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> From: "Gary Wright" <>
> To: "birding aus" <>
> Subject: northern territory and western australia birds
> Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 10:06:02 +1030
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>
> I have just returned from a six month trip to these two states and =
> needless to say,I had a great time. I thought I would highlight a few
> of =
> my more significant birding experiences.
>
> Ellery Creek Big Hole Macdonnell ranges- golden backed form of the
> black =
> chinned honeyeater in car park. The only place I saw it on the trip!
> Chambers Pillar road- cinnamon quail thrush and ground cuckoo shrike.
> =
> Cinnamon quail thrush was common on road into chambers pillar before
> you =
> get to the sandune section. The only other ground cuckoo shrike I saw
> =
> on the trip was in Karijini national park.
> Ormiston Pound- painted finch
> I used McCrie and Watson extensively in Northern Territory.
> The exciting part of the trip in terms of birds started at Warloch
> ponds =
> below Mataranka, when I started to run into new birds. There were =
> plenty of finches there and new birds for me were:Star Finch and
> Zitting =
> Cisticola-no trace of golden on head, extremely pale bird. I am very =
> familiar with Golden headed cisticola.
>
> Mataranka was full of new birds. Bitter Springs in Elsey NP was
> although =
> quite flooded still possible to birdwatch in. New birds were Black =
> Bittern(readily flies and roosts in trees) rufous throated =
> honeyeater(birds with a rufous throat uncommon), shining flycatcher, =
> crimson finch(fortunately the first one seen was in the open and in
> full =
> plumage),lemon bellied flycatcher(reminded me of robin in behaviour
> and =
> looks) and Northern Fantail.
>
>
> Other areas of Elsey NP yielded Bar breasted honeyeater, great
> bowerbird =
> and silver crowned friarbird.
>
> Central Arnhem land road yielded long tailed finch, masked finch,
> banded =
> honeyeater and helmeted friarbird. I flushed a button quail I
> couldn't =
> identify-flushed on three occassions, sounded like a parrot on each =
> occassion-bird appeared a consistent rusty,deep colour. I leaned to =
> chestnut backed button quail even though calling on flushing was =
> consistent with description of red-chested button quail in Pizzey. I =
> havent claimed it as anything! Anyone got any ideas?
>
> We went for a three week walk in Arnhem land with Willis's walkabouts =
> and although birds were not abundant, I still had many new sightings.
> =
> The most significant being Hooded Parrot. Flushed a pair from the
> ground =
> on third day of trip. Walked for another 17 days without seeing a =
> one-much of it through suitable habitat-grassy woodland with termite =
> mounds, many of which had hollows bored in them. As we were driving =
> back from our pick up point towards Manyallaluk community we came
> across =
> a flock of 40 Hooded Parrots. Other new birds on the walk were =
> chestnut quilled rock pigeon(common in suitable habitat),black tailed =
> treecreeper(uncommon only two sightings), white breasted robin, great =
> billed heron(these last two were at the junction of Birdie Creek and =
> Katherine river-this was a great birding spot). The other significant
> =
> bird that I saw on two occassions on the walk was square tailed kite.
>
> Darwin was a birdwatchers paradise for a first time visitor. New birds
> =
> everywhere you looked, although you have to look pretty hard in the =
> mangroves! The more significant new birds for me were Rufous Owl in =
> botanic gardens, Mangrove Robin East Pt Reserve, Broad billed
> flycatcher =
> east pt reserve, grey whistler Holmes Jungle. Little shrike thrush and
> =
> Rainbow Pitta Howard Springs. There is always an element of luck in =
> birdwatching and at Howard Springs the Rainbow Pitta flew across the =
> track in front of me and I was able to get good looks at it feeding.
>
> Kakadu yielded some very good bird watching. A piece of luck was when
> I =
> was looking at Black Tailed Treecreeper in Merl campground near Ubiri =
> rock and a white throated gerygone came into field of view of my =
> binoculars. A new bird for me. You know how you get those birds that =
> you keep missing? White throated gerygone had been one of those for
> me =
> and that occassion is still the only one that I have seen. Partridge =
> pigeon became a frequently seen bird for me in Kakadu( we were there =
> for about three weeks) Often seen at Sandy Billabong and around the =
> Bowali visitor centre-usually opposite on the other side of the road.
