Hi all, I've just written up a trip report of my recent trip to sunny Alice
Springs. For the full report with photographs see my website at
http://tim-dolby.blogspot.com/ Cheers, Tim Dolby
ALICE SPRINGS SEPT 2010
The Background
Following a report of large numbers of Princess Parrot in the Northern
Territory I booked a flight for Alice Springs. Fortunately friends Paul Dodd
and Ruth Woodrow were visiting the area and they offered me a seat in their
car. The parrots were seen west of the Mereenie Loop Track (also known as
Larapinta Drive), and were located on Aboriginal lease land. To enter this area
required an entry permit. The local Aboriginal community received nearly 80
applications from birders, and due to such large numbers (and a concern over
the impact such as large number of people would have on the environment), the
permits were rejected. Given the circumstances I fully understand the anxiety
of the local land owner. However in defence of birdwatchers, of any group of
people, birders would be the most likely to be most respectful of the land and
have the lightest footprint. This would have been in line with the laws of
behaviour set out in Tjukurpa (the spiritual principles of the local Aboriginal
people), particularly the relationship between people, plants, animals and the
physical features of the land. Because our group couldn't obtain an entry
permit, we decided to bird some of the key bird sites around Alice Springs.
Paul and Ruth had not birded the Red Centre before, so there was much to be
seen. We also thought we'd drive the Mereenie Loop Track (a road that requires
a transit permit, obtained from Kings Canyon or Glen Helen), and then bird in
Watarrka National Park. There was a recent report of someone photographing some
Princess Parrots in Watarrka - so we were hopeful of finding suitable habitat.
This was the second trip I'd done to the region in 3 years - I'd done a similar
birding trip with friend Greg Oakley in 2007, see Alice Springs and Central
Australia. On that trip the region was wonderful, but typically dry. However
this year, 2010, heavy rains had been falling consistently over a large area of
central Australia, replenishing underground water, and the country changed
dramatically. After rain the drought resistant (and evading) perennial plants
have rapidly carpeted the ground, with ephemeral wildflowers everywhere.
Central Australia was looking fantastic! A mixture of red, green and blue: the
red of the soil and rock scapes, the greens of the trees, flowers and grasses,
and the blue of the sky and water. The birdlife was also prolific - with an
abundance of Zebra Finch, Diamond Dove, Budgerigar, Crimson Chat and Rufous
Songlark everywhere you went - and it was presumably these rains that sparked
the rise in Princess Parrot numbers. Special thanks to Jon Thornton and Geoff
Jones for the use of some of their excellent images.
Tiger Flights
For the record, I flew to Alice Springs from Melbourne on Tiger Airlines. They
are offering extremely cheap flights - the ticket from Melbourne to Alice cost
$85! (The return flight was $160.) Beware though, my excess baggage cost $170
(and then $70 on the way back, after tossing half my stuff). I literally could
have bought all my logistical provisions in Alice Spring for less! So if you do
travel via Tiger make sure you upgrade your luggage allowance; it would have
only cost me only $20.
