Coalmine Beach

Visited: spring

Recommendation: The caravan park here is gold. Sitting right on the beach gives easy access to trails around it, through lush woodland. The owners are also bird lovers and can give great tips on where to see things.

Coalmine Beach Caravan Park is a few kilometres east of Walpole and sits within the National Park and is very close to the water. It is stunning, full of huge, beautiful trees and most importantly, there are lots of birds. Starting with a feeder outside the office. Common Bronzewings first caught my eye. There is nothing common about these birds. I only realised how they got their name when I saw one fly away recently. The underside of their wings is a burnt brown, bronzy colour. Never seen that before.

Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)

Around the park were lots of wattlebirds, magpies and cockatoo. The noise was fabulous. Every now and again the wail of the black cockatoo would pass overhead. I was disappointed that because of the bad weather, there was no real opportunity to see water birds. I did see numerous pelican and a couple of sea eagles fly over. It can never be disappointing, however, when lots of Galah are around. Their cheery call and gregarious nature is always nice to see.

Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla)

Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata)

The manager of the park, once he knew I was a birder, invited me to his garden where he said lots of birds come in to feed. It was only a few kilometres away so when there was a break in the weather I headed up there. True enough, in his beautiful garden were lots of birds. I just sat and watched and to my delight a male and female Western Rosella flew in. I didn't know how different the female was.

Western Rosella (Platycercus icterotis)

Next up was the Red-eared Firetail and I crouched behind a bush to get close to these tiny birds. Similar to the Painted Finch from Queensland, they are incredibly pretty.

The Red-eared Firetail is endemic to southwestern Australia and their range typically includes coastal areas and inland regions within a certain distance from the coast. They prefer dense vegetation near water bodies.

Red-eared Firetail (Stagonopleura oculata)

Just for once, the Splendid Fairywren were shy here and while they were hopping around the grass surrounding a bush, they would not tolerate me anywhere near them. This was my only decent shot of a moulting male.

Splendid Fairywren (Malurus splendens)

I had better luck with the Yellow-rumped Thornbill but they did bounce around a lot, making it difficult to focus on them in the grass. Most of my shots were blurred.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa)

To finish off, I got a better shot of the bronzewing. While the Common Bronzewing's beauty is a delight to behold, it serves crucial purposes for the bird's survival and reproduction. It might seem counterintuitive, but the bronze and green hues actually help the bird blend in with its natural environment, particularly in the dappled sunlight of bushland. This helps protect them from predators.

The vibrant iridescent patches on the wings, especially in males, are also believed to be a key factor in attracting mates. The more brilliant the plumage, the more desirable the male is to potential partners.

Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)