Hi Tim, No worries at all. If you want to see the Spinifex Pigeons that
frequent the general Georgetown area in future trips up this way, please be
sure to ask me about it off-line - there are some very good & very reliable
sites in the area & the species is very widespread. That Birdline record for
Spinifex Pigeon at Granite Gorge wasn't missed by me at all - in fact, it was
followed-up & found to be escapee from the immediate area - the caretakers of
the Nature Park did have some of them in their aviaries there & they escaped!!
This record should therefore be banished from Birdline, or at least amended to
show this - I have been a bit slack myself & forgot to tell the local
moderators to do this... Tim, I do know that you would have known that these 2
species do occur to the north-east outside of the Bladensburg area, which is
why it surprised me that you wrote what you did in your report - I'd presumed
that it was a simple typo, as often happens when writing up long & exciting
trip reports - I've done it heaps of times myself!! It was done again yesterday
on this forum with a"Beautiful" Firetail, not Painted Finch - it's a very easy
thing to do, believe me, I know.All I was trying to say was that both the
Spinifex Pigeon & Spinifexbird do have distributions a significant distance to
the north-east of the Winton area, pure & simple. Just a correction, that's
all. It's interesting too that Spinifex Pigeons inhabit tussock grassland
habitats in addition to Triodia spinifex, whereas the Spinifexbird seems more a
specialist skulker of hummock grasslands. On another note but of relevance to
spinifex inhabitants, I have been wondering for quite some time what everyone
thinks about the distinctive race 'rowleyi' Striated Grasswren preferred
habitat is - in my experience with this race, I've only found them on
SAND-PLAIN spinifex in Bladensburg NP & in the general Opalton area, NOT on
rocky ground with spinifex. BUT I noticed the other day that on Tim Faulkner's
trip recently to Opalton area that there is an image showing the bird
inhabiting spinifex on ROCKY ground !! This is something that I didn't know
about. It seems maybe this race is more of a generalist & inhabits sandy &
rocky ground. Does anyone care to share their experiences of this race so far
as habitat preference is concerned...?? Is Graeme Chapman out there to
comment?? Cheers for now, Martin Cachard, Cairns, 0428 782 808
From:
To: ;
Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Trip Report: Mt Isa, Lawn Hill & Bladensburg (Long)
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2012 02:05:04 +0000
Thanks for your nice feedback Martin, and no prob re your comments about my
report (at http://tim-dolby.blogspot.com.au). However you may have taken my
comments on may sight
slightly out of context. For instance, in terms of the distribution of
Spinifexbird and Spinifex Pigeon, I’m fully aware of the population range that
you mention.
For example in July 2010, I wrote to birding-aus stating “Of interest, a pair
of Spinifexbird has just been recorded on a spinifex covered mesa plateau at Mt
Walker, 8.5 km
south Hughenden (385 west of Townsville). A relatively sedentary species, this
appears to be at least 200 km outside the northern end of its range. The
closest records are from Bladensburg National Park (south of Winton) and
Adelong Reserve (near Lake Galilee).
They were observed last Saturday (24 July) by Peter Valentine nest building in
a clump of spinifex near the Reay Lookout. Peter took some excellent
photographs. They were first observed on Tuesday June 29, where (it appears)
they were mistakenly identified
as Striated Grasswren. Cheers, Tim Dolby”
(see
http://bioacoustics.cse.unsw.edu.au/archives/html/birding-aus/2010-07/msg00408.html).
I’ve noted that you followed up this report in Feb 2011. In terms of Spinifex
Pigeon, in 2003 I visited Georgetown and specifically looked for Spinifex
Pigeon (along Forsyth
Rd from memory), unfortunately to no avail.
So, thanks again. Essentially in this case my comments weren’t meant to read
like an Atlas-type statement about the distribution of Spinifexbird and
Spinifex Pigeon in Qld,
rather they were a generalised distribution comment about the link between
Triodia pungens at Bladensburg (central Qld) and birds such as Spinifexbird,
Rufous-crowned Emu-wren, Striated Grasswren, Spinifex Pigeon and Painted Finch.
