There was an old birdo named IanOn Letter-winged Kites had a lien
Took his friends to the Barkly
Their hopes were dashed starkly
Of Letter-winged Kites they saw nien.
There was an old birdo named Ian
On Letter-winged Kites had a lien
Took his friends to the Barkly
Their hopes were dashed starkly
Of Letter-winged Kites they saw nien.
Leone Lewington
Over May 4-27 18 COG members visited central Australia courtesy of Environment Tours. Ian Fraser and Margaret McJannett provided a tour packed with birding highlights, explanations of the environmental context in which the birds lived, information about the human history (especially the aboriginal history) and the usual assortment of dubious jokes and puns that former "Environmental Tourists" know and loathe/love.
Due to good rains last November/December our view of central Australia differed somewhat from the standard tourist brochure image. We saw the centre at a time of good cover and when there were still ponds of water in the creeks - there was water in the Todd River! This meant that we saw many of the irruptive species, but it also meant that birds had dispersed from some of the more well-known permanent water locations.
Over 180 different species were seen on the trip. Most, if not all, members of the group had good views of most of these species. Among the inland and central Australian specialities were: Crested Bellbird, Chiming Wedgebill, Little Button Quail, Crimson, Orange and Gibber Chats, Ground Cuckoo-shrikes, Splendid and White-winged Fairy-wrens, Painted Finch, Dusky Grasswren, Black, Pied, Grey-headed, Grey-fronted, White-fronted, Striped, Singing, Spiny-cheeked and the inland race of White-plumed Honeyeaters, Regent and Bourke's Parrots, Banded and Black-winged Stilts, White-backed Swallows, Inland, Chestnut-rumped and Slaty-backed Thornbills, Southern and Banded Whitefaces, White-browed Treecreepers and Red-backed Kingfisher.
The tour based at Curtin Springs Station for its forays to Uluru and Kata Tjuta. At the station we met Ian Barker, one of the resident stockmen. He is a laconic, dry-witted bushman who provided one of the real tour highlights when he gave us a guided tour of the property. His knowledge of the shrubs and grasses on the property was astounding. He knows the medicinal or other properties of the shrubs and the protein content of all of the grasses. His knowledge of the flowers wasn't as strong, "We aren't much interested in flowers around here, the cattle don't like to eat them". He also had fixed views about "new age" ideas on re-naming Cassia, how many vegetables should be eaten with your steaks (none!) and people entering cattle properties with the wrong attitude.
The dramatic scenery and colours of central Australia were another highlight. Amongst a number of memorable walks, the Ormiston Gorge and Pound walk in the West MacDonnell Range was special. This must be one of the most spectacular day walks in Australia. As well as being a place of great scenic beauty, the Gorge supports a large population of Black-footed Rock-Wallabies and is a very good birding spot. On our visit we saw Western Bowerbirds, Grey-fronted, Grey-headed and Brown Honeyeaters, Spinifex Pigeons and Painted Finch.
We searched in vain for Letter-winged Kites on the Barkly Tableland but our efforts were rewarded with close range views of numerous Australian Pratincoles and Singing Bushlarks and a spectacular "big sky" sunset over the Tableland.
Another tour highlight for most of the group was the elusive Spinifexbird. Despite, or perhaps because of, intensive searching by 20 keen birdwatchers, this bird eluded us at a number of locations. Eventually we managed to find it at Corroboree Rock, on the Panorama walk at Trephina Gorge in the East MacDonnells (yet another impressive "scenery" bushwalk) and at Arltunga Historic Reserve. This was a "first" for most members of the tour, including our intrepid tour-leader.
In a three-week period of almost uniformly blue skies, it is hardly surprising that we had trouble finding grey birds. However, there were reports of a Grey Falcon at Uluru and "skinny sparrows" visiting the Olive Pink Botanic Gardens in Alice Springs (prior to our arrival!).
All in all, a most enjoyable tour filled with birding and scenery, but one that also gave a rare insight into the abundance that can occur in central Australia following good rains.
Murray Delahoy