Western Australia, Day 13

Townsville: In brisk, cool air under a clear sky, I again strode to Bicentennial Park after dawn, marvelling at the chorus of bird song that emanated from street trees and the lawns of the golf course and park. The onset of winter in Canada signals a hiatus of bird breeding, but not so in the tropics of Australia. Here, some bird species breed in any month of the year, while others breed during particular seasons that vary with the species. The golden-headed cisticolas that were in full breeding voice on our arrival in Australia have slid into obscurity during the past couple of months. The blue-faced honeyeaters that flocked every day to feed in an orange-flowering shrub beside the golf course in previous months now appear mostly as pairs. I see them skulking in the palms in my yard and wonder if they are searching for nest-building materials. Today, as yesterday, I observed a pair of little corellas – white cockatoos with short, white crests, pale blue eye rings, and pinkish feathers behind their beaks – in the neighbourhood. This morning, they perched on the edge of a broken-off palm trunk and dipped their heads down towards its interior in unison, as though discussing its suitability as a nesting site. Whereas first, I struggled simply to identify Australia’s birds, now I seek glimpses into their private lives.

Western Australia: On Cunyu station, the research crew repeated all the biodiversity sampling they had conducted at Yakabindi, in order to determine how the presence of dingoes affects biodiversity. As on Yakabindi, first up was setting out the motion-detection cameras and baits.

Today’s birds: peaceful doves, mynas, magpie-larks, Australian magpies, spangled drongos, white-gaped honeyeaters, yellow honeyeater, rufous whistler, leaden flycatcher, white-throated honeyeater, laughing kookaburra, masked lapwings, rainbow bee-eaters, rainbow lorikeets, rock doves, Australian white ibis, straw-necked ibis, white-bellied cuckoo-shrike, nutmeg mannikins, brown honeyeaters, little pied cormorant, little black cormorants, sulphur-crested cockatoos, sacred kingfisher, wille wagtail, great bowerbirds, little corellas, green figbird, blue-winged kookaburra, blue-faced honeyeaters, house sparrow, black kite.