Bungedore Park and Wungong Gorge

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After several zoos visited over the last two weeks, I then had a half day trip to an area near Perth called Wungong Gorge/Reservoir/Dam (and also Bungendore Park) in the Araluen-Wungong Important Bird Area. This won’t be a particularly long post, as it was only a short trip, but I thought there was enough to make it worth posting. I had read about the area on the internet and in the Finding Australian Birds book, and it seemed to have quite a few bird species that I was interested in seeing and seemed to be one of the better places near Perth for South Western Australian endemic birds. Coincidentally, it is also quite near both the Cohunu Koala Park and the Armadale Reptile and Wildlife Centre.

I wanted to head out early to get there not long after sunrise. Unfortunately, I was going with my family so that wasn’t going to happen, but we still left a bit earlier than usual for them, so we got there a couple of hours later than would be ideal. I had been hoping to look out for Western Brush-wallabies in the paddocks along the road leading to the reservoir which apparently come out to graze a little after sunrise, but it was too late in the day for them. I did see one new bird from the drive there though, which was an Australian Hobby. Just a year bird, and I was unlucky not to have seen them at my last visit to Herdsman Lake (I saw two on my next visit), but still a good start. We would be visiting two separate sites, starting with several hours around Wungong Dam and then an hour or so in the neighbouring Bungendore Park.

Using the information that I had about the best places to see birds around here, I went to the field directly opposite the road from the car park and around a huge pipe to look for certain species. This area seemed to be covered in birds. There were flocks of small birds hopping about in the open and in the nearby bushes. The vast majority of these were dozens of Silvereyes, followed by quite large numbers of Yellow-rumped thornbills as well, and there were a few individual Spotted Scrubwrens, Western Gerygones, and Splendid Fairy-wrens. The Spotted Scrubwrens were new, but not actually a new species for the list because they are currently considered to be a subspecies of the White-browed Scrubwren. However this subspecies is very distinct and I wouldn’t be surprised if a split occurred in the not too distant future.

I was very much hoping to find a Red-eared Firetail amongst this group, as I hadn’t yet seen one and I was very much hoping to, though there were none to be seen here, and I wouldn’t see one for another week or so when I saw one just in the bushland around my accommodation. I did manage to see one new bird though, because as I walked around this area looking out at each Fairy-wren, most turned out to be Splendid, I did manage to find a small group of female Red-winged Fairy-wrens hopping about in some low scrub. Not the males that I was rather hoping to see, but a South-west endemic that was a new species for me (I managed to spot a single male a few days later on a short trip just in the local area that wasn’t a significant enough trip to write about in detail here, but it was a stunning bird).

Once I had finished looking around this area, I headed back to the car park to do a longer walk to another area that was recommended as being good for birds. Apparently the trees around the car park are also supposed to be good for Western White-naped Honeyeater which would be a new subspecies for me (that is sometimes split, but pending further information on the validity of the split I am leaving it as a subspecies on my list for now), a subspecies endemic to the South West. However I didn’t see any here, and wouldn’t actually see any until seeing two individuals in the bushland around my accommodation near the end of the trip. The other location around the gorge that I wanted to look at was a now abandoned citrus orchard, but first I walked over to look at the reservoir itself. On the water there were some Australasian Grebes, and Autralian Shelducks, and in the trees along the bank was a White-faced Heron. In some bushes a few metres away from the waters edge though, I did see a particularly cool species, a White-breasted Robin, another South West endemic that was new to me and was one of my main targets.