(Ps. you’ve missed the record
of Spinifex Pigeon, at Granite Gorge Nature Park – this is 788 km NNE of
Bladensburg. Thanks again ;-)
Cheers again,
Tim Dolby
From: martin cachard
Sent: Sunday, 3 June 2012 6:41 PM
To: Tim Dolby; birding-aus threads
Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Trip Report: Mt Isa, Lawn Hill & Bladensburg (Long)
Hi Tim,
What a fantastic trip you had with Greg & Tim out in the fabulous Mt Isa region
- your report was an excellent & very sensitive piece that was a pleasure to
read, especially from my perspective - it is one of my favourite locations to
go birding too & always
has a surprise or 3 whenever I've ventured out there myself.
Sorry, & I really hate doing this, but I do have a couple of minor corrections
to point out to you from your report, however. They are to do with your mention
of most north-easterly limits of known ranges for Spinifexbird & Spinifex
Pigeon...
Spinifexbirds do occur in a small & seemingly isolated population on the
flat-top of Mt Walker, 10kms or so SE of Hughenden - this site is approx 200kms
NE of Bladensburg NP.
Spinifex Pigeons occur commonly in the tussock grasslands in the savanna
country around Georgetown, from at least as far east as 25kms E of Newcastle
Range near the Einasleigh River - the Newcastle Range is some 450+ kms NNE of
Bladensburg NP !!
Because of the large amount of km's involved in these discrepancies, I felt it
prudent to mention them.
But Tim, what a great trip you guys must've had !!
I'm heading out that way & onto the Qld channel country again in July & I just
can't wait - reading reports like your's, & also the recent one of Tim
Faulkner's, only gets me even more excited!!
Well done on a great adventure & on a beautifully written piece...
Cheers,
Martin Cachard,
Cairns,
0428 782 808
> From:
> To:
> Date: Thu, 31 May 2012 00:30:01 +0000
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Trip Report: Mt Isa, Lawn Hill & Bladensburg (Long)
>
> Hi all,
>
> The following (long) trip report describes a birding trip to the fabulous
> Mount Isa region in north-west Queensland (May 2012), an area completely
> under-estimated as a birding destination. For the full report with some
> images please see my trip report webpage
at http://tim-dolby.blogspot.com.au. With me on the trip were two good birding
friends, Greg Oakley and Tim Bawden. The region is often described as the
country of "Dinosaurs, Fossils and Mining", by my reckoning
you could add one more to that list, "Birds".
>
> Itinerary
> We spent seven days in the region, flying in from Melbourne Sat May 12th, and
> then flying out May 19th. Our basic itinerary involved touring around Mount
> Isa for a few of days, visiting sites for Carpentarian and Kalkadoon
> Grasswren and also birding around
Lake Moondarra. We then travelled 500 km south to Bladensburg National Park,
incorporating a side trip to Lark Quarry Conservation Park. From there we drove
700 km north to spectacular Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park, via
Cloncurry and Chinaman Creek
Dam. By the time we flew out of Mount Isa we'd driven 2500 dusty kilometres.
>
> These areas can be described as some of the most arid regions in the world,
> for example Cloncurry originally held the Australian record for the highest
> known temperature in the shade, at 53.1 °C (January 1989); however, after
> recent rains the landscape was
transformed, with an abundant of birds and wildlife. It was in fact the
perfect time of year to visit: post-Wet season with daytime temperatures 30°C
and at night 15°C. It was a dry, welcoming heat, and there wasn't a cloud in
the sky. Bird numbers were high,
many had breed up during the months preceding, and many - such as the finches
- were breeding a second time (in the Austral monsoon tropic land birds have
been shown to have a dual breeding periods).
>
> Car Hire, Roads and Road Trains
> For the trip we hired a Nissan X-Trail, which, aside from a flat-tyre, was
> perfect for the road conditions. Half the roads we drove were dirt, although
> most were in good condition. Probably the worst road we encountered was the
> Gregory Downs-Camooweal Rd
(immediately south of Lawn Hill), however we drove this section road with a
flat spare tyre, augmenting our concerns for the conditions of the road. The
only real issue in terms of road travel was the massive Road Trains! Australia
has the largest and heaviest
road-legal vehicles in the world - some configurations we encountered were
five-trailers long.
>
> Mount Isa and the Grasswrens
> Mount Isa (900 km west of Townsville) is a large mining town on the banks of
> the Leichhardt River. The main birding sites visited were an area of Spinifex
> between water towers at the end of Pamela Rd, Lake Moondarra, Mica Creek,
> McNamara Rd. Common birds
around the Mount Isa township were Varied Lorikeet, Red-winged Parrot, Spotted
Bowerbird, Apostlebird, Pied Butcherbird and Yellow-throated Miner.
