I spent Saturday 5pm to Monday 2pm at Pooginook CP, 25km NW of Waikerie in
the Riverland region of South Australia. The park is 20 square kms of
mallee, although there has been some clearing in the southern sections of
the park. The malle includes sections with triodia irritans understorey,
bluebush understorey, and not much understorey.
Highlights of the trip were:
Seeing STRIATED GRASSWREN twice. A pair on Sunday, and an individual on
Monday in a different section of the park. This was a lifer for me even
though I have put some effort into finding it in the past.
A flock of 20 REGENT PARROTS feeding and roosting. This is the third time I
have seen Regent parrots in this park in three trips.
A complete list - Great Cormorant (flying over), Wedge-tailed Eagle, Crested
Pigeon, Common Bronzewing, Galah, Regent Parrot, Mulga Parrot, Elegant
Parrot, Ringneck, Australian Owlet-nightjar, Jacky Winter, Red-capped Robin,
Grey Shrike-thrush, Rufous Whistler, Crested Bellbird, Willie Wagtail, Grey
Fantail, Restless Flycatcher, Chestnut Quail-thrush, Chestnut-crowned
Babbler, White-browed Babbler, Varigated Fairy-wren, Striated Grasswren,
Southern Whiteface, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Chestnut-rumped Thornbill,
Weebill, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater, Brown-headed
Honeyeater, White-eared Honeyeater, Red Wattlebird, Yellow-throated Miner,
Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, Grey-fronted Honeyeater, White-fronted Honeyeater,
Yellow-rumped Pardalote, Striated Pardalote, White-winged Chough, Masked
Woodswallow, White-browed Woodswallow, Starling, Australian Magpie, Grey
Butcherbird, Grey Currawong, Little Raven
No Mallee Fowl this time although I saw fresh tracks and I have seen them
there on each of my two previous trips. A ranger that we ran into suggested
that there could be Scarlet-chested Parrots and Mallee Emu-wrens there
although he didn't know of any reports. He also mentioned that Pink
Cockatoos breed there.
A total of 46 species in under two days. Quite a good tally, but I'm
looking forward to going to Pooginook in the spring some time. It's
definitely worth a trip if you are interested in mallee birds.
Ian Lundy
Check out "Birds of the Torrens"
http://michell.maths.adelaide.edu.au/Applied/ECO/torrens.html
Ian Lundy
Contract Programmer
SSABSA Information Systems
ph. (08) 372 7512
email
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