Hi,

We have just had 10 days in Broome, primarily to see the waders in breeding
plumage, but also at all other things.

We were a little surprised at how few a number of species there were to see
in this area and how little we saw, however we enjoyed what we saw.

Agile wallabies were in many places around Broome, but not a single one in 3
days on the Dampier Peninsular. In fact we didn't see anything at all
mammal wise between Broome and Cape Leveque except 3 donkeys.

The highlight of the trip were a couple of Northern Nailtails on the plains
behind the bird observatory. [I am not sure if there is public access onto
this cattle property or it has to be arranged through the observatory. In
our case the warden took us out there on a tour.]

There was a colony of Black Flying Fox roosting in the mangroves at
Streeters Jetty, which is apparently quite common. And that's all we saw up
there. We missed the snub-nose dolphins despite spending hours everyday at
the water's edge around Roebuck bay at high tide.

On the last afternoon we decided we would try the Dampier Plains road to
look for more inland things. We found the turn off OK, but there was a gate
and then soft deep sand disappearing over the rise, which hadn't been driven
on for a long time (no tyre marks), so we decided we had better not try that
without suitable gear. It didn't look like they were using that road to get
to the property. Quite disappointed at not getting into the interior a bit
and not being able to try for the Bilby which Jon Hall had reported some
years ago. [One guy we met, a local naturalist, said that over the years he
had found a few road kill Bilby round Broome, including near the
Observatory.]

John Goldie and Kathy Walter,
Canberra