Spring is in the air, and how else does one celebrate spring but
by going birdwatching? My cousin's 21st birthday party in Melbourne provided me
with the necessary motive for a birding trip covering 3 key areas of Victoria -
Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park, Melbourne, and Hattah-Kulkyne National Park.
Here is a long trip report detailing the trip. If you read this on my blog,
there are also photos to keep you entertained whilst you absorb this dry report
;) http://fortheloveof-birds.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/tour-de-victoria.html
At Albury, we
quickly pulled off the highway for a spot of birding. We pulled up in the
Bunnings carpark and, as promised, a single Eurasian Tree Sparrow was sitting
on the wall above the nursery. After a bit more driving, we arrived at Chiltern
- a lovely town with some great birds. After leaving the family at the
caravan park, I headed up to Bartley's Block in search of my elusive bogey, the
Painted Honeyeater. Just after pulling up at Bartley's, another car pulled up
beside mine, and out hopped a pair of birders from the US, who informed me of a
Painted Honeyeater they had just seen up the road. After thanking them and
giving them directions to Turquoise Parrots, I headed up Mount Pleasent Road,
and went 500m past the "gravelly section", before stopping. Good
birds were around, including Red-capped Robin, Black-chinned Honeyeater, Brown
Treecreeper, Little Lorikeet... but no Painted Honeyeater. Eventually, after
just over an hour, I heard the unmistakable call of the Painted Honeyeater. It
eluded me for another 30 minutes, but eventually I saw a bird on a dead stick
at the top of a tree, and after raising my binoculars, sure enough, there sat a
magnificent Painted Honeyeater.
After a while, I
decided to try my luck at some of the other areas around Chiltern, and did a
spot of birding around the No.1 and No.2 dams (highlights: Restless Flycatcher,
Pink-eared Duck) as well as Honeyeater Picnic Ground in the evening
(highlights: not a single bird). Dinner passed, and mum and I headed down to Mt
Pilot National Park (on dwindling petrol) in the hope of a Barking Owl. Despite
my best barking, only a single Tawny Frogmouth was spotlighted, and an Owlet
Nightjar the only other bird heard. A bit further down the track, we realised
we had no idea where we were, as none of the intersections matched up with my
map. Luckily we made it out with enough petrol left to get us back. Just. In
the morning, I headed back to the Painted Honeyeater site, and managed to
locate another 4 birds, plus another 2 calling.
The next two days
were strictly family days, but the food at my cousin's birthday party made up
for the lack of birds. On Sunday, I woke my loving father up at 5:00 to drive
me to Owen's house (there aren't many of us birders under the age of 18, so we
always make an effort to meet each other), and together with Owen's dad, headed
up to Toolangi. At the Wirrawilla carpark, in the cold and partially windy
weather, we ventured into the forest understorey, and walked to the end of the
track before eventually hearing our main target - the Pink Robin. We had a
brief glimpse of the male before it flitted away. A quick scramble towards the
call along a decaying log resulted in very wet and muddy pants, but that was
forgotten when, from right next to our heads, the robin called, and we had
views so close that we literally could not raise out binoculars. Pilotbird were
heard, but lived up to their skulking nature.
We finished up on
the Wirrawilla walk, and after nice views of a male Rose Robin back at the car,
decided to try our luck along Quarry Road, which started off well with a female
lyrebird right next to us. Further up, we realised that there was an Olvie
Whistler calling from right next to the track. Of course it dissappeared as we
approached, but soon enough, as if by magic, it came back! (magic in this sense
is an iPod and a speaker). The Pilotbirds remained elusive, but overall it was
a very successful morning.
Monday arrived, and much to the surprise of my cousins, I elected
to spend the day not with them, but at Werribee. Owen and Sonja picked me up
early, and we headed straight to the literal toilet of Melbourne, where we met
up with John. Today's target? What else but the "resident" Oriental
Pratincole. After a quick detour for Glossy Ibis (found right next to Beach
Road, bathed in early morning sunshine), we headed to W-Section, where we
scanned the muddy islands for our quarry, but alas, in vain. A tricky
Masked Lapwing on a nest plus various sticks and rocks in the
mud funny angles proved that anything can be a pratincole if you have
enough hope. Red-necked Stints, Curlew and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers were all
seen, and also many White-fronted Chats and a moulting male Brown Sonlark
(one of about 7 recorded throughout the day).
We headed over to T-Section, and a drive around that area resulted
in a Lathams Snipe, Horsefield's Bronze Cuckoo, and a few Banded Lapwings.
