I have just spent a couple of weeks travelling around Cooper Creek and Lake
Eyre (15 May - 4 June). Quite a few roads were closed so we could not get to
all the places where we expected to find birds, such as Coongie Creek (north
of Innamincka) and Muloorina Station (north of Marree and closer to Lake
Eyre) and Goyder Lagoon (south of Birdsville). This probably did not matter
as we saw many flocks of breeding birds on the Strzelecki Track, especially
around Monte Collina Bore, at the Strzelecki Creek Crossing, and just east
of Moomba where there was a lot of water by the road. North of the
Strzelecki Track we saw many skeins of pelicans flying east towards Lake
Yamma Yamma. We also saw hundreds of Flock Bronzewings in this area.
There was plenty of water in the Cooper at Innamincka and the Diamantina at
Birdsville and many birds with young. The bore at Mungerannie attracted
crakes, coots and reed warblers as well as the water birds we had seen in
other places.
Flights over Lake Eyre were available from Marree and William Creek. We flew
from William Creek on a very windy day. The birds appeared to be breeding on
a peninsula and islands that stand above the water at the southern part of
Lake Eyre north. On the map it's called Elliot Price Conservation Park. We
saw colonies of hundreds of pelicans and a similar number of Silver Gulls.
It was a great trip.
Rosemary Bell
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