Hi all,
I have just returned from a few days at Mount Isa. I flew in and met up
with Alan Benson who was on a camping holiday. Highlights were the two
grasswrens. It took an hour and a half for the Kalkadoon Grasswren (Mica
Creek) and 15 hours for the Carpentarian (Macnamaras Rd at the cairn
location, west of the road). Another new bird for me was the
Spinifexbird which I had missed in the Alice springs area when I was
there a couple of years ago.
Other good birds were a Square-tailed Kite (very close views directly
overhead at low levels), there to make sure we didn't see the
Carpentarian Grasswren at the time, Little and Red-chested Buttonquail,
Owlet Nightjar in the open during daylight and Painted Finches at
various places.
All sites were as per the Birds Queensland web site which gives very
specific directions for the various sites. These I believe came
originally from Bob Forsyth to whom we and many others no doubt owe many
thanks.
The main reasons we took so long to find the Carpentarian Grasswren was
that we used wrong methods and the days were windy. When we did find it,
the winds had died down and we were moving very slowly and spending 5 to
10 minutes stationary each time listening for the contact calls. When we
did we crept very slowly and quietly towards the calls. We heard it sing
once and then noticed a movement on a branch of a fallen tree, 20 metres
from the road. We had just enough time to get the binoculars onto the
bird before it disappeared, never to be seen (by us) again.
Happy birding!
--
John Reidy
Sydney
Phone 02 9871 4836
Fax 02 9871 2616
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