Ticks and Assorted Quail SW Qld P2

After leaving Bowra and stopping off in Cunnamulla to stock up on food, we were off to Kilcowera Station, which is south of Thargominda and west of Currawinya National Park for anyone that didn’t know Nothing much happened along the drive. I was continuously looking for Buzzards (but didn’t find any), and thought I saw a Wedgebill fly off from the side of the road at one stage (the colour and tail marking looked right, but we didn’t stop).

About 30km east of Thargominda, we stopped off for half and hour at Lake Bindegolly. This was amazing because the lake was pretty much full with all the rains this year, so water-birds were in abundance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t drive out to the bird hide because the road was flooded… I had a look around near the highway, and turned up some great species like Blue-billed Duck and Plumed-whistling Ducks. In the distance, there were two PINK-EARED DUCKS, and while I was looking at a Black-fronted Dotterel, I noticed a BLACK-TAILED NATIVE-HEN a few metres away from me! When the hen wandered off, I turned my attention to the various terns that were flying around. With the help of the camera and zoom button, I was able to ID some Caspian Terns, GULL-BILLED TERNS and WHISKERED TERNS.

On to Kilcowera (after stopping for fuel in Thargominda). One point to note if you’re going down this way – Bowra is within 10km Cunnamulla, so you can obtain fuel daily if you need to. Kilcowera on the other hand is 70km away from the nearest town, so you have to take a jerry can, and preferably a diesel car. Since we didn’t have a diesel, our driving was limited, so most of my birding at Kilcowera was done by walking.

On the way to the station, we past a huge swarm of locusts, the first large group that we had encountered on the trip. Every tree we drove past released a swarm of them! Also, there was an abundance of budgerigars (quite a sight considering there was only one at Bowra) Arriving at Kilcowera, I didn’t get anything in the way of lifers for the rest of the day (probably due to the fact I spent most of my time trying to get a good photo of a budgie)

I’ll give a bit of background on the property for those interested. Kilcowera is like Bowra, the owners have tried to clear as little of the vegetation as possible, while still farming cattle. It is still a working cattle station (unlike Bowra), but still holds an abundance of birds. The property is also MUCH bigger than Bowra, the length being around 40km, compared to Bowra which is closer to 20km. Its eastern edge borders Lake Wyara in Currawinya National Park. As I mentioned before, petrol was a problem, so the amount of driving on the property was limited. Before sunset, I managed to get one lifer, a MASKED WOODSWALLOW, which was not present at Bowra. This was another advantage to going to Kilcowera after Bowra – the nomadic birds that were not at Bowra were at Kilcowera. Also, Kilcowera offered a variety of more western birds that would not often be seen at Bowra.

I woke up the next morning to go and find a CRESTED BELLBIRD, which had been eluding me at Bowra. I would only ever hear them, and when I got within 20m they would stop calling. I finally got a great view of one here. I saw it perched atop a dead tree, calling its heart out. Of course, when I got too close it stopped and flew to the ground, not giving me a very good look. I decided to be patient and sit on the ground and wait for it to start calling again. To my surprise, it flew out of the dense scrub and landed on a bush a few metres away from me. I watched it for 5 WHOLE MINUTES before it got bored of calling and went back into the scrub to try and find some food. Again, I had no camera. On the trip, all my luck appeared when I didn’t have a camera!

We headed off to Lake Wyara at about 8:00 to look for Orange Chats. Down there, we met two birders who had visited Kilcowera 4 times over previous years. I was surprised to hear that the area we were standing in, looking for chats (see picture ^^^) was completely devoid of plant life in August 2008, which was there last visit. In fact, there had been so little vegetation then, that these two birders had had the luck of seeing a Gibberbird and a nesting pair of Inland Dotterels, right where the water was now covering. There was so much vegetation now though, that both those birds were pretty much unattainable, since they both prefer gibber plains with limited flora. While I’m on the topic, I’ll go through some other highlights of Kilcoweras bird list. It includes Cinnamon-breasted Quail-thrush, Freckled Duck, Grey Falcon, Chirruping Wedgebill and Slaty-backed Thornbill (not that I saw any of these…).

Getting back to birding, there were a few White-winged Fairy-wrens around, and it wasn’t long before I got a glimpse of a pipit like bird, which, on closer inspection, turned out to be a female ORANGE CHAT. I called Sandra (the other birder) over, and we watched it for a bit, hopping around the waters edge. It flew back into the vegetation and perched on top of a bush. I was looking at it through my binoculars when a stunning male landed next to the female. Within about 10 minutes, we’d tracked down 3 females and 2 males.

After half and hour of observation from a distance, I decided to try and get a bit closer to one of the males. It flew off before I got too close, but when I was walking back to everyone else, a male landed halfway in between us. I sat down and looked at it (being much closer than the others we had seen), and then decided to try some pishing (considering it seemed to work so well on the Black Honeyeater at Bowra) To my surprise, the male Orange Chat kept coming closer and closer until it was well within 3m of me!!! Then the female joined it and they hopped around for a bit. After five minutes or so, I realised they were actually gathering insects and not eating them, which told me they must have chicks somewhere nearby. When they had moved away from me, I got up and we all left so they could get back to raising their chicks in peace.

