Hi everybody,
as I mentioned a month or so ago my parents and brother are at present
travelling through the centre and top end of
Australia. They have been too busy seeing the birds to give me detailed
reports but I have gleaned some rough
information from them during short phone calls.
They stayed for 2 days at Gluepot and were very excited about the place. They
loved the feeling of isolation here and
felt excited to be about tenth on the visitors book. They saw a few
Black-eared miners and got a nice look at a party
of Striated Grasswrens.
Around Uluru and Alice Springs there had been much rain and the desert was
significantly in flower. They suggested this
would be a very good time to visit. They found both Pied and Black honeyeaters
and there were significant numbers of
Crimson and Orange Chats. Also found Dusky Grasswren fairly easily.
They looked without success at Pine Creek for Hooded Parrots. A local
(knowledgeable??) told them that no Hooded
Parrots had been seen there for a number of years and he attributed their
decline to predation by ferals. Does anyone
know if either of these beliefs are true. They did however find a nice flock
of Hooded Parrots further west (on the way
to Victoria River I think). Also got good views and video of Barking Owls near
Victoria River.
Decided not to go to Kakadu as the main road between Darwin and Kakadu is cut
due to the bridge on the Mary River
collapsing. You can still go via the southern route but as they were short on
time and have been to Kakadu twice before
decided to skip it. Around Darwin saw Rainbow Pitta and Little Bronze-cuckoo
and used tapes to call Mangrove Robin in
very close.
Last report was from Mt. Isa where they arrived yesterday. On the way used
tapes to call out some spinifexbirds (which
I think was my brothers 500th aus bird) and got very close views of Bustards
beside the road. Lots of Varied Lorikeets
in Mt. Isa. Next stop Lawn Hill NP.
As an aside my mother bought a new video camera before leaving and is very
impressed with the new generation machines as
a birdwatching aid. It has a color lcd screen, 18x optical zoom and works in
very low light. Does anyone use a video
as a primary tool for bird identification yet or are the lcd screens still too
low resolution. I wonder how long it
will be before they are more useful than binoculars. I know a good pair of
binoculars will be better resolution at the
moment but even a pair of leicas doesn't record image/sound for later
comparison with field guides or allow you to go
back and review interesting behaviours and 18x optical magnification is
sometimes quite useful.
Best Wishes
John Boyce
Best Wishes
John Boyce
Department of Microbiology
Monash University
Clayton, 3168
Vic. Australia
phone: work: 9905 4838
home: 9376 6641
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