Dear Birders,
2 Swedes, a Brit, a Canadian and 3 Aussie couples set off from Melbourne in a
22 seater bus driven by Phil Maher. We drove north into Queensland, turned left
and then south to Tibooburra, through the Strzelecki desert to Lyndhurst and
back to Melbourne via the Flinders Ranges and the South Australian Mallee. We
were followed by Phil?s wife Patricia with a 4WD full of delicious food that she
dispensed liberally and often! Between them Phil and Trish ran a very well
organised and enjoyable trip.
It was a great birding experience at a time when the outback is showing
(temporarily at least) the benefit of the rain received in June and July. There
were carpets of billy buttons and yellow and white daisies. Plenty of the
Erimophilas were in flower though few of the gums were yet in blossom.
239 species were seen by this observer who missed a couple seen by others in
the group. Highlights (for me at least) were :-
Freckled Duck
Pink Eared Duck
Letter-winged Kite
Grey Falcon
Black Falcon
Plains-wanderer
Inland Dotterel
Major Mitchell?s Cockatoo
Superb Parrot
Regent Parrot
Swift Parrot
Mulga Parrot
Bourke?s Parrot
Elegant Parrot
Barking Owl
Red-backed Kingfisher
4 treecreepers (Red-browed, White-throated, White-browed and Brown)
Splendid Fairy-wren
White-winged Fairy-wren
Mallee Emu-wren
5 Grasswrens (Grey, Striated, Short-tailed*, Eyrian and Thick-billed)
Rufous Fieldwren
Redthroat
Inland Thornbill
Slender-billed Thornbill
3 Whitefaces (Southern, Chestnut-breasted, and Banded)
26 Honeyeaters (including Striped, Purple-gaped, Black-chinned, Painted,
White-fronted, Black and Pied)
3 Chats (Crimson, Orange and Gibber)
Southern Scrub-robin
4 Babblers (Grey-crowned, White-browed, Hall?s and Chestnut-crowned)
Chirruping Wedgebill,
3 Quail-thrush (Chestnut, Cinnamon and Chestnut-breasted)
Crested Bellbird
Red-lored Whistler
Gilbert?s Whistler
Ground Cuckoo-shrike
As I mentioned in a previous posting on the raptors of the Strzelecki desert
I have no connection with Australian Ornithological Services who ran the trip
other than as a very satisfied client.
Peter Marsh
* If one accepts this as a full
species.