I then continued to the abandoned citrus orchard, (in case anyone wishes to know in case they visit, this was along a path leading away from the car park on the opposite side of the road along a ridge area. After going along this path for 15 to 20 minutes (+stopping time to look at birds) it forks sharply, take the lower fork heading downhill as far as possible. It will be obvious when you get there because of the citrus trees, and there is also a stream at the end.) and along the way there were many Black-cockatoos, both Red- and White- tailed. I spent some time looking at the White-taileds specifically, to get solid IDs on them because the main reason that this area is an Important Bird Area is because it is home to both Baudin’s and Carnaby’s Cockatoos, both of which are endangered. The former is a species I was particularly keen to see, because unlike the Carnaby’s which are quite common throughout Perth, even right in the city centre, I hadn’t seen Baudin’s before, and the Araluen-Wungong area is the best place near Perth to see them. After lots of time looking at all of the Black-cockatoos that flew past, I was eventually able to identify a small group of Baudin’s Black-cockatoos. Success! The other particularly interesting things that I saw from this track were Inland Thornbill (a lifer, and quite a nice species), Golden Whistler,

and an interesting looking insect that turns out was Melanerythrus mactans. It was also raining slightly, but not enough to disrupt the birding for me, except for the fact that it made the muddy downhill sections extremely slippery. As well as the Black-cockatoos, I was also looking out for Western Rosellas, though all I saw were loads of Ringnecks and Red-capped Parrots.

I soon reached the abandoned orchard area which apparently is supposed to be good to find Red-eared Firetail which was the key species that I was still missing, though apparently Red-winged Fairy-wren and White-breasted Robin can be regularly seen here too, though I didn't see any of them. The orchard was quite interesting anyway though, with the flowering citrus trees covered in Monarch Butterflies,

and a stream running down the end. I walked around here for a while and it was quite nice, though there were no particularly interesting new birds to be seen. I then headed back to the car park along a slightly different route following the creek, and coming back through the same grassy area that I went to at the start. On the way I saw more of the same interesting birds that I had already seen, with the addition of both Western Yellow and Scarlet Robins. Neither new, but it brought the robin total for this area to three species, which I though was quite cool. And I do rather like Australasian Robins in general.

By the time I got back to the car park, I had already spent quite a few hours around Wungong Gorge, so we headed to the other nearby stop, Bungendore Park. This is a rather nice area of woodland with lots of nice big trees and lots of Dryandra around below the trees as well. The main species to be found around here is Rufous Treecreeper, and this is supposed to be the easiest place near Perth to see them. Sadly, I didn’t manage to find the treecreeper, though I had already seen it in Beelu National Park in the few days before going to Queensland, as well as in the Dryandra Woodland on a previous trip to Perth. It was still drizzling on and off, but I don’t think it was really enough to affect the birding too much. Before I started on one of the paths through the forest, I looked at a sign in the car park about nocturnal species around here which included Quolls, Phascogales, and Pygmy Possums. Sadly I never got the opportunity to spotlight around there as my dad refused to drive me late at night. I think all three of those would be particularly difficult to find, but hopefully I will get to try spotlighting there eventually. Maybe next time I’m in Perth.

There were a few different tracks going around the forest, and I chose one that was about a three kilometre loop, called the Honeyeater Track or something like that. I quite liked the woodland around here with lots of nice big trees, and the Banksia and Dryandra had loads of honeyeaters in them – White-cheeked, New Holland, Brown, and Singing, as well as Western Spinebills.

Other things that I saw around here included Grey Shrike-thrush, and both Red- and unidentified White-tailed Black-cockatoos flying over. Some things that I did particularly want to see around here though were two parrots – Elegant Parrot and Western Rosella, though sadly I saw neither. I did, however, manage to add one new bird from Bungendore Park which was a Dusky Woodswallow that I saw a small group of flying around, and land in a tree somewhere in the distance. I would have liked to spend longer around here as the place is worth spending most of a day at, and could be done in a day along with Armadale Reptile Centre and/or Cohunu Koala Park. It’s definitely worth a revisit next time I’m in Perth, and possibly a visit at night as well.


New birds seen:

Australian Hobby
Red-winged Fairy-wren
White-breasted Robin
Baudin's Black Cockatoo
Inland Thornbill
Dusky Woodswallow

New Subspecies:

Western White-naped Honeyeater
Spotted Scrubwren

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