Yellow

A rare bird in wild country

Male Yellow Chat, Roebuck Plains, Western Australia. © Bronwen Scott.

Fly to Broome in north-western Australia. When the tourists head out to Cable Beach on Indian Ocean, drive in the other direction. Skirt the spider legs of Dampier Creek, and travel east along red dirt roads to the shore of Roebuck Bay. In the salt marsh and rugged plain, where samphire meets grass, you might be fortunate enough to see one of Australia’s rarest birds, the Yellow Chat (Epthianura crocea). But go in winter — the dry season — because in the wet, the humidity is fierce and the rains turn Gumaranganyjal into a shimmering sheet. At this time of year, Mangrove Crabs (Neosarmatium australiense), which have spent half the year dug into the clay, emerge in their millions to march down to the sea.

The Yellow Chat is one of four species of Epthianura, an unusual quartet of honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) endemic to Australia. They are odd because they have abandoned flowers and fruit in favour of an insect-hunting life closer to the ground. (Although they are not as odd as the related Gibberbird (Ashbyia lovensis), which lives on the almost barren, stony plains of central Australia.)

A few years ago, I saw Yellow Chats at Gumaranganyjal on a tour led by my friends David Stowe and Henry Cook. We sat on the warm ground among the desiccated vegetation and watched a small flock of these birds — brilliant yellow males with their black medallions and the more reserved females — until the sun was overhead and it was time to find the shade. I would love to go back and see them again. Another trip for the ‘one day’ list.