This is certainly the time to be in NW Victoria. It seems like half the
birding-aus subscribers have been up there in the past month or so. Here's
yet another trip report for those of you who can't get up there to drool over.
I hadn't been up there for some time, and decided to take a week off to
reacquaint myself with some dry-country birds. The main areas I visited
were Little Desert, Wyperfeld and Hattah Lakes, with a few detours. I came
back along the Murray via Terrick Terrick and Whipstick.
Previous trip reports of spots to see particular birds were very helpful -
thanks to those people who provided details of where to go to see chats and
honeyeaters.
I missed a few "common" birds, such as Rufous Fieldwren and Brown Songlark
(still haven't ever seen either of these species) but saw several life
birds, and a few others that I haven't seen for many years.
Highlights of the trip were -
Little Desert:
Lots of flowers! (Birds too, but the flowers were great).
Huge flocks of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows at Kiata campground,
with a few Black-faced also.
White-winged Trillers in the campground.
Amazing response of birds to "pishing". At one spot I had White-eared,
Singing and Brown-headed Honeyeaters, Shy Heathwren (not really shy at
all!), Variegated Wrens, Brown Thornbills and Golden Whistlers all come to
investigate the strange noise. At another spot I was trying to attract a
group of White-browed Babblers when a Southern Scrub-robin walked across
the path behind me.
Cockatiels investigating nesting holes in the campground.
Wyperfeld:
Red-capped Robins and Splended Wrens - truly a well-named bird. Both fairly
common but definitely a treat.
Striped Honeyeater - a life bird for me. Seen on the Mallee Fowl Walk, off
the Nature Drive.
Also seen on the Mallee Fowl Walk - 2 Blue-winged Parrots, several Mulga
Parrots, and Budgerigars flying over (but no Mallee-fowl :-(
A pair of Chestnut Quail-thrush walking across the road on the Nature Drive.
Lots of Pallid Cuckoos.
Several Pink Cockatoos flying over.
Pink Lakes:
Stopped here in the middle of the day, between Wyperfeld and
Hattah-Kulkyne. Well worth the detour! I drove round the loop drive, and
without even getting out of the car, saw Southern Whiteface, Mulga Parrot,
Red-backed Kingfisher, Budgerigar, Diamond Firetail, Bluebonnet (quite a
few), Crimson Chat (a life bird) and Pink Cockatoo, as well as lots of
other more "ordinary" things.
Hattah-Kulkyne:
Lake Mournpall is the only lake with water in it at present. Birds in the
lake include Pelican, Grey Teal, Shelduck, Black-fronted Dotterel,
Red-necked Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Yellow-billed and one Royal
Spoonbill, and Whiskered Terns in breeding plumage.
Visited a couple of the areas mentioned a few weeks ago by Penny
Drake-Brockman for chats and honeyeaters. Only saw one Black Honeyeater (a
life bird) and no Pied Honeyeaters in the area near Hattah general store,
but one Malle Emu-wren. Flocks of Crimson and a few Orange Chats (both life
birds) at the salt lakes she mentioned. Also a few White-Winged Wrens at
this spot, and a flock of Budgerigars.
Lots of birds around the campsite. I put out a bit of muesli to see what
would be attracted, and had White-winged Choughs, Apostlebirds, Noisy
Miners, Blue-faced Honeyeaters and Pied Butcherbirds (with young in nest)
all come to investigate.
Finally got to see another life bird for which I've looked in several
places - Crested Bellbird. I saw it on the Hattah Narure Walk near the park
entrance. Also a Wilie Wagtail sitting on a nest right on the edge of the
trail.
Terrick Terrick National Park:
I didn't spend long enough here, but it was the middle of the day and
fairly hot. Well worth a visit though.
The definite highlight was seeing several Black Honeyeaters, which I didn't
expect, including 2 nests! One was apparently still being built, but the
other had the female sitting on it. Both were less that a metre above the
ground, and were on the slopes of Mt Terrick, in the half-dead looking
acacia with mistletoe growing in it.
Also saw lots of Mistletoebirds, chasing each other and being chased by
White-plumed Honeyeaters.
Other birds of interest were Rainbow Beeeaters, Malle Ringnecks, Diamond
Firetail, Southern Whiteface (both of these feeding near the top of Mt
Terrick), and several White-bellied Cuckooshrikes.
Whipstick State Park:
My visit here was marred by the rain (and by my getting the car stuck and
having to walk 5 km to find help), but there are a lot of things flowering
at the moment, and lots of birds. In my brief time there the highlights
were White-browed and Black-faced Woodswallows, Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters,
and lots of Common Bronzewings (there could have been Brush Bronzewings
also, but when I was trying to find someone to help with the car, I didn't
stop to look at birds much:-(
I want to fill in Atlas sheets, but I'm not sure what to do about the fact
that I don't have GPS locations for anyplace, and some of the areas I can
only describe the approximate location of. Suggestions, anyone?
Cheers,
Koren
_______________________________________________________
Koren Mitchell
IT Administrator, Faculty IT Unit
Rm N721, level 7, Medical Building
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne
phone - 9344 8938
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