Hawks Nest September 2014 - Part 2: 22nd - 23rd September

My 5th high school year has finally come to a close, so it's time to get back into birding and blogging. Julian and I have a trip to Hattah-Kulkyne National Park and Gluepot Reserve for this coming January.... but first, Hawks Nest part II!

22/9/14

Rising at 7am, I headed down the road to swan bay from the end of Dolphin Avenue, and took the first right, onto a track with small wooden barriers in front of it, behind the houses. I could hear distant Koels and a combined chorus of Lewin’s Honeyeaters, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Magpies, Pied Currawongs, Eastern Spinebills, Superb-fairy Wrens, Satin Bowerbirds, Brown and Yellow Thornbills, Scaly-breasted and Rainbow Lorikeets, Galahs, Little Corellas and distant cries of Whistling Kites. The Google MAPS coordinates of the track are here: -32.664599, 152.176078

Early morning whistling kite

Just near the start of the dirt/sand track, signposted by a large metal gate, I could hear large birds foraging in a nearby tree. I could make out a pair of Satin Bowerbirds feeding on the small blue berries in the canopy of the tree. A smaller, slighter brown bird was with them, quite speckled underneath, with speckles also running down its back and a darkish cap. It raised its head and looked straight down my bins, a REGENT BOWERBIRD!! This is the first of this species I have seen in this area, although they are sometimes seen at the Rainforest Walk within the national park. The bird was an immature, with a black eye, and I could not see any yellow forming on the face, body, bill or eye. As thrilled as I was, the bird only gave short views as it made its way through the fruits on the tree, and it eventually disappeared out the back, before I was able to get a photo. A Crested Shrike-tit, was tearing at some bark about 10m into the swamp forest. It called and provided great views although slightly obscured. 

Crested Shrike-tit feeding

Following the track I took the left hand turn towards some houses near Swan Bay, having walked only 15m or so along the track from the gate. Small parties of Spotted Pardalotes, migrating Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Eastern Spinebills and Yellow Thornbills were seen as well as numerous Scaly-breasted Lorikeet and Sacred Kingfishers, calling and seen. Some Eastern Rosellas and Bar-shouldered Doves were also heard, the former was briefly seen. Two Topknot Pigeons whizzed by, low down, presumably having just flushed, but could not be relocated. 

Eastern Rosella

At the end of this short track, there is an opening which runs along the back of the houses a few streets back from Swan Bay. Here, four Little Lorikeets were located on some budding eucalypts. I watched them for some time, and noted that there were in fact two pairs of lorikeets, with both checking out hollows. They tend to breed in Winter, so this observation is quite interesting. When I googled their breeding habits, I found this interesting extract from a paper which states:

"The breeding season extends from May to September" (Higgins 1999) 

and that

"long term investigation of the breeding population on the north-western slopes indicates that breeding birds are resident from April to December, and even during their non-resident period, they may return to the nest area for short periods if there is some tree-flowering in the vicinity." (Courtney & Debus 2006)

This may indicate that these birds were either late breeders, or simply hanging around the areas, investigating their recently used breeding hollows.

I spent some time watching them, hoping that they one of the hollows they were checking out was actually a nest, but I saw no definite evidence of a nest. At one point one of the lorikeets arrived at a hollow, but was immediately chased away as two adult Scaly-breasted Lorikeets appeared at the entrance. 

What's in here? Little Lorikeet

Nuffin.... Little Lorikeet

You ain't coming in here! Scaly-breasted pair at nest hollow

After watching the lorikeets for some time, I walked along behind the houses flushing about 20 Bar-shouldered Doves as well as encountering numerous family groups of Magpies. Little Wattlebirds were abundant, as well as other species such as Welcome Swallows, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, and Pied Currawongs. Both Koels and Channel-billed Cuckoos could be heard distantly and I briefly saw a Magpie-lark give chase to a male Koel. 

Bar-shouldered Dove

Towards the far end of this open passage behind the houses (the opposite side from Albatross Avenue), there is a small but almost always somewhat full shallow pond. Aside from the campsites in the national park along the lakeside, this is my most reliable spot for Chestnut Teal in Hawks Nest. Two Chestnut Teal were swimming around happily in the water, but as usual they were hard to get close to. 

The swamp (outlined in red) goes through the forest. A single Chestnut Teal is visible

Continuing past them a small group of New Holland Honeyeaters moved across the path ahead and the call of a Striated Pardalote was heard. Eventually a pair was located in a nest hollow. This is the first time I have seen Striated Pardalotes around the town.