The Flora of the Red Centre
Before talking about the birds it's worth mentioning the plant life that was
dominating the region. There are a number of very distinct environmental
communities in the Centre; these includes sand dunes scattered with the
graceful and long-lived drooping Desert Oak (Allocasuarina decaisneana) and
Spinifex on the top (providing a stable micro-environment), riverbeds lined
with River Red Gums, sand-plain open woodlands, tickets of mulga and
shrublands, and sparsely vegetated rocky ridges, ranges and outcrops, sometimes
with wet gullies. From my experience, when birding in the Centre it's important
spend time in each of these different habitat in order to see all those
special birds for the regions. The area has a wonderfully rich plant life, with
some 600 species, including both rare and relict (those that have persisted
from a time when the Centre was a much wetter place) species. While I was there
perennial drought-evading wildflowers carpeted the ground and flowering Cassia
and Wattle created a yellow haze over the landscape. A number of plant species
were dominating including Desert Heath-myrtle (Thryptomene maisonneuvei), about
1.5 m high, found mostly on dunes, in masses of densely packed flowers, Button
Grass Dactyloctenium radulans and Broad-leaf Parakeelya (Calandrinia
balonensis), Umbrella Bush Acacia ligulata (Watarrka is the Luritja name for
this plant), the spectacular Flame (or Honey) Grevillea (Grevillea eriostachya)
and Honeysuckle Grevillea (Grevillea Juncifolia), both dripping with nectar,
Holly Grevillea (or Wickham's) (Grevillea wickhamii), Cassia (Senna
Artemisioides), Desert Hop-bush (Dodonaea viscosa) and there three kinds of
Spinifex (known by local Aboriginal communities as Tjanpi) - Soft Spinifex
(Triodia pungens), Hard Spinifex (T. basdowii, which grows out from the centre
of the clump, forming fairy rings) and Feathertop Spinifex (Plectrachne
schinzii). Honeyeater attracting Eremophila (Emu Bush) were flowering at nearly
every site we visited, including E. Willsii, E. latrobei, E. longifolia (a
species we get in Victoria), and the purple Eremophila christophori and
gilesii. The wonderful Upside-down Plant (Leptosema chambersii) was common
along most of the Mereenie Loop Track and at Watarrka National Park, showing
bright-red flowers around the base of the flower. This intriguing plant
produces lots of nectar, and ground feeding birds harvest its nectar. It has
been suggested that the flowering of this was a significant reason for the high
number of Princess Parrot in the Centre. The attractive Desert Rose (Gossypium
australe) was flowering around Watarrka, as was the Lantern Bush (Abutilon
leucopetalum), and the extremely cute perennial Yellowtail (Ptilotus nobilis)
and Green Pussytail (Ptilotus macrocephalus) were everywhere. Trees in the area
included Snow Gum (Corymbia aparrerinja), Bloodwood (Corymbia opaca), often
covered in flowering Mistletoe, Desert Karrajong (Brachychiton gregorii), and
in mulga woodlands True Mulga (Accacia aneura). Finally on my flight into the
Alice I could see that much of the rocky hill tops in the MacDonnell Ranges
were covered with large area of the red Wild Hop / Rosy Dock (Rumex
vesicarius), sadly an introduced species.
Bird Sites
The Mulga at Kunoth Bore
55 km north of Alice Springs, the mulga groves along the road to the Hamilton
Downs Youth Camp (located just off the Tanami Rd, 20 km west of the Sturt Hwy)
is an excellent place to start any trip to the Centre. The ground was covered
with flowering annuals, and grasses were knee high. In the Mulga on the west
side of the road about 1.5 km down there was birds everywhere. The two most
common species were Zebra Finch and Diamond Dove; we were literally kicking
them out of the way. Despite both species being delightful, they were also
frustrating in their commonality, dominating the birding landscape, making it
hard to concentrate on other species. Bird we saw included Slaty-backed and
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Black, Pied, Singing, Spiny-cheeked and a possible
Grey Honeyeater, Crimson Chat, and there were mixed flocks of Weebill, Western
Gerygone, Red-capped and Hooded Robin, Southern Whiteface, Splendid Fairy-wren,
many in full breeding plumage, as well as Australia (Port Lincoln) Ringneck,
Rufous Songlark, Crested Bellbird, Rufous Whistler, Black-faced Woodswallow
(often immature, looking very White-bellied CS like, with a small triangular
area of black on the face), White-winged Triller and Pallid Cuckoo. Little
Button-quail was more common than I've witnessed anywhere before - again we
were literally kicking them out of the way (not literally). I'd estimate we
flushed over 100 birds. Another feature of the mulga near Kunoth Bore was the
architecture of the nests of the Mulga Ant (Polyrhachis macropa), a large solid
soil ring covered in mulga phyllodes. Along the Tanami Road (on the way to
Kunoth Bore) we saw a pair of Black-breasted Buzzard, easily distinguished by
their large white wing spots. Birding around an area of Eremophila on the east
side of track we found nesting Black Honeyeater. On dusk we staked out Kunoth
Bore itself, hoping to see Bourke's Parrot. There were few waterbirds on the
bore, and no land species where coming in to drink. By contrast the last time I
was at Kunoth Bore there was nearly a hundred Common Bronzewing, amongst
others. This time they were absent. The reason was obvious - there'd been so
much rain in the areas that there was no need to drink at the bore. Bourke's
Parrot, for instance, normally arrive immediately after dusk - this time they
didn't arrive. We did here them though, roosting in the trees nearby.
