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Bristol to Kagu ?
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<blockquote data-quote="Larry Sweetland" data-source="post: 1308032" data-attributes="member: 27337"><p><strong>into the SA Mallee, and the Coorong</strong></p><p></p><p>While in the Adelaide area we picked up <strong>Black-chinned Honeyeater </strong>in Dom's garden and a <strong>Baillon's Crake </strong>on a return visit to Greenfield's Wetlands (but alas no <strong>Aus Bittern</strong>).</p><p></p><p>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 <strong>Chestnut-backed Quail-Thrush </strong>in the morning, but was otherwise rather quiet. We then visited Brookfield CP to the north. Here we saw 3 more <strong>C-b Quail-Thrushes</strong>, a couple of <strong>Gilbert's Whistlers</strong>, and best of all a <strong>Southern Scrub-Robin </strong>about 800m east of the charcoal pits on the south side of the track. This site also produced <strong>Splendid Fairywren, Yellow-plumed Honeyeater </strong>and <strong>Chestnut-crowned Babbler</strong>.</p><p></p><p>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 <strong>Black-eared Miner</strong> 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 <strong>Red-lored Whistler.</strong> This, and the prolonged drought, has made finding these , and other mallee birds, eg <strong>Malleefowl</strong>, rather tough to say the least. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>Highlights were the snazzy <strong>Striated Grasswren</strong> (2), <strong>White-browed Treecreeper</strong> (3), <strong>Pink Cockatoo </strong>(1), <strong>Spotted Nightjar </strong>(5), <strong>Tawny Frogmouth </strong>(1) and <strong>Australian Owlet-Nightjar</strong>. The <strong>Nightjars</strong> and <strong>Frogmouth </strong>were seen on a slow drive along a track east of Sittela campground at night, whereas the <strong>Owlet-Nightjar </strong>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.</p><p></p><p>Other birds we saw at Gluepot included more <strong>C-B Quail-Thrushes </strong>and <strong>Gilbert's Whistlers</strong>, <strong>White-eared </strong>, <strong>Yellow-plumed </strong>and <strong>Striped Honeyeaters</strong>, <strong>Yellow-rumped Pardalote</strong> etc.</p><p></p><p>During our time at Gluepot only 3 small groups of <strong>miners</strong> were encountered, 2 by us, and no dark-rumped birds were seen.</p><p></p><p>Luckily for us Dave left Gluepot with us and took us to where we saw 30+ <strong>Regent Parrots</strong> 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 <strong>Yellow Rosella</strong>. 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 <strong>Black Falcon </strong>flew over! After seeing well over 100 <strong>Brown Falcons </strong>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 <strong>Musk Lorikeets</strong>.</p><p></p><p>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 <strong>Black Honeyeaters</strong>! 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 <strong>White-browed Woodswallows </strong>at this site, a <strong>Brown Songlark, Purple-crowned Lorikeets, Horsefield's Bronze Cuckoos, Red-backed Kingfisher </strong>etc.</p><p></p><p>We then moved south to 2 sites recommended by Dave and fairly quickly found <strong>Shy Hylacola </strong>(2) at Monarto CP, and <strong>Purple-gaped Honeyeater </strong>(2) at Ferries McDonald CP in the heat of the day. </p><p></p><p>Coorong area has produced some goodies, most notably a <strong>Rufous Bristlebird </strong>on the tourist drive that heads south from Salt Creek, and a <strong>Beautiful Firetail </strong>at Chinamans Well. Also <strong>Fairy Tern, Brush Bronzewing </strong>and spectacular numbers of waterbirds, especially <strong>Whiskered Terns, Cormorants</strong> and <strong>Australian Shelducks</strong>. We also had a mixed flock of <strong>Masked</strong> and <strong>White-browed Woodswallows</strong>, <strong>Red-necked Avocets </strong>etc.