Eyre Bird Observatory Caretakers' Report - October 2015 to January 2016 All good things must come to an end and as we near the end of our extended stay at EBO, it is time to pause and reflect on our stay. Our first 2.5 months were reported in the last edition of Eyre Waves so this edition will cover the period 6 October until 16 January. It is hard to say what has been the highlight of our stint at EBO – we’d be torn between the many wonderful people we’ve met and the birds we’ve seen and handled. Our guests/visitors have been many and varied, far too many to mention individually. Look out for an article titled Nullarbor Tracks with a mention of EBO in the February/March issue of Outback – Ken Eastwood, Associate Editor with RM Williams publications, and his son visited us for 2 nights in early December. A number of 4WD clubs called in briefly at EBO on their Nullarbor adventures – some were following the East-West Telegraph line and thus were interested in our building and museum, whilst others were just enjoying a general 4WD experience with like minded people. Three six-night courses (Dune Restoration in November and January and Bird Studies Techniques in November) during the period kept us on our toes but each brought very interesting people to our door step. In addition to hosting the Bird Studies group Alan and I oversaw the bird banding component of the course. The rest of our guests were made up of couples (including 2 couples who had been former Caretakers at EBO), solo travellers (male and female) and families, most with an interest in the environment but very few experienced birders. The exception to this was a family from Tasmania – 2 late teenage boys and their father were keen and exceptionally good birders resulting in very lively bird logs on the 3 nights they stayed with us. We bid reluctant farewells to many of our guests but this family we were particularly sorry to have depart!
Techniques in Bird Studies participants - Lauren, Angus, Hayden, Delene, Joe, William, Annika, Danie, Wendy
Quite a number of day visitors have very selective sign reading skills: most seem to see the signs suggesting they call on channel 12 for a track report but a surprising number fail to see the ‘no camping’ ‘no pets’ and $10 entry fee signs! And if they see the ‘no retrieval service’ sign it makes no difference when they get themselves into trouble anywhere in the Nuytsland Conservation Park - the expectation seems to be that we will drop everything and help them out and we average about 1 call for assistance a month. The holiday season slipped by quietly. There was a lot of traffic on the beach track, but most vehicles didn’t call into EBO. We had no visitors or guests on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Boxing Day. We had two couples in for New Year’s eve but despite threats to party into the wee hours all guests (and ourselves) were safely tucked up in bed by 2100 on New Year’s eve! November was our busiest month in terms of overnight guests when 20 adult guests clocked up 120 guest nights thanks to two six night residential courses. December was our quietest month with only 8 day visitor vehicles (20 adult and 3 child visitors) and 15 overnight guests
(52 guest nights). January is shaping up to be our busiest month for day visitors – as at 16 January 26 vehicles had delivered 46 adult and 7 child visitors to EBO. The weather has been variable (but tolerable) throughout our stay. However, the prevailing conditions were warm, dry and windy. October was the driest full month since March 2014 with just 6.2mm rain recorded over 5 days. However if we don’t get some rain soon January may take the record – the only rain we’ve had so far this month (to 16 Jan) was a short burst on 11 Jan which delivered a miserly 0.8mm. October was also the coldest month with a lowest minimum to 0900 of just 1.0 degree (10 Oct) although it was by no means a cold month with highs ranging from 20.8 degrees to 41.0 degrees. November was our wettest month with a much needed 64.2mm falling over 6 days. The best rain was on 2 November when 40.4mm fell in 3/4hr – we could actually see the tank water depth indicators moving as the rain poured off the roof into the tanks. Our hottest month will probably turn out to be December – a high of 44.4 was recorded on 30 Dec and the lowest high for the month was 22.5 degrees (recorded on 1 and 31 December). So far January is also proving to be quite warm with the lowest minimum recorded so far being 7.4 degrees (9 January) and the highest high being 30.1 (10 January).
Lake Views
We regularly encountered other wildlife( e.g. snakes, mainly Death Adder and Dugites but 1 python was spotted in the dunes by the January Dune Course participants), lizards, dolphins; NZ Fur Seals, camels, kangaroos, butterflies, beetles and the occasional Pygmy Possum (when we check their nest boxes). Alan has become adept with the snake handling equipment although he hasn’t had much luck in catching Dugites. Our favourite sighting was of 3 NZ Fur Seal on a trip to Twilight Cove on 17 December: We stopped to watch them
frolicking in the shallow surf and when they spotted the car they came closer and put on quite a show, seemingly stopping to check frequently that we were watching and admiring them.
New Zealand Fur Seals frolicking at Twilight Cove
Our locals at the birdbath
Camels on the Hampton Tableland at Cocklebiddy
A less pleasant task has been the extermination of 2 feral European Honey Bee swarms discovered in the new Major Mitchell nesting box (4 November) and in the garage (28 December).
We’ve just 3 bookings (2 couples and a couple with 2 teenage children, each for 2 nights) between now and when we hand over to Delene and Danie at the end of January. Any spare time in these last 2 weeks will be spent bird banding and preparing for our departure. We feel very privileged to have had the opportunity of living at EBO for the last 6 months and I
know we will find it hard to leave. Thank you to the committee for allowing us to return and to all the guests and visitors who contributed much to our enjoyment of this magical place. Wendy & Alan Pilkington
