My 2 cents on Using Thomas & Thomas for Banded Whiteface and Striated
Grasswren. I may be wrong but I would be surprised if either of the sites
mentioned would have been successfully "twitched" for these species in the last
10 years. Both species would appear to be effected by fire history and so any
changes since T&T would mean that the habitat now is probably unsuitable.
Banded Whiteface would appear to prefer areas that have been burnt in the last
few years, so I would be spending time looking in this sort of habitat (should
be obvious from the habitat condition) rather than going to any specific site.
I would also suggest enough time poking around would eventually get on to them
(last time I was at Uluru I saw driving between the survey sites that I was
helping with).
The Striated Grasswren is a very different species, probably preferring long
unburnt Spinifex, which is getting scarcer in and around Uluru. I have been
there twice and looked around the carparks on both occassions with no luck (and
as far as I recall it had been burnt). I also have looked around behind the
airport which is where birds apparently have been recorded in the past. I
talked to some of the staff (I was helping a friend with his PhD so we got into
some of the less accessible parts of the the park) and they had very few
records or even potential sites where this species had been recorded. We looked
in some interesting habitat east of Uluru off the Curtin Springs road and saw
potential footprints but saw no birds (and got no response from call playback).
As a aconclusion I would suggest you would be very lucky to find Grasswrens in
Uluru and that the T&T is probably a bit of a dead end (if you can stop in some
big spinifex then you might have a chance).
As I say I may be completely wrong on these theories (any comments appreciated)
but as good as T&T is for many species still (and I have been to quite a few of
their sites), you can get information on other species that is much more up to
date from Birding-Aus (the roost sites for some of the owls would be another
example).
Cheers,
Peter> To: > From: > Date:
Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:20:23 -0700> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Update on Grey
Honeyeater & Alice Springs vicinity> > My wife Rita Carratello and I visited
the Alice Springs/Uluru > vicinity as traveling birders from California between
16-20 August. > We were fortunate to have the updated information posted on 11
August > by Trevor & Hazel [last> names unknown to us], detailing their
mid-July visit, and details on > access to the local sewage ponds provided by
Jill Molan and others, > all forwarded to us during our trip by Murray Lord (we
apologize that > it is now somewhat dated).> > Like Trevor & Helen, we found
the conditions around Alice to be very > dry [locals say it hasn't rained since
November] and the weather was > cold and windy. We searched various areas from
Thomas & Thomas and other> sources for Dusky Grassren, Ruf-crown Emu-Wren,
etc., but did not > find these skulkers. We did the Ormiston Gorge & Pound hike
(Spinifex > Pigeons & Painted Firetails the only species of note), and visited
> Simpsons Gap> daily. Western Bowerbirds were easily found at picnic tables at
> Ormiston and Simpsons. This report is focused on a few small successes:> >
GREY HONEYEATER: we had one Grey Honeyeater feeding on flowering > bushes at
the walk-in camping site at Serpentine Gorge. This is a > little beyond the car
park at the picnic area, along the walk to the > gorge itself. Numerous bushes
at the camping site were flowering. > There were 15-20 Brown Honeyeaters
present, and a half-dozen Spiny- > cheeks, and both chased the Gray when it
appeared. There were enough > flowers about, though, so that it had multiple
opportunities to get > to flowers. Also present was a Rainbow Bee-eater, which
I presume was > a returning migrant. We had a female Painted Firetail at the >
waterhole in the gorge.> > ALICE WASTEWATER PONDS: we had the access details
from Jill Molan and > by writing directly to the Water company. We picked up
the key and > signed waivers on Monday morning, 18 Aug, and returned it that >
afternoon. It was another cold and windy day, but the birding was > good. Good
numbers of Grey Teal, Aus. Black Duck, Maned Duck [Aus. > Wood Duck], and
Hardhead were present, along with 6 Straw-necked > Ibis. Migrant waders
included Wood & Common Sandpiper. We felt our > best bird was a Black Falcon
perched on the dikes at the NW corner > [digiscoped]; a Brown Falcon was
working the south side of the ponds, > esp. around the burned area.> We read in
the birder's book there that Orange & Crimson Chats > had been in the burned
area in July; we spent a fair amount of time > searching there, but found only
4 Red-capped Robin. A flock of Little > Corella appeared on the dikes in the
center of the ponds, and with > them was one Long-billed. Two Fairy Martin were
among hundreds of > Tree Martin.> > Road from ALICE TO ULURU: we tried the
various sites 20 & 21 km N of > Erlunda, and also 20.4 km W of Erlunda, but did
not locate any chats, > quail-thrush, or Banded Whiteface. The areas north of
Erlunda are now > enclosed by barbed wire fences, and the habitat seems less
than > pristine. We did have fair numbers of Southern Whiteface at all > sites.
A highlight at the 21 km N of Erlunda site was a flock of ~40 > Chiming
Wedgebills feeding on the ground right next to the road, and > running like
quail from bush to bush.> > ULURU: the Striated Grasswren site from T&T
(opposite the sunset > viewing area for the Rock) was checked for hours in late
afternoon > and at dawn, without success. Again, we wonder if the dry
conditions > affect grasswren distribution?> > A full trip report with photos
from the Red Centre, and from > southwestern Australia [where we basically
followed Frank O'Connor's > web site with good success] and one day in Tasmania
[where Murray > Lord showed us 11 of 12 endemics on the one rainy day] will
appear on > my web site in due course.> > Many thanks to all who helped us in
planning this interesting trip > down under.> > Don Roberson> Pacific Grove,
California, USA> http://montereybay.com/creagrus/> > > >
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