Peter,
Not certain about the Dusky Grasswrens as I have seen them at Kings Canyon
(late in the afternoon in the canyon floor) and also at Ormiston Pound (on
the loop track). I suspect they would still be about, you just need to be in
the right place.
The Striated Grasswren are a different kettle of fish. A friend of mine is
doing his PhD on mulga birds at Uluru and I spent a couple of weeks with him
in August. Striated Grasswrens are one of the species I was looking for so I
read a couple of reports in the Park Office. I had tried behind the viewing
spot in 2000 with no luck, and I now know why. They appear to have a pretty
specific habitat requirement of spinifex between 5 and 15 years after fire,
and the sunset area had certainly been burnt more rfecently than that. We
had a look at a couple of looks in habitat that looked fine, but couldn't
find any footprints that looked right (Crested Bellbirds had me looking hard
in one spot). They are fairly rare and the staff know very little of their
distribution in the park, and there may also be problems with too frequent
fire in the spinifex country. I would (and I suspect the Uluru staff) would
be very interested in any records from Uluru, and in the meantime I would
probably suggest looking for this species in a few easier locations (Hattah
Kulkyne, Gluepot and Scotia Sanctuary).
Cheers.,
Peter
From:
To:
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] where are those grasswrens?
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 20:23:11 -0500
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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