Bristol to Kagu ? (1 Viewer)

[Larry Sweetland]

Kunoth Bore , Trip Financial update , etc

etc

Check edited last post for embarassing admission of recent ids now thought to be less than undodgy.

Ads-yes we did go to the Curtain Fig. Good parkup in fact in area hard to find spots to stop overnight.

H- Vid not for general consumption I'm afraid. It's for the best.

Chowie- Aha! Yes these birds seem to be in the zone between the two species don't they! When I first saw them I thought they looked small enough to be Paperbarks, then I looked at range map and thought hmmmm. Then I did what all good birders shouldn't do, and went to look for other birds instead as I didn't "need" either species. When you don't have much time it's sad, but who wants to spend half an hour trying to get a good view of rictal bristle length on a flycatcher you've seen already when there's probably a lifer parrot in the next bush. I guess that's what sorts out the real birders from tarts like me. So I reckon Ads is spot on with Paperless Fly.

Kunoth Bore
We found it! Head north for 20km out of Alice on main highway then left on the sealed Tanami rd for c30km and it's on the left by a big windmill. Looks like a cracking spot as there were lots of birds around considering it was dry. Must be amazing when there is water in it. Just spent a couple of hours there in late afternoon and came back to Alice. Call me paranoid but I reckon it would be a sketchy place to spend the night.

Didn't see any of the many target birds, but had little groups of Southern Whiteface and Crimson Chat feeding round the van, as well as seeing the first Red-capped Robins, Mulga Parrots and Crested Bellbird of the trip, Varied Sittelas, Grey-crowned Babblers etc. Van's at the quacks, so if all gos well and it gets fixed today we might try going there tomorrow morning. Surely I've got to luck into something. Please.

Trip Financial Update

We've finally been able to do some calculations that may perhaps be useful to anyone wondering about the costs of a trip like this.

It cost us a bit less than 3000 pounds each for the 7 months and one week journey between Bristol and Singapore. Everything included. Costs could have been reduced considerably by removing beer and internet (especially BF!)from the equation, spending less time in Europe (especially London!), and buying the transiberian ticket in Moscow train station rather than in the UK. Note that in Asia the cost of single and double rooms are often the same, so anyone doing this alone would incur a greater cost. We also could have reduced costs by staying in cheaper places on many occasions.

The boat trip to Oz was expensive, 800 pounds each including everything, so a flight would be cheaper.

In Oz we've spent 1500 pounds each so far in 3 months, not including the initial cost of the van, which we're hoping to recoup (!). Costs could be reduced hugely by reducing beer and internet, and by sharing transport costs by having a bigger "team".

Hopefully that's of some help (VB?)

1148 Crested Bellbird
1149 Red-capped Robin
1150 Mulga Parrot

 

[chowchilla]

Thanks for the info folks! Actually I did some checking of my own and found a report online by my old mate John Crowhurst who, with Ben Blewit (another very good birder) had Paperless Flies there!

So PFs they are!B

 

[Vectis Birder]

We've finally been able to do some calculations that may perhaps be useful to anyone wondering about the costs of a trip like this.

It cost us a bit less than 3000 pounds each for the 7 months and one week journey between Bristol and Singapore. Everything included. Costs could have been reduced considerably by removing beer and internet (especially BF!)from the equation, spending less time in Europe (especially London!), and buying the transiberian ticket in Moscow train station rather than in the UK. Note that in Asia the cost of single and double rooms are often the same, so anyone doing this alone would incur a greater cost. We also could have reduced costs by staying in cheaper places on many occasions.

The boat trip to Oz was expensive, 800 pounds each including everything, so a flight would be cheaper.

In Oz we've spent 1500 pounds each so far in 3 months, not including the initial cost of the van, which we're hoping to recoup (!). Costs could be reduced hugely by reducing beer and internet, and by sharing transport costs by having a bigger "team".

Hopefully that's of some help (VB?)

Absolutely! Thanks! :t:

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Happy B BBB!

Since my last post the birding has unfortunately been more soul-destroyingly unproductive than I've experienced anywhere since the day I first borrowed my dad's bins in order to look at my first ever Dunnock on the garden fence and identify it as a Grasshopper Warbler.

