At first, it seemed unlikely that a Credo summer survey would go ahead due to a few obstacles but a serendipitous set of circumstances allowed for it to take place after all. Our chosen dates, December 15th-21st, were well into summer which increased the chances of extreme temperatures, summer rains and boggy roads, severe fire warnings or even worse, severe fires. But fortunately for us warm, dry days were forecast. We also had only three participants at first: Graham, Simon and myself; however, the cancellation of an earlier survey due to summer rain meant George and Linda were available, bringing our numbers to five. Shapelle, our Project Officer at Birdlife Australia, would be our outside contact (via sat phone) and had given us all the information, equipment and encouragement we needed.
Credo is an isolated place 70 kms north of Coolgardie in the Great Western Woodlands. It was a pastoral station until 2007 when it was bought by the state government because of its environmental significance. It encompasses over 200,000 hectares with fresh water lagoons, a rarity in the Goldfields, and promises an enormous variety of flora and fauna. Between the five of us, we had a reasonable amount of birding experience and were keen to see what Credo would offer up.
We arrived in the late afternoon after a day on the road. Introductions, a bit of planning and a quick look around were all we had time for. Graham, Simon and I were staying in the dorms and settled ourselves in while Linda and George set up camp nearby. Ever alert to the presence of birds, we noticed Pied Butcherbirds, Magpie Larks, White-winged Fairy-wrens, Galahs, Yellow-throated Miners and a Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike in our vicinity.
Tuesday was our first official day of surveying and we started early at Site 5 which was the 'yabbie' dam close to the homestead. We could have stayed for hours watching the prolific bird life around the water. Some highlights were a pair of Pink-eared Ducks, over twenty Black-tailed Native Hens, a family of White-browed Babblers, circling Hobbies, Zebra Finches coming in for a drink and a typically solitary White-faced Heron.
We then set out for Rowles Lagoon guided by the trusty GPS (which turned out to be quite simple to use after some frustrating trial and error). On the way, we drove past a wooded area where the track forks and noticed a bird on the ground that looked tantalisingly like a White-browed Treecreeper. We stopped the cars for a better look and were rewarded with not only a clear sighting of this bird, but also a Chestnut-backed Quail-thrush and a Red-capped Robin.
Rowles Lagoon itself was not as exciting as we'd hoped probably because the water level was at four metres - too deep for most birds. A couple of Black-fronted Dotterels, a Hobby, a Black-tailed Native Hen and a Wedge-tailed Eagle were the most notable sightings here. Cane Grass Lagoon, the shallower neighbouring lagoon, hosted what seemed to us to be thousands of birds so we chose this as an incidental survey site. Water birds such as Coots, Black Swans, Black-winged Stilts, Hoary-headed Grebes, Grey Teal and Hardheads were in abundance. We also saw a pair of Red-kneed Dotterels and a Black-fronted Dotterel. A walk into the surrounding bush yielded a couple of juvenile Jacky Winters (who tested our identification skills until we spotted the parents), Rainbow Bee-eaters, a Pied Butcherbird and a female Rufous Whistler.
Crimson Chats were our next highlight and were seen at Site 16. This was an open heath and by now it was heating up so we were surprised at the variety of birds we saw. Apart from the chats, we saw Zebra Finches, White-winged Fairy-wrens, Singing Honeyeaters, a Nankeen Kestrel and Black-faced Woodswallows.
We were done for the morning surveys and headed back to camp for lunch and a siesta. We attempted Site 1 around 4 in the afternoon but most birds were too smart to be out in the heat except the sun-loving Rainbow Bee-eaters zipping about overhead. Aside from the Bee-eaters, there was a lone family of White-winged Fairy-wrens who more sensibly sought relief in the shade of the scrub.
Our second day of surveying was as exciting as our first. We started early at around 5am with some polite grumbling about the time. We headed north to Ularring Rock first stopping at Site 23 which is a eucalyptus woodland just south of Callion. This site was fantastic. We saw a Red-backed Kingfisher, a Chestnut-backed Quail-thrush, a Brown Falcon, a Purple-crowned Lorikeet and two Mistletoe Birds as well as Striated Pardalotes, Ringnecks and Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters. Site 24 was next and was quite unremarkable (a few Weebills and Ravens) which shocked us a little after the highs of our previous sightings. We did manage to spot a Square-tailed Kite overhead - the clear highlight here.
