Day 4 - Wagga Wagga > Griffith
We packed our stuff early morning and started our long drive inland, we didn't really make a stop until we got to Sturt Highway, along the side of the road I got my first lifer of the day, a White-plumed Honeyeater, a very common species but found mostly further inland from Sydney.
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| White-plumed Honeyeater |
Wagga Wagga was our first proper stop, the name of the town is of Aboriginal meaning 'dance and celebration'. After a nice lunch in town, we decided to stop by Flowerdale Lagoon, a small lagoon just north of town. Immediately we were greeted by Red Wattlebirds and a few Striated Pardalote, although the latter stayed high up in the trees.
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| Red Wattlebird |
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| Striated Pardalote |
On the lagoon we added Yellow-billed Spoonbill among other more common waterbirds, and Peaceful Doves cooed from above, while a common bird it is a lifer for many in our group.
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| Yellow-billed Spoonbill |
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| Peaceful Dove |
A brown bird hawking for insects took me a while to work out its identity, turn out it was a Rufous Songlark, identified by its rufous rump, although it looked and behaved nothing like a lark in real life! It was darting around quickly and only allowed us to grab a few record shots.
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| Rufous Songlark |
A few Superb Parrots flew by but never gave good views, a few 'Yellow' Rosellas were however a bit of obliging, although they look nothing alike, the 'Yellow' Rosella is actually considered a race of the Crimson Rosella.
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| Crimson 'Yellow' Rosella |
Seeing we got most birds available there, we drove on. I decided to check on Berry Jerry Rest Area just west of Wagga Wagga along A20, as I have read it can be a good area for Superb Parrots. As it happens, we saw a pair of Superb Parrots flying alongside our car as we arrived at the Rest Area! Soon we were having amazing views of this wonderful looking parrot feeding on the trees above, these neon green are mainly found predominately in New South Wales, with a few crossing the border to northern Victoria, making this an 'almost' New South Wales endemic.
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| Superb Parrot - truly an amazing species! |
It was another 1.5 hr drive until we arrived at the Fivebough Wetlands in Leeton, this is one of the prime wetland sites in the area, this 342ha wetland is a ramsar site that boasts over 20,000 waterbirds in the summer, sometimes more! At the car park, a male Blue-faced Honeyeater greeted us, together with a Yellow-throated Miner, a nice change to the Noisy Miners we often see.
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| Blue-faced Honeyeater - male |
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| Yellow-throated Miner |
A few Superb Fairywrens were accompanied by a male Purple-backed Fairywren! This species was formerly considered to be a race of the Variegated Fairywren, but is now more widely accepted as a separate species, although they do look similar.
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| Superb Fairywren - male |
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| Purple-backed Fairywren - male |
Temperature soared up to near 37°C that day, and the sun was relentless. a Swamp Harrier was seen circling high above. On the swamp we added several wetland species, including Royal Spoonbills, Australian Shelduck, Pied Stilts and many Black-tailed Native-hens!
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| Swamp Harrier |
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| Royal Spoonbill |
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| Australian Shelduck |
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| Pied Stilt |
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| Black-tailed Native-hen |
I spotted an Australian Crake foraging along the grassy bank, a few Red-kneed Dotterels also gave everyone a good look. We scanned for Brolgas but had no luck.
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| Australian Crake |
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| Red-kneed Dotterel |
Along the reedbeds there were countless Australian Reed Warblers, Little Grassbirds were very vocal as well, and with a little effort we finally got good views of a few of them. Golden-headed Cisticola was also added to our trip list.
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| Australian Reed Warbler |
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| Little Grassbird |
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| Golden-headed Cisticola |
Captain complained that he still haven't seen any Magpie Goose, and soon after he said it a large flock of them took flight in the background, they never came close but he got his lifer. A few more Purple-backed Fairywrens came by, I can't imagine anyone can have too much of these colourful little birds.
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| Magpie Geese flock |
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| Purple-backed Fairywren - male |
Finally, a few Eastern Grey Kangaroos came out to feed as the sun got lower and heat subsided.
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| Eastern Grey Kangaroo |
We continued towards Griffith, on the road we added a few more Nankeen Kestrels and some Red-rumped Parrots. A few Little Ravens were seen perched next to our hotel car park as we arrived, which adds another species to our trip list!
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| Nankeen Kestrel - female |
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| Nankeen Kestrel - male |
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| Red-rumped Parrot |
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| Little Raven |
Day 5 - Cocoparra National Park > Deniliquin
We got up early, hoping to beat the heat! It was a fairly short drive to Wattle Dam within the Binya State Forest. Cocoparra National Park features semi-arid bushland and is classified as an IBA by Birdlife International. As we arrived at Wattledam, we saw a small group of black birds, turns out they were White-winged Choughs.
