Day 6 - Deniliquin
We had one full day with Phil and Robert at Deniliquin, having local knowledge certainly helps in such a huge area, as we simply wouldn't know the exact spots for certain birds, certainly not in such a tight schedule! Our day began with a flock of Long-billed Corellas by the road, they gave good views from the car, but was far more skittish than I expected, as they all took flight as soon as I opened the door.
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| Long-billed Corellas |
Phil took us south towards Murray Valley National Park, large groups of Eastern Grey Kangaroos eyed us cautiously as our car drove past. The forest here provides a nice change of scenery to the arid grassland further north, White-throated Treecreepers were immediately noticeable, a few Striated Thornbills came very close to us, and a few Silvereyes here were surprisingly the first of our trip!
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| Eastern Grey Kangaroo |
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| White-throated Treecreeper |
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| Striated Thornbill |
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| Silvereye |
The supposed Scarlet Robin site lacked the said bird, we added Jacky Winter and confiding Rufous Whistler. It took a long while before Phil found the Scarlet Robins, we all got onto the female quite quickly, the female is the only one with pinkish hues on its chest compare to other 'red' robins. Michelle was the only one in the group that got onto the male, all we saw was a small bird flying off into the distant.
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| Jacky Winter |
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| Scarlet Robin - female |
A few Weebills were spotted, other than the thicker and stubbier bill, there really isn't that much features on it. Black-faced Cuckooshrikes and Grey Shrikethrush were both fairly common in the forest.
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| Weebill |
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| Black-faced Cuckooshrike |
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| Grey Shrikethrush |
A large raptor flying low over the canopy caught our attention, and it was a Square-tailed Kite! A rare species that is sometimes hard to track down! This forest species can often be seen scanning the canopy for nesting birds.
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| Square-tailed Kite - a very nice surprise! |
Brown-headed Honeyeaters were added to our list, it was not as exciting as a male Mistletoebird coming all the way down to eye-level! It gave amazing views and everyone got good photos of this stunning looking Flowerpecker.
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| Brown-headed Honeyeater |
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| Mistletoebird - pooping out mistletoe seeds |
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| Mistletoebird - a fabulous looking flowerpecker |
It took a while but we finally got our first Brown Treecreeper, which showed exceptionally well. We added yet another species of Thornbills in form of a few Yellow-rumped Thornbills, which is probably the prettiest of the Thornbills. A few Chestnut-rumped Thornbills also came through.
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| Brown Treecreeper |
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| Yellow-rumped Thornbill |
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| Chestnut-rumped Thornbill |
We got close views of a few Rainbow Bee-eaters from the car. Phil and Robert found us more Superb Parrots, again they gave really good views, and we just can't resist the urge to take more photos of this stunner!
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| Rainbow Bee-eater |
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| Superb Parrot |
By the river, a few Dusky Woodswallows were spotted, although quite far away, their white primaries are easily recognisable. Another good bird that Phil found for us was the Hooded Robin, a pair of them showed well, though the male was still in moult, it is already a good looking bird.
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| Dusky Woodswallow |
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| Hooded Robin - pair |
Things got even more exciting as Phil found us a pair of very showy Crested Shrike-tit! While I have seen them up in Queensland, they are such good looking birds that I don't really mind how many more times I see them! The female with paler throat showed especially well.
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| Crested Shrike-tit - female |
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| Crested Shrike-tit - male |
We had another confiding Red-capped Robin, which perched nicely for photos. A few smaller birds came through in form of some Silvereyes and Buff-rumped Thornbills.
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| Red-capped Robin - male |
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| Silvereye |
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| Buff-rumped Thornbill |
After a lunch break and a bit of rest back in Deniliquin, we headed out again with Phil and Robert at around 3:30pm. We drove north of Deniliquin in search of more dry forest species, our first target was the Diamond Firetail, as Phil knows a spot where they have been seen breeding. However, we were out of luck, as the brood probably fledged and the birds were nowhere in sight. We got another very confiding Brown Treecreeper and a Rufous Songlark. A Whistling Kite flew by.
