Dave and Sues South Aussie Big Years last hurrah

We were running out of time. The year was drawing to a close and our birding opportunities were drying up in the face of the ever looming Christmas holiday period. Despite the fact we had some time off between Christmas and New Year we also had family staying so ditching them to chase birds wasn't really an option. Our last free day of birding where we could actually search for our own birds came up the weekend after the last pelagic trip of the year. After that I was scheduled to be on standby for work. So what to do...........? Well, shorebirds still were going to give us the best opportunity of finding something unusual. At the very least it would give us another chance for the elusive Whimbrel  that perhaps we should have already seen, so we opted to go to Buckland Park Lake and Clinton Conservation Park one final time.

A late day high tide meant we could go to Buckland Park first before heading up the Gulf and so a lunchtime visit was scheduled. It's a fair walk in from the Port Gawler road to get to the lake but it didn't take too long. As we approached it was evident the water level had dropped quite a bit since we were here last and as a consequence there were thousands of birds. Mostly ducks but also a lot more shorebirds compared to last time.

Thousands of birds at Buckland Park lake 

Lots of birds with Mt Lofty as a back drop

It took a while to go through all the birds that were present but after a couple of hours we decided to move on. Banded Stilts and good numbers of Marsh Sandpipers kept us entertained but sadly nothing more to add for our lists. We decided to move off and head up the top of the gulf while the tide was still on the way in.

Arriving at Port Clinton Conservation Park late afternoon we set off around the beach to get to the best area for viewing the birds as they are pushed in by the tide. As we waited we scanned through the groups of birds starting to form as the tide raced in. There were good numbers of Far Eastern Curlew and it was these birds we paid particular attention to as that was where a Whimbrel might be hiding. It was not to be. The numbers of Curlew began to build as they were forced off the flats by the rising tide and as each bird flew in I scanned them to no avail, it seemed we were destined not to see Whimbrel at all this year.

Far Eastern Curlew following the rising tide towards the top of the beach

There were quite a lot of Grey Plover as well but very few smaller waders like Stints or Curlew Sandpipers to scan through. Our best chance of a new bird was probably Whimbrel and perhaps something like a Broad-billed Sandpiper but as the afternoon wore on it was looking more likely we weren't going to score anything new at all.

Grey Plover starting to congregate along the shore ready to roost until the turn of the tide

Amongst the Grey Plover we discovered the Terek Sandpipers we had seen earlier had been joined by another two birds to make four in total. This makes Clinton Conservation Park probably the best spot for this species in the State.

Four Terek Sandpipers lurking with intent!!!

After gathering at the top of the gulf at the top of the tide the Far Eastern Curlew headed off to their preferred
 roosting site to the south 

It was with some disappointment we decided to head home. We came to the realisation we were probably just about done for the year, given the time left and the commitments we still had. We could only hope now that something random turned up if we were to add anything further to our year list.

My work was beginning to wind up and the Thursday before Christmas we gather back at the workshop at lunchtime for a few drinks and some pizza to finish off the working year. Sue had already finished work earlier in the week and was busy organising Christmas things and looking after our house guests. Mid afternoon I receive a text message from Colin Rogers....."Oriental Pratincole bay 10 Tolderol now"........ Holy crap!!! Here I was at the office and still on the clock. I rang Colin. He'd found the bird with Peter Koch and had been watching it for a short time before telling me. I messaged Sue and told her to prepare, thank the stars we have daylight savings!. I showed my Boss the message I'd received and explained to him what a cracker of a bird it was and we needed it. "Well what are you hanging around here for" says he with a big smile. With that I did the Merry Christmas see ya next year round of the lads and was out the door off home.

Sue was already changed with the essential gear packed in the car ready to go. I quickly changed and we were off. A quick text to Colin to tell him we were on our way and he agreed to wait for us. On arrival just over an hour later we drove carefully up behind Colins vehicle and Sue got out to say hello and seek directions to the bird. It was literally just 15 metres off to our right on the mud and we enjoyed what appeared to be a young Oriental Pratincole, an Oz tick for Sue and bird number 372 for the Big Year.......just awesome.

A young Oriental Pratincole a very rare visitor to SA

After a Hobby went zooming through scattering all the waders this bird just
wandered closer to cover whilst keeping a lookout

With that, Colin headed home safe in the knowledge we had secured the bird. We stayed with it for a while in the late afternoon light and then cruised around to the end of the bay where we discovered one of the Pectoral Sandpipers that had been reported from here recently. This bird was very close and I spent some time trying to get a few photos. It gave us some nice views and probably better than any we had of this species throughout the year. 

A nice probable female Pectoral Sandpiper

 Very photogenic Pectoral Sandpiper

With that we headed back to the pub in Langhorne Creek for a fantastic evening meal and a glass of wine or two to celebrate. It was unlikely we'd get any more opportunities for birding now and so it proved to be.

We were cooked. It had been a fantastic year of adventure for both of us but equally a very physically draining one. Trying to balance work, birding, and trying to deal with all the domestic things that seemed to mount up had eventually taken its toll. With Christmas over and done with, the little time we had left was spent relaxing and preparing for our end of year holiday on a houseboat along the upper Murray River with some very good friends. All of them had forgotten what we looked like! On the drive up to Renmark news started to filter through of an apparent Red-chested Button-quail at Waterfall Gully near Adelaide that was putting on a show for some!

This needs no explanation 

We immediately switched off our phones............... and drove on in stony silence. As the last hours of 2017 counted down we enjoyed a "Mexican themed" night aboard the boat and at the stroke of midnight we celebrated what we had achieved.

Couldn't quite bring ourselves to put down the bins!

We finished the year with both of us on 372 species, a new State record and one we jointly hold. We saw a lot of really cool stuff throughout the year and met a lot of nice people as we went. I'll elaborate more in the final post for this blog shortly, so stay tuned for that. Hasta la vista!