Recently I had some spare-time available and decided to ‘explore’ an area that I had previously not visited, looking through the available literature I realised that north-east South Australia had some bird-species that I had yet to encounter and would be fairly accessible in my new acquisition, a 4WD Nissan Xtrail.
I decided that I would aim to spend up to one week visiting the Flinders Ranges and the area known as Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary.
Driving north on Sunday I arrived at Hattah before dusk, and spent the evening ‘under the stars’ and apart from the odd annoying mosquito had a pleasant night, hearing Australian Owlet-Nightjar, Tawny Frogmouth, Southern Boobook and a nocturnal Red-backed Kingfisher. After breakfast my next priority was to drive along the Old Calder Highway (inside the park) and look for the (…almost mythical) Striated Grasswrens. Sadly, the curse continued and although I continued to have an australian-list totally devoid of grasswrens, I did manage to see Splendid Fairy-wrens, Regent Parrots and Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos amongst others
The route north between Mildura and the cultivated areas of South Australia is rather sparse for bird-life but there seemed to be many Emu with young close to the roads (…indeed, throughout the area this was the case)
The town of Hawker lies at the southern-end of the Flinders Ranges, I arrived there in late-afternoon and refueled. My intention was to spend the night in the national-park so I paid for entry and a camping-permit at the main store. Driving north towards Parachilna I started to see a little more bird-life and recorded several Spotted Harriers, White-backed Swallows, Brown Falcons and also realised that this stretch of road is a ‘killing-ground’ for macropods and Emus. Black, Whistling Kites and Wedge-tailed Eagles were in large numbers. As I ventured further storms began to appear and bolts of lightning were seen above the ranges, questioning the wisdom of camping in the park I dropped in on the Parachilna Hotel and the manager (who was just shutting-shop) told me not to worry about the storm as they ‘usually go around us’, proceeding towards the hills with lightning-bolts appearing more frequently, signs appeared warning of the dangers of ‘flash-flooding’. Eventually at dusk, I reached the small Angorichina area and pulled off road and made some space in the back of the truck to sleep, however it became unbelievably humid and I decided to sleep outside on my camp-bed (…despite the ominous-weather) Surprisingly, I managed to get a few hours sleep and awoke at dawn, quite cold as a south-westerly change blew through. Birding here was quite interesting and about 30 species were recorded including my first ‘lifer’ of the trip (which I was to see plenty of further north) the Grey-fronted Honeyeater.
My next stop was the rather attractive town of Blinman, and after a superb home-made meat-pie and coffee outside the general-store, the proprietor recommended that I visit the hotel and get a room there, an attractive option as I just spent two nights ‘al-fresco’. This was duly-organized and I enquired about the supply of fuel in Blinman, unfortunately I was told that would have to drive 60 kms south to Wilpena Pound to refuel as the only other outlet was at the resort at Angorichina (where I had previously been). This was OK as it would give me the opportunity to go in search of another near-mythical species the Short-tailed Grasswren. ‘Armed’ with a copy of Tim Dolby and Rohan Clarke’s excellent “Finding Australian Birds” and on a sunny but fairly-cool morning I made my way to the stunningly beautiful area around Wilpena. After consulting their tome I followed Tim and Rohan’s advice and wandered through the low triodia ( AKA Spinifex) clumps around Stokes Hill Lookout. Failing to see or hear any evidence of these supernatural-beasts, I tried again at another site, the Appealinna Ruins about 5.5 kms north, but guess-what? Despite trudging through kilometres of suitable habitat no sign, visible or audible there either. Begs the question, has anyone seen them in this area recently?
Fortunately it was not totally depressing as I managed to find some reasonably large flocks of Orange Chat nearby. There were also some very interesting information-boards among the ruins relating to the early-settlers and their clashes with the ‘establishment’ of the time, well-worth reading.
