Brisbane to Thargomindah
via Sundown NP, Mulga View, Eulo, Carpet Springs, Lake Bindegolly. Thargomindah
to Brisbane via Eulo, Mulga View, Broadwater Lagoon and Lockyer Valley

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Black-breasted Buzzard
(Hamirostra leucosternum) |
Crested Bellbird
(Oreoica gutteralis)
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Marie and I accompanied
two overseas birders, Detlef Davies from the UK and Michael Knoll from
Germany on a trip to Sundown National Park near Stanthorpe, S Qld commencing
on Saturday 10 April 1999. About a kilometre from the park entrance we
encountered a superb male Turquoise Parrot which allowed me to get some
reasonable video-footage, although it decided to leave when the others
tried still-photography!
From lunch-time on Saturday
to the same time Sunday we came across most of the noted Sundown species
including White-browed Babbler, Dusky Woodswallow, Southern Whiteface and
Diamond Firetail although this time we missed Plum-headed Finch and White-backed
Swallow. Marie returned to Brisbane that afternoon and Michael, Detlef
and I headed west to spend the evening near Mulga View Station approximately
30kms from St George. The evening turned out to be very quiet and the visitors
were looking a bit glum from the long drive and my talk of probable Horsfield's
Bronze and Black-eared Cuckoos which were distinctly absent. Fortunately
the following morning morning their spirits were revived with good views
of Spotted Bowerbird, Mallee Ringneck and Pink Cockatoo. Continuing west
we stopped at Bollon and searched again (in vain) for Plum-heads and someone
forgot to take their binoculars off the car-roof and a birders worst fear
was realised....fortunately they were just about useable and a trip back
to Brisbane for a new pair wasn't required. Near Munda Munda on the Bollon
to Cunnamulla road there is usually an area of inundation, where I have
seen some good stuff in the past, on this occasion Brolga, Pink-eared Duck
and Hoary-headed Grebe were the high-lights.

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Turquoise Parrot
(Neophema pulchella) |
Common Bronzewing
(Phaps chalcoptera)
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The whole route seemed much
'greener'than on previous visits due to recent rains but I was disappointed
to find most of the 'mitchell-grass' plains in the Cunnamulla area to be
over-grazed and consequently lacking in Little Button-Quail. Surprisingly
we did not see Black-faced Woodswallow on the outward journey until Eulo
and no Brown Songlark and few Brown Falcons seemed to be in this area.
On arrival at Eulo we arranged
to spend a couple of nights at the camp-site run by our old friend Nan
Pike, who told us that Easter had been very wet and the whole place was
looking very lush and good for birds.
The first afternoon we
spent about an hour near Eulo on the Hungerford road coming across Brown-headed
Honeyeater, Black-breasted Buzzard, Blue Bonnets and many Pink Cockatoos
also in a mulga-bush I found an unusual 'Bearded' Dragon, I've seen them
in western Queensland before but not of the same colour as the local earth
which this seemed to be. In the evening we headed to Eulo Bore where Michael
managed to flush half-a-dozen Bourkes Parrots but we saw very little else
there.

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'Golden-backed' Honeyeater
(Melithreptus gularis laetior) |
Mallee Ringneck
(Barnardius barnardi)
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After a sumptous evening
meal in the 'Eulo Queen' Hotel we rose early and drove to the distinct
ridge about 4kms from Eulo Bore where we quickly came across a pair of
Chestnut-breasted Quail-Thrush. For future reference note the numbers on
the telegraph poles, this species can normally be found between 255-257
and during the previous week a Plains Wanderer was spotted somewhere between
260-261.
At this site we found several
White-browed Treecreeper which conveniently sat still in the early sun
rays (I've had this experience with at least 2 other Treecreeper species)
allowing me to film them. Also there were Crested Bellbird and White-winged
Triller. On the slope down to Eulo Bore we were fortunate to find a group
of Chestnut-crowned Babbler awaking from their roost-nest and a handful
of Ground Cuckoo-Shrike flew across the road in the distance.
From here we returned to
Eulo for breakfast where Michael celebrated 5 or 6 'ticks'and then went
out to Carpet Springs to the west on the Thargomindah road where he found
several Black-chinned Honeyeaters of the 'Golden-backed' race laetior in
a flowering gum along with many White-plumed Honeyeaters and Yellow-throated
Miners. A pair of Black-breasted Buzzard flew tantalizingly close but seemed
to be miles away every time I attempted to film them! Strangely unlike
previous trips at the same time of year no Chirruping Wedgebills were calling
in the area.

