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From: "Chris Coleborn" <>
To: "Birding Australia" <>
Subject: Part 2 Trip to Gulf of Carpentaria
Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 15:06:12 +1000
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......concluding Part 1
There were plans to visit Kingfisher Camp on Bowthorn Station, but some
need
of car repairs forced us to miss this spot and move onto Burketown,
Normanton and several days in Karumba. We camped in the Sunset Caravan
Park
and from here explored the area for birds - as well as enjoyed a feed of
Barrumundi at the Tavern watching the sun go down over the Arafura Sea.
The
first new bird for us here were several majestic SARUS CRANES just
before
Karumba, trying to look inconspicuous among a large flock of BROLGAS. A
patient, at times painstaking search of the mangroves around the area,
watching out for crocodiles, brought the rewards of first sightings of
BROAD-BILLED FLYCATCHER, WHITE-BREASTED WHISTLER - very satisfying
views,
and being really impressed with the colouring of the Whistler. There
was not
so satisfying a view of a male RED-HEADED HONEYEATER, also in the
mangroves
but at least I got to see him. There were several good sightings of
NORTHERN
FANTAILS as they called and displayed. Perhaps the most delightful
sighting
here, partly because it was so unexpected was that of STAR FINCHES. The
"Boatman" told me of a spot where some had recently been reported at a
nearby waterhole, and on my second visit to the site, I was enchanted
to see
at least four males and some females and immatures coming down from a
shrubby tree to drink at, and to bathe, at the water's edge. For ten
minutes
or so, I was delightfully preoccupied in watching their antics and
interaction with ZEBRA & DOUBLE-BAR FINCHES as they flew to and from the
water and their bush. Other good sightings in the Karumba area were,
JABIRU,
AUST PRATINCOLE, YELLOW FIGBIRD, MANGROVE GERYGONE, YELLOW WHITE-EYE,
LITTLE
CURLEW, YELLOW ORIOLE, BUSTARD, BRUSH TURKEY, MANGROVE FANTAIL, LITTLE
SHRIKE-THRUSH, ROSEATE TERN, CRIMSON-BACKED (race cruentatus of the
RED-BACKED FAIRY-WREN), EASTERN REEF EGRET, the septentrionalis race of
the
RAINBOW LORIKEET, GOLDEN PLOVER, the race harterti of the BLUE-FACED
HONEYEATER, YELLOW HONEYEATER, BRAHMINY KITE, ZITTING CISTICOLA & RAJAH
SHELDUCK. I had hoped to also see GOLDEN WHISTLER, COLLARED KINGFISHER
&
MANGROVE ROBIN, but much searching produced no sightings of them. There
were
no recent sightings either of PIED HERON or GREAT-BILLED HERONS, which I
thought I might see. The Ferryman said, "Come back in May!" Thanks to
Bob
Forsyth for his help re birds in this area.
From Karumba, we travelled back via Cloncurry, Longreach, Charleville,
and
Cunnamulla to Eulo. We had hoped to visit several National Parks, in
this
area, such as the Paroo-Darling National Park, but either recent rain
or no
rain for a long time made visits discouraging. We did pick up some good
birds along the way though, including good sightings of ORIENTAL PLOVERS
near McKinlay. One of the birds I was searching for on this trip, was
the
RUFOUS-CROWNED EMU WREN, and from reports from Geoff Walker, Alan
Morris &
Robin Benson of their visits to the Bladensburg National Park and
sightings
of this bird there, I was hopeful, after many previous searches for this
little elusive bird, of finally seeing it. Alas it was not to be so. The
country was and has been very dry for some time, though there were still
reasonable numbers of birds about. Alan Morris and Robin Benson said
they
searched for eight hours before finding it. Not to be outdone, I
searched
morning noon and to nightfall over two days - over eight hours of it -
but
no sign of this smallest of Australian birds. There must have been about
three pair of SPINIFEXBIRDS I kept flushing though as I covered the
area. I
even found a breeding pair - but no RUFOUS-CROWNED GRASSWRENS. Are you
really s-u-r-e you saw them Groff, Alan and Robin! J
Other good birds for the area were RED-BROWED PARDALOTE, RED-BACKED
KINGFISHER, RED-WING PARROT BROLGA, COLLARED SPARROWHAWK, HOODED ROBIN,
GREY-HEADED HONEYEATER, SPOTTED HARRIER, BLACK HONEYEATER, PLUM-HEADED
FINCH, PAINTED FIRETAIL & BUSTARD.
We made our way, after several disappointments as to places to visit, to
Eulo. We camped near the fabled bore. It has been some years since I was
last here, and I was saddened to see that the little wetland that had
made
it such a wonderful birding place, has now dried up and a simple
steep-sided
earth tank is all that is there. Never the less we camped here a couple
of
days and met up with Nick Diamond, who was warden at the Eyre Bird
Observatory some years back, but is now living in the Shetland Islands
when
not birding in Asia. Here we helped Nick find a couple of lifers,
including
BOURKE'S PARROT, WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPER, CHESTNUT BREASTED
QUAIL-THRUSH,
HALL'S BABBLER & RED-BROWED PARDALOTE.
We linked up with Nick to go as far at Tibooburra, & had hoped to see
some
water birds in this area, but Lake Bindegolly and Currawinya lakes were
dry.
We made our way via Thargomindah to the GREY GRASSWREN SITE on Pyampa
Station. On the way, we saw, much to Nick's delight, several pair,
including
a breeding pair, of GIBBER CHATS. Chris Lester, Frank Pierce and several
others had seen GREY GRASSWRENS here in the not too distant past, so we
were
hopeful of adding this bird to our life list. We searched several hours
in
the lignum & canegrass swamp the first afternoon. We searched the lignum
swamp for several hours the morning of the second day. We searched and
searched mid morning and mid afternoon. We searched late afternoon. We
even
searched in every possible area we could have missed on the morning of
the
third day - over 12 hours the two of us searched, but no sign or the
birds.