>
> I was particularly targeting two species near Mount Isa: Kalkadoon Grasswren,
> localised, recently split from Dusky Grasswren, and appropriately named after
> the local Aboriginal people (Mount Isa refers to itself as "Kalkadoon
> Country"); and the rare Carpentarian
Grasswren, considered one of Australia's hardest to see birds. On a personal
level, getting both these species would take my Grasswren tally to nine,
leaving only the Kimberly-restricted Black Grasswren and the recently split
(from Thick-billed) Western Grasswren.
>
> Kalkadoon Grasswren
> Near Mount Isa there are several good sites for Kalkadoon Grasswren. The
> closest is a Spinifex covered valley at the end of Pamela Street, just 2 km
> from the centre of town. We parked at the gate at end of the road, walked up
> the trail 100 m to where a smaller
walking trail branches south down a small Spinifex-lined valley - it's located
between two large water tanks (-20.73243,139.511716). Almost immediately we
heard a Kalkadoon Grasswren calling, although we didn't get views until we
reached the south end of the
walking trail, about 100 m from the turn-off. Spinifexbird was common here,
and there was also a large family of Spotted Bowerbird.
>
> Perhaps the best-known site for Kalkadoon Grasswren is Mica Creek, 13 km
> south of Mt Isa on the Diamantina Developmental Rd. We parked 100 m before
> the Mica Creek causeway, and walked 150 m west, crossing a small gully to an
> area containing a wrecked car
(-20.821111,139.45916). (If worth noting that there's another car wreck
immediately next to the road.) We search here, and up a gully that headed
north. Grasswren-wise we had no success here (by this stage it was hot and the
middle of the day), although we
did manage to see some nice birds: Red-backed Kingfisher, Black-tailed
Treecreeper, Variegated Fairy-wren, Grey-headed, Grey-fronted and Black-chinned
(golden-backed ssp laetior) Honeyeater. We also bumped into an attractive
Purple-necked Rock-Wallaby.
>
> [NB If you don't find Kalkadoon Grasswren at either of the above sites, they
> also occur along Sybella Creek, another 7 km further south down the
> Diamantina Developmental Rd, and to the north of Mt Isa, the hilltop around
> the microwave tower on the Barkly
Hwy, 34.5 km north of Mt Isa.]
>
> Carpentarian Grasswren
> The rare Carpentarian Grasswren was the bird I was most keen to see, and the
> place to see them is McNamara's Rd. From Mount Isa we travelled along the
> Barkly Hwy for 66.5 km, and then turned right along McNamara's Rd
> (-20.385202,139.350497, it was signposted
‘CSC Lady Annie Operations’). Here Carpentarian Grasswren inhabits the
Spinifex-covered plateaus either side of the road, particularly from 3.5 to 11
km from the Barkly Hwy. We concentrate our search at the following places:
>
> - 6.6 km from Barkly Hwy: we stopped at a breakaway on the right side of the
> road and then walked through an area scattered with termite mounds until we
> reached a Spinifex-dominated landscape 400 m east of the road - near where
> white quartzite protrudes through
the Spinifex. After a bit of searching (mainly listening) we found a family of
four Carpentarian Grasswren, providing fantastic views. Everyone commented how
the field guides don't do the bird aesthetic justice, particularly in terms of
the rich-rufous coloration.
It may be the most attractive of all the grasswren. The birds ran and hoped
between clumps of Spinifex and, like other Grasswren I've seen, they seemed to
have a preference for hanging around tree clusters that acted like small
islands in a sea of Spinifex.
>
> - 8 km from Barkly Hwy: this the probably the best-known of the Carpentarian
> Grasswren sites along McNamara's Rd, and is marked with a small cairn on the
> right side of the road (indicating a track that leads right). We looked in
> the larger patches of Spinifex,
particularly along a well-vegetated gully and creek line 150 m east of the
road. Here flushed a single Carpentarian Grasswren - giving a short flight
across the creekline, and then running grasswren / road-runner-like up the
creek line, kicking up dust before
in ran into a large clump of Spinifex.
>
> - 11 km from Barkly Hwy: we looked 11 km from Barkly Hwy, along the dry creek
> bed 400 m west of the road. Although we didn't see any birds, the habitat
> looked perfect.