> =
> Saw Varied Lorikeet at Sandy Billabong but only three flying quickly =
> overhead. I had to wait until Drysdale River to get good views adn
> saw =
> more at Edward river in the Kimberley. I found them not to be a
> common =
> bird. On the Gubara walk I saw Banded Fruit Dove(also at Koolpin =
> gorge) and also the whitel lined honeyeater at the spots indicated by =
> McCrie and Watson. Banded fruit dove, easily missed as it feeds very =
> quietly in the trees(fig). It took me quite a while to even find the =
> fig trees, let alone the birds!
>
> Gunlom was exceptional. On the way in before you get to Plum Tree =
> Creek, Gouldian Finches flushed off of the side of the road. =
> Approximately 30 birds, as usual vast majority immature birds but
> black =
> faced and red faced versions. As I was watching them five Hooded =
> Parrots flew across behind them. On the way back saw a few immature =
> Gouldians at a different spot on the road.
>
> Gunlom of course was the white throated grasswren. I didn't follow =
> instructions and walked for two hours over rocky spinifex hillsides
> and =
> saw nothing. I sat for 10 minutes on the rock recommended by McCrie
> and =
> Watson and got two good views of the grasswren. I didn't find its
> call =
> much different to fairy wren in volume(then I am going a bit deaf!)
> On =
> the creekline below the waterfall at Gunlom I saw a pair of Barking
> Owl =
> roosting. Found at 3 pm by hearing the call.
>
> Heading west from Kakadu Thompson springs(McCrie and Watson) was an =
> excellent birding spot. The new bird was yellow rumped mannikin(later
> =
> to see hundreds at Kununnurra golf course) but many red backed wrens
> and =
> golden headed cisticola. At Victoria River crossing I eventually got =
> purple crowned fairy wren male on the bridge-good views on my last and
> =
> third try. Also a new bird was White Quilled Rock pigeon. Probably
> the =
> easiest place to see this bird is Purnululu(Bungle Bungles) Picaninny =
> Gorge walk or even on Cathedral walk. A highlight of Purnululu, was
> on =
> the drive back from Picanniny Gorge saw Grey Falcon catching very
> large =
> grasshoppers which were in plague proportions. Good views grey falcon
> =
> circling overhead eating grasshopper from its claws. Also spinifex
> bird =
> at Picanninny Gorge carpark at the beginning of the walk. Camped =
> overnight in Picanninny Gorge and the sound of sandstone shrike thrush
> =
> in the gorge was extremely beautiful-a great echo chamber.
>
> In Gregory National Park on the Bullita Rd, I eventually saw yellow =
> tinted honeyeater-a bird I should have seen easily by this time-from =
> here on I saw it frequently. Also on this road there were Gouldian =
> finches red face and black face. Timber Creek airfield was very =
> overgrown along the fence so there were none of the hoped for finches =
> but I did flush a prize-King Quail. Tiny Quail, saw chestnut under
> males =
> tail.
>
> At Kununnurra, my first sighting of white browed crake was on the golf
> =
> course walking on water in reed lined ponds. They were very distant, =
> However at the boat ramp on Lake Kona as described in Frank O'Connor's
> =
> webpage, there was white browed crake withina few metres walking on
> the =
> tiniest bit of floating vegetation near the shore. Wyndham yielded =
> Mangrove Heron a bird seen more at Broome and Karratha. Another bird =
> seen at Karratha was Beach Stone Curlew. I also saw Beach Stone
> Curlew =
> at Eighty Mile Beach, but we had walked over 10 kms south along the =
> beach from caravan park.
