Hi all,
Following on from Sue's posting about Neale Junction, this is a trip report
from my lightning 5-day twitching trip out to Neale Junction with Martin Cake
and Greg Howell. Martin originally suggested the trip about this time last year
after Princess Parrots were reported in the area by Greg Roberts and others.
The trip was great fun, and although we dipped on Princess and Scarlet-chested
Parrots, we did pick up some good birds to compensate. Particular highlights
included Striated Grasswren, Rufous-crowned Emu-wren, and Ground Cuckoo-shrike.
All up, we recorded 87 species for the trip, including 17 lifers for Greg, 7
for me, and 5 for Martin. The weather was generally pleasant, and the Anne
Beadell Hwy was relatively good (we drove it in a Ford Territory) but badly
corrugated and sandy in parts. I have an annotated trip list that I'm happy to
send to anyone who'd like a copy
Friday 24th: We left Perth at about 1230, aiming to knock off a chunk of the
driving and leave more time for birding on Saturday. The trip list was started
as we headed west of Northam (a bit over 1hr out of Perth) and the first real
bird of note was a Spotted Harrier seen being harrassed by ravens just west of
Kellerberrin - sadly the views weren't great, but it was a promising start. As
we moved into the woodlands of the Goldfields, we stopped at a promising spot
west of Yellowdine in the late afternoon to kick off the proper birding. Our
(optimistic) target was Gilbert's Whistler which we dipped on, but
Brown-headed, Spiny-cheeked, and White-fronted Honeyeaters, breeding Australian
Hobby, White-browed Babblers and a large Tiger Snake were all nice sightings.
We camped at Boondi Rock just west of Kalgoorlie, which was a very pleasant
camping spot. A spotlighting expedition yielded good views of a Southern
Boobook and a Tawny Frogmouth, but not the Spotted Nightjar or Owlet-nightjar
we were hoping for. Large numbers of wolf spiders and trapdoor spiders around
camp were also interesting, as was a small scorpion.
Saturday 25th: An early start (the first of many) as we were up and packed by
0545, having picked up some nice birds like Grey Currawong and White-eared
Honeyeater in the dawn chorus. After a brief detour to find the headlamp I'd
dropped during the spotlighting the previous night, we were on the road by
0615. A brief stop just north of Kalgoorlie yielded Yellow-plumed Honeyeater
and a Crested Bellbird calling in the distance (the first of many) and further
on, another stop produced Splendid Fairy-wren, Redthroat, Mistletoebird, and
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, amongst others. We continued on to Laverton,
stopping briefly for a couple of White-backed Swallows, which immediately
performed a disappearing act, and the first Emu of the trip. We reached
Laverton at about 1300 and fuelled up and filled our water tanks - this was an
interesting experience! A brief stop to let the tyres down at the start of the
dirt on the Great Central Road and more Crested Bellbirds calling, but little
else. This was more than we got on a quick lunch stop soon after though, the
area chosen (Atlas records for Striated Grasswren) being totally bereft of
birds. We reached the turnoff to Point Sunday Rd shortly after the end of the
grand final which distacted us from birding for a while (we did finally pick up
good views of a Crested Bellbird though, a lifer for Greg, as well as a Little
Woodswallow). The Point Sunday Rd was excellent for driving on and the country
looked magnificent in the afternoon light. As an added bonus, we picked up our
first Grey-fronted Honeyeater - my first lifer for the trip, and also a lifer
for Greg). We also stopped for some wrens calling by the road, but they
disappeared and we were running out of daylight, so we had to let them go. We
had a nagging suspicion that they may have been something different though, and
GPS'd the location for checking on the way out. We subsequently heard several
more groups of wrens, but did not have time to stop and check them out. We
arrived at Yeo Lakes shortly after nightfall and met up with Sue and Xenia.