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| Brown Treecreeper |
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| Rufous Songlark |
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| Whistling Kite |
Phil said he wanted to try a spot for Painted Honeyeaters, although he haven't seen them there for a while. A playback resulted in a call, and soon a female flew into view! And a bit later the male followed! This species is known to be quite nomadic, following mistletoe plants in their movements, therefore it is generally considered to be a tough bird to nail, and we have phenomenal views of the pair!
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| Painted Honeyeater - female |
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| Painted Honeyeater - male |
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| Painted Honeyeater -pair |
After this huge success, we added a confiding Singing Honeyeater and a few more Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters. Another good honeyeater came in form of a Striped Honeyeater, it showed much better than the last, allowing us to study its intricate markings closely.
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| Singing Honeyeater |
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| Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater |
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| Striped Honeyeater |
More White-browed and Masked Woodswallows were present, both showed very well. A Kingfisher raised my hopes for Red-backed, but it was only a Sacred, shows how highly adaptive they are, inhabiting a wide range of habitats. Grey-crowned Babblers were also present.
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| White-browed Woodswallow |
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| Masked Woodswallow |
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| Sacred Kingfisher |
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| Grey-crowned Babbler |
Brown Falcons and Black-shouldered Kites are both fairly common in the area, Phil stated there are occasional records of Black Falcons in the area. A couple of Fairy Martins were seen perched on the road side fence.
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| Brown Falcon |
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| Black-shouldered Kite |
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| Fairy Martin |
We saw more Emus by the road, seeing them in their natural habitat feels almost like travelling back in time.
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| Emu |
Phil and Robert took us to a reserve that Phil have planted trees in, he manages the area and have done a really good job creating habitat for various wildlife. One thing he did was to put in nest boxes for Australian Owlet-nightjar, another species I have only heard but not seen on my previous visit. The trick is the scratch the nest boxes with a stick, if there is an Owlet-nightjar inside, it will either pop its head out or fly out. We tried several different known spots with no luck, on the last nest box I was sure we were going to dip this species yet again, when all of a sudden, a bird came bursting out of the nest box! Surely an Owlet-nightjar! We followed to where we thought the bird landed and I found the bird perched on the side of a tree trunk! We had phenomenal views of it in the dimming lights, what a bird!
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| Australian Owlet-nightjar |
Another key species found in Phil's little reserve is the White-backed Swallow, he dug out these sand banks for them to nest in, although we saw none on the bank, we had one flying around above us, although it was far, we got good enough views for a lifer.
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| White-backed Swallow |
Finally, Phil took us to the wetland area next to his little reserve, the area was filled with waterbirds, numerous Straw-necked Ibis, Australian Ibis, Masked Lapwings, Grey Teals, Pied Stilts and Black-tailed Native-hens were all seen here, a Yellow-billed Ibis flew by. As the sun dropped lower, a Swamp Harrier flew in and flushed all the birds up! What a sight to behold, and a perfect ending to our day. Phil and Robert dropped us off back at the hotel at 8pm.
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| Yellow-billed Spoonbill |
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| Swamp Harrier |
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| Amazing sunset |
Day 7 - Deniliquin > Chiltern
Phil suggested Island Sanctuary to be the go to birding spot in our final morning at Deniliquin. The first bird we saw was a Little Friarbird, the 'least ugly' of the Friarbirds. A Laughing Kookaburra perched nearby.
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| Little Friarbird |
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| Laughing Kookaburra |
A few Eastern Rosellas added a bit of excitement, although it took us a while to get some decent record shot of them. The Yellow Rosellas were a bit more cooperative.
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| Eastern Rosella |
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| Crimson Rosella - "Yellow" |
There were some Yellow Thornbills present, but were quite high up. A few White-browed Scrubwrens were far more obliging and perched out in the open for a photo. There were also a few Brown Treecreepers around.
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| White-browed Scrubwren |
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| Brown Treecreeper |
A few Superb Parrots and a single Australian King Parrot were seen, but none gave good views. A few Little Corellas flew in to check on some tree holes, perhaps scouting out possible nesting sites. Finally, a few Noisy Friarbirds, surely one of the 'ugliest' honeyeater!
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| Little Corella |
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| Noisy Friarbird |
It was a 2 hours drive to Chiltern, our first destination was Bartley's Block, this is the site of an old brewery, the slightly more open grassland is surrounded by forest, making it one of the most popular birding spot in the area. Not few minutes from getting off the car, I noticed a big blob up in the tree, to my delight it was a Koala! I have never seen a wild Koala before, so this was quite exciting for me. It eyed us from above and soon went back to sleep.
