Bob
Good to hear about the grasswrens. I suspect that there are more of them
around than anyone knows about. After all there's a lot of country out
there where birdoes haven't been.
Certainly most of the places where we used to see them regularly were on
ridges or plateaux but again I suspect that is because we knew that that
was the quickest or most likely place to find them.
However, I remember following them up gullies from their base, and the nest
that Bill and Sam studied (from which they wrote up the original screed)
was out on a flat, away from the bottom end of a gully.
Anyway, I can share your excitement at extending their known range.
Best wishes
Helen H.
At 01:25 AM 3/04/02 +1000, Bob Forsyth wrote:
g'day all,
On Easter Friday (29/3/02) at 5.00pm I recorded a pair of Horton's form
Dusky Grasswren
(race Ballarae) at 19 57 30 / 139 59 18
This is 9.5 air km NW of Kajabbi and 98 air km NE of Mount Isa. A
substantial extension of
their known territory.
The habitat was identical to the normal rocky, low spinifex covered
inhospitable habitat
where they are found south of the Mount Isa to Cloncurry Highway. The
location of this
sighting is to be expected as the type of habitat is continuous from this
species known
territory.
I was driving up to the deserted town site of Dobbyn when I saw a single
unidentified bird
jump up from momentarily from the spinifex.
(My first thought was it could have been a Carpentarian Gw which have been
recorded
further north on Gunpowder Creek.)
I stopped my 4wd and walked into the spinifex to see if I could get a positive
identification.
Almost immediately I flushed a bird which flew a few metres towards the
adjacent Mt McKeon
and drop back into the spinifex.
This was repeated 4 times before I got a clear view of a pair of DGw
hiding in the shadow
of a spinifex clump.
The rufous flank of the female was seen clearly through my 10X42 binoc's.
After about 10
seconds in full view they were gone.
The DGw normally feeds on the sides of rocky, spinifex covered hills. It
is rare but not
unknown to record them at the base of these hills.
This record I consider to be my most important. Much more so than seeing
vagrants well
outside their normal range.
As a bonus at the nearby old Kalkadoon townsite I recorded 27 species
including
Square-tailed kite, Pictorella Mannikin, Painted F, Long-tailed F,
Black-chinned H/e,
Spinifex Pigeon.
All in all a good weekend.
Regards, Bob Forsyth, Mount Isa, NW Qld.
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Helen Horton
07-3289 1068
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