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Masked Woodswallow
(Artamus personatus) |
White-browed Woodswallow
(Artamus superciliosus)
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Continuing on to Lake Bindegolly
we stopped at the causeway and found many Australian Darters, Blue-billed
and Musk Duck and assorted wildfowl, though as at Carpet Springs still
no Chirruping Wedgebills calling. We spent the middle of the day searching
for Orange and Crimson Chat; in vain, but did managed to find about a dozen
Freckled Duck and large numbers of Hoary-headed Grebe. Fortunately as we
left we spotted a Shingleback Lizard on the newly tarred track to the unfinished
Visitors Centre. Detlef and Michael were busy photographing it while I
was
watching some White-winged Fairy-Wrens when I spotted something sneaking
through a clump of grass, at last we had a group of Chirruping Wedgebill!
As it was getting on in
the afternoon we set off for Thargomindah reaching there about 2pm. On
arrival the vegetation seemed to dramatically change from the arid mulga
to the lush green riverine of the Bulloo River and we could hear the calls
of thousands of White-browed and Masked Woodswallow, new birds for Michael,
then he did it again finding a White-fronted Honeyeater (which I missed....a
'lifer' for me!)and a group of Diamond Doves. We spent a couple of hours
searching this area but found little else that was new, and left to try
and get to the 'gap' or ridge near Dewalla Springs before nightfall. About
8 years ago Chris Corben had showed me this site as a 'stake-out' for Grey-headed
Honeyeater which is fairly south of it's usual known range. We just got
there before sunset and while looking for the Honeyeater heard a loud contact
call. Sitting just outside their roost-nest were 2 Hall's Babbler and one
actually retired whilst we watched; one or two minutes later and we would
surely have missed this sought after species. We also just caught brief
views of the Honeyeater and photographed a great sunset.
So ended a busy day with
much 'ticking'.

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White-browed Treecreeper
(Climacteris affinis) |
Unknown 'Dragon'
(Pogona species?)
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We decided to head back
on Wednesday to get back to Brisbane before the weekend when Michael had
planned to go on a 'pelagic' on his last day in the country. The journey
was fairly uneventful after the excitement of the day before and we turned
up at the Mulga View area in the early afternoon.
Deciding to take a walk
through the Cypress scrub we managed to 'pish' out a few thornbills, Chestnut-rumped,
Inland and Yellow, Weebills and Grey Fantails but then Michael found his
first Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo and not long after I caught the distant
mournful "phew-phew" call of the Black-eared Cuckoo and attempting a poor
imitation managed to bring a curious individual in to binocular range.
Later whilst taking afternoon tea we spotted 2 birds chasing each other
around but as usual not stopping long enough for me to get any video-footage.
Thursday began with the
long drive from St George to Dalby where we had planned to spend the night
at Lake Broadwater. This must be the most boring road from a birders perspective,
nothing but agriculture past the rodside strip and the cotton industry
seemingly spreading its 'fauna-free' influence from the St George and Dalby
areas.
At Lake Broadwater in the
afternoon the birding was a bit quiet; the only highlights being a male
Red-capped Robin, White-eared Honeyeater, lots of Plumed Whistling-Duck,
Emu and three Musk Ducks. However the following morning we woke up early
after a Brush-tailed Possum decided to visit us and sample our breakfast
menu, although he did leave promptly without the need for threats! More
worrying however was the crop-dusting aircraft which turned fairly close
to our campsite, I wonder what the Parks and Wildlife Dept have to say
about this activity above an environmental park?
On a lighter note, Michael
was beginning to 'twitch' again and so we walked from the campsite down
to the lakeside where I hoped we might come across a Painted Button-Quail
(Sadly one of the few birds that we eventually failed on) On arrival at
the waters edge we flushed a juvenile Rufous Night-Heron and then I heard
the pleasant high-pitched call of the Little Lorikeet (another new bird
for Michael) after a time we managed to spot several in a large flowering
gum, buoyed by this success we made our way to Helidon east of Toowoomba,
but found little of interest, still no Plum-heads or White-backed Swallows
and where have the Squatter Pigeons gone?

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Breakfast at Sundown |
Scenery on outskirts of Thargomindah
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From Helidon we had a little
more luck at Jahnke's Lagoon where we found Pink-eared Duck with young,
3 Cotton Pygmy-Geese, Australian Shoveler and an Australian Hobby. Nearby
at Lester Bridge we searched in vain for Blue-winged Kookaburra but managed
to spot a lone Black Falcon harassing a Wedge-tailed Eagle, and at Seven-mile
Lagoon the whole area was full of birds, however there was so much heat-haze
that only the closer species were readily identifiable. Another Australian
Hobby landed on the wires very close to the car but waited until we all
had our cameras out before flying off again. Whiskered Tern were in large
numbers and Glossy Ibis were feeding on the edge near to the vehicle.
Detlef finally got lucky
near the Turf-farms at Atkinson's Dam and found a Yellow-billed Spoonbill,
his first for SE Qld.
From Atkinson's Dam we
made our way over Mt Glorious stopping for a last hunt for Wompoo Pigeon
and Paradise Riflebird in the rainforest, heard the pigeon, no sign of
the Bird-of-Paradise!
So the journey ended, Michael
has now returned to Munich, Detlef will be here until May and I am looking
forward to the next trip into the outback! |