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| Koala! |
One of the most prominent species at Chiltern was the Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, these gorgeous birds were pleasantly common, their dark mask contrasting very nicely with the yellow cap and throat. I found an Olive-backed Oriole, and we got a few Common Bronzewings.
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| Yellow-tufted Honeyeater |
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| Olive-backed Oriole |
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| Common Bronzewing - female |
Best birds were likely a group of Brown-headed Honeyeaters, accompanied by a single Black-chinned Honeyeaters, the latter a new bird for us. I looked for White-eared Honeyeaters but had none.
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| Brown-headed Honeyeater |
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| Black-chinned Honeyeater |
Things got a bit quieter, a Jacky Winter was about the other most interesting bird we saw, a few Superb Fairywrens were the last bird we saw, here a female showed well.
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| Jacky Winter |
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| Superb Fairywren - female |
After we had some lunch at Chiltern and had a bit of rest, we tried our luck at the Chiltern Number Two Dam, it was however quite windy when we got there, and conditions just weren't very favourable in finding birds. We managed to find a few Dusky Woodswallows, we had better views here than we did at Deniliquin.
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| Dusky Woodswallow |
A few Parrots flew in, and looking through my binoculars I confirmed they were Turquoise Parrots, one of our targets here in Chiltern, but they flew off almost immediately after landing and were never seen again. I also saw a Little Lorikeet, but again had no photos to show for. Peter spotted a small rat like mammal climbing up the tree and into a tree hole, turns out it was a Yellow-footed Antechinus!
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| Yellow-footed Antechinus |
The forest was generally quiet, and there weren't that many waterbirds on the reservoir. A few White-winged Choughs gave good views, and we again had some Superb Fairywrens.
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| Superb Fairywren - male |
Back at the carpark, someone from our group stated there was a Willie Wagtail nest, which I took very little noticed of. As Peter was photographing something, I decided to take a look at the nest, and the birds sitting inside the nest certainly did not look like Willie Wagtails! Not a moment later, the adults came back, they were Restless Flycatchers! Another new bird for us all, and the adults posed very nicely for photos! Which made everyone happy.
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| Restless Flycatcher - nest with chicks |
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| Restless Flycatcher |
Afterwards, we drove over to Chiltern Number One Dam, hoping to get Pink-eared Ducks there, which we are still missing. Unfortunately all we got were Grey Teals. A few Straw-necked Ibis perched close to the road for a good look.
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| Straa-necked Ibis |
The best birds for us were easily a trio of Latham's Snipe, a species that I have wanted to see for a long time! There is one record of this species in Hong Kong, therefore I would like to see one for certain, hoping it will make it easier to identify them in the field if we ever get another in Hong Kong. However, perched birds seems very difficult to tell apart from Pin-tailed, Swinhoe's or even Common Snipes! They are very chunky for a snipe, so I guess we will just have to take extra care if we see a big snipe in Hong Kong.
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| Latham's Snipe |
The woodland around the reservoir didn't yield much, only White-plumed Honeyeaters. A Whistling Kite flew by, but not particularly close. A few Australian Pelicans landed on the water, giving excellent photo opportunities.
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| White-plumed Honeyeater |
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| Whistling Kite |
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| Australian Pelican |
On the reservoir I spotted two Black-fronted Dotterels, we were able to get quite close to them for photos, the pair weren't very bothered and actually walked towards us the whole time!
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| Black-fronted Dotterel |
Before we ended our day, we checked back in with the Koala at Bartley's Block. It haven't moved much, but light was not as harsh as in the morning, so we took some time to appreciate it again.
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| Koala - again! |
That evening, a few of us drove around to look for Barking Owls, it was quite cold and we heard no owls calling. We found many Common Brushtail Possums and a few Commong Ringtail Possums, we also had a few more Koalas, which were a lot more active than in the day. The only nocturnal bird we found was a Tawny Frogmouth, which funnily enough is the first time I've ever seen a Tawny Frogmouth at night!
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| Common Brushtail Possum |
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| Common Ringtail Possum |
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| Koala |
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| Tawny Frogmouth |
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