Mike's Excellent Adventure to the Outback - Sep/Oct 2010

Day 1 (28^th September 2010)

We (Pots, Nigel – a mate from church, Daniel – my 14 year old son, and Jonathan – a friend of Daniel's), headed off at 4am – destination “The Outback”. We had been kindly provided with a very nice and new Toyota Prado by Jonathan’s folks, and, with the sounds of “Eagle Rock” in our ears we embarked on our intrepid journey.

We decided to take the route along the Murray to Mildura to capture as many birds as possible on the first day. Nigel had never been on a birding trip before, so almost everything we saw was a “lifer” for him. The boys dutifully got out at Cobdogla with the binoculars we had brought for them and stared at a Darter, our first bird of the trip. They then retired back to the car and that was the culmination of their bird-watching for the entire trip! (I have clearly failed as a father….).

Cobdogla put on a great show for us, and our birdlist was 40 after only a couple of hours. We next stopped at Monash to chase down the Yellow-throated Miner, which we dutifully saw. Jonathan and Nigel had a go on the big swing (Daniel and I cheered enthusiastically). As we were about to get into the car, two Blue-faced Honeyeaters flew past and conveniently landed in a nearby tree. I had not seen them in South Australia before, so this was an excellent spot.

We detoured past Mildura and headed north to Broken Hill. We stopped in at a road-side bay for lunch and were quickly mobbed by a family of Apostlebirds. They came right up to us, looking expectantly for a free feed. We also began to notice the prolific colour of the bush, and this became one of the overall highlights of the trip – I think I took as many photos of flowers as I did of birds!

Apostlebird

Broken Hill came and went as we continued on to the Paroo-Darling NP at the confluence of the two rivers. We arrived late in the evening expecting to find a sparsely inhabited camping ground near the river. Instead we stumbled into a caravan convention! Every man and his dog seemed to be heading north to see the desert in bloom! We were fortunate to find one last camping spot – so we threw out a tent and swags, had a bite to eat, and hit the sack. Bird total – 66

Day 2

An early morning walk along the Darling River produced some great birding, including White-breasted Woodswallows, Zebra Finches, Pallid Cuckoo and Sacred Kingfishers. Then we headed for Bourke. The Sturt Desert Peas along the road were stunning, as were the large numbers of Spotted Harriers. After a quick lunch just north of Bourke, we continued on to Cunnamulla in south-west Queensland, destination – Bowra Station. We stopped at a billabong near Cunnamulla and were greeted by the sight of six Brolga. Very nice!


White-breasted Woodswallows

We stopped at Cunnamulla for supplies and enjoyed the walk through the town. Then it was on to Bowra Station, a few kilometres north-west of the township. Two more Brolgas on the drive to the Station were an added bonus.

After booking in, we pitched our tent and swags by a lovely little billabong, and then Nigel and I attended the evening bird-count. We were most encouraged by the sightings of the day on the Station, including a possible sighting of the mythical Grey Falcon, and this fired us up for some great birding in the morning. The boys helped cook up a great BBQ and then we were all in bed by 9pm. Bird total – 90

Day 3

Nigel and I launched ourselves upon Bowra Station with great enthusiasm as soon as the sun was up. The birding at the “creek crossing site” on the main track was fantastic – White-winged Triller, Crested Bellbird, Mistletoebird, Olive-backed Oriole, Hooded Robin, Splendid Fairy-wren, Red-capped Robin, Brown-headed Honeyeaters, Diamond Dove, Rainbow Bee-eater, Little Friarbird, White-browed and Black-faced Woodswallows, Mulga Parrot, Pallid Cuckoo, and then great sightings of Bourke’s Parrot (lifer No. 1) and Chestnut-breasted Quail-Thrush (lifer No. 2) topped off a brilliant morning – 43 species seen all up. We retired back to the campsite – the boys had arisen and were happily kicking the footy to each other. They also had a show and tell time – during the night they had crept out of their tent and taped Nigel’s profoundly loud snoring and were delighted to play it back to us. Nigel took it well! While at the campsite we were alerted to a Spotted Bowerbird nest and had wonderful views of both the bower and at least four Bowerbirds in very close proximity (lifer No. 3).

Splendid Fairy-wren

Red-capped Robin

Black-fronted Dotterel

After a relaxing lunch by the billabong, we headed out again, this time targeting particular species. Our first target was the Hall’s Babbler (lifer No. 4) which we found without too much trouble – a small party foraged just ahead of us for at least half an hour and we were able to get great views. We also picked up Chestnut-crowned Babbler, Apostlebird, White-breasted and Masked Woodswallow, Chirruping Wedgebill, Red-backed and Sacred Kingfisher, Collared Sparrowhawk, Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo and nesting Ground Cuckoo-Shrike (our second target species – only seen once before by me in the Peterborough region).

