I have just returned from a wonderful few days out west visiting birding
spots near Griffith, Hay, Hillston and Rankin Springs. I'd like to thank
everyone who replied to my requests for information. Overall I picked up 5
'lifers' - Brolga, Australian Pratincole, Chestnut Quail-thrush,
White-browed Treecreeper and Major Mitchell's Cockatoo. The White-fronted
Honeyeaters and Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters were a highlight as well
considering the dearth of honeyeaters around at the moment.
The weather was varied with unseasonal cold plus rain on Sunday. It did not
rise above 14 degrees in Griffith all day! After about 3pm the rain set in
and it did not stop. Monday and Tuesday, however, were both mild and sunny
- around 21-23 degrees - perfect for all day birding, despite the
occasional gusts of wind. The rain did make most unsealed tracks muddy and
some impassable, especially in the mallee country. On the other hand the
rain produced some flowering of flowers and attracted many birds to the
roadside puddles.
SUNDAY 4 NOVEMBER
The day started, unfortunately, with the sad sight of 3 dead Superb Parrots
lying by the Barton Highway just outside of Canberra.
Junee Wetland and Boardwalk
1 BROWN QUAIL, 1 LITTLE GRASSBIRD (heard).
Old Junee
1 SUPERB PARROT.
Narranderra Wetlands
A Koala mum craddling a youngster some 3 metres up. Wonderful sight. 4
SUPERB PARROTS, 1 WHITE-NECKED HERON.
Oolambeyan National Park
In torrential rain 4 AUSTRALIAN PRATINCOLES and >70 BANDED LAPWINGS (incl.
2 dependant young) along eastern boundary fence. Several BLACK KITES on
road in.
Darlington Point
>300 LITTLE CORELLAS, 1 SUPERB PARROT.
Fivebough Swamp
1,000s of GREY TEAL, >500 GLOSSY IBIS, >100 BLACK-TAILED NATIVE-HENS, 60
WHISKERED TERNS, 28 RED-NECKED AVOCET, 15 MARSH SANDPIPERS, 5 SHARP-TAILED
SANDPIPERS, 8 HARDHEAD, 1 CHESTNUT TEAL (male), 2 AUSTRALASIAN SHOVELER, 6
WHITE-FRONTED CHATS, 20 RED-KNEED DOTTERELS, 3 separate groups of
VARIEGATED FAIRY-WRENS, 3 SPOTTED CRAKES, 1 BAILLON'S CRAKE, 40 AUSTRALIAN
SHELDUCK, LITTLE GRASSBIRDS and GOLDEN-HEADED CISTICOLA were common, 1
SWAMP HARRIER, >50 BLACK-WINGED STILTS,1 GREAT EGRET, 2 INTERMEDIATE
EGRETS, 2 CATTLE EGRETS, 3 ROYAL SPOONBILLS,7 PELICANS, 1 DARTER, 1
HORSFIELD'S BRONZE-CUCKOO, several FAIRY MARTINS. 24 BROLGA flew into the
ephemeral swamp at dusk. What an awesome sight to behold from the Hooey Rd
Lookout. Pairs and small groups flew off and over the swamp all morning the
next day.
MONDAY 5 NOVEMBER
Spent the night in Griffith. I revisited Fivebough Swamp in the morning and
have merged sightings from both visits above.
Griffith
1 MAJOR MITCHELL'S COCKATOO.
Binya State Forest
2 BAR-SHOULDERED DOVES (Along Whitton Stock Route by puddle in middle of
road), 2 WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPERS (Along road to Mt Brogden Walking Track,
500m from Whitton Stock Route), Black-eared Cuckoo (possibly heard at bend
in road towards Spring Hill), BROWN TREECREEPERS (nesting in large euc. at
crossroads of Whitton Stock Route, Mallee Rd, Spring Hill Rd), 3
SPINY-CHEEKED HONEYEATERS (at start of road to Mt Brogden Walking Track), 2
HOODED ROBINS (male and juvenile), plenty of other birds such as TRILLERS,
CHESTNUT-RUMPED THORNBILLS, RED-CAPPED & YELLOW ROBINS, WHITE-BROWED
BABBLERS, SITTELLAS, SPECKLED WARBLERS, WHITEFACES.
