The next day I headed out to Pyampa Station. I had been told that the road to
the Wompah Gate was O.K. for 2wd. It was, apart from some of the deeper wheel
ruts where it was better to keep the wheels on the higher ground. Along the way
I saw more Orange chats, and Brown falcons. The Brown falcons out here
were nearly all very pale birds, and so I found myself frequently stopping to
check them out just to make sure they weren’t Grey falcons! Near the Wompah
Homestead, where the road crosses a dry river and there are some taller
eucalypts, I saw my first Mallee ringnecks for the trip.
As I said, the Wompah road was quite good, but that changed as soon as I
passed through the Wompah Gate! Suddenly I found myself back on a road similar
if not worse to the road south from Noccundra. At least I only had about 5km to
travel along this road until I reached the turnoff for Pyampa Station. At the
station, the first birds I noticed were the Wedge-tailed eagles nesting on top
of the windmill. I stocked up on water and headed out into the lignum swamp in
search of my first grasswrens. I spend a couple of hours moving gradually
further into the heart of the swamp (which wasn’t a swamp at all – it was bone
dry!) going from one good patch of lignum to another.
I wasn’t exactly sure what I was listening for, so I chose to investigate
every wren-like sound. Most of these initially turned out to be White-winged
fairy wrens, but after a while I noticed some of the calls were a little
different. The owners of these particular calls proved to be very elusive. Even
when I was sure they were coming from only a metre or so away, I still couldn’t
see any birds. I decided this must be the grasswrens, and so I continued to move
through the swamp until I heard the same calls, stopped and waited until I saw
something. Eventually this technique payed off, as a party of 3 Grey
grasswrens moved up in a patch of lignum, allowing me only tantalizing
glimpses of the black-and-white facial markings and streaked plumage. After this
brief view, the birds flew down into some cane grass further away from me, and
were gone. Despite the brevity of the experience, I was totally ecstatic that I
was able to see my first grasswrens, all the more pleased because of the
distance and effort required to find them! As I returned to the car I heard more
calls that I am sure were Grey grasswrens, but these also remained elusive. In
the area just outside of the lignum swamp, I saw yet another Orange chat. As I
neared the car, a rather plain looking bird caught my attention. My first
impression was that it was a chat and, despite this being sandy and shrubby
habitat, I was hoping it might turn out to be a Gibber chat. Then I saw the red
rump and realised it was my first Crimson chat. I was a little
disappointed it wasn’t the more colourful male, but as I manoeuvred around to
get a better look, I almost stepped on a brilliantly plumaged male bird!
Quite pleased with my success, I headed back along the road to the Wompah
Gate. Shortly after crossing the dry river, I noticed a dark falcon flying
around at the base of a rocky bluff. Knowing that most of the Brown falcons I
had seen here so far were pale birds, I stopped the car to have a better look.
After walking several hundred metres across the stony ground between me and the
bird, I finally got a good enough look to see it was my second ever Black
falcon! It was turning out to be quite a good day indeed.
On the way back to Tibooburra, I decided to take a short detour to the South
Myers Tank, which is a water bore with a bird hide. Around the tank, I saw lots
of White-winged fairy-wrens, Zebra finches, Orange chats and my first
Chirruping wedgebill. Also here there were several small plainly coloured
honeyeaters. After a while I decided they were female and juvenile Pied
honeyeaters. Almost as soon as I reached this conclusion, an adult male Pied
honeyeater flew in to join them. In the water at the tank were Wood ducks, and a
single Hoary-headed grebe. As I returned to the car I got to watch at
close range as an Australian hobby pursued a Zebra finch, performing some
amazing aerobatics which, unfortunately for the hobby, didn’t result in a meal
on this occasion. That night back at Tibooburra I met some fellow birders who
were themselves heading off to Pyampa Station the following morning. I have to
admit I was quite pleased with myself as I told them of my success in finding
the Grey grasswrens. That night I wondered if I would be as lucky in finding my
second grasswren the following day.