They must await another day! We did see a couple of birds worth noting
though, including SLENDER-BILLED THORNBILL & LITTLE BUTTON-QUAIL & up
on the
stony flats, GIBBER CHATS.
We left Nick at Tibooburra to make his way to Cameron's Corner and onto
Darwin, and we travelled to Burke, Cobar & onto Round Hill Conservation
Park. There had been recent rain from Burke south, and the fauna and
flora
were all responding with gratitude to it. At Round Hill we camped in a
part
of the Wilga Woodland section, alive with wildflowers. Some of the
highlight
s here and in the adjoining Mallee were SPOTTED NIGHTJAR, large numbers
of
WHITE-WINGED TRILLERS, OWLET NIGHTJAR, BLACK-EARED CUCKOO, MULGA PARROT,
HOODED ROBIN, WESTERN GERYGONE, SPOTTED BOWERBIRD, INLAND THORNBILL,
SPOTTED
PARDALOTE, MAJOR MITCHELL COCKATOO, BROWN-HEADED HONEYEATER, BLACK
HONEYEATER, SOUTHERN SCRUB-ROBIN, SHY HEATHWREN & GILBERT'S WHISTLER.
Here
we ran into a cheerful trio of intrepid, retired ladies from Sydney and
the
Blue Mountains, Jane, Jane and Jenny (I think!) who were on a bird
watching
trip that was to take them to South Australia. They gave a reliable
report
of a sighting of a pair of RED-LORED WHISTLERS & CHESTNUT QUAIL-THRUSH
for
this area too.
From here we travelled to Lake Caregelligo, Hay, Balranald looking in at
Wandown Reserve near Robinvale, and various lakes in the Kerang area
before
arriving safe and sound at home again, to a happy welcome for the rest
of
the family.
There were 270 species seen on the trip, 32 of them being new species or
subspecies for me. The more notable sightings for the trip I thought
were,
PLUMED WHISTLING DUCK, BLUE-BILLED DUCK, RAJAH SHELDUCK PINK-EARED DUCK,
EASTERN REEF EGRET, GLOSSY IBIS, BLACK-BREASTED BUZZARD, WHITE-BELLIED
SEA-EAGLE, SPOTTED HARRIER, GREY FALCON, BLACK FALCON, SARUS CRANE,
BAILLON'
S CRAKE, LITTLE BUTTON-QUAIL, LITTLE CURLEW, BANDED STILT, PACIFIC
GOLDEN
PLOVER, ORIENTAL PLOVER AUSTRALIAN PRATINCOLE, ROSEATE TERN, FLOCK
BRONZEWING, SPINIFEX PIGEON, DIAMOND DOVE, RED-TAILED BLACK-COCKATOO,
MAJOR
MITCHELL'S COCKATOO, RED-COLLARED LORIKEET, VARIED LORIKEET, RED-WINGED
PARROT, NORTHERN ROSELLAS, CLONCURRY PARROT, BOURKE'S PARROT, GRASS OWL,
RED-BACKED KINGFISHER, WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPER, BLACK-TAILED
TREECREEPER,
PURPLE-CROWNED FAIRY-WREN, CRIMSON-BACKED FAIRY-WREN, CARPENTARIAN
GRASSWREN, EYREAN GRASSWREN, KALKADOON GRASSWREN, RED-BROWED PARDALOTE,
SHY
HEATHWREN, MANGROVE GERYGONE, SLENDER-BILLED THORNBILL, BANDED
WHITEFACE,
SILVER-CROWNED FRIARBIRD, NTH BLUE-FACED HONEYEATER, WHITE-GAPED
HONEYEATER,
YELLOW HONEYEATER, GREY-HEADED HONEYEATER, GREY-FRONTED HONEYEATER,
YELLOW-TINTED HONEYEATER, GOLDEN-BACKED HONEYEATER, GAR-BREASTED
HONEYEATER,
RUFOUS-THROATED HONEYEATER, BLACK HONEYEATER, RED-HEADED HONEYEATER,
CRIMSON
CHAT, ORANGE CHAT, GIBBERBIRD, WHITE-BROWED ROBIN, SOUTHERN SCRUB-ROBIN,
HALL'S BABBLER, CHIRRUPING WEDGEBILL, CINNAMON QUAIL-THRUSH,
CHESTNUT-BREASTED QUAIL-THRUSH, GILBERT'S WHISTLER, WHITE-BREASTED
WHISTLER,
LITTLE SHRIKE-THRUSH, SANDSTONE SHRIKE-THRUSH, BROAD-BILLED FLYCATCHER,
PAPERBACK FLYCATCHER, ARAFURA FANTAIL, MANGROVE GREY FANTAIL NORTHERN
FANTAIL, WHITE -BELLIED CUCKOO SHRIKE, GROUND CUCKOO-SHRIKE, YELLOW
ORIOLE,
LITTLE WOODSWALLOW, SPOTTED BOWERBIRD, GREAT BOWERBIRD, DOUBLE-BARRED
FINCH,
LONG-TAILED FINCH, CRIMSON FINCH, STAR FINCH PLUM-HEADED FINCH, PAINTED
FINCH, CHESTNUT-BREASTED MANNIKIN PICTORELLA MANNIKIN WHITE-BACKED
SWALLOW,
TAWNY GRASSBIRD, SPINIFEXBIRD, ZITTING CISTICOLA, & YELLOW WHITE-EYE.
Thanks to all who offered advice and helped to make this an enjoyable
and
memorable birding trip.
I am happy to pass on further details of sightings to any who may be
interested.
Chris Coleborn
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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