Yes, I think it should be a good year for Striated Grasswren - they'll
certainly be along the Nowingi Track. FYI here's a few spots I've found
Striated Grasswren at/or near Hattah.
- Nowingi Track. A good particular good spot for the grasswren is just east of
where the track turns north-west, in Google maps see -34.69138,142.274297, or
at the base of a small rise on the west of the track, -34.692333,142.271553.
- Hattah fire trail. This is another spot to look. It runs parallel to the
Hattah-Robinvale Rd, see -34.761786,142.32045.
- Last Hope Track, in the Murray Sunset, about 2 km west of the Hattah store,
see -34.748577,142.24355.
- Pink Lakes. Along the Pioneer Dr just west of where it intersects with the
Salt Bush Flat Track, -35.035232,141.740234.
In reality in the Murray-Sunset they'll occur in any decent area of mallee with
a spinifex understory, specifically those areas that have a post fire age of
between, let's say, 20 to 50+ years.
>From my experience, there are two good techniques to seeing Striated Grasswren
>(and grasswren generally). Either walk very slowly and listen very carefully
>for their weak call or, alternatively, walk reasonably quickly, covering more
>territory, stopping whenever you think you hear something. Then listen
>carefully and move slowly. The latter is a particularly good technique for
>grasswren, as they tend to move away when approaching. In most cases I've seen
>Striated Grasswren they've been in areas that have large tussocks of Triodia
>combined with a patch or two of low growing Mallee eucalypts - especially
>where there's plenty of scattered bark around the base of the trees. In effect
>the eucalypts act as a small island in sea of spinifex. (Interestingly I found
>that Striated and Carpentarian Grasswren have an almost identical habitat
>preference.)
To see Rufous Fieldwren, they're in the bluebush area immediately adjacent to
Lake Tyrrell, -35.443846,142.828262, usually in pairs at this site.
In terms of call playback, with grasswren (and with most birds) I reckon the
challenge is actually to see them without using playback. There nothing more
frustrating than being around someone who's continually using playback when
trying to find new species. As a rule playback's best used when doing formal
bird surveys, otherwise it should be used in absolute moderation i.e. I
sometimes use it to quickly confirm a bird species that I think I've heard.
Cheers,
Tim Dolby
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Peter Waanders
Sent: Tuesday, 19 February 2013 12:22 PM
To: ;
Subject: Has anyone seen Striated Grasswren at Hattah recently? And is the the
Rufous Fieldwren usually seen alone?
Hi Patrick
I've found Striated Grasswren easily at Hattah (along the Nowingi track) as
recently as early January this year.
They were quite active and pishing/squeeking was sufficient to get good views.
And yes Rufous Fieldwrens usually occur alone or in pairs.
cheers
Peter
*
----
Peter Waanders
Southern Birding Services
PO Box 2008, Berri SA 5343 Australia
mob.: +61 (0)409 763172
sat.: +61 (0)424 212889
Email1:
Email2:
SA Birding: www.sabirding.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Southern-Birding-Services/134270499971996
*
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
This email, including any attachment, is intended solely for the use of the
intended recipient. It is confidential and may contain personal information or
be subject to legal professional privilege. If you are not the intended
recipient any use, disclosure, reproduction or storage of it is unauthorised.
If you have received this email in error, please advise the sender via return
email and delete it from your system immediately. Victoria University does not
warrant that this email is free from viruses or defects and accepts no
liability for any damage caused by such viruses or defects.
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
