I recently spent 4 days in SE South Australia and Western Victoria,
fortunately just before the heat wave of the last two days. Highlights
included:
1. Cape Barren Geese--On Dec. 6, I saw about 200 birds in several flocks
just off the road between Wellington and Langhorne Creek. They were about
16 km west of Wellington, near where a road heads north towards Murray
Bridge. They were very easy to find and to see extremely well. Thanks to
Trevor Hampel and David Deifik for their recent postings about these birds.
2. Then went on to the Little Desert National Park in Western Victoria.
Stayed at the Little Desert Lodge, which is 16 km south of Nhill and on the
northern boundary of the park. It is a great location, very comfortable and
reasonable ($35/night). There are several excellent walks on the lodge
property and going into the park. The highlight of a stay is visiting an
active Malleefowl mound with the lodge owner, "Whimpey" Reichelt. Whimpey
has studied Malleefowl for 25 years,and personally purchased a 170 hectare
block of mallee 25 years ago to protect these birds. Most mallee was
rapidly being turned into wheat. The birds on at least two active mounds
are habituated to his presence and you can get phenomenal views of
Malleefowl working their mounds. He has provided a small water hole near
one mound which really attracts most of the mallee birds. In about one
hour, I had excellent, repeated looks at Gilbert's Whistler, Southern
Scrub-robin, Purple-gaped Honey Eater, Shy Heathwren and several others. In
addition to having a pair of Malleefowl working on their mound right in
front of you. Really quite amazing.
Woody Kuehn
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