Mallee Birding with Ethan_02

The plan for Day 2 was a gentle curve on the map from Hopetoun via northern Wyperfeld and Pink Lakes to Ouyen. All mornings were a 6am start in dawn dimness.

Heading north to Patchewollock we stopped at a roadside wetland which was buzzing. Australian Spotted Crakes all over the shop, Australian Shelduck and Grey Teal, Stubble Quail clinking in the background, "thousands" of Black-tailed Nativehens, and Red-kneed Dotterels.

After breakfast in Wyperfeld and a Striped Honeyeater chase, we went bush successfully finding an active Malleefowl mound and occupant although only the first two in the line, Simon and Ethan, saw him. Andrew and I dipped. Here we picked up two more cuckoos; Shining Bronze and Black-eared. Excellent views of the latter. More parrots for Ethan: Galah, Little Corella, Mallee Ringneck, Bluebonnet and Mulga. More Honeyeaters [Ye-t M, Si, Str*].

A quick check of the Eremophilia in Underbool main street was uneventful apart from a Wh-p Honeyeater ** and then on to the Pink Lakes for most of the afternoon. Here we finally saw a Striated Grasswren and on the way "out" flushed a Chestnut (-backed) Quail-thrush which sat up for good viewing. Three species of Woodswallow were seen [Masked, White-browed and Black-faced] and a mega ... Black Honeyeater. Towards dusk we finished up at Wymlet Tank where the others flushed a Barn Owl and we had vigorous discussion about a Crow/Raven which sounded like a Little Crow but was in the company of Australian Ravens. Case remains open.

Black-eared Cuckoo Chalcites osculans

Black Honeyeater Sugamel nigrum

Chestnut Quail-thrush Cinclosoma castanotum

Greater Blue Bonnet Northiella haematogaster ssp haematogaster

Striped Honeyeater Plectorhyncha lanceolata

White-browed Treecreeper Climacteris affinis

* Yellow-throated Miner, Singing, Striped
** White-plumed

Broome Roadtrip 13 _ Gluepot

Gluepot, 50km north of Waikerie towards the Victorian border from Adelaide, is one of Australia's birding Meccas. A fair degree of self sufficiency is required whilst camping there (bring everything!) which means the experience is carefully planned and much appreciated, even more so when you see a heap of birds. There are several bird hides with water points, usually within a few metres of a carpark so the job is relatively easy. If you don't need the birds to come to you there are plenty of walking tracks of various lengths getting you in to some of the specialist environments. Scarlet-chested Parrot, Black-eared Miner, Red-lored Whistler and Chestnut Quail-thrush are key species.

Bird images are in alphabetic order by "surname".

Bronzewing, Common Phaps chalcoptera

Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae

Honeyeater, Spiny-cheeked Acanthagenys rufogularis

Honeyeater, White-faced Plectorhyncha lanceolata

Honeyeater, White-eared Nesoptilotis leucotis

Honeyeater, Yellow-plumed Ptilotula ornata

Pardalote, Striped Pardalotus striatus

Parrot, Mulga Psephotus varius

Ringneck, Australian (Mallee) Barnardius zonarius barnardi

Thornbill, Chestnut-rumped Acanthiza uropygialis

Treecreeper, Brown Climacteris picumnus

Weebill Smicrornis brevirostris

Woodswallow, Masked Artamus personatus

Magic. f4.5 and be there.!

Go South 16 -- Whoey Tank

Six hundred and fifty kilometres to the south of Bowra Station, via Bourke, Cobar and Mt Hope, is Whoey Tank, an old dam of quite substantial size, tucked into the northern part of Round Hill Nature Reserve. Whilst the "tank" is empty, a small concrete tank of 20,000 or so litre capacity sits on the ground about 100 metres to the "tank's" east which has a very small and slow leak at its base. Here a small permanent puddle has formed and the birds love it. I placed a dead branch on the ground just a metre away from the puddle and, having arisen before dawn, sat in a chair directly in line with the rising sun and waited.