Trephina Gorge
>From Kunoth Bore we headed to Trephina Gorge 85km east of Alice Springs in the
>East MacDonnell Ranges - arriving late in the evening. With some misfortune
>the camping ground was full, so we set up a night camp in the picnic area.
>Almost immediately a Southern Boobook started serenading us from a few trees
>away. When we awoke in the morning several Painted Finch feed on the ground
>immediately next to our picnic table! As did Hooded Robin (normally a wary
>bird, here a pair approached within several feet - we almost had to shoo them
>away), Zebra Finch and a family of 'purple-backed' race assimilis Variegated
>Fairy-wren. The morning colors of the gorge were stunning, vivid reds, match
>by the white and green of Ghost Gum (Eucalyptus papuana). [It is interesting
>to note that Trephina Gorge contains the largest Ghost Gum in Central
>Australia.] We did the Trephina Gorge Walk, coming across a pair of Dusky
>Grasswren at the highest point of the walk. We also quickly caught up with
>Grey-headed Honeyeater - these two species were new birds for Paul and Ruth,
>so not surprisingly they were very pleased with themselves. On the walk back
>along the gorge it was a real treat to hear the call of a Grey Shrike-thrush
>(the more rufous race rufiventris) echoing between the walls of the Canyon.
>Other birds here include Budgerigar, Crimson Chat, Diamond Dove, Little
>Woodswallow, Zebra Finch and calling Western Gerygone.
The Spinifex at Ormiston Gorge Turn-off
Next stop was the Ormiston Gorge turn-off 135km west of Alice Springs in the
West McDonnell Ranges, a 220 km drive from Trephina Gorge. The main target bird
here was Spinifexbird - I'd seen them here with Greg Oakley on my previous
visit in 2007. Tricky birds to see at the best of time, so we were expecting a
long search. However before we'd even got out the car a Spinifexbird flew into
a small tree 15 feet away, calling it heart out. If only all birding was this
easy - then again, where would the challenge be! (The harder to find the
better.) To access this site, from Larapinta Drive, travel only about 100m and
park on the left side of the road and search the Spinifex in this area. On my
last trip here I'd seen Rufous-crowned Emu-wren at this site; however they
evaded us this time round. A number of others had also reported that they'd not
seen them at this site. We weren't particularly perturbed, and we didn't really
search that hard (as hard as it takes to find a Rufous-crowned Emu-wren) - we'd
planned to catch up with this species later in the trip at Santa Teresa Rd. At
the turn-off we also saw Brown, Grey-headed and White-plumed Honeyeater, Little
Woodswallow, Fairy Martin and Australian Ringneck. Nearby, along the Ormiston
Gorge Access Rd (about a kilometre from the turn-off), a pair of Spinifex
Pigeon (the white-bellied race leucogaster) flushed from the roadside to small
rocky outcrop. This was the first for the trip and a new species for Ruth and
Paul, giving us excellent views.