After a very comfortable evening in the Blinman Hotel, I asked the manager how long it should take me to drive the 153 kms on unsealed road to Arkaroola Resort (…where I’d planned to stay for a few days) Google Maps claim that it’s a 5-hour drive but he told me that most people do it in 2, but as I would be stopping for all those birds it might take 3 (….in actual-fact it took more like 7!)
The drive was long and bird-life quite sparse but I did come across some very interesting ‘pockets’ of activity, the first near Wirrealpa Station where I spotted some small birds flying across the road and wandering up a small creek-bed found lots of flowering eremophila bushes. Here I found young and adult White-fronted, Pied, White-plumed, Spiny-cheeked and Singing Honeyeaters and a singing Red-backed Kingfisher. Further along at Wirra Creek there were some nice gums and much avian-sound and I was surprised to hear Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Rufous Songlark and Brown Treecreeper calling.
Another place that I had hoped to see was the picturesque Chambers Gorge but was unable to stop due to time considerations, however near here I did spot my first definite Budgerigars, Crimson Chats and White-winged Triller.
On arrival at Arkaroola Resort I was dismayed to realise that I had a flat tyre but was pleasantly surprised when one of the staff offered to fix it in the workshop, sadly it was unrepairable but fortunately there were two suitable ones in storage so I was able to replace it and continue my trip (….thanks Roger!)
During the next couple of days I visited several local sites and found small concentrations of wildlife and although grasswrens ‘eluded’ me once again I was told by the owner that they often encounter them along tracks with suitable ‘triodia‘ habitat but usually earlier in the season. Obviously in December birding was better early and late in the day so I tended to visit areas which had small waterholes or bores, the best of which I found to be at a site fairly close to the resort at Miniremarkable Mine, where water leaked from an artesian-well. The most abundant species here were undoubtedly Zebra Finch but there were plenty of Grey-fronted Honeyeater, White-browed Babbler, Diamond and Peaceful Doves and whilst observing quietly from a short-distance I was surprised to see a thirsty Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby drink a large quantity of water.
Over the time that I had spent in South Australia the weather had been generally good with clear skies and mild temperatures however that evening at the resort the helpful staff let me know that it was expected to be very hot by the weekend and probably over forty degrees, so I made the decision to return to the relative comfort of Melbourne.
Early on Friday morning I packed up the tent and ate breakfast in the BBQ shed overlooking the resort, and whilst tucking into my muesli and enjoying the fantastic scenery I heard the unmistakable call of the Black-eared Cuckoo (a species that the resort staff had told me was reasonably common there) Attempting my best imitation of the sad-sound I was amazed when a shadow flew over my shoulder and the bird was perched less than two metres from me in a small bush! Equally surprisingly it then decided to enjoy the early-morning sunshine and ‘puffed’ its rump up and soaked up the warm rays! It was so confiding that it let me take some fairly close shots. If this wasn’t enough a party of Variegated Fairywrens turned up, at almost the same distance and I managed to get a bit of video of a handsome male.
And so ended an ‘all-to-brief’ trip, a touch disappointed that I had only found one of several possible ‘lifers’ and still no grasswrens but happy in the knowledge that there are some great habitats that require my return in the very near-future!