After setting up tents and a quick dinner, we were birding again - this time
trying to spotlight the Spotted Nightjars calling around camp and work out what
the large bat-like animal we were seeing was. After some confusion about flying
rabbits, ghost bats, and 'night butterflies', we got a better look and realised
the bat-like animal WAS the nightjar. We subsequently found one on the ground
and had crippling views (Martin's first lifer of the trip and his 500th for Oz,
and a lifer for Greg too), so everyone went to bed happy
Sunday 26th: Another early start and we were up and about by 0500, picking up
White-fronted Honeyeater, White-winged Fairy-wren, and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
around camp, before walking west along the road for 1km or so to a puddle on
the road. Here we picked up more White-fronted Honeyeaters, Southern Whiteface,
and our first camels of the trip! Soon after seeing the camels, we heard Pied
Honeyeaters calling and were able to get reasonable views of a couple of males
displaying as they moved through the area (lifer for all three of us). We
returned to camp and after the luxury of a quick shower, headed for Neale
Junction at about 0900. The early highlights of the drive were somewhat
un-birdy; the rugged Morton Craig Range, more camels, and our first Thorny
Devil of the trip (a non-birding lifer for all three of us) - but we also added
Varied Sitella to the trip list. Bird life was generally quiet for a lot of the
drive in the heat of the day, but we did pick up a male White-winged Triller in
some flowering honey grevillea, and another (better) look at a male Pied
Honeyeater. As the afternoon wore on, birds became more active and we picked up
Rufous Treecreeper for the list as well as large numbers of Black-faced
Cuckoo-shrikes and Yellow-throated Miners (two of the commonest birds of the
trip). We arrived at Neale Junction at about 1500 and met a party of South
Australian birders (Tony Russell et al.), who greeted us with the somewhat
discouraging news that the birdlife was fairly quiet. Nonetheless, after
setting up camp, we went for a walk north-east of the campground that lasted
until dusk. Unfortunately, the bush was exceedingly quiet and we picked up
little more than a Pied Butcherbird and a few Yellow-throated Miners. After
dinner at camp where we heard a Southern Boobook call severa times, we set out
on another spotlighting expedition, but without success. Some compensation was
provided by a great look at the night sky away from the lights of civilisation
and a good look at a White-striped Mastiff Bat (we saw the white stripes!)
Monday 27th: Another early start (anyone picking up a pattern here?), and we
were birding on foot west along the Anne Beadell by 0530. The birds were more
active and vocal than the previous afternoon, but the variety was relatively
disappointing - Rufous Treecreeper, Black-faced Woodswallow, Grey-fronted
Honeyeater (from lifer to chook in less than a day!!), Crested Bellbird, and
Pied Butcherbird making up the bulk of the species. Things did get better
briefly (much better in fact), as we left the track about 2km west of Neale
Junction to chase up an unusual call. It came to nothing, but we did see and
photograph some interesting tracks in the spinifex (possibly a hopping mouse -
any track experts out there?) another unusual call we heard shortly afterwards
yielded excellent views of a group of 5 Ground Cuckoo-shrikes - one of our
major targets for the trip and a lifer for all three of us. A pair of
White-backed Swallows were also present. After this brief excitement though,
things quietened down in a big way and despite plenty of walking, we picked up
very few birds from then on. Having returned to camp at about 0930, we had a
brief rest before heading east by car along the Anne Beadell. This payed
dividends very quickly as a single Major Mitchell's Cockatoo flew across the
track soon after (my 4th lifer for the trip, and another lifer for Greg).
Martin was keen to check a small salt lake c. 1km north of the highway and when
we stopped atthe nearest point on the highway, we found an excellent grove of
mulga, which yielded White-fronted Honeyeater, Chestnut-rumped & Inland
Thornbill, Weebill and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater. We headed toward the salt
lake, picking up an Australian Hobby on the way. The lake was dry as expected,
but the low vegetation did hold numerous White-winged Fairy-wrens and an
Australian Pipit, plus more mulga to the west had more Chestnut-rumped and
Inland Thornbills and White-fronted Honeyeaters. Despite a lot of effort, we
were unable to confirm any Slaty-backed Thornbills. As we walked back to the
car, we heard and briefly saw a bird Martin and I felt may have been a
White-browed Treecreeper, however we couldn't relocate it and retired to camp
for a lunch break. After lunch, it was on the road again (if only to charge our
various electronics!) and we headed south from Neale Junction along the Connie
Sue Hwy, stopping about 5km along when we heard wrens. Initially, these looked
like fairy-wrens, but as we were contemplating leaving, a Rufous-crowned
Emu-wren appeared briefly in a low bush. After some tense waiting and pishing,
everyone had crippling views of male and female and Greg and Xenia were able to
photograph them (another lifer for all 3 of our group). White-winged
Fairy-wrens were also around. Buoyed, we pushed on and stopped at a patch of
Callitris on a sand dune, hoping for White-browed Treecreeper. No luck on that
one though, and after a brief tek north up the Connie Sue, we returned to camp
to consider our options and decided on revisiting the mulga patch we had
success at earlier in the day. On the drive there, we picked up our first (and
only) Australian Bustard (another lifer for Greg) in amongst a group of camels
(we were realising just how common they are in the desert areas). The mulga