</p><p></p><p>1184 Black-chinned Honeyeater</p><p>1185 Baillon's Crake</p><p>1186 Australian Shelduck</p><p>1187 <strong>CHESTNUT-BACKED QUAIL-THRUSH</strong></p><p>1188 Chestnut-crowned Babbler</p><p>1189 Splendid Fairywren</p><p>1190 Yellow-plumed Honeyeater</p><p>1191<strong> SOUTHERN SCRUB-ROBIN</strong></p><p>1192 <strong>GILBERT'S WHISTLER</strong></p><p>1193 Yellow Rosella</p><p>1194 <strong>STRIATED GRASSWREN</strong></p><p>1195 Australian Owlet-Nightjar</p><p>1196 <strong>WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPER</strong></p><p>1197 <strong>SPOTTED NIGHTJAR</strong></p><p>1198 Tawny Frogmouth</p><p>XXXX Yellow-rumped Pardalote</p><p>1199 <strong>REGENT PARROT</strong></p><p>1200 <strong>BLACK FALCON</strong></p><p>1201 <strong>BLACK HONEYEATER</strong></p><p>1202 <strong>WHITE-BROWED WOODSWALLOW</strong></p><p>1203 Shy Hylacola</p><p>1204 <strong>PURPLE-GAPED HONEYEATER</strong></p><p>1205 Brush Bronzewing</p><p>1206 <strong>RUFOUS BRISTLEBIRD</strong></p><p>1207 <strong>BEAUTIFUL FIRETAIL</strong></p><p>1208 Fairy Tern</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Larry Sweetland, post: 1308032, member: 27337"] [b]into the SA Mallee, and the Coorong[/b] While in the Adelaide area we picked up [B]Black-chinned Honeyeater [/B]in Dom's garden and a [B]Baillon's Crake [/B]on a return visit to Greenfield's Wetlands (but alas no [B]Aus Bittern[/B]). 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 [B]Chestnut-backed Quail-Thrush [/B]in the morning, but was otherwise rather quiet. We then visited Brookfield CP to the north. Here we saw 3 more [B]C-b Quail-Thrushes[/B], a couple of [B]Gilbert's Whistlers[/B], and best of all a [B]Southern Scrub-Robin [/B]about 800m east of the charcoal pits on the south side of the track. This site also produced [B]Splendid Fairywren, Yellow-plumed Honeyeater [/B]and [B]Chestnut-crowned Babbler[/B]. 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 [B]Black-eared Miner[/B] 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 [B]Red-lored Whistler.[/B] This, and the prolonged drought, has made finding these , and other mallee birds, eg [B]Malleefowl[/B], 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 [B]Striated Grasswren[/B] (2), [B]White-browed Treecreeper[/B] (3), [B]Pink Cockatoo [/B](1), [B]Spotted Nightjar [/B](5), [B]Tawny Frogmouth [/B](1) and [B]Australian Owlet-Nightjar[/B]. The [B]Nightjars[/B] and [B]Frogmouth [/B]were seen on a slow drive along a track east of Sittela campground at night, whereas the [B]Owlet-Nightjar [/B]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 [B]C-B Quail-Thrushes [/B]and [B]Gilbert's Whistlers[/B], [B]White-eared [/B], [B]Yellow-plumed [/B]and [B]Striped Honeyeaters[/B], [B]Yellow-rumped Pardalote[/B] etc. During our time at Gluepot only 3 small groups of [B]miners[/B] 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+ [B]Regent Parrots[/B] 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 [B]Yellow Rosella[/B]. 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 [B]Black Falcon [/B]flew over! After seeing well over 100 [B]Brown Falcons [/B]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 [B]Musk Lorikeets[/B]. 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 [B]Black Honeyeaters[/B]! 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 [B]White-browed Woodswallows [/B]at this site, a [B]Brown Songlark, Purple-crowned Lorikeets, Horsefield's Bronze Cuckoos, Red-backed Kingfisher [/B]etc. We then moved south to 2 sites recommended by Dave and fairly quickly found [B]Shy Hylacola [/B](2) at Monarto CP, and [B]Purple-gaped Honeyeater [/B](2) at Ferries McDonald CP in the heat of the day. Coorong area has produced some goodies, most notably a [B]Rufous Bristlebird [/B]on the tourist drive that heads south from Salt Creek, and a [B]Beautiful Firetail [/B]at Chinamans Well. Also [B]Fairy Tern, Brush Bronzewing [/B]and spectacular numbers of waterbirds, especially [B]Whiskered Terns, Cormorants[/B] and [B]Australian Shelducks[/B]. We also had a mixed flock of [B]Masked[/B] and [B]White-browed Woodswallows[/B], [B]Red-necked Avocets [/B]etc. 1184 Black-chinned Honeyeater 1185 Baillon's Crake 1186 Australian Shelduck 1187 [B]CHESTNUT-BACKED QUAIL-THRUSH[/B] 1188 Chestnut-crowned Babbler 1189 Splendid Fairywren 1190 Yellow-plumed Honeyeater 1191[B] SOUTHERN SCRUB-ROBIN[/B] 1192 [B]GILBERT'S WHISTLER[/B] 1193 Yellow Rosella 1194 [B]STRIATED GRASSWREN[/B] 1195 Australian Owlet-Nightjar 1196 [B]WHITE-BROWED TREECREEPER[/B] 1197 [B]SPOTTED NIGHTJAR[/B] 1198 Tawny Frogmouth XXXX Yellow-rumped Pardalote 1199 [B]REGENT PARROT[/B] 1200 [B]BLACK FALCON[/B] 1201 [B]BLACK HONEYEATER[/B] 1202 [B]WHITE-BROWED WOODSWALLOW[/B] 1203 Shy Hylacola 1204 [B]PURPLE-GAPED HONEYEATER[/B] 1205 Brush Bronzewing 1206 [B]RUFOUS BRISTLEBIRD[/B] 1207 [B]BEAUTIFUL FIRETAIL[/B] 1208 Fairy Tern [/QUOTE]
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