I've only managed to find 1 out of about 40 possible lifers who's range we've been in! It's been hard work just finding common species in small numbers, even though I've birded at most of the hotspots I've found out about, as well as a variety of habitats generally, around Alice Springs and Uluru. Stop laughing. Check your badselves , (as Will Bowell would say, if he's still with us), it's NOT funny, and the cocky sod doesn't have it coming to him for being so jammy so far!

I eventually found a couple of Banded Whiteface about 20km north of Erldunda, c100m west of the road. And very pretty they were too. This is at a spot where cyborgs detect sounds made by Chiming Wedgebills and Cinnamon Quail-Thrushes with their audio receptors, lock onto their positions, locate the targets, and assimilate them. We on the other hand found the level of early morning bird sounds here to be an extremely good match for that which you would hear on a cold night on Titan. In winter. This is not somewhere to bring someone who is not a fanatical birder who would rather be asleep. They will tell you you have lost the plot completely and that there are obviously no birds here. Two points that you may well find difficult to disprove.

We also found a pair of Banded Whiteface, and amazingly their nest, at the start of a track leading south to the eastern edge of the last salt pan you can see from the road east of Curtin Springs.

The only other notable species have been a few Red-necked Avocets at Alice SF, 10+ Pink Cockatoos, and 3 White-backed Swallows.
I'm totally in awe of the people who found heaps of good birds here. Where are they all?

Last night we crossed the border into South Australia. Again the dawn chorus where we awoke was utter silence. We have now made it to Cooba Pedy having passed through some interesting habitat, including some very barren stony landscape, and some waterholes with actual water. Unfortunately as soon as we started breakfast the wind picked up to a level that has made birding impossible all day, and driving dangerous. Have I died and gone to hell? I could almost wish I was back home getting worked up over buntings that don't even have enough vowels in their name, or contemplating the deeper meaning behind the wavelength(s) of light detectable in the distal 26% of the outer web of median covert #3 on the wing of a one-cal Half-sided Flycatcher, or whatever it is the admirers of our feathered friends are getting out of our strange hobby in the UK these days.


1151 Red-necked Avocet
1152 Pink Cockatoo
1153 BANDED WHITEFACE

Here's to a brighter future

 

[chowchilla]

I have an image in my mind of the desert in a Spaghetti Western with nothing but the wind whistling and tumbleweed blowing past the camera.

Did you bump into Clint Eastwood on your travels? Seriously, the birding must get better.... mustn't it?:t:

 

[halftwo]

Ah South Oz. I'll be there in December - you'll be elsewhere I guess. Look forward to the next bit (unless it turns out to be another no bird episode!)

 

[birdboybowley]

Blimey mate - glad I didn't get to do the middle bit!!!! At least it can't get worse....now if that's not tempting fate i dunno what is.....!!

 

[Larry Sweetland]

To Port Augusta

Well things have picked up a bit so less sarcasm should be forthcoming in this post

We spent the night on the gibber about 45km south of Coober Pedy at an incredibly bleak pull-in. This is the area where Mad Max was apparently filmed! The stars were amazing, and the wind dropped off by morning. As expected there were very few birds around, but this turned out to be a great spot for Cinnamon Quail-Thrush. I must have seen at least 13 different birds (including a party of 8) within 500m of the van, on both sides of the road. This cheered me up, as out of all the birds I missed around Alice, this was probably the one I most wanted to see.

We then spent the night at the rest area by Lake Hart, an impressive huge salt lake. Blue Bonnet was a nice surprise here, and in good numbers too. Quite a few ground-feeding mixed flocks in this area, with Southern Whiteface predominating, but also including Yellow-rumped and Chestnut-rumped Thornbills, White-browed Babblers, Varied Sittelas and Crested Bellbirds. A few Mulga Parrots and Pink Cockatoos around too, and a few Emus en route.

