After a year's wait we finally escaped for
another inland bird bash. Brown trousers, bins, scope and new sleeping
bag and thermaRest at the ready. Bird
on! In past outings we've trundled round bits of South Australia, but this time
decided not to sail quite so far west but steer a northerly trajectory, via
Bourke, into central Queensland and Carnarvon Gorge, before tending to the
coast and home.
We popped over the chilly Bluies, still adorned
with slush from the day before, and bunkered down in Mudgee. The standard
pie and coffee breakfast was followed by an outing at the nearby Pucca Bucca
wetlands. Despite an absence of finches, we picked up the delightful
Crested Shrike Tit, which we'd not seen in about 4 years. With eyes ever
on the clock we bundled back into the car for the long northerly haul to
Gulargambone (love that name) and the eastern entrance to the Macquarie
Marshes, which are looking pretty dry despite decent rainfall over the last few
weeks. Some good ticks at the Monkeygar Crossing, then on to Willie
Retreat.
We stayed at Willie some years ago, and it's
good to see its custodian, Myra, still bubbling and well, as were Patrick the
pig ("he eats all day"), and Tiny Tim (see attached poem). Myra provided a few logs for the fire (it was
chilly), switched on the hot water and bid us good eve.
We had a great morning listening to the sounds
of the western bush. Morning highlights included
the resident Spotted Bowerbird and a Superb Parrot fly-by. Unfortunately,
we had to keep moving so by late morning were back into the car and travelling
at warp speed, first to Bourke, then over the border into QLD. Crossing
the border one crosses both a cartological and architectural divide; all
dwellings were now magically propped up on stilts. Large straights were
traversed in a zig-zag manner, with road kill to be dodged literally every 100
meters. Good reason to make haste and not be caught out after dark.
The only other vehicles out there seemed to be; the intermittent
migrating Greynomadus campervanus, 4WDs adorned with mining logos, or the odd 3-segment
road train. Birding highlight was probably a flock of Major Mitchell's
Cockatoos feeding roadside; a pink-rainbow-crested version of the
Sulfur-Crested, and one you’ll not find anywhere near Sydney.
We were aiming for a particular property, Bowra
Station, now a reserve managed by Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and renowned
for inland rarities. Accommodation was one of several rooms in the former
shearers quarters, now all occupied by migratory birders. Mostly retired or
semi-retired, good-natured jolly folk, sometimes with less enthusiastic
partners in tow, and generally toting cameras and lenses substantially more
impressive than my kit. But sometimes
luck is just as important; we'd barely arrived and cracked a beer by the
bore-drain lake when a flock of Major Mitchell's settled into a tree in front
of us. A rainbow briefly backlit the
scene. Magic. In an instant it was over, but I'd been the lucky
Johnny-on-the-spot.
At 6 pm every evening a gathering occurs in the
shearers quarters where the property managers host a roll call of all species
seen on the property that day. Great for getting a feel of what was there
and where one might go looking for them. Following the roll-call, meals
are cooked and consumed, and discussion continues centric to the hobby we all
share. The adjacent thermal bore shower has to be up there with the best.
Hot water on tap 24/7 and with loads of pressure behind it.
A-grade.
We stayed 2 nights at Bowra, and despite not ticking
any mega rarities the property is renowned for (there’s that luck element
swinging the other way), we did get great looks at Bourke's parrot (which we
didn't see in Bourke). Bourke’s Parrot
was a new tick for both of us. Given the
number of times I’ve gone inland and not seen it, I think it was probably bird
of the trip for me. And GK was right; it hadn't occurred to either of us
but the parrot carries the name of a former Governor of NSW; no connection to
Burke and Wills.
We bid Bowra farewell and headed north on
another long transit towards Carnarvon Gorge, overnighting in Mitchell, which
had a great small bird boil up in the camping ground. Carnarvon is like a
Jurasic version of the Blue Mountains, plonked in south west QLD, with tree
palms replacing tree ferns in the gullies.
We expected that any new ticks we'd get would
be found on Bowra, but this turned out not to be the case. We were now
far enough north (similar latitude to Frazer island), to pick up birds with typically
more northerly ranges. On our third morning at Carnarvon we finally
tracked down the owner of the crack-of-dawn chorus belter; hello White Throated
Honeyeater! Other highlights included the almost deafening cacophony of
Rainbow Lorikeets and Noisy Friarbirds, which dominate the Carnarvon birdscape,
and the Platypuses (appropriately; Ornithorhynchus anatinus) which were viewed
in the stream next to camp each morning.
I’m guessing Carnarvon is about as dead-cert for platypus as it gets!
After a combined 30 km of walking it was time
to give weary feet a break and head eastward.
We next dropped anchor at the smaller Cania Gorge, where I finally
matched call to delicate pink breast and calculated the answer to be my first
proper view of Rose Robin. Unfortunately, both my camera and Anita missed
the moment, and we didn't happen upon another chance this trip. However,
we both nailed Forest Kingfisher (another new one) before departing.
We next drifted towards the coast in the form
of Inskip Point; the sandy gateway to Frazer Island itself. Highlight of
the transit were a posse of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos feeding by the road in
no place particular – another new tick for both of us (Anita’s bird of the
trip). Naturally enough, the bird we
were aiming to tick (Black Breasted Button Quail) failed to show at
Inskip. But we've become so used to
dipping on signature species we are no longer disappointed. Still, we were now
adding coastal species to the trip list, which was now coasting past 150
species. And it's always nice to have the ocean wafting through ones
nostrils.
Later the following day we found ourselves
dropping in on Anita’s parents in lovely Coolum, who kindly spoiled us rotten
for three days and nights. Aside from
mostly relaxing, we managed some lovely walks and even managed another new tick
in the form of Collared Kingfisher at the Maroochy Wetlands. Sometimes time moves fastest when you are
doing nothing much at all, and before we knew it we had to bundle back into the
car for an express trip back to Sydney over two days via the New England Hwy
and Thunderbolts Way. With a day to
travel the trip list stood at 190 species, and despite a couple of rainforest
stops in the Barrington area, we only added 3 by the time we rolled back into
Busaco Rd – weary from travel but a little bit PO’d that two weeks had gone
just like that (I snap my fingers).
Really looking forward to this retirement thing!
Spotted Bowerbird's bower, complete with vertebrae and 303 shells