>
> - 3.8 km from Barkly Hwy: although we didn't search here, this is another
> reliable site for Carpentarian Grasswren (stopping near a left-side pullover
> just before a small creek line, and searching 400 m east where the Spinifex
> has open pebbly-ground in between).
>
> Other birds we saw along McNamara's Rd included Brown Quail, Little
> Button-Quail (plus another rustier-coloured button-quail, possibly
> Red-chested), Australian (Cloncurry ssp macgillivrayi) Ringneck, fast-flying
> flocks of Budgerigar, Red-winged Parrot, Spinifexbird,
Black-tailed Treecreeper, Crested Bellbird, Hooded Robin (ssp picata),
Red-browed and Striated Pardalote, Variegated Fairy-wren and honeyeaters such
as Grey-headed and Grey-fronted. We also flushed a Tawny Frogmouth - it looked
remarkable flying through the
Spinifex-covered landscape during the heat of the day.
>
> Lake Moondarra
> An impressive artificial lake on the Leichhardt River, Lake Moondarra is 20
> km north of Mount Isa. When visiting here the main attraction is the wide
> selection of water and shorebirds, however there's a great collection of land
> species surrounding the lake.
Access is from the Barkly Hwy, 5 km north of Mount Isa, with the lake a
further 15 km.
>
> On the drive into the lake we stopped at the impressive Clearwater Lagoon (on
> Lake Moondarra Rd, 10 km from the Barkly Hwy). The lagoon was covered in
> waterbirds, particularly 'tropical waterbirds', such as Wandering and Plumed
> Whistling-Duck, Green Pygmy-Goose,
Comb-crested Jacana, Glossy Ibis - perfect wetland species for visiting
Victorians! There were also good numbers of Hardhead, Great Crested Grebe,
Australasian Darter and Intermediate and Great Egret. Clearwater Lagoon is a
known drinking site for finches.
There wasn't much drinking activity at the lagoon, however we had better luck
at an small ephemeral waterhole 100 metres further along the road. Here there
were large numbers of Long-tailed, Zebra and Double-barred Finch, Mistletoebird
and Diamond, Peaceful
and Bar-shouldered Dove. Around Transport Bay, located on the east edge of the
lake (a very pleasant area with several picnic grounds), there was Intermediate
Egret, Sacred Kingfisher, Spotted and Great Bowerbird (both species co-exist
here), Rainbow Bee-eater,
White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike and Paperbark Flycatcher. A stop at the dam
lookout produced four possible Pictorella Mannikin, although we lost them just
before we got a positive ID. Along the track to the Mt Isa Water Ski Club, it
heads west just before you
reach the first picnic area, 14 km from the Barkly Hwy, we found a flock of
10+ Painted Finch. They were feeding along the road near the base of a series
of small cliffs towards the end of track. Several Purple-necked Rock-Wallaby
were also seen here - giving
us the classic Rock-Wallaby views, their head peering over the top of rock
walls. Warrina Park is situated at the end of Leichhardt River Rd below the
Lake Moondarra dam wall. Here there were at least 20 feral Indian Peafowl (we'd
previously seen a single
male Peafowl on the banks of the Leichhardt River near the Lake Moondarra
Caravan Park), easily the largest 'wild population' of Peafowl I've seen in
Australia.
>
> We also visit the wide grassy bays on the western side of the Lake Moondarra.
> To get there drive down a dirt track that leads east from the Barkly Hwy,
> 16.5 km from the Leichhardt River Bridge in Mount Isa – continue east along
> the track for 4.4 km. We were
hoping to see Yellow Chat, they occasionally feed along the shoreline, however
upon arriving there was no less than 8 Australian Hobby hunting over the grassy
flats, mainly feeding on large red dragonflies. If there'd been any Yellow Chat
about, the falcon
would have scared (or eaten) them off. We find large numbers of waterbirds:
White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Wandering and Plumed Whistling Duck, Green Pygmy-goose
and Glossy Ibis, Australian Darter, Great Crested Grebe, Great, Little,
Intermediate Egret, White-necked
Heron, and Caspian, Gull-billed and Whiskered Tern. I'd love to visit this
area later in the year, when the migratory shorebirds are about: Long-toed
Stint, Red-necked Phalarope, Oriental Pratincole, Australian Painted Snipe,
Little Curlew, Common, Wood and
Marsh Sandpiper, Pacific Golden and Oriental Plover, Yellow Chat and Eastern
Yellow Wagtail have all been recorded here. Not a bad list.
