Hi all,
Here's my birding highlights from a family holiday , starting in northern
Victoria, travelling through Wentworth, Broken Hill, Mutawintji NP, Sturt NP
and the Corner country, Bowra station and home through Bourke, Cobar,
Deniliquin.
Most of the region had received recent rain ( though Bowra was drying out) and
there was the green flush of recently germinated plants, plus pools of water
throughout. Weather was good the whole way ( if you like sun), and was quite
warm in the northern areas we visited. Flies quite bad in Strzelecki desert
west of Camerons corner, otherwise no problems insectwise. All roads were
easily passable in 2wd vehicle.
Family holiday, so not birdng all day, but most target birds found :-) Decided
to not try for Grey Grasswrens this trip.
Day 1 Pyramid Hill to Wentworth. Uneventful, but waterbirds (including
Chestnut Teal) at Kerang and quite a lot in the river at Wentworth. Kookaburra
seen to plunge into river ( fishing !?).
Day 2. Wentworth to Mutawintji NP.
Nice to leave the smaller farms of Victoria for the station country in NSW.
Landscape kept changing. Effects of drought clearly evident, but some
properties in reasonable shape, others overgrazed and looking like a nuclear
wasteland. Pink Cockatoos here and there.
Stopped in some Casuarina woodland 93 kms north of Wentworth. Crested
Bellbird, White-browed Treecreepers, Chestnut-crowned Babblers.
Second stop 20 kms south of Broken hill where Redthroats seen well plus more
CCBabblers.
Lunch at Living Desert sculpture site just north of Broken Hill. Some Little
Crows here, more Redthroats, White-backed Swallows, and a big group of
Chirruping Wedgebills. Nice rock formations.
A few kms before reaching "Moot" a falcon flew across the road. Looked like a
Grey but got away !
Day 3 and 4 in Mutawintji NP. A beautiful area, with great scenery and the
Homestead Creek gorge walk was awesome, especially as there was plenty of water
about). Birds were in low numbers however, especially quiet up in the hills,
the flats were a bit more interesting. Goats were everywhere and the Mulga is
all grazed to shoulder height. Birds included Mulga Parrots, Chirruping
Wedgebills, an immature Night Heron up in a gorge, Wedgies everywhere you
looked, tame Ringnecks, Striped Honeyeater and a single Brown Honeyeater in the
trees near the cultural centre.
Day 5. Moot to Sturt NP. Took the back roads to save backtracking. Some sad
looking country( more dead shrubs than live ones) quickly turned to gibber,
good for White-winged Fairy wrens and Black-faced Woodswallows, constant
scanning for Gibberbirds failed. Continued on through Milparinka enjoying the
scenery, gibber with a green tinge, broken up by jump-up ranges and very
healthy looking River Red Gum gullies ( red gums much healthier here than in
Victoria ! ) . Emus and Little Corellas feeding out in the gibber here plus
Kites and Wedgies soaring about.
Stocked up in Tibooburra ( lively little place !) and asked for birding tips at
the parks office. Helpful ranger ( Ingrid ) told me birds had dispersed more
widely since the rain, but that numbers were still very low from drought. She
mentioned being very surprised to see a Thick-billed Grasswren recently near
Mt. Wood. After the quiet birding at "Moot", I thought Sturt would be just as
quiet, but was pleasantly surprised, and found the birding over the next 3 days
quite lively. Had trouble driving the few kms to camp at Dead Horse Gully
because there was too much to look at. A large flock of c.200 Crimson Chats
entertained as did Wedgebills, Babblers, Orange Chat, Black-faced Woodswallows
and at least 6 Cinnamon Quail-thrush.
Day 6. Dead Horse Gully to Olive Downs and back.
Spent the day slow driving though the park. Crimson and Orange Chats near
South Myers tank, where there were a few waterbirds and one lonely Zebra Finch
( should have been at Bowra! ). Another Cinnamon Quail-thrush seen here too.
Mt King tank was good with Pied Honeyeater, Diamond Dove ( still rare on the
trip), and Blue-winged Parrot. On the walk at Olive Downs saw Black Honeyeater
and just missed Bourke's Parrot ( met another birder !). 48 species for the
drive was quite good considering it was mostly gibber, with a few creeklines
thrown in. Constant scanning for Gibberbirds failed.
Day 7. Fort Grey campground.
Campground set in red gums was very quiet, but the surrounding dune country was
great. Red-backed Kingfisher, Black Honeyeaters, Crimson Chats, CCBabblers,
Chirruping Wedgebills, Crested Bellbirds, White-backed Swallows and many more
commoner species. And then the moment I didn't think would happen, 1 Grey
Falcon appeared coming towards us, glided around for a bit (long enough for
scope views) and then went into a stoop low aross the dunes, disappearing below
the near horizon. I stood there for about a minute, not quite believing what
I'd just seen, and then remembered to head for the top of the dune ! Ran up
there but the bird had gone.