We headed south today to Port Augusta and had a couple of goodies on the way. A bird flying across the road a few km north of Pimba turned out to be one of two Rufous Calamanthus. Luckily they stuck around for decent views. Another stop just past the railway crossing at Hesso to check out a little brown job (never found it), ended up being very fortuitous as there was a small pool on the west side not visible from the road. This area attracted a fair few birds, including at least 2 Pied Honeyeaters ! As we left the area another flew across the road near the turn (westwards) to a station , and another bird,probably this awesome species, was seen in flight within the next couple of km. Seems there are a few along this stretch at the moment.

1154 CINNAMON QUAIL-THRUSH
1155 BLUE BONNET
1156 RUFOUS CALAMANTHUS
1157 PIED HONEYEATER

 

[chowchilla]

Glad to see things are picking up a bit for you folks!:t:

Wow, it seems like only yesterday I bade you farewell from the tropical north...

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Port Augusta, Flinders, and some jam

Ah yes, how time flies.

After stocking up in Port Augusta we decided to return to the Hesso area railway crossing c50km north of town to spend the night, as it seemed good for birds. Next morning produced a couple of Pied Honeyeaters again, and this time we discovered a raised tank in the SW corner of the junction with the road to Yudnapina station, some 700m south of the railway crossing.

On climbing to the rim of the small tank a few birds took flight, 6 Grey Teal, and a couple each of Little Pied Cormorant and Black-fronted Dotterel. Not much else there except a couple of Australasian Grebes and a couple of larger ducks that quickly swam out of sight up a channel at the back. One was a Pink-eared Duck, and the other looked rather plain and uninteresting. I walked round the tank rim and discovered that the channel led through to a second smaller tank, which itself had a channel at the back leading into dense bushy banks. Unfortunately there was no sign of the Pink-eared Duck but I was quickly distracted by 2 Black-tailed Native Hens that took flight, so I ran after them to get views of one atop a bushy bank. Ace. On heading back to the second tank a little voice in my head was saying "er...hello?" what. "Er..haven't you forgotten something?" Ah yes. Of course. That other duck. Luckily for me it was plainly visible in the middle of the second tank and I looked at it properly for the first time. A FRECKLED DUCK in female type plumage! Not that I deserved it to still be there! I couldn't take my eyes off this rare nomad for ages, finding it's odd shape and subtle plumage quite beautiful. So the lid was finally back off the jam pot. On the way back to the van for breakfast a Cockatiel appeared to add to the fun.

We then moved on to the botanical gardens just north of Port Augusta, where the wind had picked up, but we still saw 3 or more Chirruping Wedgebills, some White-fronted Chats and a White-fronted Honeyeater.

We made it as far as Warren Gorge in the Flinders ranges that night, clocking up Adelaide Rosella, Mallee Ringneck, Elegant Parrot, Grey Currawong, Red-capped Robin and Brown-headed Honeyeater on the way. Not a bad day really.

Spent a couple of days exploring the Flinders ranges as far north as Lyndhurst, but the heat, wind and flies were all unbearable. How can the flies swarm all over you in such strong wind? How can anyone live here? We haven't had any gen for South Australia (except the next to useless Bransbury) so we've been just pottering blind, and doubtless bypassing some crucial sites. We did run into Black-eared, Horsefield's Bronze, and Pallid Cuckoos, a singing male Redthroat at the creek just south of Simmonston ruin. Australian Raven appeared to be the common corvid in the Flinders, but we found our first Little Ravens, and a Little Crow too. A couple of Rufous Calamanthus and Chirruping Wedgebill were near the Lyndhurst end of our drive.

On our exit drive we made a few stops to randomly scan the flat open areas. This eventually produced an impressive flock of about 100 Crimson Chats , a few Banded Lapwings and White-fronted Chats, a Spotted Harrier,and a displaying Brown Songlark. It was on what was to be my last scan, c30 km north of Quorn, that a great big spoon slipped into the jam pot and plopped a flock of no less than 30 Inland Dotterel about 50m from the road on the east side! Incredible! These birds were rather approachable, and would just run away a short distance if you got too close. Seriously beautiful creatures too.

I like birding with no gen sometimes because it just blows you away what you see, rather than frustrates you with what you're missing!