>
> Chinaman Creek Dam
> From Lake Moondarra we headed south to Bladensburg National Park, stopping at
> Chinaman Creek Dam (located off the Barkly Hwy immediately west of
> Cloncurry). Like Moondarra, it's an artificial lake and on a smaller scale
> almost as impressive. Birds here included
Nankeen Night Heron, White-necked Heron, Black-winged Stilt, Rainbow Bee-eater
and Whiskered Tern, and the dam is meant to be good for Black Bittern, Spinifex
Pigeon and Pictorella Mannikin. There were large numbers of Black Kite - a
hundred million to be
precise - by this stage of the trip, due to their commonality, I was refusing
to call or even name Black Kite - instead I'd refer to them as 'The birds that
shall not be named.' Frustratingly, due to the twitching nature of birding,
you're forced to look at
each individual kite, even if just for an instance, eliminating them from the
possibility of being another raptor. The other highlight at Chinaman Creek Dam
was an Allied Rock-Wallaby feeding around the picnic ground.
>
> At Chinaman Creek Dam we also bumped into another group of birders / reptile
> people, Tim Faulkner, Scott Ryan and one John Weigel (AM), who, to put it
> mildly, were on their own 7 thousands kilometres birding tour de
> extravagancé! A great bunch of blokes,
like us, they seemed to be having a ball! John was also undergoing one of
birdings most exhilarating and self-indulgent pleasures - a big year. Good luck.
>
> Bladensburg National Park
> From Chinaman Creek Dam we headed down to Bladensburg National Park. It's a
> large, very pleasant and remote park with areas of sandstone ranges,
> grassland plains and river flats - it reminded me of Wyperfeld National Park
> in Victoria. To get there we drove
south from Winton taking the Winton-Jundah Rd, and after 7 km turned left onto
the ‘Route of the River Gum’. From there it's 5 km to a junction - we turned
right following the ‘Route of the River Gum’. Here we stayed at the amiable
camping ground at Bough
Shed Hole, 12 km from the junction. Conventional vehicles can access
Bladensburg, and we found it easy going in the X-Trail.
>
> Bladensburg's an interesting park for a number of reasons: it's the eastern
> boundary range of Spinifex (Triodia pungens) and as a result has the most
> north-easterly population of birds such as Spinifexbird, Spinifex Pigeon,
> Striated Grasswren, Rufous-crowned
Emu-wren and Painted Finch. Interestingly we weren't here for any of these
species, rather we'd come to see Hall's Babbler and Chestnut-breasted
Quail-thrush (recently split from Western Quail-thrush - formerly race
marginatum of Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush),
with Bladensburg representing the most northerly extension for these two
species. Much of the northern half of the park consists of reddish clay soils
covered with Mitchell grasses and open woodlands. Along here we saw Emu,
Australian Bustard, large flocks
of Cockatiel, a small group of Ground Cuckoo-shrike and Black-faced and Masked
Woodswallow. As you continue through the park the landscape becomes more
vegetated, intermixed with areas of Spinifex and Eremophila. Black Honeyeater
were common, and we saw good
numbers of Grey-headed and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Crimson Chat and flushed
a few Little Button-quail.
>
> Skull Hole is a rocky water-filled gorge about 20 metres deep. The birding
> was quiet around the hole, possibly because there was plenty of ephemeral
> water around the park. Normally it's considered a potential site for birds
> such as Spinifex Pigeon and Painted
Finch, while Hall’s Babbler occur along the creek line and Gidgee woodlands 2
km north of Skull Hole. Just prior to the Skull Hole car park a dirt track
leads south. After 2.5 km we came to a dry creek bed (to cross it would require
4WD). We searched east
along the creek for Hall's Babbler, with several families said to occur in
this area. We dipped on the Babbler, but did find an active pair of
Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush about 300 m east the road. If you continue a
further 300 m along the road you come
to a old fence line and open gate; walking right along the fence line there's
a superb area of Spinifex (between the road and an area of escarpment). This is
a good site for Rufous-crowned Emu-wren, Spinifexbird and Spinifex Pigeon,
while other birds here
included Hooded Robin, Red-browed Pardalote, Inland Thornbill (ssp cinerascens
- the northern extent of this richer-coloured race), Little Woodswallow,
Rainbow Bee-eater, Restless Flycatcher and Crested Bellbird.
