|
I live at Kupungarri/Mt Barnett along the Gibb River Rd and keep an eye on
the birds around Mt Barnett and as far as Gibb River in the east and Imintji in
the west. However still no rain in here so the wet has surely finished. The
'knockdown' rains haven't come so the grass is still 1 to 2m tall
everywhere.
Last report I mentioned I had not seen any Zebra Finches either in
the wet or dry. Well I still haven't seen any in the area I keep an eye on
but yesterday I had to drive the 600+km drive round trip to Derby and back.
115km east of Derby I stopped at a little pool where many birds were drinking
and an occasional Zebra Finch drank along with many many Long-tails and a few
Pictorellas and Double-bars. Among the honeyeaters was a Grey-fronted also the
first time I had seen this species in the Kimberley. When we lived at Lajamanu
on the northern edge of the Tanami Desert Grey-fronted were abundant. The others
ones drinking were Rufous-throated, Yellow-tinted, Brown and Banded. After
discussions with Frank O'Connor the 'probable' Chestnut-backed Button-Quail I
mentioned last time is now a probable Red-chested..
As I drove a fair bit of the road in the dark I flushed several of the
night birds I mentioned in my earlier posting and in addition a Bush
Stone-curlew.
The Gibb River Rd has been graded and is in top condition but there are
still some shallow floodways to negotiate. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw
a crocodile in the shallow water in the middle of the road. I photographed it. I
don't imagine anyone else has photographed a croc in the middle of the Gibb
River Rd before even if it is a baby one.
Don Hadden
| 