So the Dotties were yesterday morning. The afternoon took us to Port Germain where we walked out on the pier to check the birds on the posts of the broken end. A couple of Pacific Gulls with their honking great bills were new for the trip, but for me even better was 6 Black-faced Cormorants with the 80 or so Pied and Little Pieds. Plenty of very close Great Crested Terns too. Things looking up.

We headed south looking for a parkup, but it had become all rural and sewn up. We did find a tiny conservation park eventually which had a caravan parked up there, so we pulled on thinking it would be ok. Not only was it ok, but the occupants of the caravan were birdos! Locals from Adelaide too, so we've got a bit of local gen now. Great! this means I can start having a worse time by knowing what I'm missing if/when we miss it! .

1158 Pink-eared Duck
1159 BLACK-TAILED NATIVE HEN
1160 FRECKLED DUCK
1161 Cockatiel
1162 CHIRRUPING WEDGEBILL
1163 White-fronted Chat
1164 White-fronted Honeyeater
1165 Adelaide Rosella
xxxx Mallee Ringneck
1166 Elegant Parrot
1167 Grey Currawong
1168 Black-eared Cuckoo
1169 LITTLE RAVEN
1170 REDTHROAT
1171 PALLID CUCKOO
1172 Banded Lapwing
1173 BROWN SONGLARK
1174 INLAND DOTTEREL
1175 Pacific Gull
1176 BLACK-FACED CORMORANT

I can't help noticing that Mark Harper's on 3966, and I reckon I must be over 3900 by now....can I get to 4000 before him?? . When's your next foreign trip Mark?

 

[halftwo]

WOW Larry,

Pink-eared & Freckled together & then you jam Inland dotterel!

Fantastic! There's not many reports of Inland dotterel from trip reports - I wonder if that's a regular spot for them?

I will pm you for the exact spot - you kept details right?! (or you can pit it out here(?))

Cheers,

H

 

[chowchilla]

Funny how birding can have spectacular ups and downs.

I thought I'd struggle to get Black-throated Finch and ended up tripping up over them at Georgetown.

You had a bit of a crap time looking for invisible birds in the red centre and now suddenly it's all back on again. It's worth bearing in mind of course that the 'outback' stretches right down to the south coast around Port Augusta so if one area doesn't produce the goods, there are back-ups further south. No doubt you've still got a hat-full of outback species you still want to see though right? Are you planning to try and pick up some of them there or keep on moving south?

Whatever you decide, here's to making me jealous some more with more great bird spectacles!B

 

[Larry Sweetland]

Adelaide

H- About as good as I can do with the Dotties is : head north out of Quorn on the main road to Hawker for c30km and look in the "fields" on the right. It's not far before an unsealed "tourist drive" road on the left. There were plenty of Oz Pipits and a few corellas in the dottie "field", and a large flock of corellas/Galahs in the field on the other side of the road just before the "tourist drive road".

Chowie- Think I've missed my chance for many of the inland species we could have seen in the Alice area now. Too many directions to go in from here ! I just hope the birds are indeed somewhere, rather than the populations have totally crashed after so many years of drought.

We headed for Adelaide stopping off at Port Gawler, where a few Slender-billed Thornbills were found fairly easily in mid afternoon, following the advice of Trevor and Hazel who we met the day before. This was to look in the lusher saltbush by the channels after you pass the salt pans, just as the mangroves start to appear. Here also produced Australian Shoveler, Greenshank, etc.

We then birded till dusk at a small wetland area north of the city where Australasian Bittern has been seen recently. We had no luck with this but did get great views of Australian Crake (3). This is a great site, which also produced Yellow-billed and Royal Spoonbills, Little Grassbirds, Australian Reed Warblers, Hoary-headed Grebes, Red-kneed Dotterel etc. If you head south into Adelaide, turn west onto the A13, and then right after c2km onto magazine rd. Park after c100m and explore the wetland to the north .

We're now staying at our mate Dom's (Bristol Massive), where she's sorted us out with our 2nd bath of the year! She's got Purple-crowned Lorikeets in the garden, and other stuff's appearing that was more familiar at the start of the Oz part of this trip, eg New Holland Honeyeater and Red Wattlebird.