Next, we decided to try Owen's pratincole site, near some rocks next to a large
lagoon in a paddock nearby. We walked towards them, flushing a Stubble Quail on
the way, and when we were only 10m or so away (I had just begun to think that
the pratincole was not there), what flushed from in front of us but the sleek,
slender-winged beauty which was our target - the Oriental Pratincole. We
tracked it with our binoculars as it flew away from us and landed back in
W-Section. After a quick chat to fellow birdwatcher, Martin, we headed
back over to W-Section, and in less than a minute we were watching the Oriental
Pratincole, happily loafing around on an island. And it had only taken 4.5
hours!!!
With the main
target under our belt, we spent the rest of the day having a stress-free look
around one of the preimer birding sites in Australia. The next highlight was
when we stopped on the coast road to scan a flock of Red-necked Stints for the
long-staying Broad-billed Sandpiper. I walked down to within a few metres of
the flock, and lifted my binocualrs to begin to long and arduous process of
checking every single bird... Naturally, the first bird that I saw in my
binoculars (literally, the first bird) was in fact the Broad-billed
Sandpiper! Yay!
At the
birdhide, a Spotless Crake and a Spotted Harrier both put in a brief
appearance, but not a single Cape Barren Goose were present at Lake Borrie
unfortunately. Entering the restricted access area, we checked a small
wader in a pond which turned out to be a lovely Marsh Sandpiper, and a bit
further along a female Flame Robin sat on the fence. Along the coast, another
large flock of stints were sighted, and after a quick scan we noticed one bird
with a strange plumage variation, resulting in most of it's back being white!
Near the Borrow Pits, Sonja noted a single Rufous Songlark flew
from the road, and John found 7 Australasian Shoveller sat quietly in a pond,
with 5 Red-kneed Dotterels nearby. On our way back through the Conservation
Ponds, a huge flock of ducks on our right turned out to be comprised of
Pink-eared Ducks - well over 500 of them! A sea-eagle sat calmly feeding
on something, and after some scanning of a large flock of Avocets in
Paradise Lagoon, we eventually made out 10 Banded Stilts. In the end, we had an
impressive total of 94 species!
With Cape Barren
Goose our only major dip, Sonja and Owen decided that it was worth a quick trip
out to Serendip Sanctuary. In the carpark, we had amazing views of a couple of
Purple-crowned Lorikeets, but I am reluctant to tick the geese, which, despite
being free flying, were remarkably fond of people... ;)
An early start on
Tuesday saw mum and myself driving the 500km to the states north-west. A quick
stop at Lake Tyrrell in search of Rufous Fieldwrens seemed destined to fail. We
arrived at noon, and after parking near the saltbush, not a single
bird could be heard. A pipit sitting on a bush, despite it's best
efforts to impress me, was not a fieldwren, but a large flock of about 20
Blue-winged Parrots was a pleasant, and quite unexpected find. A few
White-winged Fairy-wrens were seen, but I had given up on the fieldwren...
Until mum told me that she had seen a few "Grasswren like birds other
there". Initially, I thought she was talking about the fairy-wrens, but
she convinced me to have a look, and of course the birds in question ended up
being an obliging party of 4 beautiful Rufous Fieldwrens!
The rest of the
drive to Hattah was slow (despite the sign that we passed telling us to take
the next left to the town of Speed). We arrived at Lake Hattah about 2:30, and
decided that there were too many people, so elected to head to Lake Mournpall
instead, stopping for a Pink Cockatoo next to the road along the way. Yellow
Rosellas and Mallee Ringnecks flew about the campground, but the Regent Parrots
seemed to not be around. Note that there is only rainwater available at Lake
Mournpall - try to take all your drinking water in with you.
After a record
time being achieved for setting up the tents, I utilised the 2 hours of
reamaing daylight to being my search for the specialist birds of Hattah. We
drove along the Konardin Track and emerged about 1km up the Nowingi
Track. A small party of Variegated Fairy-wrens got my hopes up, and
the numerous Malleefowl tracks going across the road in various places taunted
us, but the Mallee Emu-wrens were not found until after the sun had set. In the
dwindling light, I had brief views of the male sitting in the middle of a
dense bush before it dissappeared. On the way back to camp, a Grey Currawong
was heard, but the biggest surprise was just as we went over the crest of a
hill near the campground, and a Spotted Nightjar flushed from right in front of
us!
