Ashmore Reef Trip Report  

On October 28, 2015 I flew to Broome to join the Kimberley Expeditions Ashmore Reef Expedition on the 'Oceania'. The trip was nine days in all, there were four crew and eighteen passengers on the 27m catamaran.

Some of Australia's best birders were on board, including Rohan Clarke, Mike Carter, George Swann, John Weigel and Richard Baxter. Most of these guys have seen more than 800 bird species in Australia. The trip included an extra day to visit Adele Island for some research work to be done by Dr Rohan Clarke. Rohan's research group at Monash University currently have a remote base station that is collecting data from tiny loggers fitted to seabirds at Adele Island. 

Ashmore Reef is 830 kms west of Darwin and 145 kms south of the Indonesian Island of Roti. It is 27 hectares in size and is designated a National Nature Reserve. Many interesting passerine species have been recorded on Ashmore over the years, making it a great destination for keen birders and researchers. Ashmore Reef is a National Nature Reserve. A permit is required to visit and special permits are required to go ashore on each of the three islands. 

Click here to see my Google+ album of 236 photos and videos from the expedition, or the short movie version here. An album of photos from the Broome area before and after the Ashmore trip will follow.

The vessel is Kimberley Expeditions ‘Oceania’, a 27 m long catamaran. They used three tenders to facilitate visits to islands.   

Each evening after a very nice dinner on the Oceania we compiled a checklist and count of species seen on the day, presided over by Mike Carter. Summary below:-

Fri. 30 October, Day 1: Sail in a north westerly direction from Broome. 
Unfortunately I missed a good bird (Abbot's Booby) due to sea sickness, but saw  Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Brown Booby, Silver Gull, Little Tern, Bridled Tern, Common Tern, WhiskeredTern, Hump-backed Whales and Dwarf Spinner Dolphins

Sat. 31 October, Day 2: Continuing beyond the shelf break (some 260 Nm from Ashmore in a direct line). Change heading to NNW to traverse shelf slope waters between 400 m & 600 m deep until noon. Then head for deeper waters to the north, continuing throughout the night. This will take us to the west of Scott Reef.
We saw Tahiti Petrel, Streaked Shearwater, Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Bulwer's Petrel, Jouanin's Petrel, Wilson's Storm Petrel, Swinhoe's Storm Petrel, Masked Booby, Brown Booby, Bridled Tern, Sooty Tern,Whiskered Tern, Long-tailed Jaeger, Short-finned Pilot Whale, Spinner Dolphin spp?

Sun. 1 November, Day 3: Continue to Ashmore Reef, arriving at about noon. Liaise with customs and after lunch go ashore on West Island (WI) until dark. Take a two-way radio provided by Kimberley Expeditions for ship-to-shore contact. Overnight at the inner mooring close to WI.
Today while at sea and inshore we saw Tahiti Petrel, Streaked Shearwater, Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Bulwer's Petrel, Jouanin's Petrel, Wilson's Storm Petrel, Swinhoe's Storm Petrel, Matsudaira's Storm Petrel, Red-tailed Tropicbird, White-tailed Tropicbird, Lesser Frigatebird, Masked Booby, Brown Booby,Red-footed Booby, Brown Noddy, Black Noddy, Crested Tern, Bridled Tern, Sooty Tern, Common Tern, Nankeen Night Heron, Little Egret. Cetaceans were False Killer Whale, Beaked Whale spp and about 200 Pan-tropical Spotted Dolphins.
On West Island we saw White and Red-tailed Tropicbird, Brown Booby, Crested Tern, Eastern Reef Egret, Buff-banded Rail, Peregrine Falcon (calidus race from Siberia), Pacific Golden Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Oriental Plover, Greenshank, Grey-tailed Tattler, Common Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, Black-eared Cuckoo, Dollarbird, Collared Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater, White-winged Triller, Magpie-lark (1), Arctic Warbler, Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Grey Wagtail and the biggest surprise, a Pied Honeyeater!