1177 Australian Shoveler
1178 SLENDER-BILLED THORNBILL
1179 Hoary-headed Grebe
1180 Yellow-billed Spoonbill
1181 Little Grassbird
1182 AUSTRALIAN CRAKE
1183 Purple-crowned Lorikeet

 

[Mark Harper]

I can't help noticing that Mark Harper's on 3966, and I reckon I must be over 3900 by now....can I get to 4000 before him?? . When's your next foreign trip Mark?

Nothing planned yet and definitely will not be before March, so I am sure that you will get there before me. Need to decide where to go, need something good for 4000. Was with Nigel Wheatley in PNG and he had his 4000th as Grand Munia, it could have so easily been Pheasant Coucal, but he refused to look at this whilst it was sat in plain sight as he was on 3999 at the time. Beats me though how he managed to spend 6 weeks in Australia without seeing a Phesant Coucal previously.

 

[halftwo]

Beats me though how he managed to spend 6 weeks in Australia without seeing a Phesant Coucal previously.

Me too. I think I saw one within the first two or three days.

Thanks for the directions Larry. Wonder if they'll stick around.
Have you had (or heard of) any rains in S. Aus. lately?

 

[Larry Sweetland]

H - There have just been localised short spells of rain, but not enough to fill any waterholes methinks. Best of luck if you look for the dotterels. There's a lot of what looks to me like identical habitat in the area. Very short grass in huge stony flat "fields". Just keep stopping and scanning on that stretch I reckon. Are you going to be anywhere near us while you're in Oz do you reckon? We'll be back in NSW by early December.

Mark- I reckon you'll still beat me too it if you go away in March, cos we're off to NZ after this for a few months hopefully, and I'll never catch you up there. I'll have to work out my total to your taxonomic rules. Does your total include heard birds too?

We're still in Adelaide and not doing birding at the mo.

 

[Mark Harper]

Mark- I reckon you'll still beat me too it if you go away in March, cos we're off to NZ after this for a few months hopefully, and I'll never catch you up there. I'll have to work out my total to your taxonomic rules. Does your total include heard birds too?

No my list does not include any heards and is based on Clements, for which the latest update is due out this month so I am hoping for a few armchair ticks.

Mark

 

[halftwo]

Hi Larry,
Brisbane until Dec 2nd, then Adelaide until 22nd.
H

 

[Amytornis]

G'day from South Oz,

Been birding with Larry and Nicky over the last week or so. Larry asked if I could update those following this thread. I'll let Larry update on the birding but the jam pot has definitely been working overtime. They'll update when internet access is next available.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Larry Sweetland]

into the SA Mallee, and the Coorong

While in the Adelaide area we picked up Black-chinned Honeyeater in Dom's garden and a Baillon's Crake on a return visit to Greenfield's Wetlands (but alas no Aus Bittern).

We headed west out of Adelaide, passing through Jacob's Creek of all places, and spent the night alongside Swan Reach Conservation Park, c10km west of the Swan Reach Murray ferry crossing. This site produced a stunning male Chestnut-backed Quail-Thrush in the morning, but was otherwise rather quiet. We then visited Brookfield CP to the north. Here we saw 3 more C-b Quail-Thrushes, a couple of Gilbert's Whistlers, and best of all a Southern Scrub-Robin about 800m east of the charcoal pits on the south side of the track. This site also produced Splendid Fairywren, Yellow-plumed Honeyeater and Chestnut-crowned Babbler.

We then drove to Gluepot where we spent 3 nights. This large area of mallee is about 60km north of Waikerie on a well signed route, 50km of which is unsealed. Gluepot might be, as far as I'm aware, the only publicly accessible area where Black-eared Miner is known to occur, other than translocated populations. Unfortunately a fire burnt out a known reliable site for this species a couple of years ago, along with a site for Red-lored Whistler. This, and the prolonged drought, has made finding these , and other mallee birds, eg Malleefowl, rather tough to say the least.