Yenda
1 CATTLE EGRET (br. plumage).
Campbell's Swamp
There was surprisingly some water present after the rains. 4 COCKATIEL, 2
SWAMP HARRIERS, 2 WHITE-BREASTED WOODSWALLOWS (nesting), 1 SINGING
HONEYEATER, MISTLETOEBIRDS.
Nericon Swamp
Bone dry. Only birds were several MISTLETOEBIRDS and WEEBILLS.
Lake Wyangan
All seen in drying patch of lake along causeway between northern and
southern lakes: 10 SPOTTED CRAKES, 1 MARSH SANDPIPER, 1 SHARP-TAILED
SANDPIPER, 5 RED-KNEED DOTTERELS, 1 GREAT EGRET, 2 CHESTNUT TEAL, 1
BLACK-FRONTED DOTTEREL, 2 DARTERS, LITTLE GRASSBIRD (heard), >30
BLACK-TAILED NATIVE-HENS, 2 LITTLE EGRETS, 9 PELICANS, 11 BLACK-TAILED
NATIVE-HENS.
Merriwagga State Forest
1 Shingleback Skink.
Langtree
1 dead Major Mitchell's Cockatoo along highway.
Kidman Way
The section of road between Hillston and Matakana produced an EMU, several
Western Grey Kangaroos, 6 COCKATIEL, several GREY-CROWNED BABBLERS, RAINBOW
BEE-EATERS and a BLACK KITE. 2 BROWN TREECREEPERS and a BLACK KITE by the
Lachlan River.
Nombinnie Nature Reserve
I explored the mallee along One Eye Fire Trail looking for Malleefowl and
spent an hour at a woodland site in the water supply reserve just off the
Kidman Way. In the woodland the grassland was carpeted in flowers which had
attracted many birds to feed on the insects. In the mallee I found CRESTED
BELLBIRD, INLAND THORNBILL, SPLENDED FAIRY-WREN, MULGA PARROTS and
RED-CAPPED ROBINS. In the grassy woodland I had RAINBOW BEE-EATERS,
WHITE-BROWED WOODSWALLOWS, BLUE BONNETS, MASKED WOODSWALLOWS, SITTELLAS,
WHITEFACE, RESTLESS FLYCATCHER, HORSFIELD'S BRONZE-CUCKOO, TRILLERS, JACKY
WINTER, STRIPED HONEYEATERS, SPINY-CHEEKED HONEYEATER, BROWN FALCON and
GREY-CROWNED BABBLERS.
TUESDAY 6 NOVEMBER
Spent the night in Hillston.
Lake Woorabinda (Hillston)
A picturesque but drying lake along the Lachlan River. >200 LITTLE
CORELLAS, 150 GLOSSY IBIS plus both other ibis species, 2 LITTLE EGRETS, 3
INTERMEDIATE EGRETS, 6 GREAT EGRETS, 12 PELICANS, 22 YELLOW-BILLED
SPOONBILLS, 18 ROYAL SPOONBILLS, 3 BLACK-FRONTED DOTTERELS (incl. 1 young),
3 RED-KNEED DOTTERELS (incl. 1 juvenile), 100 BLACK-WINGED STILTS, 1
WHITE-NECKED HERON, 2 MARSH SANDPIPERS, 10 SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPERS. Along
the shore and river were LITTLE FRIARBIRDS, SACRED KINGFISHER, YELLOW
ROSELLAS and GREY-CROWNED BABBLERS.
Loughnan Nature Reserve
I spent almost 4 hours in the morning exploring the 365 ha mallee reserve.
I did not find any sign of Malleefowl. The land is crisscrossed with roo
tracks and I saw both Western Grey Kangaroo and Red Kangaroos (Are they
found here?). I couldn't even find a track which led to the inactive mound
in the SW corner. I entered the reserve at the SW corner and explored a
large section, then I drove to the NW corner and explored a section there,
and finally I entered the reserve just south of an open wooded spot and
explored there. The undoubted highlight was a single female CHESTNUT
QUAIL-THRUSH. I later flushed what I think was the same bird further in.