gave us a Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo and more thornbills, but again we couldn't
find a Slaty-backed and there was no sign of the possible treecreeper from
earlier. A male Variegated Fairy-wren as we walked back from the car was also a
late highlight. Then it was back to camp for dinner then another brief
spotlighting expedition, which failed to yield anything other than spiders
Tuesday 28th: The early starts were starting to take a toll, but we still
managed to be up and walking by 0530 in overcast conditions to check out a dark
patch on Google Maps south east of the camp site. This turned out to be another
patch of mulga and was sadly birdless, but we did get a good look at Red-backed
Kingfishers on the walk back and it was interesting to see fresh dingo tracks
on the Connie Sue from overnight. We walked to the Len Beadell marker at Neale
Junction and took the obligatory photos and signed the visitor book before
packing up camp and hitting the road again to start heading back. Nothing
particularly interesting was seen until we stopped for a Pallid Cuckoo for
Greg, which we eventually had excellent views of. Further on and a small group
of White-browed Babblers in some mulga had us stopping again as Greg still
needed tickable views. He duly got them (just) and as an added bonus, Martin
located a pair of definite Slaty-backed Thornbills, the first for the trip and
the first time I've been happy enough with the views to tick them! We drove on,
picking up both Red and Western Grey Kangaroos (the latter apparently reaching
the edge of their range) before a brief lunch stop, where Sue & Xenia left us
to push on to Laverton by nightfall. We had other plans however, as after
checking field guides and mp3 calls we were more convinced than ever that the
wrens we stopped for on the Point Sunday Rd had been Striated Grasswrens. After
a brief stop at Yeo Lakes, we reached Point Sunday Road by about 1530 and
scoped out Point Sunday as a possible campsite for the night, picking up a
Western Bowerbird flying over in the process and then started out for our GPS
location for wrens, listening as we drove. Unfortunately, we heard no wrens and
after walking around at the site for about 20 minutes with no luck, we pushed
on up the road, eventually hearing a group of wrens to lift our hopes -
unfortunately they were all Variegated. A brief discussion led to the decision
to drive back down Point Sunday Rd but we heard nothing and things looked grim
as we stopped for a last forlorn look at our GPS'd site. After 15 minutes, we
were about to give up and head for Laverton when Martin picked up a group of
Striated Grasswrens! Unfortunately, Greg and I didn't get decent views, so much
tense stalking followed until after 15mins or so, I finally had a good view of
them. Greg was still missing them though, so more stalking was required -
unfortunately, the birds were always one step ahead and we started to ran out
of daylight. After another brief discussion, we decided that rather than
camping at Point Sunday and leaving a massive drive for the next day, we would
head for a campsite recommended by Sue & Xenia just west of Laverton and knock
off 200km or so from the next day's drive. We reached the campsite at about
2100 after a generally uneventful drive (with one or two exceptions) and set up
camp and had dinner. For the first time on the trip, we decided against a
spotlighting trip and retired to bed
Wednesday 29th: A big day's driving with birding thrown in meant an even
earlier start, and we were on the road a little after 0500, having heard
Redthroat, Red-capped Robin, and Brown & White-fronted Honeyeaters near the
campsite. Our first target was White-throated Treecreeper, which we searched
for at several sites in the Goongarrie area between Menzies and Kalgoorlie.
Unfortunately, we had no luck, altough we did pick up more White-fronted
Honeyeater, White-winged Fairy-wren, Brown Goshawk, a pair of female
Redthroats, and Zebra Finches in the process. More driving took us through
Kalgoorlie and onto Coolgardie, where we decided it wouldn't be a proper
twitching trip without a visit to a least one sewage farm. Compared to places
like Broome and Leanyer, Coolgardie Sewage Ponds were not especially productive
(!!), but we did add a few waterbirds to our trip list, including Black Swan,
Eurasian Coot, Hoary-headed Grebe, and Grey Teal with young. Our next target
was Gilbert's Whistler in the woodlands west of Coolgardie - sadly again we had
no luck at a number of stops, although a dark morph Little Eagle was an
interesting addition to the trip list. After briefly meeting Sue and Xenia
again at a fuel stop, we tried a last ditch spot for Gilbert's Whistler south
of Merredin. We recorded Golden & Rufous Whistlers, as well as White-eared
Honeyeater and Elegant Parrot, but could not add a Gilbert's Whistler as we ran
out of daylight again! All that was left then was the drive back into Perth,
where we arrived at about 2130 (much better than our original predictions of
0000 if we'd camped at Point Sunday)
All up, a very enjoyable expedition
TRACK CONDITIONS (courtesy Martin - chief driver):
Anne Beadell Hwy was in reasonable condition west of Neale Junction;
minor sandy corrugations throughout with short stretches of heavier
corrugations, occasional shallow sandy patches, and a few easily-
negotiated rocky areas. Beyond Neale Junction the Anne Beadell
degenerated quickly, the 5km we travelled passed through a rock bed
and several deeply-rutted sand drifts. The Connie Sue Hwy south is a
wider well-graded track in excellent condition for at least 15km south
by reports. Point Sunday Rd is a very scenic, compacted sand road in
excellent condition - highly recommended.
See these photos for an idea of track conditions:
http://s243.photobucket.com/albums/ff237/macake/Neale%20Junction%20trip/
Cheers,
John Graff
Perth, WA
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