Site 25 was at the rock itself which was spectacular. We arrived here at 8.30 and it was already hot. Pipits, Grey Currawong, a pair of 5% birds (GST) and a Rufous Whistler were in the survey area. We had morning tea and saw a couple of Perentie and well as a lot of little birds around the picnic area - Splendid Wrens, a Mistletoe Bird, a Redthroat and a couple of juvenile Red-capped Robins.
By the time we left, it was getting very warm. We decided to stop at Sites 18 - 21 which we figured we could knock off quickly as they were very close to each other. Had we checked the field notes, we would have known that these sites were off the track and a fair distance on foot into the scrub; and we wouldn't have spent half an hour driving around trying to find them. We stopped, mildly frustrated, and had lunch at an old, dry dam. This site had quite a few woodland birds around that were active in spite of the heat: Rufous Tree-creepers, Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters, GSTs, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes and Rainbow Bee-eaters.
Eventually, we found Site 18 and conducted our 20 minute survey where we saw Rufous Tree-creepers and a family of Black-faced Woodswallows. It was very hot and already almost 2pm so we decided to head back to camp.
There was a message from Shapelle waiting for us when we got back. There were severe fire warnings for Friday which meant we would have to cut a day off our survey. This was disappointing news but we decided to do a couple of early surveys on the Friday before the warning kicked in. As it turned out, it was just as well we decided to finish early because an unexpected storm blew in on Saturday which might have seen us stranded in Credo for Christmas!
Thursday was our third and last full day of surveying. We began by heading west towards Corriding Rock. A couple of exciting sightings on the way were a family of Brown Falcons and a suspected Owlet Nightjar who lived at Site 8 but flew into a tree hollow before we could confidently identify it.
Corriding Rock was not as scenic as Ularring Rock and it lacked the picnic area and toilets of the latter; nonetheless, it was still a fascinating area worth further exploration. There were numerous White-browed Babblers around and plenty of small bush birds like thornbills and fairy-wrens. It was already warm and a drive through the plains of Sites 10 and 11, which were regenerating after a recent bushfire, yielded little in the way of birdlife but some magnificent eremophilas much to everyone's delight.
Simon is a local and said he'd heard good things about the new chef at Ora Banda. It didn't take much arm twisting to work a pub lunch into our day's schedule. The new "chef" turned out to be a sweet, young German backpacker who was apologetic about her limited experience in the kitchen. In spite of this, the food was tasty and the setting was magic. We completed the conveniently located Sites 3 and 4 on the way back to camp.
In the evening we enjoyed a Christmas dinner of bush damper and freshly caught yabbies with the new caretakers, Rosalie and Don. They had arrived the previous day and immediately bedecked the homestead in Christmas decorations. We appreciated their hospitality and generosity immensely - what a great way to end our trip.
On Friday, we did a couple of early surveys before heading back to our respective homes. A highlight for the morning was Site 12 where we saw White-fronted Honeyeaters working away at extracting breakfast from shrubs with their Spiny-cheeked mates. We also were stunned by a mass of the very beautiful, very hyperactive Purple-crowned Lorikeets.
By the end of the trip, we had become quite skilled at finding the 'post' which marked each survey coordinate, each finding generating a perhaps unjustified amount of excitement and congratulatory praise amongst us. We had all loosely settled into 'roles' - George was the lead driver and the lead "marveller" at nature's wonders, Linda was the scribe and the voice of reason, Graham recorded notable flora and was the group's comedian, I did the GPS and bordered on being bossy, and Simon was the local expert and organised the radios. Between us, we had enough expertise and had brought enough reference material to solve most puzzles of identification that came our way - whether avian, reptilian or otherwise.
Credo is an amazing place and this, coupled with fantastic company, made for a great week of surveying.