Mon. 2 November, Day 4: After juice, cereals & toast go ashore on WI at dawn. Return to boat for a cooked breakfast and a short rest or a snorkel. Predicted low tide (0.7 m) is at 07.50 and high tide (2.9 m) at 14.02, so late morning we head off to Middle Island (MI) (a distance of ~10 km) by tender carrying packed lunches. If permitted, we will go ashore but if not, we will circumnavigate the island. We then visit the ‘Horseshoe’, a sandbank where shorebirds assemble at high tide. After returning to the Oceania and replenishing our drinks we again go ashore on WI. Overnight at the inner mooring.  
On our early morning and late afternoon visit to West Island we saw White and Red-tailed Tropicbird, Brown Booby, Crested Tern, Nankeen Night Heron, Little Egret, Eastern Reef Egret, Buff-banded Rail, Peregrine Falcon (calidus race from Siberia), Pacific Golden Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Common Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, Little Bronze-cuckpp, Black-eared Cuckoo, Fork-tailed Swift, Dollarbird, Collared Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater, White-winged Triller, Magpie-lark (1), Arctic Warbler, Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler, Ashy-bellied White-eye, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Grey Wagtail and the Pied Honeyeater.
On Middle Island and the 'Horseshoe' sandbank we saw Lesser Frigatebird, Masked Booby, Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Brown Noddy (~16000), Black Noddy, Gull-billed Tern (Asian), Crested Tern, Little Tern, Sooty Tern (~13200), Nankeen Night Heron, White-

faced Heron, Little Egret, Eastern Reef Egret, Buff-banded Rail,Pacific Golden Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Asian Dowitcher, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-taile Godwit, Little Curlew, Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Common Greenshank, Grey-tailed Tattler, Terek Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Great Knot, Red Knot, Sanderling, Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper

Tue. 3 November, Day 5: Same as Day 4 but then land on East Island (EI) (a journey of 20 km each way) and visit Splittgerber Cay which is another high-tide shorebird roost. Low tide (1.0 m) is at 08.34 and high tide (2.7 m) at 14.52. 
On our early morning and late afternoon visit to West Island we saw White and Red-tailed Tropicbird, Brown Booby, Crested Tern, Nankeen Night Heron, Little Egret, Eastern Reef Egret, Buff-banded Rail, Peregrine Falcon (calidus race from Siberia), Pacific Golden Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Oriental Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Little Curlew, Whimbrel, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Grey-tailed Tattler, Common Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Oriental Pratincole, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, Little Bronze-cuckoo, Black-eared Cuckoo,
Fork-tailed Swift, Dollarbird, Collared Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater, White-winged Triller, Magpie-lark (1), Arctic Warbler, Australian Reed Warbler, Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler, Ashy-bellied White-eye, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Grey Wagtail, Pechora Pipit, and the Pied Honeyeater.
On Splittgerber Cay we saw Great and Lesser Frigatebird, Masked, Red-footed and Brown Booby, Brown Noddy (~3000), Crested Tern, Little Tern, Sooty Tern (~1000), White-winged Tern, Nankeen Night Heron, Little Egret, Eastern Reef Egret, Buff-banded Rail, Pacific Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Red-necked Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Curlew Sandpiper.

Wed. 4 November, Day 6: We went ashore on WI for 3-4 hours from dawn, our seventh and last inspection of the island. Pulled anchor and left Ashmore Reef around 09.00. Sailed to Browse Island a distance of ~120 Nm. We had dinner at sea and arrived after dark. 
On our early morning and late afternoon visit to West Island we saw White Tropicbird, Lesser Frigatebird, Brown Booby, Crested Tern, Nankeen Night Heron, Little Egret, Eastern Reef Egret, Buff-banded Rail, Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Oriental Cuckoo, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, Black-eared Cuckoo, Collared Kingfisher, Sacred Kingfisher, White-winged Triller, Magpie-lark (1), Arctic Warbler, Australian Reed Warbler, Middendorff's Grasshopper Warbler, (John Weigel saw and photographed a bird that was later identified as a Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler,) Ashy-bellied White-eye, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Grey Wagtail and the Pied Honeyeater.
At sea on our way to Browse Island we saw Tahiti Patrel, Streaked Shearwater, Wilson's and Matsudaira's Storm Petrel, Red and White-tailed Tropicbird, Great and Lesser Frigatebird, Brown Booby, Short-finned Pilot Whale, Melon-headed Whale, False Killer Whale, Risso's Dolphin, Beaked Whale, Common Bottlenose Dolphin, Spinner Dolphin sp and Loggerhead Turtle.