Striated Pardalote (subspecies unknown) at hollow

After watching a Whistling Kite circle upwards on the thermals, I turned around and headed back the way I had come. Passing the little swamp again, a pair of White-headed Pigeons and Bar-shouldered Doves came down to drink. This is the most reliable spot in the area for White-headed Pigeons. The other good spot for these birds is a small swamp behind some houses in the backstreets of Tea Gardens. Both of these places have been breeding sites for them in the past. 

Eastern Whipbirds were calling, as well as Rufous and Golden Whistlers and I located a pair of Variegated Fairy-wrens near where the Regent Bowerbirds had been. Lewin’s Honeyeaters called from within the Koala Reserve, and I could distantly hear a Common Bronzewing. As I stepped back onto the road to wander home, a Red-browed Finch flushed from the grass right next to me and disappeared into the forest.

An interesting spider and fly taunt each other on my knee

Eastern Spinebill calling

Later that morning, we all headed out to Dolphin Rock. We drove down to the carpark, and took the path down behind the sand dunes. To reach this track, walk past the evenly placed boulders at the southern end of the carpark. The track is tarmac for a short period, before changing to sand. We crossed over a smallish dune and turned left, following the track until it led to a fenced 4WD passage between the main beach and Port Stephens. Here we turned right and headed towards Jimmy’s Beach which stretches along the Port Stephen’s side of the tombolo to Yacaaba headland. One male Red-capped Plover was observed foraging along the high tide mark. As we approached the small man made lagoon, which is now permanent and tidal, with seagrass growing well at the bottom, large groups of roosting birds became visible.

View approaching Yacaaba Headland (just visible on the left)

Man-made lagoon and its little inlet

The lagoon is the result of sand mining and the relocation of this sand further up the beach where houses have been built at Winda Woppa. The whole project is a geographical and economical disaster as the sand needs to be constantly shunted from one end of the beach to the other to stop the dunes on which the houses have been built from collapsing into the sea. One flock contained Pied Cormorants, Little Pied Cormorants, Australian Pelicans and a single Silver Gull.  Another further flock was made up of Greater Crested Terns, Pied Oystercatchers and Silver Gulls. In the summer, this area can hold Common Terns and numerous migratory waders. I have a hunch that Crested Terns breed along this stretch, having seen numbers of dependent young with adults at here, and roosting flocks numbering above 100 birds, but I am yet to observe them nesting.

Cormorants and Pelicans

Cormorants and Pelicans 2

Greater Crested Tern fishing

Greater Crested Terns roosting

10 Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoos could be seen distantly tearing into a group of banksias at Yacabaa's base, and Silvereyes, Variegated Fairy-wrens (by far the most common fairy-wren in this area), Australian Pipits, White-browed Scrubwrens and Welcome Swallows were all observed on the heathy scrub in the middle of the tombolo. As we neared the base of Yacaaba, the sandy beach slowly turned into a sea of small and large boulders. Proceeding along the boulders, a distant Australasian Gannet was observed and a small pod of dolphins were observed moving slowly through the waves about 40m out.

Two Inshore Bottlenose Dolphins with a friend

After watching them for a short period, we proceeded left, along a sandy track which cuts out about 100m of boulder walking. This track is about 150-200m from the start of the boulders. We walked through some scrubby bushland, before coming out into the open. Here, there is always some low swampy grassland, full of various frogs and froglets, although they can be tough to see. Some Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Welcome Swallows and White-cheeked Honeyeaters were drinking here as we arrived. Little birding was done from here until we left, although a Great Cormorant, Crested Terns and more dolphins were observed. We clambered over the boulders, and I had a little rock climb, about 20m up a sandstone cliff face (it was at quite an angle which made it pretty easy to climb), and achieved some nice views of the bay, as well as south, towards Shark Island, Tomaree NP.

Cormorant on a rock.....            might be a regular roost.... 

Drop from the wee cliff

Sneaky peak of my parents from the cliff top

View out to Shark Island and the southern head of Port Stephens
The cormorant's rock can be seen at the bottom of the image

View back into the port

As we left, about 12 more dolphins were seen, also around 40m distant from the shore. Once we reached the spot where we exited the boulder beach on our way to the site, instead of returning to Jimmy’s Beach, we took the first right, and walked along a track that would eventually bring us to the base of Yacaaba Headland, on the coast side at the far end of the main beach. You can drive down this track and park near the aforementioned intersection, however you will miss lots of the quality birding the bush around Yacaaba has to offer. This track also requires a 4WD as not only does it require a few kilometres of beach driving to get there, it can also get quite wet and slushy, as it was today.

Wouldn't advise 2-wheel driving in this...

Common honeyeaters including Yellow-faced, New Holland, White-cheeked and Little Wattlebirds were abundant along this track. Eastern Whipbirds were also abundant, with at least 20 heard and more than 15 of them were seen. We came to a stop when a whipbird dashed across the road in from of my parents. A group of 6 Large-billed Scrubwren were feeding on some berries in a nearby tree, and happily frolicked about only 1m away from where we had stopped, incredibly calm in our presence. Despite how close they were, a combination of poor light, a viewfinder which is virtually useless and my inability to photograph anything decently unless it is sitting still, made photographs quite hard to come by, but I managed a couple. This is the first time I have seen this species in Myall Lakes National Park, and I have only seen them once before, in Royal National Park in early 2013.

Shame that it's so blown out, might have looked nice.... Large-billed Scrubwren

Large-billed Scrubwren wanted to be close

Golden and Rufous Whistlers were both calling, and a Leaden Flycatcher was briefly seen. A couple more scrubwrens were seen in the littoral rainforest that seems to have formed in this small section of the track. Once I had walked out of this rainforesty section, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and Variegated Fairy-wrens became abundant, and I did not see another scrubwren.

View to the beach on the ocean side of Yacaaba

Walking back along the beach, we encountered only a few Crested Terns and Silver Gulls. One distant adult Australasian Gannet could be seen circling and diving a long way out to sea.

Cabbage Tree Island and Little Island on the left, visible from the beach on the walk back

Cormorants of Little Island with a sneaky gannet flying on the right

Track onto Yacaaba from the main beach, which we walked back along. This track leads through the Scrubwren habitat to Dolphin Rock

A Silver Gull on the main beach

After returning home, I took a quick walk back to the regent bowerbird site, to see if I could relocate and hopefully photograph it. It could not be located, but a single Grey-shrike Thrush was observed high up in a eucalypt, displaying a slight rufous brow; a new species for the day. As well as this, two Little Corellas flew overhead and I could hear Koels and Channel-billed Cuckoos calling as the light slowly disappeared.

Swampy forest, sunset and flash

Not quite a Yangtze River Dolphin

Just before dark, a Striated Heron flew across the river below us, the first this trip. Pied, Little Pied, Little Black and Great Cormorants as well as Australian Pelicans, Silver Gulls, White-faced Herons, Great and Little Egrets all use the mangroves and nearby shipwrecks to roost on at night. Intermediate and Cattle Egrets are also seen, although not today, and Nankeen Night-herons are regular within the mangroves, and can often be seen flying at dusk – again, not tonight. After dark fell, we returned home with fish and chips, to the sound of the local Southern Boobook calling once more from Kurrawong Avenue.

23/9/14

Had a late-ish 8am start today, picking up the usual garden birds with the addition of some Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoos and Blue-faced Honeyeaters. We left at about 11am, to visit Dark Point. This spot is on the northern end of Bennett’s Beach, with a small headland dubbed Little Gibber ending the beach. On the northern side of this headland, a further beach runs along, past Sandy Point, all the way to Seal Rocks. Encountering little aside from a couple of Whistling Kites on the road, we reached the carpark. This is a small, dirt carpark pictured below (-32.602593, 152.269285). On the opposite side of the road from the sand dunes, some bandicoot diggings were present.

Carpark at Dark Point

After parking, we climbed the first mass of sand, to and the subsequent, smaller dune. The mass of sand seen from on top of this dune is often described as the ‘Sahara by the sea’.

View across to the south end of Bennett's Beach and the nearby islands

Mum and the massive dunes

We clambered over the dunes and came to a fenced off area which is an old midden, laden with indigenous stone tools used for opening shells and slicing the shellfish. We walked around this, observing a few Welcome Swallows, Superb-fairy Wrens, White-browed Scrubwrens and a single Whistling Kite.

Midden Site notice

Grass on the sand makes interesting patterns when blown in the wind

Welcome Swallows perch on the fence around the midden site

Proceeding down to the beach, we encountered a few Silver Gulls and Australian Ravens, and some stunning views of the headland, Sandy Point and across the ocean, the full length of Broughton Island. Old shark eggs and dried out blue-bottles were strewn along the beach, stretching for miles. From here we walked around the headland. This is a long route, as you can also simply walk another 50m over the base of the headland (some small sand hills) to the Bennett’s Beach side. However, walking around the headland provides not only stunning scenery and views, but also some nice wildlife. I took some images from various points on the headland as you can see below.

Shark egg on beach

Sandy Point (far left) and Broughton Island, from the beach just north of Dark Point

We crossed a small boulder beach, and climbed slightly higher onto more solid, volcanic rock, some of which was black, and all of which had orange/yellow lichen growing on it.

Boulder Beach

Heath/Grass growing on the headland

View out to Broughton Island from one point on the headland

Lichen growing on the volcanic rocks of the headland

Two Sooty Oystercatchers flew by, calling loudly, and were later located around the other side of the headland. Looking up into the coastal heath at the top of the headland, New Holland Honeyeaters, Little Wattlebirds, Welcome Swallows and Superb Fairy-wrens could be heard and observed, and Whistling Kites and White-bellied Sea-eagles circled above. After crossing a small ‘gorge’ leading down to the pounding waves below, we climbed atop an elevated rock and had lunch, whilst observing Australasian Gannets, Crested Terns, Pied Cormorants and Great Cormorants hunt over the ocean, as well as a single Darter sunning itself. 

Young Sea-eagle

Another sea-eagle, this one almost adult. Detail on the claws.

From this point, Humpback Whales, Green Sea-turtles, Little Penguins and large numbers of Inshore Bottlenose Dolphins have all been observed. Today however there was only the latter. A small pod of around 12 came past, pausing briefly to play in the waves, one pushing its whole body out of the water in a big leap. Following this, a further 40-50 came past, at some speed, although they too stopped to play, before continuing on their way, which appeared to be towards Broughton Island. 

The bottlenose of a bottlenosed dolphin (from the second group)

Side on (from the first group)

While this was happening, some spearfisherman climbed up from the rocks nearby, having left some scraps, and departed around the far side of the headland. Silver Gulls quickly pounced on the scraps, accompanied by Australian Ravens. A Whistling Kite soon dived through the mass and seizes a large portion, which it nibbled in mid-air. It repeated this process a few times. Continuing around the headland, nothing new was seen, although some spectacular views across Bennett’s Beach to Yacaaba Headland, and the adjacent Cabbage Tree Island and the other islands surrounding it, made up for the lack of birdlife. In the summer, large numbers of terns, including Common Tern can be observed along this stretch and Arctic Jaeger is sometimes seen close in to the beach harassing them for their prey. 

Whistling Kite

Diving for some scraps with a buddy

Mum and dad photobombing the great view

Gull drinking in black and white

The walk back across the dunes, although tough on the legs, was most rewarding, providing stunning views across the dunes and over the National Park, all the way to the surrounding mountains. A single adult sea-eagle was seen flying low over the sand, and a Fan-tailed Cuckoo was heard. Brown Thornbills, Grey Fantails and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters called from the trees and scrub around the carpark.

Cabbage Tree Island from the Bennett's Beach side of Dark Point, at full magnification

More massive dunes, featuring dad

From Dark Point, we drove down to the ferry at the end of the eastern side of the river system, which links traffic to the other side of the lakes, from where one can access the freeway, as well as other nice birding sites within the national park. This ferry crossing is one of the most reliable spots for Musk Duck as they are resident on Bombah Broadwater and the other lakes. Great Crested Grebe surely lurk in the vast lake system, but I have yet to find one. Welcome Swallows, Grey Butcherbirds, Pacific Black Ducks, Black Swans, Silver Gulls, Australian Pelicans, Little Black, Little Pied and Great Cormorants were all present, as well as another first for the area for me; a pair of distant Hoary-headed Grebes, one of which had at least one chick on its back. Above us Whistling Kites soared, and common honeyeaters and scaly-breasted lorikeets could be heard. The café across the other side from where we were is the most reliable site in the area that I know of for Blue-faced Honeyeaters, which I could just make out with bins. A friendly Laughing Kookaburra landed in a tree nearby as we turned back.

Kookaburra wing

We travelled back, stopping at the Angophora Picnic Area on the right which led down to a small beach. We flushed a roosting Whistling Kite and I could make out a distant Musk Duck on the lake accompanied by a Great Cormorant. Two Black Swans were found close in and I discovered a minute baby weevil wandering around on my hand. As we left, two Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoos flew in and began tearing up a banksia, and two Topknot Pigeons low over the canopy and landed further up the road, although we could not relocate them.

Black and white swan having a scratch

We continued towards Hawks Nest, pulling in briefly at Hole in the Wall for a quick look around. Almost immediately, the two of the same White-bellied Sea-eagles from Dark Point (excluding the adult) flew towards us from the north, flying low over us providing stunning views. Little else was seen aside from a distant flock of about 20 Topknot Pigeons and some bandicoot diggings, so we continued on our way.

Two young sea-eagles

My parents dropped me off at the end of the golf course at the track that runs along the far northern section of the course, due east. Here, a track leads from the end of the 3^rd green all the way along the 4^th fairway to the green and a small shed. Along this track, the wildflowers are stunning in spring. Although I don’t know the species, I did enjoy studying them in the afternoon light. 

The path of wildflowers

Wedding Bush species

Black-eyed Susan species

Different white flower

Flannel Flower

If you do walk along here, beware of snakes as they often occur in the overgrown patches on either side of the track. I came across one snake trail. Along this track, I noticed a pair of Australian Wood Ducks and loads of ducklings on the fairway, so I stopped to watch them herd their young across the open ground and into some cover. 

Wood ducklings

Once I reached the end of this track, I turned right, across the 4^th fairway, to a small concrete path. Along this path I encountered numerous Red-browed Finches, White-browed Scrubwrens and some Variegated Fairy-wrens including two stunning males. Sadly they wouldn’t sit in the open and in the sun, so I had to settle for them jumping around 3m away in the shade. 

Variegated Fairy-wren (male)

I continued towards the dam of the golf course where I have previously seen Buff-banded Rails, but sadly I could not locate them today. A female Chestnut Teal took flight as I arrived at the pond, and I could see two others, another male and female fly into the low scrub. On hearing alarm calls, I looked up from the pond just as a Brown Goshawk whizzed over the top of the dam, giving chase to the teal in flight. Once the commotion had stopped, I slowly worked my way around the dam, noting a pair of Australasian Grebes. 

Golf course dam... one day Little Bitterns, one day...

Australasian Grebe

Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Little Wattlebirds, and Welcome Swallows all bathed and drank from the dam, and the teal which had been chased  by the goshawk soon returned. Some Variegated Fairy-wrens called from the long grasses around the course, and a single male Superb Fairy-wren appeared from the scrub on the opposite side. Peron’s and Dwarf Green Tree Frogs were the only frog calls I could identify, but I could hear more species. A Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo whistled from the scrub behind the dam, but try as I might, I could not make it show, so I had to settle for listening. I slowly wandered back long the fairways, encountering Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoos, nesting Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, and a family of Crimson Rosellas as well as some Easterns. Masked Lapwings announced their territorial claims and a bunch of Crested Pigeons busily fed in the dying light on the fairway. I photographed a pair of mating wasps, accidentally getting too close and copping one in the face. 

Wasp bunga bunga

Later that night, while listening to the Southern Boobook call, I heard the screech of a Barn Owl somewhere towards the golf course. I have twice before encountered a barnie on the golf course, both times having heard them only.

This is the end of part two of my Hawks Nest trip, September 2014. Part three hopefully won't be too long!! I hope you enjoyed reading. Please use the contact email if you are interested in birding around Myall Lakes National Park/Hawks Nest/Tea Gardens or if you have any questions about the area!

Back in business!

YEAR 11 IS OVER!!!

Well, for me. Simon still has about three weeks to go, poor New South Wegian sod.

Anyway, after an absence of over a month (and two missing part-2s of trip reports, one of which is now up. Simon's may take a bit longer) we are back in business!

I've got a few trip reports to write up still from all over the place, all through the year, as well as a bird-banding trip this weekend. Should be plenty of material hitting the front page before the new year :)

I've also got a new look planned for our page - watch this space!

Cheers,
Julian

Plains Wandering in Deniliquin - Part Two

We arranged with Phil for another morning's birding the following day, and went to bed equally tired and satisfied.

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!

Most people seem to associate emus with open plains, mallee and light scrub - in fact, emus are quite at home in even quite heavy woodland. Not only that, personally I think this is where emus look their best. Unfortunately these three were a bit too distant and nervous to allow photographs, even with the 600mm.

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!