Trevor
In Sept 1993 my mother-in-law from Mitchell, another Toowoomba Bird
Observer member and I travelled to Sturt NP with a group of Brisbane
QOSI birders.
After a week of rough roads around Eulo and Carrawinya, we arrived in
Tibooburra. The idea was to go on to Cameron Corner but we heard the
last 50 kms of the road was badly corrugated so I decided to stay put
there as my neck was in constant pain from the shocking roads. My
mother- in -law decided to stay as well. Had nothing to do with the
fact that the Rugby League final was on TV that very day and the beer
was very cold.
Whilst we sat on the pub veranda eating cold ice-cream and watching a
Black Honeyeater work over a huge Torquata, a local asked if we had
seen the rare local black galah. When we told him we were birders and
that there was no such bird, he pointed to the roof of a beautiful old
sandstone hall and sure enough, there sat two black galahs.
He told us that many tourists were completely hoodwinked and
photographed the birds and promised to contact newspapers to report the
new species. The reason they were black, he explained was to do with
the lack of old dead trees around the town. Lacking a nesting place,
they climbed under the eaves and nested in the old fire-place. Sure
enough, they were black. Almost sooty!
Regards
Ken Mc Keown
|