Finke River
Like the camping ground at Trephina Gorge, the Ormiston Gorge camping site was
full, so we headed to the nearby Finke Two Mile Bushcamping Area (you can camp
up to 2 km south and downstream of the Trail-head), a fortuitous move, as it
proved to be a wonderful camping area overlooking the Fink River. The Fink
River (sometimes sited as the oldest river in the world), is usually a string
of waterholes; however it was now almost fully flowing. The campsite is
accessed by a sandy track on the north side of the hwy - the turn-off is not
signposted but is to the north of Namatjira Dr just past Glen Helen Resort -
upstream from the Finke River crossing on Namatjira Dr. You will need a 4WD to
get to it and there are no facilities, but the feel of the place is hard to
beat, and we camped there 2 nights. Here we picked up some waterbirds including
White-faced and White-necked Heron, Great Egret, Great Cormorant, Australian
Grebe, Black-tailed Native-hen, Purple Swamphen, Coot, and at night heard a
flock of Plumed Whistling-Duck. Other birds here included Black-fronted
Dotterel, Little Grassbird, Australian Reed-Warbler, a nice flock of Red-tailed
Black-Cockatoo, Cockatiel, Whistling Kite, Pallid Cuckoo, Rufous Songlark (fast
becoming the bird of the trip - we were hearing them at every stop we made),
Striated Pardalote (yellow-rumped black-headed race uropygialis), Pied
Butcherbird and Mistletoebird. Interestingly I was starting to notice that the
Centralian dawn chorus seemed to be starting earlier than down south (in sunny
Victoria). Most birds called pre-dawn (starting with the Pied Butcherbird), and
then by dawn were happily feeding away; possibly an adaptation to the usually
harsh conditions of the Centre. In the morning a Sandy Inland Mouse (Pseudomys
hermannsburgensis) happily feed nearby on a food scrap (a piece of ginger from
breakfast cereal ) while we ate our breakfast. During a clear sparkling night,
the Milky Way showed its full band of the starry lights. It's been calculated
that you can see 3000 separate stars with the naked eye - and I think that
night we could see them all. Also during the night distant Dingoes howled. When
I awoke I found a footprint immediately outside my tents entrance!
Tnorala Conservation Reserve (Gosse Bluff)
Tnorala (Gosse Bluff), west of Alice Springs, is the remnant of a huge crater
left by a comet 130 million years ago. There is a Western Bowerbird bower near
the first picnic table, and on the walking track from the carpark we saw
Red-browed Pardalote, Black Honeyeater, Red-capped Robin and Splendid
Fairy-wren - with the males looking resplendent in full-breeding plumage Also
along here we found a note drawn into the sand stating "Bird hotspot: Water
ahead". There is a possibility that this was drawn by friends of mine, Fiona
Parkin and Jon Thornton, who'd visited the site several days earlier. They'd
actually flown out of Alice Springs an hour before I flew in - I must ask them.
Since I originally wrote this I've found out that yes, Fiona had indeed written
this message in anticipation that we might pass by! The Interweb is clearly not
the only way to convey birding information From the top of the lookout we were
able see Red-browed Pardalote, Grey-headed Honeyeater, Dusky Grasswren, Tree
Martin, Little Woodswallow and a pair of very grey looking Brown Goshawk
circled the pound - the northern form is much paler than southern Goshawk.
Other birds here include Little Button-quail, Fairy Martin, Crested Bellbird,
the turquoise Splendid Fairy-wren, again in full breeding plumage. Also here a
young Military Dragon (Ctenophorus isolepis) was seen basking in the sun on
Spinifex.
The Mereenie Loop Track
Despite not being able to access the area where the Princess Parrot had been
seen, we'd calculated that if we drove the Mereenie Loop (Larapinta Drive),
we'd at least be within the range of where the birds might be. A number of
people had said that there was appropriate habitat along the road. A distance
of about 290 km it follows the George Hill Range and the Gardiner Range to the
west side of Watarrka National Park. The road passes through Aboriginal land,
so a pass is required. It is available from the Alice Springs Tourist
Information Centre, Glen Helen Resort and Kings Canyon Resort for about five
dollars. It's a good quality unsealed road, but is corrugated, and has some bad
ruts (waterlines across the road), so I'd advise driving it with a 4WD. It
passes through some beautiful scenery and rocky ranges, with woodland dominated
by Desert Oak and Desert Kurrajong, with a scattering of small termite mounds.
