Part 3 (conclusion)
We stopped North of Cloncurry, at Rosegreen Station. Again the station people
Larner and Judith Sugden-Smith and their daughters Whitney and Madigan were
very friendly. They have B and B accommodation, a self-catering demountable and
a nice area to camp on, once you learn the secrets of each individual gate. We
spent several nights there, exploring the station and then a trip across to
Lake Julius through Kajabbi. Spotted Bowerbirds* were common, as were Crimson
Chats, Budgies, Apostle Birds, Zebra Double-barred Finches and Yellow-tinted
HEs. Their brochure claims 45 species- we found 44 while we were there, and
another visitor also saw a Grey Falcon and a Spotted Nightjar - so I think it
is an underestimate. We did catch up with the macgillivray race of the
Australian Ringneck known as the Cloncurry Parrot.
Lake Julius is a large body of water at 98% capacity according to the Sunwater
manager, but we really needed a boat to explore all the bays and edges and saw
few birds.
Our next campsite was at Clem Walton Park, halfway between Cloncurry and Mount
Isa. This was quite run down. The 44 gallon drums were overflowing with
rubbish, but there were a nice lot of birds there and no people. At Corella
Dam I was surprised to see a flock of Caspian Tern and some Silver Gulls along
with the usual water birds, Pelicans, Coots, Darters, Great, Little Pied and
Little Black Cormorants, White-eyed Ducks, Grey Teal, Pacific Black Ducks and
Wood Ducks, Australasian and Hoary-headed Grebes, Red-kneed and Black-fronted
Dotterels, Black-winged Stilts, Masked Plovers and a Rainbow Bee-eater.
The water at Clem Walton Park is shallow and much of it covered with surface
weed. About a dozen Nankeen Night Heron rearranged their roosting sites when we
arrived, while Purple Swamp-hens scurried for cover. Great and Intermediate
Egrets, Pacific Heron and White-necked Heron stalked up and down and 4 Cotton
Pygmy Geese flew in the first evening but didn't stay long. This seems a bit
out of their normal range. Lots of waterbirds - Darters, Little Black and
Little Pied Cormorants, Australasian Grebe. A flowering coral tree which was
providing food for Varied Lorikeets, Brown, White plumed and Spiny-cheeked HEs
and a Little Friarbird. Some reasonable sized gum trees provided habitat for
Weebills, BW Kookaburra, WW Triller, Little Corellas, Red-backed Kingfisher,
Collared Sparrowhawk, Grey-crowned Babblers, Budgies, Cloncurry Ringnecks,
Striated Pardalote, Red-winged Parrot, Spotted Bowerbird, Grey Shrike-thrush,
Rufous Songlark and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos. A pair of Whistling Kites had a
nest high above the water with at least one chick in it. A Restless Flycatcher
hunted insects, while Double-barred Finches and Zebra Finches came in to drink.
I wonder if this little haven will dry up now repairs to the dam are underway.
We decided to camp at West Leichhardt Station while we explored the Mount Isa
area. Again the owners, Ron and Joan Croft were very friendly - invited us to a
lovely bbq the first night. We camped by a small dam and walked to another
larger dam further down the track. Quite a few birds came in to drink,
including a single Black-tailed Native-hen. We were particularly interested in
a Striated Pardalote who was very busy building a nesting tunnel in a small
washaway about 20 metres from our tent. Joan had a map of many of the station
waterholes and bores, that a previous bird watching visitor had made for her.
It was good to be able to ignore the 'Private road' signs and find all sorts of
exciting places. Glenroy dam was probably the most productive bird wise. It is
quite a large area of water surrounded by trees and with many partly-submerged
trees in it. A Great Cormorant had a nest about a metre above the water in one
of these. Other sightings of note were feral pigs in a couple of places, a
group of Varied Sittella, race leucoptera in the river just after Glenroy dam
and a Black-tailed Treecreeper at Spider Dam.
We spent a day exploring both East and West sides of Lake Moondarra. Here I
added Grey Fantail, Sacred kingfisher, Comb-crested Jacana and Black Swans to
the trip list, and saw heaps of other birds.
The next day Warrigal Rockhole was on the agenda. The road was quite rough and
not well signposted. However, we finally found it and were rewarded with
Grey-headed HEs feeding in a flowering hakea and big groups of Spinifex Pigeons
on parade, while a large flock of Painted Finches fluttered over the rocks.
We were very impressed with Mount Isa Sewage Ponds. The manager greeted us with
a bird list and we ticked away with 35 species in about an hour. An enormous
number of Pink-eared Ducks kept us amused paddling around in circles of 4 or 5,
each duck stirring up the water for the one behind.
We looked for Dusky Grass-wrens and Carpentaria Grass-wrens at suggested sites
but no luck with them. On the way home to Alice we checked out Mary-Anne dam at
Tennant Creek but were disappointed at the very low water level.
Special thanks to Bob Forsyth who pointed us in many right directions at the
planning stage.
Barbara Gilfedder, Alice
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