birding-aus

Some observations from the 4 desert, 3 state, 3 grasswren circuit [pt 3]

To: Birding Aus <>
Subject: Some observations from the 4 desert, 3 state, 3 grasswren circuit [pt 3]
From: knightl <>
Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:47:31 +1000
The next day we came across our first breeding birds when we stopped to have a poke around a wetland. As usual, there were larks everywhere
doing their display flights [some undulating, others hovering]. When
Brian flushed a lark that weaved with an interesting action along the
ground.  When Julie said it looked injured, I told Brian he was
probably beside a nest, and sure enough, there were a trio of
hatchlings in a hole made by a cow traversing the sodden ground.

After a few quick pix, we left the nest to the lark and continued
poking around. I noticed a brown falcon cruising around like a harrier [less than a metre above the ground] and also hopping about. We
weren’t sure if it was after insects or looking for nestlings.

We found a pair of red capped plovers beside the creek at one water
crossing and found the climb through Mungeranie Gap a pleasant break
from the general flatness.  While there was a strong north-easterly
wind down on the plain, it was fairly still after we crossed the gap,
and made our way to the pub for lunch [they do reasonable toasted
sandwiches there], picked up some water [which had petrochemical
overtones] and had a dip in the hot springs.   There were a couple of
corellas preening above a nest hollow, the odd black winged stilt and a brolga wading in the waterhole.

There was also a cyclist who was heading back to Melbourne [his last
decent bike shop had been at Mt Isa].  He had a nice following wind
that day, then a fierce headwind the next, when a cold front came
through – the temp was about 14 degrees cooler.

We stopped for a couple of pix, and so didn’t miss the Tirari Desert as
we passed through it.  We spent the night at the Clayton Wetland
campground – I got some nice pix of some blue bonnets and a little
eagle, while Julie found a freckled duck on the billabong on the other side of the road.

On the run into Maree, we came across some interesting cinnamon quail
thrush on the gibber – some were relatively chestnut coloured, and had a fair bit of that chestnut intruding onto their breast, with limited white on the breast. In some ways, they seemed to be a cross with the NQT or CBQT.

[pt 4]
--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is now on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message 'unsubscribe
birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Some observations from the 4 desert, 3 state, 3 grasswren circuit [pt 3], knightl <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU