Well.
We tried to go to bed. The local colony of Little and Long-billed Corellas, which normally roosted by the river, had decided to move to the trees directly above the tents. Every few minutes, one would squawk, setting off a chain reaction of muffled grunts and screeches through the trees.
Thankfully though, we were pretty worn out from the evening's events, so we were able to sleep through most of it.
We joined Phil at about 9am the following morning, and set off. Our first port of call was a site on the far side of town, another regeneration block managed by Phil. Driving down a dirt road towards the site, we spotted a trio of Emu wandering through the light forest - a rather different view to the single bird we saw in open paddocks at the Ground Cuckoo-shrike stop.
Gear of the day!
We arrived at the site, and spread out through the new-growth woodland. A great many Silvereyes were flitting around, accompanied by various Honeyeater species (Spiny-cheeked, Yellow-faced). Despite a fairly rigorous search, there was no sign of either of our target Thornbills, Inland and Chestnut-rumped.
A short walk further down the road brought us to a slightly older patch of regen. We wandered amongst the trees, but the forest was uncharacteristically quiet, little to no bird movement at all - just one male Mistletoebird put in an appearance. After Dave had carried out a quick in-situ photoshoot of Phil, we made our way to the next site.
Dave positioning Phil
Our next stop was Gulpa Island National Park (As I've previously mentioned, I have really no sense of direction when not traveling by foot - so I can't tell you exactly where this place is. I only found out the name of the NP by going back and finding Daniel Venema's Red-capped Robin shot from the location). The drive into the park through old-growth woodland provided a few surprises. We pulled up on the side of the track as Phil noticed some small Passerine activity, and we were treated to quite a display!
We had stumbled across a mixed feeding-flock, a trademark of Australian woodlands in winter. Buff-rumped Thornbills, Grey Fantails, Scarlet Robins and Spotted Pardalotes were feeding in close proximity to one another, with several other species following at a distance. White-eared Honeyeaters, Golden Whistlers, White-throated Treecreepers and a single Fan-tailed Cuckoo comprised the hangers-on of this group.
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Tearing ourselves away from this bonanza, we quickly observed a young Wedge-tailed Eagle passing overhead (accompanied by Whistling Kites) before finally arriving at the national park entrance.
Phil had advised us that our main target for the site was Gilbert's Whistler, a lifer for most of the group, myself included. We kept our eyes peeled, but unfortunately during our visit the closest we saw were Golden Whistlers.
That's not to say it wasn't worth the trip though! During a three-hour walk through the forest, we spied a number of interesting species, including Hooded and Red-capped Robins, Brown Treecreepers, Varied Sittella, Variegated Fairy-wren, White-browed Babbler and Grey-crowned Babbler. One person thought they saw a Diamond Firetail (although unfortunately we were unable to relocate it), and we even saw evidence of Major Mitchell's Cockatoos, in the chewed remains of paddy melons (Cucumis myriocarpus) in a large clearing. Evidence that was soon destroyed, as a paddy melon fight broke out between Fatih and the Australian Young Birders members, Owen, Simon and myself.
Red-capped Robin
Photographers in the bush!
I'm not sure how long we spent in the park, but it seemed like several hours later when we burst out of the forest and found ourselves back on the track we had driven up to get to the site. We ambled back to the cars, pausing for Dave to take a group photograph (viewable on one of the other threads in this forum).
Phil had one more thing lined up for us - an visit to yet another regen site, Wanganella Sandhill, out on the Deniliquin plains. This, he assured us, was our chance for White-backed Swallow, an inland specialty.
A collection of feral cat skins adorned the fence around the little reserve - a poignant reminder that even (especially) out here in the sticks, our actions are having detrimental effects on the ecosystem around us. Especially through cats, the most damaging feral predator currently calling Australia home.
Once inside, we watched a pair of Brown Falcons following a Swamp Harrier as it quartered the expanse of reeds alongside the reserve. European Starlings flew over, another unwelcome addition the feral species section of the trip list. We crested the hill, and made our way to the sandbanks where the swallows were reportedly nesting.
The sandbank, created by Phil, was essentially three deep holes in the ground, with holes drilled into the sides at various points. We could see a few strands of grass hanging out of a few of them, but either the swallows had seen us coming or there was nobody home. A few Fairy Martins did laps above us, but that was the total of Hirundinidae activity.
We left the sandbanks and wandered off down the hill. Looking out over the vast shrubby plains, small flocks of Zebra Finches were a very pleasant addition to the trip list. A keeling, high-pitched call drew attention to a single Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, perched on the fenceline bounding the reserve.
We were debating heading off, when a few almost inaudible squeaks drew us to a wheeling flock of Martins high above us - so far up that they were specks even in binoculars. As far as we could tell, they were all Fairy Martins - but they seemed to be spiraling lower, so we decided to wait it out, and see if there were any White-backs hiding amongst them.
We waited for about ten minutes, and the birds were definitely closer. We gave it another try, and I finally managed to pick up a white throat patch and long tail streamers amongst the martins - a solitary White-backed Swallow!!
The birds were still ridiculously high up, so getting photographs was almost impossible - I almost fell over backwards attempting to track the swallow with the 600mm. Nevertheless, most of us managed at least a record shot!
White-backed Swallow
As we walked back to the cars, Owen was chatting to Phil about the distribution of various inland species. He mentioned Yellow-throated Miners, trying to work out if he was likely to get them in the area (being a lifer for him). Phil replied with surprise that we had just walked past about 7 of them, which the rest of us had assumed were Noisy Miners.
Owen nicked off in pursuit of the Miners, as the rest of us continued to the cars. Here we were lucky enough to witness one of the highlights (for me) of the trip -the display of a Wedge-tailed Eagle. He flew in quite close, just soaring, as we half-watched him. He started to climb, and then suddenly folded his wings and dropped like a stone for about twenty meters. Before he lost control, he opened his wings and soared back to his starting height.
The eagle repeated this performance several times, before gliding off into the distance.
We returned to camp, where Phil left us amongst many cries of gratitude. After lunch, we wound our way back to the White-winged Fairy-wren site from the day before, to get down to some serious photography.
On arrival at our (now well-loved) Fairy-wren site, Fatih, Daniel and I set out together over the saltbush flats, the others dispersing to find their own quarry.
The Camo Squad
We spent an hour and a half in the area, stalking from bush to bush, awaiting that fleeting flash or electric blue as the male White-winged Fairy-wren would pop up to the top of the bush. Or, more often, fly out the back of the bush to another.
White-winged Fairy Wrens
Eventually we pinned down a pair of males in the low scrub by the road, and we all managed to get photos we were happy with!
Triumphant return!
It sure is flat out there (Feat. Owen)
It was getting quite late by this point, and as we trundled back towards camp, we debated having a last fling for the trip. After a bit of quick organizing, Owen, Simon, John Daniels and myself set out towards Barmah NSW, in the hope of adding a very odd bird to our lists.
Until that day, I'd been under the impression that the only tickable population of Ostrich in Australia resided somewhere in remote South Australia. As it turns out, while there is a population out there, it isn't the only one. Barham is home to a few birds too, which apparently meet the criteria for tickability!
On arrival at the site (I fell asleep for most of the way out, so once again, I can't tell you where exactly it is), we came across a bird almost immediately. A single male, striding out through an open paddock. Somewhere between Deni and Barham we'd crossed a weather band of some kind, and it was pouring with rain, making photography at that distance essentially useless. We turned up a laneway and followed the bird, stumbling across a few more (another male and two females) much closer to the road.
The light was abysmal. Thankfully Dave had lent me his 5D mark 3 for the twitch, which handled the noise a lot better than my 7D might have. I even got a few I'm pleased with!
Ostrich
We returned to camp for our last night under canvas. The next morning, after packing away the Tent To End All Tents, we bid those who remained of our group farewell and set off, tired, but with a sense of deep satisfaction at having achieved our goal of photographing Plains Wanderer, and essentially all the other species we had come across!
We had a bit more excitement on the way home though - the Ground Cuckoo-shrikes were in the exact same spot, on the exact same bit of fence!! This time they were more settled, and we managed to stalk them for a bit. Infuriatingly, I seem to have lost all my images after the ostriches in the download. There weren't any super-duper ones in there, but still! We paused for a while at Rowes Lagoon near Collector, NSW in order to look for the numerous Australasian Bitterns which had been reported there. Although I don't think any of us got decent photos due to bad lighting and distance, we had good views of them flying up out of the reeds, circling, and dropping back down again. The perfect way to end the trip!
I really don't know how to express the magnitude of my thanks to Dave for procuring the 600mm, lending me his 1DX and 5D3, for taking me along, letting me use his tent, on and on. Somehow I'll make it up to you!!
Enormous thanks also to Phil Maher for taking us out and being so very generous with his time!
And thanks to all the F&P members who came; Simon, Owen and Fatih for being awesome traveling companions and photography mates; and John Daniels for taking us out to see the Ostrich. I for one certainly couldn't have had a better time!
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