Although strictly speaking you weren't meant to stop on the Mereenie Loop Track
we did park a couple of times (toilet breaks) beside the road to have quick
look at some nice looking sand dunes covered in Desert Oak. These dunes were
superb habitats for wildlife, with plants such as Upside-down Plant, Flame
Grevillea, and Eremophila all flowering. Unfortunately there were no Princess
Parrot, we did however see Spiny-cheeked, Pied, Black and Grey-fronted
Honeyeater, Crimson Chat, Western Gerygone, Crested Bellbird, Mulga Parrot,
Australian Ringneck, our only Major Mitchell's Cockatoo, White-backed Swallow,
large flocks of Zebra Finch and Diamond Dove feeding on seeds, and Black-faced
and Masked Woodswallow hawked for insects. We also such feral Camel, Horse,
Donkey and Dingo. As we passed a couple of tracks that turned west in to the
lands that the parrots had been seen we lamented what might have been. As it
was, these tracks were in an area that was still very wet, and it would have
been impossible to drive them - indeed only a couple of days earlier the
Mereenie Loop Track was closed due to rain and flood. 20 km from Watarrka
National Park the Jump-up Lookout provided spectacular views over the land,
including the area that the parrots had been seen. (Could you scope a parrot
from 30 km?) The lookout was a pleasant spot to stop and get our bearings.
Around the look out Western Gerygone was common, as were Hooded Robin, Mulga
Parrot, Rufous Songlark and Pallid Cuckoo.
Watarrka (Kings Canyon) National Park
We camped at Kings Canyons Resort - not a bad place, bit touristy, although the
food at the resort was dreadful and expensive. But at least you could have a
nice cold beer in the bar. In the morning we were serenaded by Pied Butcherbird
- the last three notes of its call sounding exactly like the last three notes
of the ABC theme music (Da Na Naa). Our aim was to drive up and down the main
road in the park, a road lined with Desert Oak. Mike Carter recently reported
that a flock of six Princess Parrot had been seen on a "main road near Kings
Canyon", so we held some hope of seeing the parrot, but unfortunately we
didn't. While there we did a couple of walks along the parks spectacular
gorges; the Kathleen Springs Walk and the Kings Creek Walk. The gullies on both
walks were microclimates, supporting a range of birds and plants, including
remnant species such as the Finke River Palm. Spinifex Pigeon (the
white-fronted race leucogaster) was common along both walks, often, as if by
magic, appearing at your feet when you stopped. There are a lost smaller that
you think, almost half the size of a Crested Pigeon, which was also common.
Red-browed Pardalote (in the upper foliage), Grey-headed, Brown and White-naped
Honeyeater foraged for food in the River Red Gum, while Zebra Finch and Painted
Finch (surprisingly common) regularly dropped into drink at the waterholes.
Dusky Grasswren was also seen at the start of the Kings Creek Walk - and they
were surprisingly tam, with a pair bouncing around the path near the first
creek crossing. Western Bowerbird was seen and heard, often in association with
Desert (or Rock) Fig (Ficus platypoda), calling like a cat with the flu. We
also drove up and down Luritja Drive within Watarrka National Park - a road
lined with Desert Oak. Birds included Mulga Parrot and Australian Ringneck, and
a few raptors, such as Spotted Harrier and approachable Brown Falcon. After
Kings Canyon we headed back along the Mereenie Loop, camped once again on the
Finke River, and then headed to Santa Teresa Rd, south of the Alice Springs
airport.