The next morning,
after a quick look around the lake (only Black-tailed Native Hens,
Cormorants and Pelicans), we headed back over to the Nowingi Track,
and I armed myself with a pressure bandage, an EPIRB, and a GPS before trecking
off into the mallee (I forgot the water though!). One hour and many spinifex
jabs later, my deadline was up, and I had to return to mum in the parked car.
Of course, Sod's Law came into play, and I found the Striated Grasswrens. I
couldn't stay for long, or else mum might have gotten stressed and called in
the emergency services to find me, but I used up at least 15 minutes trying to
get eyes onto a Grasswren, but their calls always stayed a few metres ahead of
me, and in the end, the only views I got was of a single, partially
obscured bird hopping from one spinifex clump to another in less than a
second. No more Grasswrens were found for the rest of the day, and I quickly
came to the conclusion that I am not going to enjoy tracking down the other 10
Grasswrens... Especially the ones that live in spinifex (ie: just about all of
them). In conclusion, this sighting was less than ideal, but Striated Grasswren
is still a very special bird which has taken place as bird number 800 for my
world list!
Back at the camp
for breakfast, the Regent Parrots finally put in an appearance. As the
wind increased, I decided to give the mallee birds one last shot.
We parked near the start of the Nowingi Track, and I headed back
to the spot where the Grasswrens had been an hour ago. No luck, but as I walked
back onto the road running north/south through Hattah, I looked right with my
binoculars, and what did I see but the head of a Malleefowl poking over the top
of a crest of the next hill! The only problem was, this hill was 500m away.
Needless to say, if I had been timing myself, I would have recorded my PB for
the 500m sprint. Despite my best effort however, by the time I got to the top
of the hill, that bloody chicken had dissappeared into the bush...
It was now 11:30,
and the wind was quite strong, so I decided to give the Nowingi Track one last
go before we headed off to Balaranald for the night. Not wanting to again get
brutally stabbed by the spinifex, I stuck to the road. At 12:00 exactly, I
finally heard the call of an Emu-wren through the wind (a real Emu-wren
this time, not a fairy-wren or a weebill or a thornbill doing an
impersonation), and subsequently had fantastic views of both the male and
a few females as they responded to my pishing and sat out in the open -
excellent!
Due to a slight
miss-communication with my mum, I kept walking along the road expecting her to
drive along and pick me up at any moment. As it turned out, I kept walking, and
walking some more, and eventually had walked 5km up the Nowingi Track before
she found me at 1:30. Not many birds were seen in this time interval, but a
huge flock of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows erupting from a few trees
next to the track was a spectacle to behold! Also more Malleefowl tracks and a
single Grey Currawong.
The leisurely 12
hour drive back to Sydney was largely uneventful, but there were a few definite
highlights. At the camping ground in Yanga State Conservation Area, a male Emu
with chicks and a Red-backed Kingfisher kept both my mum and myself
entertained, and the masses of raptors seen while traversing the Hay Plain was
amazing (literally a new raptor ever 100m - mostly comprised of Black,
Whistling and Black-shouldered Kites, Kestrels and Brown Falcons - we must have
passed hundreds of them!). The definitive highlight though was about 10km north
of Hay, when I spotted two small brown birds walking in the middle of the
highway. As we approached, they took off, and I realised that it was a pair of
Australian Pratincoles! We subsequently got some great views of these excellent
birds, and I was extremely happy - it's not often that you see both Pratincole
species in a single trip unless you're in Broome during the wet season!
At Grenfell, we stopped briefly at the sewage ponds, and had a
chat with a worker there about birds (he was a bit of a birder himself), and he
told us of various sightings from the past year, including two Magpie Geese and
a young bird which stayed at the ponds during Febuary! In the trees out the
back of the sewage ponds, a large flock of Superb Parrots were flying around,
and on that note, I shall end this report!
In total, I had 13 lifers, and the trip list totalled at exactly
189 species (just short of the 200 mark! Damn! Should've gone to Gluepot for
those Scarlet-chested Parrots... if I didn't find out about that after arriving
back in Sydney....)
A few thankyous
are in order now! Firstly, to all the replies I had on birding-aus on
finding Painted Honeyeaters - that was really helpful, so thank you very much!
Secondly, to Owen, his dad, and Sonja, for agreeing to take me birding
around Melbourne - I wouldn't have been able to go without them, and would
have missed some of my key targets! Last, (but not least!), my lovely mother
who made the 1000km detour with me in search of those elusive wrens at Hattah!
Thanks for reading! Cheers, Joshua Bergmark
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