The leak and Blue-faced Honeyeaters.

Top of the tank and Striped Honeyeater.

Spotted Bowerbird

Blue Bonnets

Mulga Parrots - girl,boy,boy,girl

Go South 15 -- Bowra, Cunnamulla

This last post from Bowra concerns itself with the banding exercise I participated in as a scribe. You need to have a licence to handle the birds but I was more than happy to just be part of setting up and taking down the nets and doing whatever was needed during the banding. It also meant that I was able to see [very] close up some birds I normally only get a glimpse of.

The banding routine was to set up the mist nets [perhaps 12-15 at each site x 2 or 3 sites each session] the previous afternoon, catch birds until dusk, furl the nets overnight, arise at 5.15am, be on-site at 6.15 at the latest, unfurl nets, catch and process until the capture rate became nil [anywhere between 9 and 10.30]. The welfare of the birds is top priority thus each set of nets was checked every 20 to 30 minutes, caught birds taken out, bagged individually then brought to a common table at each site for processing [lots of metrics taken: leg, wing, beak, head lengths, weight, moult] then photographed if not a White-plumed HE and released. The majority of birds of the 600 or so birds caught this year were White-plumed Honeyeaters. Last year they caught 2,000 Zebra and Double-barred finches plus a thousand others. This year? Zero Zebs and 4 DBs. Just goes to show the boom or bust cycle of life in the outback.

Bags with birds for processing

Three banders in full swing processing birds.

A typical scene. An interrupted breakfast.

First bird on the first morning was an Australian Owlet-nightjar!! Other notables I saw were Willie Wagtails, Brown and White-browed Treecreepers, Spotted Nightjar, Mulga and Bourkes Parrot, Halls Babbler, Spiny-cheeked and Brown-headed Honeyeaters, Grey Butcherbird, Peaceful Dove, Crested Bellbird, Red-capped and Hooded Robins and a Weebill. Did you know that a Weebill weighs only 6g? It was a special birding moment to be involved.

Australian Owlet-nightjar

Pied Butcherbird

Mulga Parrot

The Mulga Parrot has the reputation of being the feistiest bird in-hand and, indeed, drew blood several times from his handler.

Peaceful Dove

Inland Thornbill

Brown-headed Honeyeater

Crested Bellbird

Striped Honeyeater

Bird Nerds in Queensland 13

Well, we are just about done with the first Queensland trip. After Maroochy Wetlands there was the trip back to Victoria but I was keen to visit the Wynnum Wetlands at Sandy Camp Road in the docklands area of Brisbane itself. After saying my goodbyes to Erica and the boys in the evening, I was up at 4am and on the road soon after to arrive about 5.30 to take advantage of the cool morning. Birding is not much fun after 9am. The intensity of the sun is uncomfortable at best. Here is a map of the area.

The area to the top of the image is now a large container terminal with lots of traffic movement. But the birds don't seem to mind at all. The orange hatching reputedly harboured a Black Bittern, the black circle is an Oprey nest, the pink hatching had a Rajah Shelduck and there were crakes in the dark-blue area. It is an excellent place to spend a few hours. In the four hours I was there I managed to tick 57 species. Here are some images.

Brown Quail Coturnix ypsilophora

Comb-crested Jacana Irediparra gallinacea

Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Lonchura castaneothorax

Australasian Darter Anhinga novaehollandiae

female Australasian Figbird Sphecotheres vieilloti

female Leaden Flycatcher Myiagra rubecula

Mr Leaden Flycatcher taking his turn

Magpie Geese Anseranas semipalmata

Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus [pr male]

Pink-eared Duck Malacorhynchus membranaceus

Magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike Coracina novaehollandiae

Striped Honeyeater Plectorhyncha lanceolata. I never got to see it upright!!

Tawny Grassbird Megalurus timoriensis

White-breasted Woodswallows Artamus leucorynchus