Species List
- Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) Throughout
- Australasian Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae) Hattah
- Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax) Arkaroola
- Black Kite (Milvus migrans) Throughout
- Little Eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides) Angarochina
- Brown Goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus) Blinman
- Spotted Harrier (Circus assimilis) Hawker
- Australian Pratincole (Stiltia isabella) Orroroo
- Banded Lapwing (Vanellus tricolor) Appealinna
- Brown Falcon (Falco berigora) Blinman
- Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides) Throughout
- Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera) Arkaroola
- Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes) Blinman
- Diamond Dove (Geopelia cuneata) Arkaroola
- Peaceful Dove (Geopelia placida) Arkaroola
- Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla) Throughout
- Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea) Throughout
- Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita) Arkaroola
- Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo (Lophochroa leadbeateri) Hattah
- Mulga Parrot (Psephotus varius) Hattah/Leigh Creek
- Regent Parrot (Polytelis anthopeplus) Hattah
- Mallee Ringneck (Barnardius barnardi) Hattah/Flinders Ranges/Arkaroola
- Crimson Rosella (Yellow) (Platycercus elegans flaveolus) Hattah
- Red-rumped Parrot (Psephotus haematonotus) Hattah
- Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) Arkaroola
- Red-backed Kingfisher (Todiramphus pyrrhopygius) Wirrealpa
- Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus) Hattah
- Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) Throughout
- Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus) Throughout
- Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis) Arkaroola
- Black-eared Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx osculans) Arkaroola
- Fan-tailed Cuckoo (Cacomantis flabelliformis) Wirra Creek
- Australian Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus) Hattah
- Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) Hattah
- Southern Boobook (Ninox novaeseelandiae) Hattah
- Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus) Wirra Creek, Hattah
- White-winged Fairy-wren (Malurus leucopterus) Throughout
- Variegated Fairy-wren (Malurus lamberti) Flinders Ranges/Arkaroola
- Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens) Hattah
- Chestnut-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza uropygialis) Hattah/Flinders Ranges/Arkaroola
- Southern Whiteface (Aphelocephala leucopsis) Hattah/Nepabunna
- Inland Thornbill (Acanthiza apicalis) Angorichina
- Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris) Angorichina
- Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa) Hattah/Flinders Ranges
- Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana) Hattah
- Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens) Throughout
- White-fronted Honeyeater (Purnella albifrons) Wirrealpa
- Yellow-throated Miner (Manorina flavigula) Arkaroola
- Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis) Throughout
- White-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula penicillata) Hattah/Wirrealpa
- Grey-fronted Honeyeater (Ptilotula plumula) Flinders Ranges/Arkaroola
- Pied Honeyeater (Certhionyx variegatus) Wirrealpa
- Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala) Hattah
- Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula ornata) Hattah
- Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis) Hattah
- Brown-headed Honeyeater (Melithreptus brevirostris) Hattah
- Striped Honeyeater (Plectorhyncha lanceolata) Hattah
- Crimson Chat (Epthianura tricolor) Arkaroola
- Orange Chat (Epthianura aurifrons) Flinders Ranges/Arkaroola
- Black-faced Cuckooshrike (Coracina novaehollandiae) Wirra Creek/Arkaroola
- White-winged Triller (Lalage tricolor) Nepabunna
- Grey Shrikethrush (Colluricincla harmonica) Wirra Creek
- Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris) Throughout
- Crested Bellbird (Oreoica gutturalis) Nepabunna
- White-browed Babbler (Pomatostomus superciliosus) Flinders Ranges/Arkaroola
- Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) Throughout
- Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) Throughout
- Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis) Hattah
- Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor) Hattah
- Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides) Throughout
- Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) Throughout
- Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus) Throughout
- Apostlebird (Struthidea cinerea) Wilpena
- Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca) Throughout
- Chirruping Wedgebill (Psophodes cristatus) Arkaroola
- Brown Songlark (Megalurus cruralis) Arkaroola
- Rufous Songlark (Megalurus mathewsi) Wirra Creek
- Australasian Pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae) Throughout
- Zebra Finch (Taeniopygia guttata) Throughout
- Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) Flinders Ranges/Arkaroola
- Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena) Throughout
- Tree Martin (Petrochelidon nigricans) Throughout
- White-backed Swallow (Cheramoeca leucosterna) Hawker/Nepabunna/Pinnacles
- Masked Woodswallow (Artamus personatus) Blinman to Arkaroola
- Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus) Blinman to Arkaroola
- Dusky Woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus) Arkaroola
- Mistletoebird (Dicaeum hirundinaceum) Throughout
- Hooded Robin (Melanodryas cucullata) Arkaroola
- Red-capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii) Throughout
Leave a Reply