We were very fortunate in camping with a very experienced local birder, Dave, who was particularly keen on finding sites for the whistler and miner and offered that we team up with him. Even with Dave's experience of these species, and tapes, we failed to find them, but we saw some other goodies on the way and had a great time in his company.

Highlights were the snazzy Striated Grasswren (2), White-browed Treecreeper (3), Pink Cockatoo (1), Spotted Nightjar (5), Tawny Frogmouth (1) and Australian Owlet-Nightjar. The Nightjars and Frogmouth were seen on a slow drive along a track east of Sittela campground at night, whereas the Owlet-Nightjar was coaxed out of a likely-looking roosting spout by running a stick up the limb. Dave said that they think you're a goanna if you do this.

Other birds we saw at Gluepot included more C-B Quail-Thrushes and Gilbert's Whistlers, White-eared , Yellow-plumed and Striped Honeyeaters, Yellow-rumped Pardalote etc.

During our time at Gluepot only 3 small groups of miners were encountered, 2 by us, and no dark-rumped birds were seen.

Luckily for us Dave left Gluepot with us and took us to where we saw 30+ Regent Parrots along the road that runs south of the Murray between Morgan and Cadell. A few more of these spectacular birds were seen in the flood plain very close to Morgan. This area is also good for Yellow Rosella. We then parted company and drove to a delightful free camping site by the river at Mannum, making sure we were somewhere with phone reception. At tea time Dave phoned with directions he'd just obtained for something we both wanted to see the next day! As we were sitting down to eat, a Black Falcon flew over! After seeing well over 100 Brown Falcons on this trip so far this was a great relief, and a surprisingly smart and distinctive bird. This camping spot also produced a party of Musk Lorikeets.

Next morning (Oct 10th) we headed west over the Murray and along the unsealed road between Tepko and Mt Torrens, to a site where a week earlier someone had come across maybe 50 Black Honeyeaters! We found only one male (but that's enough!) by following up loud repeated plaintive piping calls. Dave and another birder arrived shortly after us and we searched the area widely but only relocated what was probably the same male, and heard 2 others. (Feel free to post up that pic you took of it on here if you can Dave!) Directions to this spot are probably useless unless you are heading there now, as this species is notoriously nomadic, but PM me for them if this is the case. We also saw c5 White-browed Woodswallows at this site, a Brown Songlark, Purple-crowned Lorikeets, Horsefield's Bronze Cuckoos, Red-backed Kingfisher etc.

We then moved south to 2 sites recommended by Dave and fairly quickly found Shy Hylacola (2) at Monarto CP, and Purple-gaped Honeyeater (2) at Ferries McDonald CP in the heat of the day.

Coorong area has produced some goodies, most notably a Rufous Bristlebird on the tourist drive that heads south from Salt Creek, and a Beautiful Firetail at Chinamans Well. Also Fairy Tern, Brush Bronzewing and spectacular numbers of waterbirds, especially Whiskered Terns, Cormorants and Australian Shelducks. We also had a mixed flock of Masked and White-browed Woodswallows, Red-necked Avocets etc.

1184 Black-chinned Honeyeater
1185 Baillon's Crake
1186 Australian Shelduck
1187 CHESTNUT-BACKED QUAIL-THRUSH
1188 Chestnut-crowned Babbler
1189 Splendid Fairywren
1190 Yellow-plumed Honeyeater
1191 SOUTHERN SCRUB-ROBIN
1192 GILBERT'S WHISTLER
1193 Yellow Rosella
1194 STRIATED GRASSWREN
1195 Australian Owlet-Nightjar
1196 WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPER
1197 SPOTTED NIGHTJAR
1198 Tawny Frogmouth
XXXX Yellow-rumped Pardalote
1199 REGENT PARROT
1200 BLACK FALCON
1201 BLACK HONEYEATER
1202 WHITE-BROWED WOODSWALLOW
1203 Shy Hylacola
1204 PURPLE-GAPED HONEYEATER
1205 Brush Bronzewing
1206 RUFOUS BRISTLEBIRD
1207 BEAUTIFUL FIRETAIL
1208 Fairy Tern