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| White-winged Chough |
The forest was filled with bird calls we were unfamiliar with, one of the most beautiful song belongs to the humble looking Western Gerygone. A few Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters were seen, but mostly from afar.
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| Western Gerygone |
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| Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater |
Two species of Babblers were spotted, including the few White-browed Babblers and a family group of Grey-crowned Babblers. Funny thing about these Australo-Papuan babbler is that while they look and behave just like true babblers, they are not related at all, in fact they are more closely related to Logrunners!
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| White-Browed Babbler |
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| Grey-crowned Babbler |
Apostlebirds are also a species readily found in these arid forest, here they were much shyer than I expected, staying away from us mostly. Same goes with a few Mulga Parrots, which were seen well, but we simply could not get close enough for any decent photos.
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| Apostlebird |
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| Mulga Parrot |
Thornbills are a group of birds that can give visiting birders a bit of headache, much like the Leaf Warblers we get in Hong Kong, being tiny and mostly staying high in the trees. Luckily they are not too difficult to identify if you are able to get a good close look. We added a few Yellow Thornbills and our only Inland Thornbills of the trip.
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Yellow Thornbill
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Inland Thornbill
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Finally, a bird I was very excited to see, the Splendid Fairywren! A species that looks even better in real life than it did in the field guides! The intensity of the blue was quite staggering when seen under the sunlight.
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| Splendid Fairywren - male |
As we were driving out of Wattle Dam, Hoiling spotted a bright red bird on the fence! Turns out it was a male Red-capped Robin! The bird was not shy to say the least, and the female also showed up.
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| Red-capped Robin - male |
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| Red-capped Robin - female |
We drove along the main track, stopping whenever we hear or see birds, here we added Speckled Warbler and more White-plumed Honeyeaters. Common Bronzewing brought a bit of excitement, although they were terribly difficult to photograph here.
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| Speckled Warbler |
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| White-plumed Honeyeater |
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| Common Bronzewing - female |
White-winged Triller was a nice addition to our trip list, it was feeding together with a female Rufous Whistler. A Southern Whiteface was also an excellent find, and we got good views of a few.
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| White-winged Triller - male |
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| Rufous Whistler - female |
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| Southern Whiteface |
A large pink parrot flew past us as we were photographing the Triller, no doubt a Pink Cockatoo! We had good looks of it flew by but it landed in a very distant tree, too far to even get a good record shot, we tried walking over but by the time we were half way there it was already gone. A few Mulga Parrots showed nicely, and we spotted a pair of Cockatiels!
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| Mulga Parrot |
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| Cockatiel |
One of the better honeyeater that morning was a Striped Honeyeater, a peculiar looking bird that look like no other honeyeaters in Australia. A few Rainbow Bee-eaters were also seen.
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| Rainbow Bee-eater |
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| Striped Honeyeater |
We tried one last site for Painted Honeyeaters, but got nothing, we were compensated by excellent viewing of a male Splendid Fairywren, so I am definitely not complaining!
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| Splendid Fairywren - spectacular bird! |
From there we started our 2.5 hr drive towards Deniliquin. Along the way we added a few Fairy Martins. I spotted many White-winged Choughs on the side of the road near Coleambally, so we decided to stop to photograph them, we were not disappointed as these were very bold and obviously used to being around people.
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| Fairy Martin |
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| White-winged Chough |
Our stop here turns out to be a good decision, as the area was quite birdy! Best birds were probably a few Australian Ringnecks at close range, and our only encounter of this trip! Black-faced Cuckooshrikes were present, as well as a Sacred Kingfisher.
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| Australian Ringneck |
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| Black-faced Cuckooshrike |
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| Sacred Kingfisher |
We found a few Common Bronzewings here, and they were by no means shy! We had great views of both the male and female. Before we left, we added a few Chestnut-rumped Thornbills, another addition to our trip list. We even added an Eastern Bearded Dragon!
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| Common Bronzewing - male |
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| Common Bronzewing - female |
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| Chestnut-rumped Thornbill |
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| Eastern Bearded Dragon |
Along the highway we scanned for raptors, but all we saw were Black Kites, their subspecies affinis looks very different from ours in Hong Kong.
