April 15, 2005
After breakfast, Eclipse, Kevin and I rode the train down to Fremantle, where we caught the ferry to Rottnest Island, a small island about half-an-hour’s trip from the mainland. The Indian Ocean is absolutely beautiful, and we saw bunches of great wildlife. My first bird of this trip was a really good look at an Australian Pelican at the jetty when we arrived at the island. Sadly, though, by the time we’d gotten off the boat, I couldn’t re-locate it to take a picture.
The first thing we did was take an Underwater Explorer cruise on a glass-bottomed boat which took us over Cauliflower Coral and two sunken ships. Lots of fish were seen, including Silver Drummer, Silver Trevally, and at least one species of Scalyfin. My favorite sighting of the boat ride was a huge stingray that swam right under the boat not long before we returned to the jetty. Very cool! Short-tail Stingray seems the most likely species in the area that is big enough to be the one I saw, but Eagle Ray is another possibility.
The primary reason we’d gone to the island was to see the wildlife: birds, of course, but also a tiny wallaby called the Quokka, which lives on Rottnest Island and almost nowhere else. So, after the boat trip, we wandered around on the island for a while to see what we could see. There is no car traffic allowed on the island (or it’s restricted, anyway), so one of the popular ways of getting around is by bicycle. We opted for just walking on our visit, though.
An Australian Raven strutted across a lawn, and my first Singing Honeyeater of the day was poking around in a Norfolk Island Pine. I spotted several throughout our visit to the island, and by the end of the day, I was calling this smallish, pretty bird the wheeoo-wheeoo birds, due to their rather loud song. I was also surprised to see Indian Peafowl. I’ve resisted counting these birds, as they’re not native to any of the places I’ve ever seen them. However, the population here has been established for a long time, and they are breeding on the island, same as house sparrows and starlings and other countable birds. We first saw a hen and several large chicks, and later saw the male, as well. All were spotted right in the town, not far from the cafe.
Early on in our walk, we found this lovely, small graveyard. I spotted Laughing Dove and Spotted Dove, and a stunningly pretty Sacred Kingfisher in the trees nearby. Around this time, we also found our first Quokka, foraging on some low-growing vegetation. So small and adorable! I also spotted a pretty little Red-capped Robin (a female I think).
My favorite place on the island was a sandy tidal area, teeming with shorebirds. Here, we saw tiny Red-necked Stint, strikingly-colored Australian Shelduck, and gorgeous Red-capped Plover. Two species of Stilt were seen (Banded and Pied), along with just one gorgeous Red-necked Avocet actively foraging in the water, swinging its head back and forth as it looked for food. A winter-plumage Black-bellied Plover foraged near the waterline, and we saw several very pretty Silver Gull on the lake where we saw the shorebirds. I think they might have been nesting . . . the gulls became agitated when we came too close to the rocks, so we turned back so as not to disturb them.
Near some of the more built-up areas of the island, we saw several Galah (so gorgeous!), and were able to get very close to a Pied Oystercatcher. What a great bird! A tiny Silvereye was foraging in a Port Jackson Fig, and I caught sight of an adorable little Spotted Scrubwren. I also saw another Sacred Kingfisher, and more Quokka!
We ended our visit with a leisurely lunch in a cafe near the harbor. Silver Gull are common here, and we saw a Pacific Black Duck and another Ruddy Turnstone.
The waters of the Indian Ocean around the island are GORGEOUS! The most amazing colors of blues and greens – unlike anything I’ve seen before. My photos really don’t do it justice.
On the ferry ride back to the mainland, we spotted several Pied Cormorant.
We had a fantastic day on the island . . . we saw four Quokka altogether (including one foraging around in the cafe), and also a bunch of great birds! Well worth the trip to the island to see them. I would highly recommend this as a day trip for anyone who is visiting Perth.
Species List
Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena carteri), Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus), Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae novaehollandiae), Silver Drummer (Kyphosus sydneyanus), Silver Trevally (Pseudocaranx georgianus), Cauliflower Coral (Pocillopora sp), Scalyfin (Parma sp.), possible Sea Nymph (Amphibolis antarctica), possible Short-tail Stingray (Bathytoshia brevicaudata), Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides perplexus), Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus), Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens), Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus), Quokka (Setonix brachyurus), Red-capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii), Laughing Dove (Spilopelia senegalensis), Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus), Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis), Banded Stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus), Black-bellied Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), Red-necked Avocet (Recurvirostra novaehollandiae), Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres interpres), Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides), Pied Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus), Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), Spotted Scrubwren (Sericornis maculatus), Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis), Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla roseicapilla), Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris), Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis), Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa superciliosa), Australian Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax varius hypoleucos), Grey Saltbush (Atriplex cinerea), Port Jackson Fig (Ficus rubiginosa), Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla)
Let me know what you think!