Dear Birders,
I have just returned from a fantastic birding trip with Bill and Jack Moorehead
and Karen Blake, driving from Bundaberg to Bladensburg NP, Mt Isa, Lawn Hill
NP, Normanton, Karumba, Georgetown and back to Bundaberg. We each had slightly
different target birds, for Bill the only likely new bird was Carpentarian
Grasswren, Jack (aged 11) needed 10 or so species to get to his 600, I had 8
target birds (the 2 Mt Isa grasswrens, Rufous crowned Emu-wren, Purple-crowned
Fairy-wren, Arafura Fantail, Spotted Nightjar, Zitting Cisticola and Flock
Bronzewing) and Karen was happy to revel in whatever we saw. in summary we saw
well over 200 species, Bill got his grasswren, Jack smashed through the 600
mark, I got all the desired wrens and the cisticola but dipped on the other 3
and Karen had a ball!
We camped the first night at Blackdown National Park after an unsuccessful
search for Yellow Chat at Twelve Mile Road, Marmor (S23 40.549 E150 45.182)
where they are often seen. The next day we drove to Bladensburg NP and camped
at the Bough Hut camp ground.On route we passed a very productive billabong
17.5 Km East of Barcaldine (S23 33.777 E145 27.602) with a heap of water birds.
The first serious search was at Bladensburg NP for the Emu-wren. We initially
searched the area written up by a number of birders on the RHS of a track just
past the Skull Hole. From there we walked about 4Km to a site where others had
success on the LHS of that same track. On returning to the car we decided to
have one last look around the original spot and came upon a group of Rufous
-crowned Emu-wrens at S 22 34.624 E 143 00.398. The male moved around us for
some time, eventually hopping into the top of a termite mound displaying
himself for some time providing gobsmacking views. We also saw Spinifex birds
in this area. In this park we also caught up with a bunch of good birds
including Red -browed Pardalote, Spotted Bowerbird and Painted Finch.
We had celebratory beer in a pub in Wilton and mentioned our interest in birds
to the publican who promptly produced photos of the Night Parrot that was found
caught in a wire fence last year. I got the impression that he knew a lot more
about the bird than he let on but it was interesting to see photos of this
mysterious bird taken so recently.
After bush camping outside Winton that night we drove to the Mica Creek site
for the Kalkadoon Grass-wren. Bill had previously seen this bird a bit further
along the usual road beyond Mica Creek so we drove on to park beside a
discarded tyre at the side of the road. We crossed the road and started to walk
into an adjacent creek line when a female Kalkadoon Grass-wren hopped about in
a tree in the creek bed providing great views for some minutes before
defongerating into the Spinifex. It had taken us a whole 5 minutes to get onto
the bird! It was seen at S 20 50.468 E 139 27.839.
We drove straight towards McNamara's Road to look for the Carpentarian
Grass-wren hoping that the luck would hold. Between Mt Isa and McNamara's Road
we had brief views of our only Black-breasted Buzzard for the trip. We first
tried a site on the RHS of the road 3.8 Km along the road where we saw a couple
of dark shapes vanish with amazing rapidity under spinifex bushes. At least we
got good views of Black-tailed Treecreeper here. As the day was coming to a
close we drove on to a point 6.8 Km along the road. There is a small track on
the RHS which lead to a very nice camp site. At first light we started
searching. Bill and Jack got brief views up the creek running past our campsite
at a point where the white quartzite protrudes through the spinifex. We all
went back to this spot but there was no sign of the bird. As we walked back to
camp at around 10:15 am Bill heard a squeak and there was a Carpentarian
Grasswren showing itself to close binocular views in good light for a few
seconds. We all got great views at this spot S 20 16 46.9 E 139 09 02.3. In
contrast with our experience with the Kalkadoon the Carpentarian took around 8
hours of searching to obtain reasonable views.
We quickly packed and headed off to Lawn Hill NP. At the first crossing of the
Gregory River we stopped and soon had Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens, Long -tailed
Finch, Crimson Finch and Buff-sided Robin in addition to a bunch of other
birds. At a later crossing a Little Kingfisher did a spectacular flash past -
what a spectacular little bird! We arrived at the Lawn Hill campsite in the
late afternoon. Jack and I headed up the track to the gorge above the falls
looking for Arafura Fantail and Sandstone Shrike-thrush with no luck
whatsoever. A further attempt in the morning was no more successful. Jack, Bill
and Karen did however find a Spectacled Monarch after I had gone to the lower
gorge chasing the Fantail. There were loads of Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens and
Buff-sided Robins along the gorge though we saw no wrens in breeding plumage.
After an early lunch at Lawn Hill we drove to Normanton where we were reduced
to camping in a formal Caravan Park to obtain access to a power supply. The
compensation was a meal of delicious grilled Barramundi at the Purple Pub! An
early morning start saw us off on the delightfully birdy drive to Karumba.
There were scores of Brolga and Sarus Crane along the way and easy sightings of
Zitting Cisticola among the Golden Headeds just a short way outside Normanton.
At the final tern into Karumba we noticed small birds in the bushes beside a
swamp and stopped to see a small flock of Start Finches fly into a nearby bush.
The Ferryman cruise was well worth while at Karumba. Major sightings were
Mangrove Grey Fantail, Red-headed Honeyeater, Yellow White-eye, Great-billed
Heron, and White-breasted Whistler. A Kilo of banana prawns fresh off a trawler
served well for lunch as we watched Gull -billed Terns fish in the muddy gulf
waters. We continued to search for Arafura fantail, that had been seen on the
Ferryman cruise only a couple of days previously, without success.
A creek along the Normanton road provided a good campsite and proved a good
site for a dawn chorus. White and Rufous throated Honeyeaters both showed well
here together with Brown and Yellow Honeyeaters. So started the long drive back
to Bundaberg. We took the road through Georgetown stoping at each creek that
had water in it. This strategy was rewarded with Varied Lorikeet, Pictorella
Manikin (S18 14.056 E 142 23.325) and the black rumped race of Black-throated
Finch (Rosella Ck S 18 15.211 E 142 32.284). We camped beside a creek just of
the highway east of Georgetown.
The following day we drove to Blackwood NP via Charters Towers where we
diverted to the water tower hill to see the Unadorned Rock Wallabies. The
highlight of this drive was the orange eyed form of Squatter Pigeon. The last
day was a very solid drive with little time for birding but we did have great
views of a Square-tailed Kite approaching Bundaberg .
We went spotlighting each night with limited success. We found Australian
Owletnightjar on 2 occasions but neither saw nor heard any sign of Spotted
Nightjar (or Notted Spitejar as I have come to refer to it!). Nor did we see
any sign of Flock Bronzewing. It seems we were too far North and East to pick
up the large flocks that others have seen recently.
I would like to thank all of those who provided information through Birding-Aus
or directly. In addition I have a huge debt of gratitude to Bill, Jack and
Karen for their company and assistance.
Regards
Peter Marsh
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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