Thu. 5 November, Day 7: Browse Island is a small, approximately 14 hectares, uninhabited island lying in the Timor Sea about 180 km north-west of the Kimberley coast. It is a Western Australian Class ‘A’ Nature Reserve vested with the state Conservation Commission and managed by the Department of Environment and Conservation. The island is an important nesting site for Green Turtles as well as seabirds. Introduced House Mice are present. It is surrounded by extensive coral reefs. The island was mined for guano from 1870 to 1890. The surrounding waters are visited by Indonesian fishers as the island lies in the area allowing traditional Indonesian fishing activities within the Australian Fishing Zone. There is a helipad which is used by the oil and gas industry. The Ichthys LNG Project’s 890 kilometre gas export pipeline (GEP) will deliver gas and some condensate from the central processing facility (CPF) in the nearby Browse Basin to onshore facilities at Bladin Point near Darwin so that it can be prepared for export.

We boarded the tenders at dawn and went ashore on Browse Island. Then we continued on to Adele Island, our next destination, an 80 Nm, 8-10 hour trip. Arrival at dusk.
Sightings on Browse Island were Bridled Tern, Striated Heron, Eastern Reef Egret, Buff-banded Rail, Pacific Golden Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Australian Pratincole, Oriental Cuckoo, Fork-tailed Swift, Collared Kingfisher, Magpie-lark (3), Island Monarch (I dipped on this special bird unfortunately), Arctic Warbler, Eastern Yelloe Wagtail.
At sea we saw Streked, Wedge-tailed and Hutton's Shearwater, Wilson's and Matsudaira's Storm Petrel, Brown Booby, Brown Noddy, Black Noddy, Bridled, Sooty, Common and White-winged Tern, Spinner Dolphin sp, Hawksbill Turtle, Golden Sea Snake sp and a beautifully marked Geometrical Sea Snake.

Fri. 6 November, Day 8: Adele Island is fish-hook shaped and is 2.9 kilometres long by 1.6 kilometres wide and a total area of 217 hectares. It is low-lying and surrounded by sandbanks lying over a limestone platform forming a large lagoon. Perfect for shorebirds! 
We went ashore at Adele Island at dawn and back aboard Oceania around 10.00. After lunch we went back to the island and did wader counts on the sandbars. We left Adele around 8pm for ~170 Nm jouney to Broome.
On Adele we saw we saw Great and Lesser Frigatebird, Masked Booby, Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby, Australian Pelican, Pied Cormorant, Brown Noddy (~4000), Black Noddy (~1800), Lesser Noddy (5), Silver Gull, Gull-billed Tern (Asian), Crested Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, Little Tern, Sooty Tern, Common Tern,White-winged Tern, Nankeen Night Heron, Great Egret, Little Egret, Eastern Reef Egret, Pied Oystercatcher, Pacific Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Eastern Curlew, Common Greenshank, Grey-tailed Tattler, Terek Sandpiper(900), Ruddy Turnstone, Great Knot, Red Knot, Sanderling, Red-necked Stint, Curlew Sandpiper (500), Broad-billed Sandpiper (1), Australian Pratincole, Brown Quail, Sacred Kinfisher and Tawny Grassbird.

Sat. 7 November, Day 9: At sea enroute to Broome passing to the east of the Lacepede Islands, disembarking on arrival around 7.00pm. The trip was fairly rough and I stayed below most of the time. The only bird I missed that I would like to have seen was Roseate Tern.