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Trip Report- Bourke and Surrounding areas

To: "Birding Aus" <>
Subject: Trip Report- Bourke and Surrounding areas
From: "kurtis lindsay" <>
Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 13:25:31 +1000
Hi all,
 
On the 2/10/2004 my family and I went on a trip to Bourke.
 
The official bird list started as we left Sydney, with most of the usual roadside birds and Little Eagle,Chough and White-necked Heron.
The firts birding stop was Rawsonville Bridge, just out of Wellington off the Mitchell Highway.
The paddocks around the creek seemed alive with the constant metallic sounding calls of the Rufous Songlarks which where very plentiful everywhere we stopped.
Other birds here included a pair of Black Kite and many Sacred KingfishersPeaceful Doves and Clamorous Reed-warbler which calling from the river banks.
 
The next and final stop for the day was Narromine were we stayed the night in a Hotel.
Narromine provided many interesting birds including a lone Australian Hobby which was seen quietly feeding on the carcass of a sparrow in the grounds of the Court House Hotel.
We had a barbequed dinner at the  park in the centre of the town.
Surprisingly this spot had many species including Yellow-throated Miner, Little Friarbird, Rainbow Bee-eater, White-plumed Honeyeater,Red-rump Parrot, Little Raven,Blue-faced Honeyeater, Rufous songlark and some more common species. Four black Cockatoos flew past the park but I was unable to identify them as they were quite far away, the call they made was definitely not Yellow-tail so I was tossing up over Glossy or Redtail.
After dinner we went on a drive up Derribong Ave, not many birds were seen Only Noisy Miner, Chough and Little Raven.
On the returning to town a lone Magpie Goose was seen flying by Derribong Ave.
 
The next Morning (3/10/04) I got up at 5:00am and went back down to the park. This time I saw a few more species including Noisy Friarbird,Red Wattlebird and a Sacred Ibis and 8 Little Pied Cormorants flew over.
On the road to Nyngan saw a male White-winged Triller, Pelicans, more Black Kites, Apostle Bird, Nankeen Kestrel and a Wedgetailed Eagle being mobbed by a corvid species and Magpies.
A huge flock of about 50 Pelicans was seen fly over the Mitchell Highway at Nevertire.
 
Back on the Mitchell Highway after Nyngan we saw Grey-crowned Babblers, and a Spotted Harrier just after Clarincar station.
Emus were seen as well.
 
We decided to offshoot down a long windy road which came off the Mitchell Highway called Caringbah Road. A few stops were made every now and then and I managed to see 'Purple Backed' (Variegated) Fairywren, Mallee Ringneck, Bluebonnet, more Grey-crowned Babblers and some other more common species.
 
At 2:27pm that day we reached Byrock, it was rather hot and silent when we stopped on the side of the road to have a rest.
I only managed to see a pair of Red-capped Robins and 4 Budgerigars which flew past.
 
Eventually we reached Bourke, in the township we saw Fairy Martins,Tree Martins,Sulpher-crested Cockatoo,Welcome Swallow,Crested Pigeon and other more common species.
We decided to stay at the Kidman way Riverside Caravan Park.
This was a superb Birding spot with Pale-headed Rosella,Yellow Thornbill,Little Corella,Cockatiel and Mallee Ringneck.
 
The next Morning at 6:00am I walked along the Darling River seeing mostly the same species with Nankeen Night-heron, Striated Pardalote, Whistling Kite,Restless Flycatcher,Brown Treecreeper, Little Crow,Grey Teal,Darter,Wooduck,Chough and a flock of 30+ Red-tailed Black Cockatoos.
A Royal Spoonbill flew over aswell.
 
At 12:40pm we went on a walk called "Major Mitchells Stockade" in the Wildlife Refuge. The walk en circled a lake which was nearly dry.
We saw many species: White-browed Woodswallow, Masked Woodswallow,Jacky Winter, Cockatiels,Rufous Songlarks,Grey-crowned Babblers, Yellow-throated Miner,White-winged Trillers,Sacred KIngfishers,Weebill, Black-fronted Dotteral and a pair of Brolgas which were cruising the thermals high in the sky above the dry lake.
 
On the way back to the Caravan park we stopped at a huge dam which was there for growing cotton.
Around this huge lake we saw a group of Orange Chat, Whiskered Tern and other more common species.
 
(5/10/04)On the way home we went through Brewarrina, Walgett,Coonamble,Gullargambone,Gillgandra and back to Wellington.
Some of the birds we saw on the trip back included another large flock of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos which were seen at on the Road to Walgett.
White-breasted Woodswallows in Brewarrina Township.
Just as we were about to enter Walgett we decided to travel North to visit the Glengarry opal fields, along the road we saw many interesting species including Western Gerygone,Crested Bellbird,Red-capped Robin,Little Eagle, Pale headed Rosella, Mallee Ringneck, Red-winged Parrot, Hooded Robin and others.
 
In the town Gilgandra there was a mixed flock of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows over head.
Also in the grounds of a pub there was a nesting Brown Honeyeater.
Our last stop for the night was Wellington were we stayed at the Riverside Caravan Park.
(6/10/2004) In the morning I walked down to the River were I saw quite a few species including Brown Goshawk, Little Friarbird, Horsefields Bronze-cuckoo,Peaceful Dove, King Parrot and Crimison Rosella and Darter among others.
At 10:30 am we set off back home travelling through Orange and Bathurst on the way.
We didn't see many birds of interest a few Brown Falcons  and a couple of Little Eagles.
 
Overall we had a fantastic trip seeing 113 species of birds.
 
Regards,
 
Kurtis Lindsay
 
 
 
 
 
 
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