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Mike, Brett and Marie and the truck |
Mike, Brett and Marie and the bistro |
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Birding trip to Victoria (October 2000) (part three - the Mallee) by Tom and Marie Tarrant |
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Mike, Brett and Marie and the truck |
Mike, Brett and Marie and the bistro |
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Linda |
Birds Australia Shop |
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After our trip to south-west Victoria, we caught the train back to Melbourne on Sunday 29 October met up with Brett and planned the next stage of the trip, to the Murray-Sunset National Park in the north-west of the state. On monday our friends Mike and Linda Lewis were flying down from Brisbane to join us after a campervan trip across Northern Europe. They arrived around ten. We hired a Toyota Prado 4WD which was delivered at 11.30am and were to have set off for a six-hour drive north, unfortunately we still hadn't finished shopping for our provisions after lunch (which continued until 3pm!) and took a trip to Hawthorn to visit the Birds Australia Shop. Therefore Brett took a major decision to camp at a spot fairly close to Bendigo (this was to be a smart move, as we realised later) The first night was then spent at Rushworth State forest near Puckapunyal Military Training Area, unfortunately that night someone forgot to turn off the ignition in the truck (it was automatic transmission) and in the morning we found we had a flat battery. Fortunately we only had to walk a couple of kms to find someone who jump-started the truck. When we realised that in the mallee we would be about 60 kms from the nearest habitation, we were quite relieved that we had learned this lesson early. However disaster struck again when Brett and I applied too much pressure to the luggage we were piling into the back of the truck and one of the side windows burst. Birding was fairly uneventful, Brett was hoping to find Purple-crowned Lorikeet and Black-chinned Honeyeater which were absent but we did see Yellow-tufted and Fuscous Honeyeaters and Musk Lorikeet. Some of the wildflowers were very attractive such as the yellow "everlasting" and the blue "pin-cushions". We drove on to Rushworth and temporarily fixed the broken window, we could get it fixed properly in Mildura on friday after they had obtained the parts.
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Everlasting |
Pin Cushions |
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north through the sterile wheat-growing areas of northern Victoria and
noted the storm-clouds building up in the direction of the Sunset
Country, Brett assured us that up there "the annual rainfall is
only a couple of inches....."
We arrived at Hattah in the late-afternoon and left our itinerary at the General-Store, then drove the 60km's to the proposed campsite west of Rocket Lake, near a junction between Pheeny's and Underbool Tracks. |
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Yellow-plumed Honeyeater |
Red-capped Robin |
| On arrival at dusk we decided to set-up camp and start cooking a meal, though the storm-clouds were looking a lot more threatening, Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters seemed to be everywhere and flocks of Masked and White-browed Woodswallows were overhead. Then the rain arrived! |
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Cooking in the rain |
Next morning! |
| After dinner was abandonded, we retired to our tents to enjoy a night of thunder-storms and found that our tent was no-longer water-proof. At dawn the rain appeared to have passed and I got up to find a new bird species....a White-fronted Honeyeater nesting near the tent. Soon after everyone else decided to get up, a major error as the rain returned with a vengeance a few minutes later! After this deluge had finally subsided we decided to chase a "see-saw" song that we could hear, possibly Red-lored Whistler? Unfortunately all that we managed to see and film were Gilbert's Whistler (although that too, was a new species for me.) Mike and I also got great views of Southern Scrub-robin. Our next task was to dry out the sleeping-bags, blankets and pillows in front of the camp-fire. |
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Southern Scrub-robin
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Southern Scrub-robin |
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female Golden Whistler |
White-browed Babbler |
| The remainder of our week in the mallee stayed dry, and it wasn't too long before the sun re-appeared, bringing with it skinks, dragons and the odd snake. |
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ctenophorus Dragon |
Gould's Sand Monitor |
| The area where we camped consisted of mallee-covered dunes, with very little evidence of human interference. It was like a large nursery with many bird species feeding young. |
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White-fronted Honeyeater fledgling |
Young Brown-headed Honeyeaters |
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Budgerigar |
Splendid Fairywren |
| Though we spent plenty of
time looking we failed to see Red-lored Whistler, but we did manage to
get great views of Mallee Emu-wren, Little Button-Quail and Chestnut
Quail-thrush, unfortunately I didn't have the camera at the time!
Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo were common and noisy and a few Shy Heathwrens were observed with nesting material. |
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mallee scenery |
mallee |
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Splendid Fairywren |
Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo |
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Shy Heathwren |
Purple-crowned Lorikeet |
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searching for Purple-crowned Lorikeet and finally caught up with them in
a flowering-tree, though Brett managed to get fleeting views of Striated
Grasswren the rest of us failed to get a look.
We left our campsite on Friday and headed for Hattah, where we quickly visited the day visitor area and observed our first Regent Parrots and Yellow Rosella. From Hattah we drove to Mildura where we got the truck fixed, enjoyed a shower and had a great meal. Marie and I caught an overnight bus to Melbourne and Mike Linda and Brett continued their trip visiting other sites in the area and catching up with even more great wildlife! |
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Regent Parrot |
Yellow Rosella |
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To conclude we would like to say a big 'thankyou' to all those who gave us great hospitality and made the trip great fun....especially Kent! |
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Hattah |
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Species List |
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This page created by Tom and Marie Tarrant November 2000 Please respect copyright and acknowledge the use of any material taken from this site |
