Hi:
I went to the West McDonnell Ranges in mid September looking for dusky
grasswrens, but did not hear or see any. I was wondering if anyone has seen
them there recently. Several of the areas mentioned in bird-finding guides
(even the new Nielson one) refer to sites that have burned recently (in 2002
according to the Alice Springs Field Naturalist site
(http://members.iinet.net.au/~alicenats/FreqAskBirds.htm). This includes
Simpson Gap and Ellery Gorge. My impression of these two sites was that the
spinifex was rather limited (at least near any of the trails).
Ormiston Gorge had much better stands of spinifex, but, again, we did not find
any grasswrens. I would suggest persons looking for grasswrens head there
first. At Ormiston we flushed a Spinifex pigeon near the entrance to the Pound
walk (just down from the Ranger?s residence) and we saw painted finches just
below the saddle from which you descend into Ormiston Pound (i.e. before the
lookout). A nice hike, but relatively few species of birds.
It is somewhat depressing to not see these birds when some guides, such as the
Lonely Plant Watchable Wildlife Guide, say that grasswrens are ?ridiculously
easy? to see at Simpson Gap. I think that may be an overstatement.
Similarly, the guide books refer to striated grasswrens at the sunset viewing
area at Uluru. I looked there several mornings (evenings are out of the
question as there are hordes of people) and did not hear (or see) any
grasswrens. I even tried using tapes to get some response, but to no avail.
Any insights would be appreciated.
By the way, I'm reading The Big Twitch right now, and I highly recommend it!
Peter Dunn
pdunn at uwm.edu
on sabbatical at Zoology Dept. Uni. Melbourne
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