Dear Birders,
I had a very pleasant few days birding around the Al;ice Springs area last
week. I was, in part, stimulated to make the trip by a recent report on
Birding-Aus from Greg Oakley so it was interesting to compare my experiences
with his. The conclusion is that birding in the centre is likely to produce
very variable results. Greg saw a number of birds I would have loved to see but
didn't while I saw a number of interesting birds that he didn't.
I stayed in the Alice for four nights at the excellent N'Thaba Cottage B&B and
one night at the adequate Glen Helen Resort. I hired a small 4*4 from Budget
which was quite adequate for the small amount of off road driving that I did.
The first afternoon was spent at the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens, the sewage
Ponds and a walk up the back of Mt Gillen to the air services tower. This
yielded a good crop of birds including Western Bowerbird in the gardens and
Grey-headed Honeyeater. The next day I went out with Will Cormack, my host at
the B&B, who is a keen and knowledgeable birder. We started by arriving at
Kunoth Bore about 50 Km from Alice Springs at sunrise. The dam at the bore and
the woodland along the road to the youth camp yielded a host of birds but
neither the Slaty-backed Thornbill nor the Grey Honeyeater obliged us. The
afternoon was spent along the Santa Teresa Road (details of all sites mentioned
can be found at www.geocities.com/alicenats/birds.htm ) . After 2 hours walking
through the spinifex at this site we found a single Dusky Grasswren but no
Rufous-crowned Emu-wren.
I then spent the next day and a half around Ormiston Gorge. A very considerable
time was spent scouring the very nice patch of spinifex a couple of hundred
meters along the Ormiston Gorge road from Namatjira Drive. Greg had seen the
Emu-wren here "in 5 minutes". I spent at least 5 hours and was yet again
disappointed. The effort did however yielded a few very good views of Spinifex
Bird, a couple of sightings of a female Black Honeyeater, and a single sighting
of a White-fronted Honeyeater in addition to a bunch of other good birds. On an
anti-clockwise walk around the Ormiston Pound walk I came upon a flock of more
than 20 Painted Finch on a rocky outcrop on the left hand side of the track
shortly after entering the valley leading to the saddle that takes one into the
pound. I also saw a pair while sitting beside the Ormiston Creek slightly
upstream of the point where the track first crosses the creek. Returning
through the Gorge produced a male Darter, White-faced Heron and White-necked
Heron. I had hoped for Spinifex Pigeon on this walk but didn't see any on this
walk so had another try the following morning. On this occasion as I approached
the rocky outcrop mentioned above I heard a Spinifex Pigeon and then located
it. I subsequently located a flock of 7 birds walking quietly through the rocks
on this outcrop. Interestingly there were no finches around on this second
visit.
Greg Oakley mentioned the number of Budgerigar in the Ormiston area. I didn't
see any in this area and it was not until I was almost back on Larapinta Drive
heading back to the Alice that I saw my first small flock zipping along beside
the road before landing right beside the car as I brought it to a rapid stop.
What a spectacular little bird they are! On this drive I came across a pair of
Ground Shrike-thrush which Greg had not seen.
I went back to Santa Teresa Road again that afternoon and again spent a couple
of hours in an unsuccessful quest for the Rufous-crowned Emu-wren. A single
Major Mitchell Cockatoo, a small group of Crimson Chats and a circling Wedgie
had to suffice.
The next day was the turn of the East MacDonnell Ranges. There were heaps of
birds all along the Ross Highway. Budgerigars were very frequently encountered
as were Crested Bellbirds. I found Western Bowerbird in a number of places, one
Painted Finch at Trephina Gorge and quite a number of Red-backed Kingfishers. I
tried hard for Chiming Wedgebill along the Ross Highway without even an aural
indication of the species being present.
My last morning saw me again heading for Kunoth Bore in a last effort at
Slaty-backed Thornbill and Grey Honeyeater. I was successful with the former
but not the Honeyeater. This gave me 7 of the new 11 species I was chasing in
the area. I saw in total 82 species and had a great time. I found a few birds
that Greg had not seen, I saw birds in places that he dipped and I missed quite
a number of species he saw. The lesson seems to be that the birds are
(necessarily) very mobile in the arid areas of Central Australia and seeing a
desired bird is highly unpredictable. I found that there were few plants in
flower though many showed signs that they have only recently finished. The
plants are obviously adapted to very quickly take advantage of rain and the
month between Greg's visit and mine produced quite different conditions.
Regards
Peter Marsh
Birchgrove NSW
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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