Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary is a re-vegetated urban bush and wetland located just 8kms from the Perth CBD on the Swan River in the suburb of Bayswater. It’s at 31°55'37"S 115°55'37"E in case you are interested in checking it out.
Yesterday morning Birds Australia WA group organised an excursion there. I went along and volunteered to write it up. Here’s my report for the next issue of WA Bird Notes which is the newsletter for WA Birds Australia members.
Spending a glorious winter’s morning at this Bayswater bush and wetland area rewarded fifteen birders with some interesting sightings. The highlight was a group of White-naped Honeyeaters feeding in the flowering eucalypts surrounding the western border of the lake. This was the first recording of the White-naped at this site. All up five species of honeyeater were seen, the others being the Brown, Singing, White-cheeked and New Holland. The vantage point of the bird hide over the wetland provided some excellent views of Pink-eared Ducks. We saw five species of ducks altogether. Setting up nesting boxes has been successful in attracting five duck species to breed in the area. The white plastic nesting boxes themselves are quite ugly, but the ducks are not bothered, so that’s the main thing.
Eric Singleton Bird Reserve is adjacent to the Swan River and has been extensively revegetated. It encompasses a variety of habitats: bush, fresh water wetland and estuarine river. All up we saw a total of 45 species. Other interesting sightings were a Richard’s Pipit, a Black-fronted Dotterel, a Little Grassbird and a distant view of an Osprey, nesting on the top of a mast across the river, near the Ascot racecourse.
