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Hi Birders,
Enroute to north-west Queensland for
our Grassren hunt, Robin Benson and I travelled from Bowra HSD Cunnamulla
via Charleville and Longreach to Winton. We left the rain behind at Charleville,
and just to the north of Charleville on the Warrego River we saw our first 3
Brolgas for the trip, and opposite in a dead tree was a
Hobby. On the Nive River Bridge, 40 km south of Tambo, was a
freshly killed adult female Brown Goshawk and not much further
on was a fresh roadkill Australian Bustard. From this point north and westwards,
conditions improved, with the Mitchell Grass plains obviously having benefited
from Cyclone Benny and other good rains. From here Budgerigars
were common until we went south of Alice Springs ten days later, while Bustards,
Singing Bushlarks, Crimson Chats and
Woodswallows were commonly sighted.
Our purpose in stopping in Winton for
two nights was to visit the Bladensberg National Park, located some 12 km
to the south west of the town. The Park consists of 85,000 ha of Mitchell
Grass downs, Channel Country, Spinifex covered hillsides and timbered
watercourses and was a former grazing property that was dedicated as a park in
1994. What a gem! and there are great camping sites too. Our interest here was
because Geoff Walker in May 2001 posted a report on Birding-aus of a recent
visit to the Park where he found Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens and Spinifexbirds! So
prior to our visit and armed with this posting which gave a stake-out location
for these two species, we contacted Ranger Rich Kierman, QNPWS in Winton
who provided us with maps, birds lists etc. Geoff was not wrong! While the first
midday sortee to the spinifex site was unrewarding in respect to the target
species, a return visit late afternoon gave us several good views of a pair of
Spinifexbirds (a new bird for Rob) and then another, but no
Emu-wrens. We returned to the site next day and after 2 hours, Rob heard the
high pitched call of Emu-wrens and eventually in response to our squeaking and
that of the Audubon Bird Squeaker, 5 Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens
eventaully climeb to the top of some spinifex and gave us great views of their
rufous crowns, dark rufous backs, striped tail,and the blue face and bib on two
of the birds. You could see that the tail was not as long as the other
Emu-wrens. Much celebration as this was a new bird for both of us. Another pair
of Spinifexbirds were seen at the site but in a different location to the
previous day.
Also of interest in Bladensberg was
Skull Rock Waterhole, where among the many Budgerigars, Bee-eaters,
Spotted Bowerbirds, Zebra Finches and
Spinifex Pigeons coming to drink, were a pair of
Painted Firetails and a number of Grey-headed
Honeyeaters (again the two latter species being new birds for Rob).
Other interesting birds in the Mitchell Grass areas were Crimson Chats,
Brown & Rufous Songlarks, Wedge-tailed
Eagle, Spotted Harrier, Diamond Dove,
Hobby, Crested Bellbird, White-winged Triller
& Variegated Fairy-wrens. At Bough Shed waterhole the
highligjhts were Plum-headed Finch, Red-browed
Pardalote, Red-backed Kingfisher and many
White-browed, White-breasted and
Masked Woodswallows. At Bladenberg NP we saw a total of 52
species, but the Emu-wrens took us 8 hours of persistent seaching to
find. A number of the species mentioned appear to be at the edge of their
eastern or north-eastern Australian range. It was great to renew acquaintance
with the Spinifex Pigeons, Painted Firetails and Spinifexbirds
Geoff Walker also gave details of how
to get to the Winton STW (close to the Cloncurry Rd as it leaves Winton) which
is well worth a visit and here we saw several Spotted Crakes,
Crimson Chat, White-winged Triller, Pinkear, Little
Crassbird, Fairy Martins, Hoary-headed Grebe,
Australasian Grebe with young and the other usual waterbirds.
Winton and Bladenberg NP are not to be missed when making your next trip up
through Queensland. We especially want to thank Geoff Walker and Rich Keirman
for their assistance, that made this part of our trip a success.
Alan Morris & Robin
Benson
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