Everyone,
Last Friday Nick Livanos, Michael Kearns and I headed
for a place we've all wanted to visit for some time,
Bowra Station on the outskirts of Cunnamulla.
I wont bore you all with every detail but here is a
brief account of each day. Birds in bold are ticks.
Day 1. Morpeth - Bowra
Black Kite were common and Little Crows near Bourke
were ticked for the year list.
On arriving at Bowra we were welcomed by a BOURKE'S
PARROT feeding along the driveway, and around the
homestead LITTLE WOODSWALLOWS made for a great welcome
to the property. A walk around the yard produced more
Bourke's as well as Black-tailed Native-hen,
Chestnut-crowned Babbler, Mulga Parrot and Black-eared
Cuckoo.
Day 2.
We headed for the stoney mulga hill and quickly found
WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPER and HALL'S BABBLER. A stop at
the 'creek' releaved PIED HONEYEATERS. Back to Stoney
Hill and after much searching a pair of
CHESTNUT-BREASTED QUAIL-THRUSH were flushed and
tracked down again.
Day 3.
Birded a paddock of pushed Mulga. RED-BROWED PARDALOTE
proved extremely hard to track down but we adventually
saw an adult and juvenile. Red-backed Kingfisher was
nearby.
We then headed west towards Eulo, then up the Quilpie
Rd looking for Chirruping Wedgebill. We dipped badly
but did see a juvenile BLACK-BREASTED BUZZARD,
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Budgerigar at Eulo, and at
a body of water on the Quilpie Rd we got great views
of Brolga, Orange Chat and Aust. Pratincole.
Day 4.
After some good oil from Dean Portelli we finally
located a pair of REDTHROAT. At a small dam there were
two flowering mistletoe which attracked a juvenile
Black Honeyeater and several GREY-HEADED HONEYEATERS.
A stop at the 'creek' is where my car decided to die,
alternator, which meant we'd have to wait two more
days until it was fixed.
Grey-headed Honeyeaters were seen later in the day at
Sawpits Dam, a tick for Dean, and a male
Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush gave an excellent show
on one of the ridges.
Day 5.
A walk along one of the channels near the homestead
produced more Pied Honeyeaters, Major Mitchell's
Cockatoo, juvenile Pallid Cuckoo being fed by Hooded
Robins and White-winged Fairy-wrens.
That afternoon Dean took me back to Sawpits Dam to
watch the birds coming down to drink, including
Budgerigar and Pied Honeyeater. Just on dusk a SPOTTED
NIGHTJAR flew low over our heads and an Owlet-nightjar
called nearby.
Day 6.
A scorcher of a day and not much birding done. In the
main street of Cunnamulla 50 degrees was recorded!!
The afternoon swim in the Warrego River was heaven.
Dean and I took Nick and Michael back out to Sawpits
so they could see the nightjars and they weren't
dissappointed with up to 6 being seen drinking at the
dam.
Day 7.
The car was finally fixed and we headed for home. From
memory the only new bird for the list was Little Raven
at Nyngan.
All up we saw over 150 species for the trip, of which
107 were recored on the property. Nick and I both saw
11 ticks and 18 year ticks.
A huge thanks must go to Ian McLaren. His help on all
matters was much needed and appreciated. A great
bloke! Another massive thanks must go to Dean Portelli
for his wealth of knowledge and driving us around the
property and town. From all of us THANK YOU!!!
In closing I can fully recommend Bowra to any
birdwatcher, not only are the birds simply magnificent
but the people are great too.
Yours in western birding,
Grant Brosie
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