Santa Teresa Road
A series of stony slopes 32 km from the airport road about. It is a recently
popularized site for seeing Spinifex specialist such Rufous-crowned Emu-wren,
Dusky Grasswren and Spinifexbird. The best place to look is the spinifex just
east of a tyre wedged in a telegraph pole. Here we found Rufous-crowned
Emu-wren in the small valley between a ridge line about 100 metres from the
road. On a ridge a further 50 metres north we found Dusky Grasswren. We also
saw our second group of Grey-fronted Honeyeater for the trip, and perhaps
surprisingly a small flock of Painted Finch. Other birds included Budgerigar,
Pallid Cuckoo, Rufous Songlark, and Crested Bellbird - and on the drive back in
to Alice, Swamp Harrier, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Masked, White-browed and
Black-faced Woodswallow.
Alice Springs Waster Treatment Plant
The final site for my trip was the Alice Springs Waster Treatment Plant -
perhaps one of the best contained wetland areas in Australia. It is superb
place to bird-watch, being an important refuge for inland waterbirds and
stopping point for migratory waders. It's located on Commonage Rd, just south
of Heavitree Gap. There is a birder access gate - however you need to get a
key from Power and Water in the Alice Springs Plaza in Todd Mall.
Although it was relatively quiet, in terms of the variety of bird species -
presumably due to the abundance of water throughout central Australia - there
was still some excellent birds to be seen. We walk around most of the ponds,
with the highlights being Glossy Ibis, Pink-eared Duck, Hardhead, Yellow-billed
and Royal Spoonbill, Black-tailed Native-hen, Red-kneed Dotterel, some nice
flocks of Black-winged Stilt and Red-necked Avocet, Common, Wood, Marsh and
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Whiskered Tern,
Little Crow, Tree Martin, Australian Reed-Warbler and Little Grassbird, and in
the shrubland areas in the south-east, which was full of water,Variegated and
cobalt-blue White-winged Fairy-wren.
Alice Springs
I stayed the final night my trip on downtown Alice Springs. The most common
bird on the street was Australian Ringneck, the yellow-bellied black-headed
Port Lincoln race zonaruis, a pleasant surprise - it seemed to play the role
that a Rosella might play in south-eastern cities. Another common town birds
was White-plumed Honeyeater, race leilavalensis, a bird that was much yellower
than the south-eastern birds. Galah, Willie Wagtail, Pied Butcherbird and
Yellow-throated Miner were also birds about town, as was Spotted Turtle-Dove,
the only introduced species I saw for the whole trip! At one point I heard a
Pied Currawong (while drinking a beer ) in the restaurant courtyard of my
hotel. This seemed immediately odd, considering the nearest population was well
over a thousand miles away. It turned out to be a recording, played over the
hotels internal speakers; they were randomly playing Australiana type CDs
(mostly new age elevator music, the sort of stuff you buy in an airport
newsagent) - and they'd reach a CD called Australian Birds Calls.
Summing up
The recent rains in the Centre have created perfect conditions for birding.
When I was there the days where fine and sunny (my last day in Alice it was 33
degrees). However just before I arrived there were some seriously heavy rains,
with much of the Centre swamped and most of the bush tracks impassable.
Interestingly the day I left it started to rain again - and I've just heard
that Paul and Ruth ended up getting stuck for four days, and had to camp out,
after their car was caught up in an overflowing river near Hermannsburg! What a
brilliant trip, great birding and spectacular landscapes, excellent company,
and due of the rains the plant life was at its complete best. Flowering
Eremophila, Grevillea, Thryptomene, Cassia, Spinifex, Allocasuarina, Accacia,
Leptosema (Upside-down Plant) and Eucalyptus says it all. Not mentioned the
birds - with for example a feast of wren, such as Dusky Grasswren, Rufous
Emu-wren, full breeding plumage Variegated, White-winged and Splendid
Fair-wren. Could it get any better.
Tim Dolby
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