Rhonda and I have just returned home from a trip to the Red
Centre which included the Flinders Ranges, Lyndhurst,
Lake Eyre (fly over), Port Augusta, Coober Pedy, Uluru/Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon,
and Alice Springs/MacDonnell Ranges. A great trip during and the most pleasing
aspect was the large number of bird encountered, especially along the Stuart Highway. We
did the trip tree years ago and saw limited birds. This time Budgerigars and
Zebra Finches were around in the tens of thousands and there were plenty of
most other species. In the northern part of SA and sounthern NY a mouse plague
was evident and there were dozens of Kestrels, Black-shouldered Kites and Brown
Falcons around.
We managed to tick off and photograph six “lifers”
for the trip. We scored the Cinnamon Quail-thrush and Chestnut-breasted
Whiteface at Mt Lyndhurst Station, Gibberbird at Coober Pedy, Painted Finch at
Kata Tjuta, Banded Whiteface at Erldunda and Banded Stilt at Port Augusta. Unfortunately
we missed out on the Short-tailed Grasswren at Flinders
Ranges, Grey Honeyeater,
Rufous-crowned Emu-wren and Chiming Wedgebill around Alice
Springs and Slender-billed Thornbill at Port Augusta. Generally
we followed Thomas and Thomas guidance to find our birds.
For anyone contemplating a trip to the Centre, we are able
to offer three updates for consideration and guidance. First, Uluru/Kata
Tjuta. T & T suggests combing the spinifex around the Sunset car park for Striated
Grasswren. This is not recommended as “the law” does not permit
anyone to venture off formed roads or tracks within the national park. It is
vigorously policed by the rangers as we discovered when we stepped 10 metres
from a road to scan the bush. The guy who nabbed us informed us that heavy
fines apply (but he let us off with a caution). One ranger with whom we
developed some rapport and who was a birder told us that even he cannot walk
the bush. So bird watching in the park may only be done from the roads/tracks and
from our experience that was fairly limited (Notwithstanding, we did find the
Painted Finch at a trackside waterhole in the Valley of the Winds).
Second Ormiston Gorge/Ellery Creek Big Hole area of the West MacDonnells. With the exception of one small patch
near the junction of Namitjira
Drive and Ormiston Gorge Road, the area was burnt
by a bushfire in 2002. Advice from the Alice Springs Field Naturalists is that
neither Rufous-crowned Emu-wren nor Spinifebirds have returned to the area
since. Our visit confirmed this as the new spinifex is still quite small. We
would also add Grasswrens to the list as we saw none in this area but plenty in
the East MacDonnells. We did comb to surviving
patch of tall spinifex over three days but turned up only one Spinifexbird and
no Emu-wrens.
The third area is Kunoth Well on the Tanami Road. The well is now disused,
the pump has been removed from the windmill, the two tanks are dry and have not
been used for some time, the well has collapsed and was full of rubbish and, if
there was a nearby dam, we did not find it. We did not find a Grey Honeyeater
either but the habitat remains intact.
Our best birding experience was finding the
Chestnut-breasted Whiteface. We searched the southern part of Mt Lyndhurst
Station for three days and had about given up and were within 100m of our car
when a pair flew across our front and perched on a saltbush. We were able to
get some good photos (see enclosed) and have a good look at them.
Regards
Lindsay Hansch
