Aerial shots from Broome to Perth

Take off at Broome airport

Just off the ground


Roebuck Bay, part of it at least


Dampier Creek that runs behind China Town, Broome

Clouds over teh Great Sandy Desert

Clay pans in a sea of regulated land divides

You think our land scape is bad but this is so regulated! Just like the middle of England I suppose after the 18th Centuray Enclosure Act

There is some water here, but mostly in dams the further South you travel down teh Western side of Oz. The North West is supploed by under ground aquifers and although may appear very dry above ground, below its a different story, with vast stores of water.

Arrival at Perth and i managed to catch this image of a Ray of light shining up from the Perth Central Business District ! OK it was a reflection on the window !!

Cuckoo bonanza!

Just after the cyclone there seemed to be a lot of cuckoos around probably a response by the birds moving out of the way of the worst of the weather. Up to 50 Horsfield's bronze cuckoo were reported at the recreation grounds in Broome and there were several Black eared cuckoo, Little bronze cuckoo and Brush cuckoo around the general area s well.

One morning at the observatory, we decided to do some mist netting and to try to lure some cuckoos in by playing recordings of thier songs underneath the nets.

It worked very well and we were soon we were changing the recordings from one species to the next. Unfortunatley the only species that didn't respond was Little bronze cuckoo but they are still around so chances are on for another day!

This is an immature Brush cuckoo , they have this incredible manic call which rises and is incessant !

The next species to come to the tape was an immature and an adult Horsefield's bronze cuckoo
Note the immature has no dullgrey eye and the adult with a darker reddish brown eye. Also the adult has strong barring on teh underparts whereas the immature does not.

Immature Horsefiled's bronze cuckoo above, below An adult with nice chestnut outer tail feathers.

Finally came the Black eared cuckoo again immatures although there was a slendid adult around we didn't ring it.

Although we didn't ring them we also saw Pallid cuckoo at several places, and Oriental cuckoo at the sewage works and at One Tree, and while we were ringing a Channel billed cuckoo went by honking chased by a Torresian crow one of its preferred species to target.

Oriental cuckoo above

Little bronze cuckoo female above and male below note red eye ring and open face pattern. This male was collecting food and feeding the female.

An very immature Pallid cucko

March of the crabs!!!

It happens just once a year and no its not Christmas !!

i happened to go for a quick stroll along the Spinifex trail and when i joined the Malurus trail found that the Land crabs Neosarmatium meinerti) from the salt marsh had decided to up sticks and move ! it happens once a year where the adult crabs head for the sea to lay and fertislise eggs for the next generation. How fortunate was i to find this happening right here right now ! I'm not sure what triggers them but i suspect the heavy rain might have had something to do with it. they normally live in burrows in the saltmarsh which despite dry conditions, are so deep they reach fresh water to keep thier gills wet.

Unfortunatley, many get disorientated and head inland into the Pindan forest where they dessicate and die.