>
> The big search at Mitchell Falls/Plateau was obviously going to be
> Black =
> throated grasswren and hoping for Red Goshawk. I suspect I saw the =
> latter near Big Mertens falls but as I was photographing rock art at
> the =
> time and it just sailed overhead I didn't get a good enough look to =
> claim it. However I am very familiar with square tailed kite, so if
> you =
> are going that way keep your eyes peeled. I got the Black throated =
> grasswren at littel mertens falls on the north or right hand side
> going =
> out from campground by being there early in the morning and waiting =
> until I heard some wren like calls. Unlike white throated birds could
> =
> be carefully followed for good views.
>
> Broome provided many new birds and although we were there in August =
> there was still plenty of waders about-I didn't realise that so many =
> overwinter. Lesser Frigatebird was an unexpected bonus on the beach =
> where the fossilised dinosaur footprint is. As we were a bit early the
> =
> only new wader for me was common redshank. Broome was really good for
> =
> mangrove birds. I went to Crab Creek on three occassions and on my
> last =
> occassion there I saw all of the mangrove birds except mangrove golden
> =
> whistler. Those I saw were mangrove heron, (well out in the open at
> low =
> tide in Roebuck bay near Crab Creek), broad billed flycatcher, white =
> breasted whistler, dusky gerygone,mangrove fantail, mangrove robin,
> red =
> headed honeyeater, mangrove kingfisher and yellow white eye. But the =
> real highlight of Broome was the yellow chat. Apparently the birds are
> =
> there all of the time, you just need to ask at the Broome Bird =
> observatory and if it is late in the dry season like when we were
> there, =
> be prepared to walk a long way out through the samphire. But we were =
> rewarded with good views of a pair of yellow chats.
>
> Coral Bay provided one of those bits of pure luck that can make your =
> day. We had just cleaned our snorkelling gear on piece of cement near
> =
> fish cleaning tables and were sitting nearbly eating our lunch.. I =
> looked up and five yards away was a buff banded rail coming out from =
> large coastal saltbush to see if any pickings had been left behind. =
> This was a new bird for me and lucky enough to have extended views.
>
> In terms of the rest of the trip as far as birding goes the important =
> thing was to get the west australian endemics that I didn't have. I
> had =
> been to WA but not south west corner adn teh previous trip had been =
> largely a wildflower expedition, so there were quite a few to get.
> Long =
> Billed black cockatoo(near Benger swamp), red eared firetail and =
> redwinged fairy wren(Wugong gorge), Western Corella ( near town of
> Rocky =
> Gully), Western thornbill(Walpole) and that leaves the big
> three-western =
> bristlebird, noisy scrubird and western whipbird. Cheynes beach
> caravan =
> park was certainly the place to be. Hosts gave directions to find =
> western bristlebird and I had very good views, with birds calling =
> happily in front and behind me. I found birds could be stalked. =
> Western whipbird was in the same area as teh western bristlebird but I
> =
> found it much harder to track down. I spent two hours hearing it =
> frequently but even though it was in very low heath, finding it =
> impossible to see. As I had given up and I was walking back, it flew =
> from a bush and I was able to follow it, and get some good views of it
> =
> in another bush.
>
> Noisy Scrubird proved the most difficult. I went to Waychinicup, a =
> beautiful place(carpet python, southern brown bandicoot,ringtailed =
> possum, antechinus, not to mention the wildflowers). Spent a good
> deal =
> of time at Frank O'Connors best site and had ear splitting calls but
> no =
> sign of bird as grass is very thick and it is a complete wast of time =
> trying to stalk the bird. I also went to Two Peoples Bay and sat on
> the =
> recommended track for two hours and saw nothing. I did however see
> the =
> bird near our campsite, campsite three at Waychinicup. Early in the =
> morning, I heard it calling and followed the call down to the inlet. =
> The vegetation is more open there and I was abel to get good views of =
> the bird on the ground-it reminded me in some ways of a small, brown =
> whipbird.
>
> It was a great trip-there were other foci besides birding, but the =
> birding was excellent and I added 78 new species to my life list.
> Cape =
> York hear I come in a few years time
>
> Gary Wright
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