Howdy all,
>From 11th to 25th September, we spent 2 weeks camping through the Corner
Country and the Flinders. During the tour we saw four different grasswren
each in different vegetation - Lignum, Cane Grass, Saltbush/Bluebush and
Spinifex.
Our first serious birding was at Goonoo State Forest near Dubbo where we had
excellent views of Malleefowl. The camping area at Byrock south of Bourke is
excellent for birding. A fly past by Red-winged Parrots and Major Mitchell
in the evening followed by many birds incldung Crested Bellbirds
participating in the dawn-chorus. A flock of about 15 Red-tailed
Black-cockatoos a couple of kms west of Bourke on 13th.
We tried for Grey Grass-wren in very healthy clumps of lignum near Adelaide
Gate without success. Hundreds of Black-tailed Nativehen, and plenty of
Crimson and Orange Chats. However we had more success with the grasswren at
Pyampa Bore near Wompah Gate on 14th with at least 4 birds. Also 5
Blue-winged Parrots. Very good sightings of Gibberchats a couple of kms west
of Mt Wood on the Tibooburra road, possibly nesting. Pyampa Bore is on
private property owned by Ross & Marg Betts of Onepah station - phone number
(08) 8091 3557. Provided you seek his permission, he is happy to let you on.
We assumed that we didn't need permission to drive through to Adelaide Gate
but we are not so sure now judging by the
contradictory roadside signs.
There was a group of 12 wild camels beside the road near Merti Merti. We
tried at the big red dune at 36kms west of the Corner Store and again at the
big red dune at Merti Merti but only managed glympses of Eyrean Grass-wren.
Thanks to Phil Gregory's recent report, we had much more success at
Montecollina Bore half-way down the Strzelecki Track. We saw 3 at about 10
am on 17th. They were in scattered cane-grass and low bushes amongst the
sand-mounds about 100 ms west of the actual bore, not on the sand-dunes
further away.
Within 1/2 hour of arriving at the old-car site on Mt Lyndhurst, we had seen
Thick-billed Grasswren, Chestnut-breasted Whiteface and Rufous Calamanthus -
the calamanthus and the grasswren in the binoculars at the same time. They
were near the open flat area described in Thomas and Thomas. The next
morning we found Inland Dotterells and Orange Chats along the airfield north
of Tibooburra. Spotted Nightjars were seen flying at dusk around the
campground at Lyndhurst. Again Mt Lyndhurst is a private sheep station and
permission to enter should be sought by phoning (08) 8675 7796.
A pair of Painted Firetails at a water-hole in Barraranna Gorge was a
pleasant surprise. Also excellent views of Mulga Parrots and the only
Grey-fronted Honeyeaters seen on the trip. Late in the afternoon a
Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby was seen at Nooldoonooldoona Waterhole. The only
new bird for me for the trip was Short-tailed Grasswren at Stokes Hill
Lookout on Willow Springs property where there are very good camping
facilities. We only had brief glympses on the afternoon of our arrival but
the following morning on 21st we had excellent views of singing birds at
about 10 am. They were on the spinifex ridge due south of the 3D display-map
at the Lookout. There were also a lot of Elegant Parrots around and I
suspect that they were nesting in the trees along the watercourse.
Redthroats were also present.
We saw very few raptors, the only notable bird was a Black Falcon west of
Tibooburra. Unfortunately no Grey Falcons, a new bird for many of our group.
Incidently the flies are in plague proportions and the Corner Country and
Montecollina Bore.
Thanks to those fellow birders whose postings that I have collated over
years but special thanks to Phil Gregory for his recent gen.
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