Hi birders,
Here's the bird list from recent trip to Idalia NP (near Blackall) for those
who are interested. Two highlights were finding an emu nest with 8 eggs and
watching the pardalote come in to nest in the rock at Rainbow Gorge. It was
also interesting seeing eastern yellow robin in such a dry place. I managed to
miss the Spinifex pigeon despite his multiple appearances 100m from camp. Even
the cook saw them.
Damn pigeons.
It really is an incredibly beautiful place and looking very lush from the
massive amounts of rain last year. The park is very intensively managed for
feral predators due to the Bridled nailtails and is in the process of being
fully fenced (70km to go).
If you do go to Idalia, the ranger, Rosie, would love photos and GPS location
of the brown quail and BQs, or anything else unusual. And if you find a
current spotted bowerbirds bower, she'd probably like GPS of that too (a hint
is to look under wilga, which incidentally make very good bushes to squat
behind).
Here it is:
White-plumed honeyeater, singing honeyeater, spiny-cheeked honeyeater, striated
honeyeater, brown honeyeater, brown-headed honeyeater, white-eared honeyeater,
mistletoe bird, yellow-throated miner, olive-backed oriole, spotted bowerbird,
yellow-rumped thornbill, inland thornbill, yellow thornbill, weebill, speckled
warbler, striated pardalote, western gerygone, white-throated gerygone,
variegated fairy-wren, splendid fairy-wren, zebra finch, plum-headed finch,
double-barred finch, mulga parrot, Bourke's parrot, red-winged parrot,
Australian ringneck, crested bellbird, eastern yellow robin, jacky winter,
hooded robin, red-capped robin, grey shrike-thrush, rufous whistler, white
bellied cuckoo shrike, black faced cuckoo shrike, restless flycatcher, Richards
pipit, Horsfields bushlark, apostlebird, brown quail, Hall's babbler,
grey-crowned babbler, little friarbird, noisy friarbird, pied butcherbird, grey
butcherbird, laughing kookaburra, sacred kingfisher, red-rumped kingfishe
r, Australian raven, pied currawong, Magpie, Magpie-lark, Willy wagtail,
white-necked heron, grey teal, black-fronted dotterel, banded lapwing, Aust
bustard, wedge-tailed eagle, black kite, whistling kite, brown falcon, collared
sparrowhawk, southern boobook, Aust owlet-nightjar, peaceful dove, common
bronzewing, Spinifex pigeon, diamond dove, bar-shouldered dove, crested dove,
brown treecreeper, varied sittella, chestnut-quail thrush, black-faced
woodswallow, sulfur-crested cockatoo, emu. There were also lots of
button-quail platelets (especially on the mesa above Wave Rock) but with 30
students in tow the BQ's were not to be seen.
Someone mentioned something about rare and endangered wallabies, I seem to
remember something hopping around near the birds :) They tell me we saw bridled
nailtail, yellow-footed rock wallabies, black-striped wallabies, red kangaroo,
eastern and western grey kangaroo, a striped dunnart (deceased) and lots of
echidna.
It's also a FANTASTIC place if you like rare plants. Though unfortunately the
very prickly scleralina are not at all rare and get everywhere, socks, sleeping
bag, clothes, hair.
Tambo wetlands beside the Caltex were good for royal spoonbill, white-faced
heron, aust grebe, darter, little pied cormorant, Muscovy, straw-necked ibis,
grey teal, aust ringnecks, whistling and black kites.
Just west of Morven we saw several Aust bustards on the way there and again on
the way home two weeks later.
There were some brolga in Blackall, just behind the main street near the river.
Somewhere between Roma and Surat there was a promising looking wetland called
"Green Swamp", the road goes right through it. Flushed some crakes/rails but
going too fast to ID. The good thing about going this way rather than the main
route to Dalby is you can stop in at Myall Park on the way.
Enjoy,
Claire
Claire Runge
Environmental Decisions Group
School of Biological Sciences
University of Queensland
St Lucia QLD 4072
Australia
Email:
Website: http://www.fullerlab.org/category/people/
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