>
> The birdwatching around the Bough Shed Hole camping area is excellent. A wide
> range of species come in to drink, particularly near the northern section of
> the campground, such as Australian (Cloncurry) Ringneck, Red-winged Parrot,
> Red-backed Kingfisher, Black
Honeyeater, Crimson Finch, Inland Thornbill, Striated and Red-browed Pardalote
and Double-barred and Zebra Finch. Tim Faulkner, Scott Ryan and John Weigel had
seen several Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush here the day before - feeding
around the scree covered
ground immediately north-east of the north section of the campground.
>
> Lark Quarry Conservation Park
> From Bladensburg we made a brief trip to Lark Quarry Conservation Park, 110
> km south-west of Winton. We found Hall's Babbler in the Mulga adjacent to the
> airfield (the airfield is located half way along the road to the Lark Quarry
> dinosaur trackways). They
were feeding on the south side of the airport, in the area directly behind the
airfield’s wind sock. The Spinifex on the north side of the airfield is also a
site for Rufous-crowned Emu-wren, Striated Grasswren (ssp rowleyi) and
Spinifexbird, where we had
brief encounters of each, and we also saw Varied Sittella (white-winged ssp
leucoptera), Grey-headed and Grey-fronted Honeyeater, Hooded Robin, Jacky
Winter (browner ssp pallida) and Crested Bellbird (ssp pallescens). It is also
worth checking the microwave
tower located at the beginning of the road to Lark Quarry - this is an
occasional roost site for Grey Falcon.
>
> While at Lark Quarry it is essential to visit the dinosaur trackways. This is
> the only recorded dinosaur stampede in the world (a huge meat-eating
> Tyrannosauropus, similar to a Tyrannosaurus, chases chicken-sized
> Coelurosaurs). Rufous-crowned Emu-wren occur
in the Spinifex around the trackways. From Bladensburg we headed 700 km north
to Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park.
>
> Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park
> The spectacular Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park adjoins the
> Queensland-Northern Territory border, 340 km north-west of Mount Isa. We
> camped at the excellent Lawn Hill camping area, and also spent a night at the
> equally good, commercially run, Adels
Grove campground, situated on Lawn Hill Creek adjacent to the park. Here there
was a good restaurant with a set menu - we dined on lamb cutlets for main and
pavlova for dessert. Not bad.
>
> We drove in via Cloncurry and through Gregory Downs, passing through a vast
> expanse of undulating grasslands and open woodlands. Along the roadsides we
> saw large numbers of Australian Bustard, Brolga, Black-necked Stork as well
> as flocks of Budgerigar, Cockatiel
(sometimes as many as 50 birds) and Crimson Chat.
>
> On the drive in we stopped at Archie Creek (located 49 km from Wills
> Development Rd turn-off, 37 km north-east of the campground at Lawn Hill).
> Large numbers of finches were drinking along the creek, so we grabbed our 10$
> director chairs and sat down to see
what birds came in. In the next hour we'd recorded Pictorella Mannikin,
Long-tailed, Crimson (black-bellied ssp phaeton), Double-barred and Zebra
Finch, a bevy of Brown Quail, Diamond and Peaceful Dove, Black-chinned and
White-throated Honeyeater, Pheasant
Coucal, Black-necked Stork, Blue-winged Kookaburra and Azure and Sacred
Kingfisher (at one point I nearly had all three kingfishers in a single
binocular focus). On the drive into the park we also came across a two-metre
long Black-headed Python, a snake that
feeds almost exclusively on other snakes.
>
> At the Lawn Hill campground the first bird we saw when we got out of the car
> was Buff-sided Robin! I'd travelled 3000 km to see this bird, was expecting a
> decent birding challenge, only to see it in the carpark! A spectacular
> looking Robin, far more approachable
than their recently split cousin (White-browed Robin), they were a common bird
in the riverine vegetation. Also around the campsite were Northern Rosella,
Varied and Rainbow (red-collared ssp rubritorquis) Lorikeet, Red-winged Parrot,
Great Bowerbird, Silver-crowned
Friarbird and Channel-billed Cuckoo.