We left after a quick, unsuccessful, look for Inland Dotterels, and followed a different road back towards camp. I saw a pair of COCKATIELS fly over at one point, but that was it until we got to a small, dry creek with a Freckled Monitor in it. I’m all for reptiles as well as birds, so I rattled off a few shots, then realised the treecreeper I was hearing in the background was actually my elusive WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPER! I got some good views, then went back to the monitor when it had flown off.

A bit further up the road, I noticed a tree with a lot of flowering going on. I decided to try my luck with the Pied Honeyeaters that were supposedly everywhere on the property. When I stepped out of the car, I noticed a button-quail next to my foot (experience 3). This was the best view I got of a quail the whole trip, but I still couldn’t ID it 100%. I’m 90% sure it was a little-button, but it’s not ticked. There were no Pied Honeyeaters in the tree either.

The next morning, we headed out to a waterhole, which didn’t have anything in it except a distant HOARY-HEADED GREBE (finally!) On the way up though, I did finally see a BANDED LAPWING, a pair in fact. They were getting a bit cranky, so I decided they had a nest, and, not wanting to get swooped for the 3^rd time this trip (first was a Magpie in Bourke and second was a Little Friarbird at Bowra), I took a few shots and left them in peace.

Mid-morning, we headed out along a different track to a different paddock. This was to be our last drive or we wouldn’t have enough petrol to make it to our refueling town. This paddock was famous for its Cinnamon-breasted Quail-thrush, which we did not see. I was walking along a fence at one point, and noticed a quail a metre or so away from me (experience 4). It’s head was behind a bush, otherwise I would have been able to ID it. When I yelled out quail to my mum so she would stop (it was less than 30cm away from her foot) she didn’t know where it was, and made a move to tell my dad and sister to stop, which made the quail flush. It was at about this point that I was starting to hate quails.

I kept walking along the fence when I noticed a red finch fly from the wire in front of me to some more wire a bit further up the fence line. I was surprised, since the only finches I had seen this trip were Zebra Finches. I then realised it was much too red for a Diamond Firetail, and got my binoculars on it to reveal a stunning male CRIMSON CHAT and his two females. After chasing them around for a few minutes until they were out of sight, we all headed back to the car. At the same spot as the last quail experience, I flushed 2 more (experience 5). This made me quite cranky, having not seen them before they flushed, so I rushed over to where they had landed. I flushed one for a second time, but still couldn’t get an identifiable view. One upside was that I got a photo (a pretty bad one) of a Crested Bellbird while I was chasing the quails.

For the rest of the day, I contented myself with walks around the camp. I finally managed to get fantastic views of a pair of Cockatiels (of course I didn’t have the camera), but I did find them again later when I did have the camera, along with a male Mulga Parrot, all feeding in the same tree.

Walking back to camp from the after all the parrots had flown off, I flushed another quail (experience 6) and raced back to get my iPod and speakers. Unfortunately, the quail (which I thought was a little-button) was not obliging enough to come out to the sound of callback. While over at the shower block, I found some birders who had been at Bowra with us, and the told me they had seen 3 Pied Honeyeaters less than 5 minutes before. I raced off to this spot (after telling them where the Banded Lapwings were, because they were looking for them), and followed the call until it stopped. While I was madly chasing this Pied Honeyeater, I flushed another quail (experience 7), but didn’t chase it, because I was still on the honeyeater trail. I finally got a brief, distant glimpse in the fading light (it was already 6:00), but not really well enough to tick.

I was dropped off there the next morning for an hour, and spent 30 minutes trying to find a call, then 15 minutes following the call until I finally got a fantastic view of a male PIED HONEYEATER. He preened himself while calling, and then did and aerial display (I’m guessing some kind of mating related dance) I left Kilcowera feeling pretty good, having got almost every one of my main target species for the trip, except for Painted Honeyeater and Spotted Nightjar. On the way out of the station, I noticed a female Bustard in some long grass, and everyone got some good looks at it (my dad’s favourite bird for the trip after the Orange Chats ;) ), and I got some photos (pretty bad because of the distance and the sun, which was behind the Bustard), but got a passable one when she took off and flew, clumsily into the distance.

Nothing happened on the drive to Nyngan (except the fact that Hungerford, population 20, had a sports carnival on, and we almost missed the petrol station manager, as he was about to leave to go and watch the sports day) Nyngan Riverside Caravan Park was pretty good, but I didn’t spend much time birding there, as we arrived at about 5:00 and left at 8:00 the next day. I did see some AUSTRALIAN REED-WARBLERS (yes, I have seen these before, but not well enough to tick…), and the STW was a bit of a letdown, revealing only Hardheads, Grey Teals and one Aussie Grebe.

Overall, this was a fantastic trip, and I highly recommend it to anyone!

Stats

39 lifers

132 species seen