All up Loughnan was very quite and required a lot more work to find birds
than I suspect Round Hill would for example have taken. Despite this my
persistence paid some dividends with good close views of a male CRESTED
BELLBIRD in a mallee, a single YELLOW-PLUMED HONEYEATER, 3 STRIATED
PARDALOTES (I was hoping to see the Yellow-rumped race of Spotted), both
INLAND and CHESTNUT-RUMPED THORNBILLS and many groups of SPLENDID
FAIRY-WRENS and RED-CAPPED ROBINS. Also RINGNECKS and MULGA PARROTS,
BEE-EATERS, BROWN-HEADED HONEYEATERS, a WESTERN GERYGONE and WEEBILLS. A
BROWN SONGLARK was in a field across the road. No sign of any Shy
Heathwrens unfortunately. The mallee I saw did not seem dense enough to
support Southern Scrub-robin either.
Near the SW corner I found some large white cones with numbers on them. The
first one had 08, the second 65. I couldn't find anymore. I wonder if
anyone has any idea what they could mean?
Other highlights were a dragon with a bright yellow dorsal stripe and a
possible second thinner, vaguer stripe nearer its belly. Could this be a
Mallee Dragon or was it just a Nobbi Dragon (ssp. coggeri)? The tail end of
a snake disappearing down a burrow at the base of a shrub. It was a dark
sand to brown-red colour with lighter bands. It didn't look like a Death
Adder. What could it have been? Do Western Browns occur this far east? Do
Mulga Snakes occur here? Or was it just an Eastern Brown?
Also the biggest native cockroaches I have ever seen. There were quite a
number around, some disappearing down burrows. I took a photo of one in
case anyone can identify them. Happy to forward it.
Monia Gap Road
This unsealed road runs for 91 kms from Hillston to Rankin Springs. More
common roadside birds were RINGNECKS, BLUE BONNETS, APOSTLEBIRDS and
YELLOW-THROATED MINERS. An Echidna was crossing the road at one point. I
then found a hotspot some 28 kms before Rankin Springs with roadside
plantings(?) of acacia and other shrubs among some pines. Water had
collected in roadside puddles attracting birds and a large Eremophila was
flowering nearby. Feeding from the flowers were 3 WHITE-FRONTED HONEYEATERS
and many YELLOW-THROATED MINERS. Nearby were MULGA PARROTS and an EMU with
2 chicks and another Shingleback Skink. At an empty dam nearby there was a
strange sign: "Half Way Dam - Bird Watch No.7'. I wonder what this could
mean? Is this a stop on a known birdwatching route? I have never heard of
it.
Rankin Springs
4 EMU
Taleeban Mallee
The road in was wet and muddy and I had to park a km short and walk in the
rest of the way. At the NW corner the area was flooded. When I finally got
in I obtained good views of CRESTED BELLBIRD, SPLENDID FAIRY-WREN,
VARIEGATED FAIRY-WREN, CHESTNUT-RUMPED THORNBILL, RED-CAPPED ROBIN,
RINGNECKS and many YELLOW-PLUMED HONEYEATERS. This species was by far the
most common honeyeater present. Overhead I watched a LITTLE EAGLE. I
believe I heard a Gilbert's Whistler as well but couldn't track it down.
Unfortunately I could only spend an hour here. I would have liked to spend
longer as I had seen Shy Heathwren and Spotted Nightjar at this site in
spring 2003.
Yiddah Creek (West Wyalong)
1 ROYAL SPOONBILL, 1 GREAT EGRET.
Combaning
2 SUPERB PARROTS, 2 COCKATIEL.
Yeo Yeo (Jindalee)
1 COCKATIEL.
Gidginbung
6 COCKATIEL.
Wallendbeen
1 BROWN SONGLARK.
Cheers
Marnix Zwankhuizen
Senior Analyst/Programmer
Java Enterprise Technology
IT Branch
Australian Electoral Commission
Ph: 02 6271 4465
Fax: 02 6271 4644
Email:
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