Part Two B ? Wilko?s birding heats up in Outback QLD.
It seems that in the transfer of my text onto the birdsaus archive some of
the punctuation marks change to question marks, sorry.
We enjoyed our stay in Mt. Isa, a great place and we look forward to
returning sometime in the future, the only downer is having the mine so
close to town. Next stop was Winton, we were all keen to seen Larks Quarry
where the foot prints of dinosaurs have been fossilised. From the birding
perspective we were heading into Halls Babbler country and had a chance of
picking up Painted Honeyeater.
We visited Larks Quarry and were blown away with the prehistoric story that?
s presented in front of your eyes, well worth the 200km round trip from
Winton. At the quarry itself I heard Rufous-crowned Emuwrens and saw
Spinifex Pigeons, however not much else as the temperature was heading
towards 40dC. On the trip out I surveyed the different habitats that may
harbor honeyeaters and babblers. There was good potential, the eucalypts
were flowering heavily in the drainage lines and a there is a great break
away with acacia woodland about 40km south of Winton.
I headed off early in the morning as it was going to be another bloody hot
day, on the way out I stopped at many of the eucalypt creeklines, no Painted
H/e but there were a lot of others, I wanted to get to the breakaway fairly
early so didn?t waste too much time at the creeklines.
24/10/04. I arrived at the break-away at 0700 and parked at the shade
shelter, I walked up hill along the road hoping to hear the squabble of
babblers. I had walked approx 300m when I startled three Halls Babbler in
front of me. They flew up to have a quick look and carried on with there
mornings foraging. Handsome birds, there soft chattering is pleasant to
listen to. Of the 22 birds species recorded some of interest included
Cloncurry Ringneck, Hooded Robin, Grey-headed H/e (on a nest with 2 chicks),
Varied Sittella and Little Woodswallow.
We stayed at Longreach for a couple of days, still bloody hot. I visited the
nearby Iningai Reserve a few times. It is Coolibah woodland and Mitchell
grassland along side a creek, dry at the time. 30 species recorded including
Jacky Winter, Spotted Bowerbird, Red-backed Kfisher, Restless Flycatcher,
Double-barred Finch, Weebill, Apostlebird, Cockatiel and Collared
Sparrowhawk.
Tiring of the extreme temperatures today our spirits rose with the thought
that our next camp was closer to the coast where hopefully we would
experience a cool nights sleep. We left the northern channel country heading
toward Rubyvale near Emerald. I noticed a vegetation change and we all felt
the climate change, AAHHHH beaudy. We slept to the sound of thunderstorms
and rain, our wishes granted with a nice cool breeze.
27/10/04 This morning I was awoken by the dawn chorus sparked on by last
nights rain. I sat outside eating my bix, when I spotted 2 Pale-headed
Rosella in a tall gum tree, the first of a number of caravan park ticks to
come. Some of the other birds on my list indicated we had traveled into a
different bio-geographic region Figbird, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Rainbow
Lorikeet, Blue-faced H/e, Common Koel and Noisy Miner.
We spent the day in Rubyvale doing the tourist thing, all having a ball
sifting through buckets of creek rubble looking for our riches.
Next stop was Carnarvon Gorge Nat. Pk. We camped at the Takarakka Wilderness
Park as the national parks campground is only open during the busy school
holiday periods.
The park is tall eucalypt woodland and has a small creek running around it.
>From the campground and immediate surrounds I recorded 32 species Australian
Raven, Apostlebird, White-winged Chough, Pied Currawong, Pale-headed
Rosella, Red-winged Parrot, Little Cuckoo Shrike, White-throated H/e, Lewins
H/e, Channel-billed Cuckoo, King Parrot, Barking Owl, Nankeen Night Heron
and Fan-tailed Cuckoo are a few.
At one stage Jo was talking to me about something, when I spotted a pigeon
walking through the campground. Unfortunately her talking became a mumble in
the background as my attention focused onto this pigeon. I grabbed my binos
and beaudy a Squatter Pigeon. ?Sorry dear, I missed the last bit!?
29/10/04 we started the Gorge walk at 0615. We planned to go to the Art
Gallery, which is about 7km up the gorge, doing a few of the spur tracks on
our return. The walk although long is easy, the kids (7 & 9) did the 15 or
so kilometers without too many grumbles. This was the first time where the
kids got involved in the birding as well. We recorded 40 species on the walk
King Parrot, Buff-rumped Thornbill, White-throated Gerygone, all getting
great views of a pair of Forest Kingfisher, Dollarbird, Red-backed
Fairywren, Spotted Pardalote, White-throated Treecreeper, Spangled Drongo. I
got left behind at one stage when the kids said ?Dad what is that bird on
the track in front of us?? ?Wonga Pigeon, that?s a new one!? Of course, the
kids were proud as punch of finding a new bird for me, they were bragging
about it for the rest of the day. Good to see. The list continues with
Restless Flycatcher, Sacred Kingfisher Azure Kingfisher, Yellow-tufted H/e,
Leaden Flycatcher, Red-browed Finch and White-naped H/e.
Our time in Carnarvon Gorge Nat. Pk. was ranked as another one of our trip
highlights they were clocking up fast.
Now we were pretty much going to ?B? line it to the QLD coast, our target
was Seventeen Seventy. We made a stop at Biloela for a night. In the morning
as we were having breakfast I commented to Jo, ?the birding is going to get
really good now?, I missed the eye roll but picked up on the sarcasm in her
reply ?I?m looking forward to that dear?. We both giggled a bit, I stepped
outside and a minute later came back in, ?see! got one already?. A pair of
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet were feeding on the flowering eucalpyts in the
caravan park.
TBC
Regards, Wilko.
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