Eyre Peninsula

Early August brought another work trip for me - this time to the Eyre Peninsula. This trip had been on the cards since February, but for a variety of reasons had been put off until now. Eyre Peninsula is a very interesting area. Situated along the curve of the Great Australian Bight, and isolated from the rest of Australia by deserts and land clearing, it has become an island habitat, a refuge for many species locally extinct in much of South Australia, and a place with many endemic subspecies of birds found elsewhere in the country.

Perhaps the most noticeable of these is the Brown Currawong. This is actually a subspecies of the Grey Currawong, found from Western Australia to New South Wales in woodlands, mallee and heath areas. They are usually shy, and either grey or black in colour. On Eyre Peninsula they are brown, and not shy at all.

Another interesting feature of the peninsula is that is serves as an area that melds the eastern and western dry country birds together. It is the eastern-most point for many "western" species, like Western Yellow Robin and Blue-breasted Fairy-Wren, and is the western-most point for many eastern species like Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo and Yellow-faced Honeyeater.

There are other strange things about the area as well. Because there aren't many freshwater wetlands, and many of the "fresh" springs drain straight into salty environments, the birds that typically use freshwater habitats behave differently on the peninsula. Sandpipers and plovers that typically use freshwater habitats, like Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Wood Sandpipers, are more commonly seen on beaches.

Port Lincoln is at the tip of the peninsula, and has two national parks close by. Lincoln National Park was probably my favorite of the two, with large amounts of mallee and some great walking tracks to do. Coffin Bay National Park was also wonderful, and here we saw many Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers and Sanderling, birds that occur typically in low numbers elsewhere in the country. Port Lincoln has another interesting thing - a bird subspecies named after it. The Port Lincoln Parrot is now considered a subspecies of the Australian Ringneck - a rosella-like parrot of the drier parts of the country. In fact, of all the subspecies, the Port Lincoln form is the most widespread, occurring through most of Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and into Queensland and New South Wales as well as South Australia.

I had nearly a week to get a handle on all of this, and left feeling like I needed more time. I found the Blue-breasted Fairy-Wren and Western Yellow Robin (both new for me), and heard the Western Whipbird, which is possibly Australia's shyest bird. It calls loudly, but is extremely difficult to see. I also saw interesting birds like Southern Scrub-Robin, Southern Giant Petrel, and Western Gerygone that I didn't really expect to see in the area. I even saw a pair of Hooded Plovers, one of Australia's endangered beach-nesting shorebirds.

All up, an amazing place to visit, with some unique birds and habitats to explore.

Chris