According to the pundits, "Dusky" Grasswrens are best seen at Dawn on
the footpath into Simpsons Gap, 15km west of Alice Springs, but there were
none there on the cold morning a few weeks ago when I bumped into Andrew
Isles, en route to the Canning Stock Route where he saw Princess Parrots at
Lake Tobin, but dipped again on the Dusky Grasswren.
I was trying for a better view than I'd seen before, but this site
seemed unpropitious. Introduced Buffel Grass has replaced most of the
Spinifex habitat on the lower slopes, and later a Britzkrieg of fourteen
campervans and their noisy vanners invaded the place, which was grubby and
needed a good shower of rain.
Not so the walk into Standley Chasm a few km. west, one of the most
beautiful places on earth; burning orange walls strewn with blue Cycads,
white trunked ghost gums with their fresh green canopies, and clear pools.
Following a squeak across the creek there, I disturbed a Dusky Grasswren
from the base of a shrub, perhaps nesting, as it stopped just outside the
close focus of the Leicas, fluffed up, pecked the ground, then put its head
up and sang a complex song several times, each time ending with a
canary-like trill. It was female with decidedly tawny flanks. Suddenly it
just disappeared as a Yellow-throated Miner swooped .
Dusky Grasswrens are widespread in Spinifex on the rocky screes
throughout the East and West McDonnell Ranges which radiate from Alice
Springs. Roads into the various gorges and gaps provide the easiest access
to those screes, and the Grasswrens generally occur about two thirds of the
way up.
I'd seen them at Ormiston Gorge along with about fifty other species.
Some really good stuff is accessible there, including Rufous-crowned
Emu-wren, Painted Finch, Western Bowerbird, various parrots and raptors, and
a dozen waterbirds when I was there during the drought. Plenty of Rock
wallabies as well. At the Newhaven campout, Duskies were seen on the scree
behind Lookout Rock, and campers had seen them at virtually all the gorges
on the tourist circuits around "the Alice".
Cheers
Michael
Cheers
Michael
Michael Hunter
Mulgoa Valley
50km west of Sydney Harbour Bridge
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