In Broome, some of the dependable locations to watch Royal Spoonbills is from the Broome Poo Ponds Barndarlmada Hut. The Royal Spoonbills roost contained in the fence when they don’t seem to be feeding on the mudflats of Roebuck Bay. For a part of the yr we will’t entry the native ephemeral lakes as a result of land being flooded, however now we will go to them it’s at all times rewarding to see what’s there.
Final weekend we arrived at an ephemeral lake near the freeway to find a big flock of Royal Spoonbills. Effectively, that was our preliminary impression as we pulled as much as observe them by our binoculars. Not solely was it one of many largest flocks of Royal Spoonbills that we now have seen round Broome lately, however they weren’t all Royal Spoonbills. As we counted the Royal Spoonbills we realised that there have been really two Yellow-billed Spoonbills in amongst the flock.
There have been a complete of 69 Royal Spoonbills and a couple of Yellow-billed Spoonbills, however you needed to look rigorously to see the 2 completely different species. Fortunately if the invoice was hidden that they had completely different colored legs too! We had encountered a Yellow-billed Spoonbill within the space final yr that appeared to have a stick embedded in its breast, however we do not know if this is likely one of the birds now current. We all know that Yellow-billed Spoonbills breed additional south and little question begin to roam round as soon as they depart the breeding colony.
We at all times go bush-walking after we can and circumnavigating this expanse of water produced an important number of birds. The stand-out hen species for the day was positively the massive flock of Royal Spoonbills, although. We selected to not try to get too shut, however give them loads of area. They have been nevertheless simply disturbed and moved across the lake.
Flock of Spoonbills
Yellow-billed Spoonbills left and centre
Royal Spoonbills and Yellow-billed Spoonbills
Spoonbills in flight
The Royal Spoonbills and Yellow-billed Spoonbills then landed amongst White Ibis, Shiny Ibis and Egrets, so then it was not as simple to rely them!
Feeding on the ephemeral lake
In case you’re questioning concerning the pink hue in most of those pictures it’s our native flowers that thrive after good moist season rains. The primary photograph reveals a sort of sundew. These native flowers seem to have the ability to thrive within the poorest soil, however make for some good color in what could be an in any other case barren panorama.
Native flowers
The land will proceed to dry out over coming months and an increasing number of birds will seek for water. I’ve noticed hundreds of Plumed Whistling-Geese heading to the Poo Ponds this week. It continues to be chilly and generally foggy in a single day and our socks are getting a run for his or her cash this yr!