Hi fellow birders,
Steve Clark's recent list from the Wimmera noted a lack of small woodland
species in an area that he would have expected many. In contrast to this,
two of us spent a couple of delightful hours in the Mallee about 10kms East
of Mildura on Wednesday afternoon. This is just South West of the Mallee
Cliffs National Park. In a typical light mallee scrub area, with a couple
of open areas, we found six honeyeater species (Spiny-cheeked, Singing,
White-plumed, White-eared, Yellow-plumed and White-fronted), but also four
Thornbills (Brown, Chestnut-rumped, Yellow-rumped and Weebill), Southern
Whiteface, Silvereye, Variegated (and possibly White-winged) Fairy-Wren,
Mistletoebird, Restless Flycatcher and Red-capped Robin. So our experience
was of a really nice variety of the smaller species in good numbers. Other
nice birds included Mulga Parrots and White-browed Babblers. There were no
"imports", no Noisy Miners and only a single Whistling Kite, so the locals
obviously found this a pleasant and "safe" environment.
Also of interest at the moment is the annual "bonefish" feasting in the
Murray River right in Mildura. Each year in Winter, these small fish die
off and attract huge numbers of fisher-birds in the early mornings. In an
area of about 1/2 km just above the Mildura Weir, there are well over 1,000
Silver Gulls and more than 250 Pelicans, plus cormorants and Darters. At
normal times, away from this occurrence, typical numbers in this area would
be perhaps 100 Gulls and 10 - 15 Pelicans.
Bob Cook
Mildura
North-West Victoria
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