D'Entrecasteaux National Park

D'Entrecasteaux National Park is stunning. I accessed it from Windy Harbour, where I stayed at the lovely little caravan park right on the beach. There is a track from there, running all the way up to the tip of the headland. You can walk along the beach or follow the track through a gully behind it. 

The park is named after French Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux, who was the first European to sight the area in 1792. Point D'Entrecasteaux is the prominent headland as seen in the photo above, taken from the beach below. There are many geological features of the park along the 130 kilometres it runs on the coastline. It also hosts diverse coastal heathlands, grasslands, and forests, with a peak wildflower season from mid-September to December. 

Around the settlement of Windy Harbour are more trees and I could hear at least 2 species of black cockatoo calling regularly from the tops. The caravan park itself was home to a charming group of Yellow-rumped Thornbill that fed on the grassy area. In the late afternoons the Western Grey Kangaroo would come in to graze. I have seen plenty of them with white blotches on their faces but this female, with joey in tow had a very interesting pattern and it was only when I looked at the photo that I saw her white ears as well. A pair of Laughing Kookaburra were also hanging around, less interested in the grass but looking hopefully at some campers' BBQs.

I walked along the beach towards the headland. I knew Hooded Plover had been seen here recently but there was no sign of them. The headland itself looked glorious in the early morning sunlight. Leaving the beach close to the headland took me through the heathland and up to the top. There were plenty of fairywren calling from the scrub and the occasional lizard skittered away from the path. Looking back towards the village, I saw a Baudin's Black-Cockatoo and some Rock Parrots in the distance. Photography was difficult, even with my 3000mm lens. That was to be a theme of the day. 

At the top of the headland it was more rocky and on the far side was a lovely lookout onto a hole in the cliff known as 'The Window'. I could also see across the water to a small, flat island. I could identify lots of gulls and possibly some seals but again, it was just a bit far away. 

I heard more fairywren and found both the Splendid and the Red-winged. The male Red-winged Fairywren had a brilliant blue back and I really wanted to photograph him but he wasn't hanging around. However, as I looked for the fairywren, I saw Southern Emu-wren. I then spent about 30 minutes watching the wrens bobbing up and down out of the bushes. A young and very plain Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo flew in right next to me at one point giving me a welcome distraction from my wren frustrations.