Howe Flat?

Pretty flat I'd have to say. A few weeks back there was an exchange on the Mallacoota Birds Facebook Page about the Howe Flat Track.  The Flat itself seemed quite an interesting site as shown by the latest eBird checklist.  I offered Frances a trip there but somehow the idea of 6+km along the beach to get to the start of the track didn't excite her (or at least not positively).

 Here id the view from the starting point (Bastion Point).  The red arrow points to the start of the track.

 I had roughly measured the distance as 6km, using Google Earth.  Going out I did two checklists for the Bastion Point area (1.5km) and the remaining distance (~4.5km).  Coming back I measured the whole distance with the eBird track measuring tool and it came to 6.17km.

As I set off there was a reasonably large patch of washed up kelp with a lot of sea-tulips (I think Pyura sp) mixed in with them,  Being chordates they tend to rot smellily and attract many gulls to feed on the mess.

At the blocking dune the usual small flock of Bar-tailed Godwits were in attendance.  Several of them seemed to be gettingsome good colouring, suggesting they will soon be heading for their Siberian breeding grounds.

Heading along Big Beach there were very few birds visible.  I did record 6 Pied Oystercatchers.  This poor bird was limping, due to having a missing foot.

This one wasn't limping but running around very briskly, displaying some jewelry added by banders.  Despite taking several photographs I didn't get a clear one of the yellow flag.

I had been told that there was a sign indicating the start of the track through the Flat.  As I seemed to have been walking forever I used the track-map from aeBird to see where I was in relation to the track: eventually it reckoned I was right on it.

And there was the sign on top of the dune.  The full distance from Bastion was 6.17km.

As I climbed over the dune there were a lot of snake tracks ...

.. and some canid ones.  As its a National Park I can only assume these are fox or dingo tracks.

Once over the dune there was a pretty dense Banksia-dominated forest ...

.. which soon gave way to a Melaleuca heath.

The area was pretty quiet in terms of birds.  It was far from quiet in terms of mosquitoes and I didn't have any repellent with me, so I kept moving and slapping.  (My estimate is that I killed about 30 of the little pests: fortunately they weren't itchy.)

Here is the track.  I suspect there was a side track I could have followed to dodge the water but I was running out of energy

The most interesting birds in the Flat were Rose Robin (heard only) and a Pilotbird, which became Bird of the Day.  I intend to go back some time in cooler weather with a good serve of bug repellent.