watch as it moved between clumps of mallee trees and it did fly a bit over a few clumps. That being said, most of the time it did run. When I first walked up, I heard the bird and happened to look in a small mallee about eye level and saw a bird I didn't know. My first thought was "what in the world is that?" My next thought was "Holy @#$%! Thats the Scrub-bird!" or something to that effect. I wasn't expecting the bird to 1) be in a tree or 2) be so large. It isn't exactly a large bird but it was much larger than I was expected. I managed to get a good view of the bird then and a couple other times as it moved around and sang in several clumps of mallee in the area. I even managed to get it in the viewfinder for a split second but not long enough to make an image.
So now Ihave seen all three of the southwest skulkers and have photographed two of them I still have two nights planned in Albany so I can try and get images of the Scrub-bird at Two Peoples Bay as well as tomorrow morning here. Could it be possible to get a photograph of the elusive thing? Who knows. We will see what tomorrow brings. It is even a fraction of what today was then you won't hear me complaining.
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