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| Black Kite - race affinis |
We arrived at Deniliquin at 4pm, this gave us a little time to rest up before our evening tour starts. I have contacted Australian Ornithological Services for an evening to look for the famous Plains Wanderer and a full day tour for general birds, Patricia who have been replying to my emails have been very helpful. At 5pm, Phil and Robert our bird guides arrived in two 4x4 to pick us up. Our first stop was a small lagoon next to the B75, here we added some common wetland birds, including a few Australian Darters. A single Hoary-headed Grebe was the only one of the trip.
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| Great Cormorant, Australian Darter, Little Black Cormorant, Australian Pelican |
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| Australian Darter |
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| Hoary-headed Grebe |
From there we headed north to the northern plains of Deniliquin, the further we went the less trees there were. A flock of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows were seen along the road, according to Robert they are usually found further inland and often follow the winds in search for food, the hot inland wind responsible for the 40°C heat also likely brought in these beauties.
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| White-browed Woodswallow |
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| Masked Woodswallow |
A very distant Wedge-tailed Eagle was spotted, strangely enough the only Wedge-tailed Eagle we saw this entire trip. A pair of Banded Lapwings were added, a new bird for everyone!
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| Wedge-tailed Eagle |
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| Banded Lapwing |
Various Emus were seen, including adults and some juveniles. These flightless birds are very common in the arid grassland, and there is no other sight as 'Australian' than this!
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| Emu - adult |
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| Emu - juvenile |
Another species of Woodswallow came in form of the few Black-faced Woodswallow, the pair were breeding here and had two chicks.
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| Black-faced Woodswallow - juvenile |
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| Black-faced Woodswallow |
Sharp-eyed Robert spotted a Shingleback Skink on the road! This bizzare looking lizard is commonly found in the more arid areas in Australia. No long after we added another Eastern Bearded Lizard.
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| Shingleback Skink |
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| Eastern Bearded Dragon |
Other than birds and reptiles, many Red Kangaroos were seen, this is the largest kangaroo species in Australia, and no doubt the most iconic of the kanagroos! A single Western Grey Kangaroo was also spotted. But the most common mammal of all were hares and rabbits, these introduced animals compete for food with the native animals, and seems to have outcompeted them mostly.
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| Red Kangaroo - female |
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| Red Kangaroo - male |
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| Western Grey Kangaroo |
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| European Hare |
We arrived at Robert's farm as the sun started setting. Here Phil immediately pointed out the nesting Tawny Frogmouth to us, a wonderful species to see even if I have seen them many times! This chick is looking far to big to be in the nest and should fledge very soon.
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| Tawny Frogmouth |
We enjoyed a few biscuits under the beautiful sunset. The last bird we saw in the dimming light was an Australian Hobby! A species I have wanted to see for so long, I wasn't really expecting to see one here, turns out there is a nesting pair in the farm!
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| Black Kite |
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| Australian Hobby - nice surprise! |
As it got darker, we prepared to search for the Plains Wanderer. The first animal we saw was no bird, but a Tesselated Gecko found by Robert! How he spotted this from the car I have no idea.
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| Tesselated Gecko |
Our first bird of the evening was a Little Buttonquail, a tiny species that could easily fit into my palm, this was a male and female have more orange necks.
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| Little Buttonquail |
We soon left the car and started on foot, with aid of infrared cameras we found several Australian Pipits, a female Brown Songlark was also added.
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| Australian Pipit |
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| Brown Songlark - female |
It didn't felt that long until Phil exclaimed that he found a Plains Wandere! A male! We had fantastic view of this unique looking bird. This small quail like bird was previously mis-placed with the Buttonquails, it in fact have no true relations with them at all, a clue given by its extra hind toe! It is now the sole member of the family Pedionomidae. The male gave incredible views and we left it alone soon enough.
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| Plains Wanderer - male |
We were already over the moon that we have seen our biggest target of the trip, but Phil was determined to find us a female, and a female he found! The female looks much more distinctive, with rufous brown chest patch and a chequered collar. Just like the Painted Snipe which they are distantly related to, the females are more colourful than males. This species is listed as Endangered, due to habitat loss and introduced predators such as foxes, a story far too common in this part of the world. There are estimated to be less than 1,000 mature individuals in the wild, so I felt extremely privileged to be able to see two in the wild.
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| Plains Wanderer - female |
A little Fat-tailed Dunnart was a little bit different from all the birding excitement, it was still interesting to see this little mouse like marsupial at close range. The final bird of the evening was a lovely looking male Stubble Quail, having seen a few in flight during the evening, Phil finally found us the very cooperative male. By then it was 11:30am, and we got back to our hotel just after midnight. It was a very long day of birding, but no doubt was one of the best day of birding in my life!
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| Fat-tailed Dunnart |
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| Stubble Quail - male |
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