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GREAT GRASSWREN HUNT - ALICE SPRINGS AREA
19-22 MAY 2003
Robin Benson and I travelled from Mt
Isa to Alice Springs by way of Camooweel and Barkley Homestead making a detour
up to Alroy Downs from the latter place to see if would find some Flock
Bronzewings, arriving at the large wetland at dusk. But alas no Flock
Bronzewings were seen anywhere around this stretch even though conditions looked
good. We knew that they had been seen between Combo Waterhole and Julia Creek
(Qld), but that was not a direction that we were taking. So enroute to Alce
Springs we had to be content with good views of Black-breasted
Buzzards at a number of places and plenty of
Budgerigars, White-browed and Masked
Woodswallows, White-winged Trillers, Spotted
Harriers and Wedge-tailed Eagles. There was a
Peregrine Falcon at a radio tower not far from
Alroy Downs HSD.
At Alice Springs Rob's target species
were Dusky Grasswren, Banded Whiteface, Grey Honeyeater, Slaty-backed Thornbill,
Western Bowerbird and Chiming Wedgebill, only the Grey Honeyeater &
Wedgebill would be new for me. So we spend one afternoon and one morning at
Kurnoth Wells, along Hamiltion Downs Road and around the "Eremophila Patch"
looking for Grey Honeyeaters. But alas the seasonal conditions had deteriorated
from the better conditions northwards, the ground was pretty dry, the mistletoe
in the mulga was basically not flowering or fruiting, and most of the Eremophila
bushes looked pretty dry. Only about 1 in 20 Erempohila bushes
(E.maculata?) had a few flowers starting to appear, but good rains
could see the plants really blossom. The only birds in the Eremophilas were
Singing Honeyeaters and Zebra Finches, but
amongst the mulga we did find Slaty-backed Thornbills at a
number of places along with Southern Whiteface,
Yellow-rumped, Chestnut-rumped &
Inland Thornbills, as well as great views of Crested
Bellbirds and White-browed Babblers. Mulga and
Ringneck Parrots were watering at the Bore, and Hooded
Robins and a Grey Fantail were seen
closeby.
We checked out the Telegraph Station
where Grey Honeyeaters had recently been reported but no luck, and visited the
Deseret Wildlife Park. The exhibitions here are great and not to be missed and
the bird display with the Black-breasted Buzzard breaking the Emu egg and the
other Kites was really good. In the grounds it was easy to find resident
Western Bowerbirds, one particular group were displaying in the
fruiting Desert Figs outside one of the buildings showing off their lilac
patches, while Grey-crowned Babblers, Variegated &
White-winged Fairy-wrens, Mistletoebirds and
Honeyeaters were very much at home there. We spent a day
looking for Dusky Grasswrens at Simpsons Gap, Stanley Chasm,
Ellery Big Hole, Serpentine and Ormiston Gorges without success, finally running
them to earth on the bitumen access road to Stanley Chasm at 1700 hrs in the
afternoon. A group of 4 gave us great views as they fed along the road and in
the grass verge, perhaps not where we had been looking for them. We had spent
our time scouring the spinifex slopes and rock slides where I had previously
seen them. However we did have a great days birding and saw plenty of
Pink Cockatoos, several small groups of Red-tailed
Black Cockatoos, Hooded Robin, Painted
Firetails, Grey-headed, Brown &
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters, Red-browed
Pardalotes, Spinifex Pigeons as well as the more
common species.
We made two visits to the Alice
Springs STW and saw nothing special other than large groups of
Pinkears making their beautiful whistling & chortling calls
as they resettled on different ponds and a group of 6 Red-necked
Stints and plenty of Black-fronted Plovers. We staked
out the site 32 km N of Erldunda as mentioned in Thomas & Thomas as a site
for Banded Whiteface, but saw nothing other than White-winged Fairy-wrens,
Pipits and Singing Honeyeaters. Finally we made a rush visit to
Yalarra/Uluru to see if we could located Chiming Wedge-bill, Banded
Whiteface and Striated Grasswren, all of which have been reported there. We
spent time in the appropriate habitats but were unsuccessful. We were not
impressed withe Uluru, accomodation costs at Yalara are so much out of
proportion to what you pay elsewhere for accomodation, it costs $16 per person
to enter the park, plenty of signs telling you where you cannot go but few
actual places where you can walk in the bush! It seems that all they want you to
do there is pay your money, take a few photos and bugger off! Not a
bird-watcher friendly place. More interesting was a spot where there had been
some isolated rain, about 20 km W of Erldunda where we stopped for morning
tea and had Horsfield & Pallid Cuckoos,
Red-backed Kingfisher, White-backed Swallow,
Kestrel & Brown Falcon, among the more interesting
birds.
Again we thank those people who
provided information on sites and locations in the Alice Spings
area.
Alan Morris & Robin
Benson
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