Red-wing Parrot

We were chuffed to be able to be an active part of that night’s bird-count, and there was much animated discussions usually beginning with “Oooh, where did you see that?!!!” We collapsed into bed very happy and content. Bird total – 110

Day 4

Our target birds for Day 4 were the Plum-headed Finch and the Red-browed Pardalote. Unfortunately, we dipped on both! However, we did pick up Noisy Friarbird, Brown and Rufous Songlark, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Major Mitchell Cockatoo, White-necked Heron and Red-winged Parrot (a favourite!). We also found time to relax by a billabong and Nigel got some well-earned rest in his hammock! Birding was tiring him out! The evening bird-count was held around our campfire, during which we thanked the Birds Australia hosts for a wonderful stay and promised to return. We totalled 81 species at Bowra – a wonderful example of salvaged Mulga woodland. Bird total – 119

Day 5

We left Bowra Station early and continued on our journey, this time driving due west until we reached the town of Thurgamindah. Along the way we found a small reserve designated to “Bird-watchers” and we had great views of Bourke’s Parrots again.

Our next order of business was to tow a very large dead cow off the road. The smell was uninviting. It had clearly had a confrontation with a road-train and had come off second best. We also crossed a fantastic billabong a little further on and spent about an hour birding there – Great Crested Grebe, Plumed Whistling Duck, Budgerigar, Rainbow Bee-eater, White-winged Fairy-wren, Black-tailed Native-hen, and a great number of other water birds were all present.

After leaving Thurgamindah behind us, we then started the journey south the Sturt National Park in north-west NSW. We came across our first Australian Pratincole and then both Crimson and Orange Chats. We passed through the Dingo Fence, and we were quite stunned at the sudden change in scenery. Desert scrub stretched to the horizon, and it was resplendent in colour.

After setting up camp at Tibooburra, we decided to venture into the town to enjoy the evening entertainment of the annual rodeo. We were welcomed warmly by the locals, who clearly do it tough on the pastoral lands of central Australia, but who were clearly enjoying both the day and the sustained rainfall of the last few months. Jono got chatted up by one of the locals so just prior to the line-dancing commenced we quietly excused ourselves and went back to camp! The music kept going till at least 4am. Bird total – 135

Day 6

Nigel and I headed out for a short drive through the national park, and had almost instant success. Six Flock Bronzewing (lifer No. 5) landed near the vehicle and we were able to get really good views of them. We then decided to go for a short walk through the scrub to see what we might flush and we came across a small party of Gibberbird (lifer No. 6). I was stoked!

The team then headed further west, almost to the South Australian border, and camped for the night at Fort Grey – the aim being to search for Grey Grasswren in the morning. An evening walk down to the Fort Grey basin – which was full, produced amazing views of both Cockatiels and Budgerigar. It seemed that every tree had a budgie hole with an expectant youngster sticking its neck out for food. An extended game of “marks up” with the footy culminated a long but fulfilling day. Bird total - 142

Little Corella

Budgerigar family

Day 7

We passed through Cameron Corner and were thrilled to see that both the Merty-Merty Road and the Strzelecki Track were OPEN. The Merty-Merty track had only recently been graded and was fantastic to drive on. We stopped on occasions to hunt for the Grey Grasswrens, but the vegetation was so thick, even on the crests of the sand dunes, that it was almost impossible to track anything down. We therefore, determined to head straight for the Track and the Montecollina Bore.

Upon reaching the track, we eventually crossed the Strzelecki River and were stunned by the amount of water that must have passed through. Further south, we followed my brother, Steve’s, directions to the old track where we had wonderful views of three Letter-wing Kites (lifer No 7). Back near the main track we also found Banded Whiteface (lifer No. 8) sitting on the very thorn bush Steve indicated in his directions. Amazing!

We arrived at the Bore to find lots of folk in 4WD vehicles heading up the track to check out the desert. We leapt in and had a great swim. Daniel had admitted earlier that morning that even he thought he was starting to stink, having not washed for a week! We readily agreed and so I produced a cake of soap and scrubbed him down! A quick jaunt into the nearby bush flushed an Australasian Bittern and about one million mozzies, so we retreated very quickly!

We then continued south, picking up a number of species along the way, including Little Button-quail and the Inland Dotterel. We stayed the night at the Mt. Lyndhurst Station shearers quarters – very pleasant indeed, and had a most welcome sleep on a bed! Bird Total – 148

Day 8

Our final birding was early the next morning. Nigel and I headed to the “rusty car” site and the “two gates” site to try our luck for the Chestnut-banded Whiteface. Unfortunately, this elusive little bird did just that, but we did have great views of the Cinnamon Quail-thrush and Rufous Fieldwren. We then did our final pack-up at Mt. Lyndhurst and began the long drive home back to Adelaide. We arrived home late in the evening after covering 3,100kms across four States, seeing a total of 152 birds.

Daniel and Jono seemed to survive it without too much fuss, and it was great to share a new adventure with my son. Nigel had a brilliant time away, collecting 118 lifers!! Now that’s birding! Thanks for being such a great mate and such an enthusiastic student! I was really pleased with the eight new ones I saw, although you always wonder about the ones that got away – the Plum-headed Finch, Red-browed Pardalote, Painted Honeyeater, Grey and Eyrean Grasswrens, Chestnut-banded Whiteface, Australian Bustard and the mythical Grey Falcon, but that’s why there must always be a next time! Thanks finally to the Lloyds for the loan of the vehicle – it was awesome!

Till next time!

Mike