Birdwatching Weekend in Dongara

| perthbirdsandbush

A few weeks ago I went to a long weekend campout at Dongara with BirdLife WA members. A wonderful relaxing weekend for me birding with friends and being organized by the wonderful campout leader Sue!

We visited lots of sites but the highlights were definitely:

  • Coal Seam Conservation Park
  • Ellendale Pool
  • And the 4.6 km Dongara River Mouth walkway.
Coal Seam Jun18 RP Dongara DSC_4238a
Coal Seam Conservation Park is a beautiful park. There was water in the Irwin River when we were there with the river able to be crossed in 2WD cars.

As a group we saw 110 species of birds after visiting a wide variety of different habitats in the area. This included quite a number of year first birds for myself and many others on the trip!

Bird highlights were: Mulga Parrots, Australian Ringneck subspecies zonarius, White-winged Fairy-Wren (in breeding plumage), Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Redthroat, White-plumed Honeyeater, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Red-capped Robin, Little Woodswallow, and Zebra Finch.

Mulga Parrot male RP Jun18 Coal seam DSC_4175pbaba
Mulga Parrot at Coal Seam. A dryland/inland species not seen in Perth.

We stayed at the Sea Spray Caravan Park which has a variety of accommodation options and is located right on the beach and next to the river mouth. So it is well located for birdwatchers! I found the caravan park to be well maintained, clean, and the owners were welcoming and helpful. Their most basic camping option is a powered site with ensuite which was very luxurious for this Aussie camper!

Redthroat RP Coalseam Dongara Jun18 DSC_4288pbaba
Redthroat at Coal Seam Nature Reserve. This is an inland/dryland species not seen in Perth.
red cap robin Burma Road RP Jun18 DongaraDSC_4090pbaba
Red-capped Robin’s were at every site we visited!

BirdLife WA have campouts most long weekends but are for members only. You can become a member by visiting the BirdLife Australia website at http://www.birdlife.org.au/ . Unfortunately, I don’t have time to go on many of the campouts but I always have a wonderful time when I do!

Aust ringneck ssp zonarus coal seam Jun18 RP DSC_4118pbaba
Australian Ringneck subspecies zonarius. In Perth we have both this subspecies and semitorquatus, but most of ours are hybrids or ssp semitorquatus. So it was beautiful to see lots of these nice yellow bellied birds!