Day 8. Fort Grey to dunes 36kms west of Camerons corner and back.
Stopped in a very bare area 5kms before Camerons corner where there was quite a
bit of activity. Turned out to be Orange Chats, White-winged Fairy-wrens and
Southern Whiteface. Then, one of the moments of the trip, two stunning Banded
Whiteface appeared atop the closest shrub. A perfect view of a cracking bird !
House Sparrows at Camerons corner, and then on through into SA. Dunes
gradually increased in size the further west we drove, much to the kids delight
when their stomachs defied gravity at each crest. Target of Eyrean Grasswren,
plenty of likely looking habitat around 36kms ( and some before that). Walked
the dune crests for an hour and a half, twice getting very bad views of
Grasswrens. Lots of White-winged and Variegated wrens added to the confusion.
Crimson and Orange Chats around aswell, and ever present White-backed Swallows.
A second walk after lunch on a different dune finally produced good views of a
pair of Eyrean Grasswren.
Day 9 Fort Grey to Thargomindah.
Spent the day on the road. Took the most direct route, through Fortville gate
to Narylico, through Omricon station. 5 kms from Fortville gate finally got to
grips with some Bourke's Parrots. Otherwise this section was very quiet, the
country was in extremely bad shape. Saw only the second Brown Falcon for the
trip so far ! ? About 10kms before Narylico the country changed to gibber, and
there was a bit of flowering in the gullies. Constant scanning for Gibberbirds
failed. Pied Honeyeaters here, and yet another Cinnamon Quail-thrush, plus
CCBabblers, Diamond Dove and Banded Lapwing. Stopped at a nice looking
creekline for lunch, a little way before reaching the Noccundra road.
Healthier dune country here ( probably just less grazed ) and found a few more
Bourke's parrots, amongst a nice selection of commoner species. Country
continued improving towards Thargomindah, especially the river country nearer
Thargo, the only White-browed Woodswallows for the trip seen here.
Day 10. Thargomindah to Bowra station.
Stepped out of the motel am to the sight of a Spotted Bowerbird.Lots of
activity around town, gums flowering down by the floodplain, Friarbirds,
Diamond Dove, Striped Honeyeaters etc.
Made a brief stop near Lake Bindegolly. Explored the waters edge to the south
of the road.A few Avocet and 1 BTNativehen. Black Honeyeater in the adjacent
scrub plus Mulga parrot. Pied Honeyeater seen a little further along.
Arrived at Bowra with many expectations from hearing and reading so many great
reports of the place. Driving in it was quite quiet at first ! Nice habitat
but where are the thousands of birds ?? Over the next 3 days we found them !!,
though it appears to be a little quieter than a few weeks ago, for instance
very few Woodswallows and small numbers of Crimson Chats. Still ridiculous
numbers of Diamond Doves and Zebra Finches though, and raptors everywhere.
Day 10, 11 and 12. Bowra Station.
Recorded just short of 100 species. Too many to mention , Halls Babblers and
Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush, Black-breasted Buzzards, White-browed
Creepers, Ground Cuckoo-Shrikes, Little Button-quail, Spotted Bowerbirds,
Plum-headed Finches, Pink Cockies, 2 Bustards near front entrance, Grey Falcon
seen by others, Red-capped Robins in good numbers, constant raptors buzzing
around, Red-backed Kingfishers, Black Honeyeaters, Crimson Chats, Red-winged
Parrots, Splendid Fairy-wrens, 100's of Plumed Whistling Ducks...............
Took a drive up the Charleville road to where the Flock Bronzewings had been.
Borrow pits by roadside all dry. Some raptors about, Zebra Finches, Cockatiels
etc.Nice country but the Flockies were hiding while we were there..
Day 13 and 14. Cunnamulla to Bourke, Cobar, Deniliqiuin and Pyramid Hill.
Between Cunnamulla and Bourke car cricket wasn't working, not enough cars , so
decided to play raptor cricket. 1 run for Kestrel, Black and Whistling Kite, 2
runs for a Brown Falcon, 4 for a Hobby, Black Falcon, Spotted Harrier, Hawk sp,
Black-shouldered Kite, 6 for anything else.. Wedgie was 6 and out. Also
out if no score after 5 minutes. This was quickly reduced to 3 minutes as
there were so many raptors. I went first and declared at 50, with never more
than 90 seconds between scores ( this is while travelling at 100kms/hour).
Second in scored 45 but then the pitch went dead and no score for 3 mins. We
then entered more wooded country and the English bowlers got a stranglehold on
the batsman. 3 ducks in a row. After that we got bored with the game and gave
up !
South of Bourke a flock of around 200 Cockatiel flew across a sorghum paddock.
South of Cobar we saw a couple of huge flocks of Apostlebirds, 100 plus in
each, plus many more smaller groups.
Yellow Rosellas in Dennie and loud music until Pyramid Hill.
Cheers,
Simon Starr.
==============================www.birding-aus.org
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