>
> We concentrated most of our birding along the deep blood-red gorge between
> the Indarri Falls and the Upper Gorge Lookout. The area here is spectacularly
> beautiful, possibly the most sublime place I've ever seen! Along the creek we
> searched in the Pandanus
and canegrass for Purple-crowned Fairy-wren (ssp macgillivrayi), where they
were quite common - with a family every 100 m or so. At this time of year they
were in non-breeding plumage. A unique species amongst fairy-wren, and birds
generally: most species
when they go into eclipse, non-breeding plumage, simply revert to a dull grey
form of their original self. Purple-crowned Fairy-wren, by contrast, completely
change into another bird, with plumage almost as interesting in eclipse as when
they breed. Other
birds along the creek included White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Azure Kingfisher,
Blue-winged Kookaburra, Buff-sided Robin, Olive-backed Oriole, Paperbark
Flycatcher, Northern Fantail and Crimson Finch.
>
> In the rocky escarpments at Lawn Hill - such as near the Duwadarri Lookout
> west of the campground, and the Island Stack - we found Sandstone
> Shrike-thrush and Little Woodswallow. Flowering plants were in abundance,
> most notably Grevillea dryandri and Holly-leaf
Grevillea (Grevillea wickhamii). These attracted honeyeaters such as
White-gaped, Yellow-tinted, Grey-headed, Grey-fronted, Brown, Black-chinned,
White-throated, and Rufous-throated. Eagle-eyed Tim Bawden spotted a Grey
Falcon (a resident species at Boodjamulla)
flying down the valley near the Constance Ranges, just east of the campsite.
By my humble opinion, the best way to see Grey Falcon at Lawn Hill is set
yourself up at the Duwadarri Lookout and scan the sky around the campground and
rangers' station, looking
towards the Constance Ranges. Other birds we saw at Lawn Hall included Little
Friarbird, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Variegated and Red-winged Fairy-wren
and, at night, we heard Barking Owl and Southern Boobook.
>
> Riversleigh and Gregory River
> On the way out of Lawn Hill we travelled south down the Gregory
> Down-Camooweal Rd to the Barkly Hwy, stopping at the Gregory River, with its
> multiple river crossings. Here there were Azure Kingfisher, Varied Lorikeet
> and Paperbark Flycatcher. (Purple-crowned
Fairy-wren and Buff-sided Robin also occur along the river.)
>
> The Riversleigh fossil fields, located 4 km north of the Gregory River, was
> symbolically a very important place for me to visit. In 1992 my late father
> worked at the site, helping excavate fossils and working as the Team Doctor.
> He talked many times about
his trip to Riversleigh - as the birdwatcher in the group he would show the
others in the group Purple-crowned Fairy-wren (then known more charmingly as
Lilac-crowed Fairy-wren) feeding along Gregory River. When travelling to Lawn
Hil it's worth investigating
the Riversleigh D deposits - they are one of the most important site for
fossilised birds in the world, the best known being "Big Bird" (a Dromornithid
species that looks like an enormous Emu). Spinifexbird and Spinifex Pigeon
occur around fossil field.
>
> Summing Up the Mount Isa Region
> Our total bird tally for the trip was 168 species. We'd seen al our target
> species (Carpentarian and Kalkadoon Grasswren, Purple-crowed Fairy-wren,
> Buff-sided Robin and Pictorella Mannikin) plus a few bonus birds (Hall's
> Babbler, Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush
and Grey Falcon). We also saw some nice mammals (Purple-necked and Allied
Rock-Wallaby) and reptiles (Black-headed Python, Ridge-tailed Monitor and
Gilbert’s and Ring-tailed Dragon). Lake Moondarra is impressive. It must be one
of the best inland lakes for
birdwatching in Australia. I'd love to visit when the summer migrants arrive.
Catching up with Carpentarian and Kalkadoon Grasswren meant that I've only two
more of this iconic family of birds to go. Bladensburg is very pleasant, we all
wanted to spend more
time there - a great place to sit, relax and go birding for a couple of days.
Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park is simply spectacular, a must-visit
destination, not just for birding reasons: go there with family and friends and
canoe up Lawn Hill Creek.
The first time I saw the Indarri Falls I was simply blown away by their sheer
beauty.
>
> Finally it was emotionally significant for me to return to Riversleigh 20
> years after my father had worked on the site. The binoculars I had with me
> were his, and they were the same pair he used when he visited 20 years
> earlier. They're a classic pair of
10x42 Zeiss: the words written on them read "Made in West Germany".
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tim Dolby
> http://tim-dolby.blogspot.com.au
>
>
>
>
>
>
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