Southwest Queensland, Northwest NSW Trip Report June/July
2004
I’ve just returned from a 9 day trip through southwest Queensland and
northwest NSW, with a brief foray into northeast SA. I completed the trip in a
2wd station wagon and, apart from a few problems in the corner country (more
about them later) most roads were O.K. for 2wd, although some care was necessary
on some sections.
My trip commenced on Thursday (24 June) afternoon, with a short leg from
Brisbane to Dalby to stay at a friends property. During the drive I picked up my
first few birds for the trip, including Galah, Sulfur-crested
cockatoo, Nankeen kestrel and Black-shouldered kite. While
waiting for my friend to return home, I took some time to wander around the dam
on the property. Here I picked up White-faced heron, Plumed whistling-duck,
Grey teal, Pacific black duck, Pied butcherbird, Australian magpie, Pied
mudlark, Torresian crow, Pale-headed rosella and Cockatiel. As I
returned from the dam, I noticed a dark raptor approaching rapidly above. The
silhouette gave it away as a falcon, and as it came closer I realised it was a
Black falcon! My trip had hardly begun, and I already had my first lifer!
This was also one of the target birds I was hoping to see, so things were
looking promising for an interesting trip.
The next morning I added Red-rumped parrot, House sparrow, Common
miner and Indian myna to the list before leaving Dalby. I had decided
today to drive as far west as I could in order to get my western trip really
under way. About 60km west of Dalby I picked up my first babblers. These were
Grey-crowned babbler. At the Westmar Roadhouse I found Red-winged
parrot and Restless flycatcher. I also saw Wedge-tailed eagle
along the way. I stopped at a riverside picnic area in St George for lunch,
where I saw White-plumed honeyeater, Little friarbird, Spiny-cheeked
honeyeater, Peaceful dove, Coot and Whistling kite. After lunch I
decided to continue driving to Cunnamulla for the night.
Day 3 saw me travelling slowly west, on the lookout for more of my target
species, particularly Hall’s and Chestnut-crowned babbler, Chestnut-breasted
quail-thrush, White-browed treecreeper and Bourke’s parrot. I soon picked up
Jacky winter, Black kite, Wood duck, Pacific heron, Rufous whistler, Zebra
finch, Diamond dove, Spotted bowerbird, Red-capped robin (these were quite
common in this area), Hooded robin (the only one I saw in the entire
trip), Brown honeyeater and Crested bellbird. At 36 km west of
Cunnamulla I stopped at the first of the sites recommended to me for Hall’s
babbler. Here I saw Splendid fairy-wren, Pink cockatoo (my first
good close look at this species) and Yellow thornbill. Close by, a loud
crashing sound in the undergrowth alerted me to a raptor (probably a Brown
goshawk) attacking one of the smaller birds, although I wasn’t able to get a
good enough look at the raptor for positive identification. Unfortunately I
didn’t manage to find any babblers here either, so I decided to press on.
My next stop was a ridge east of Eulo bore to look for the quail-thrush.
Thomas & Thomas give this as 2.5km east of the bore, but emails in response
to my previous request for information indicated that 3.5km was the actual
distance. Sure enough, at the 3.5km mark I saw a ridge to the south with
telegraph lines running along it. I proceeded to walk up the ridge towards the
telegraph lines and, at the top of the ridge, I easily found a male and female
Chestnut-breasted quail-thrush. If only it were this easy to find all my
target species! From here I continued to Eulo (Nine-mile) bore where I intended
to camp for the night. I briefly walked around the area, picking up
Variegated fairy-wren, Australasian raven, Black-fronted dotterel,
White-winged triller and Chestnut-rumped thornbill. It was still only
around lunchtime, so I decided to push on slowly to Eulo, looking for babblers
along the way. Yet again, I had no luck finding any! At Eulo, I added
Noisy friarbird, Masked plover, Crested pigeon and Yellow-throated
miner to my trip list. I also heard Pallid cuckoo.
After lunch I headed back to Eulo bore, where I spent the rest of the
afternoon wandering around the mulga while waiting for sunset. The vegetation
around the bore had been partially cleared, so perhaps it was no longer suitable
habitat for Hall’s babbler. Across the road from the bore I finally saw
babblers. These turned out to be Chestnut-crowned babbler. I also saw
Blue-bonnet, Pallid cuckoo, Mulga parrot and Singing honeyeater
among others. The "good mulga" just east of the bore recommended by Thomas &
Thomas for Hall’s babbler turned out to be "not-so-good mulga", and it was quite
obvious that there had been some clearing of mulga around here in recent times.
Before sunset I positioned myself near the bore to watch the spectacle of birds
arriving to drink. I waited until well after sunset, when there was no longer
enough light to see anything, and not a single bird arrived at the bore! I
settled down in the back of the station wagon for a cold night’s sleep, hoping
that things would improve the following morning.
