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Tuesday, 8 October, 2013

 

I got to bed by just after 9 PM again last night.  I’m doing extremely well in keeping myself on an early schedule.  As I was going to bed, I found this visitor on the back of my toilet.

 

After I took his picture, I escorted him outside and put him on my front steps.  Interestingly, when I went out this morning at about 5:30 AM, to get something from the car, there were two of them on the front steps.  It is hard to tell the size there, but it was about the size of half of a medium peach.

 

I woke again during the night, after sleeping very well until about 2:30.  I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got up and did some computer stuff for half an hour, and then I went back to bed and slept lightly until my alarm went off at 5.  I think I mentioned that today we planned to drive to Lake Bindegolly, to look for several species that don’t come to Bowra.  Last night, Russ or Steve (I forget which, sorry) had gotten the phone number of a woman who lives near there, and had phoned her.  The woman said she would be amazed if there wasn’t water in the part of Lake Bindegolly that you can see from the road.  On that basis, we set out, at about 6:20 AM, on the two hour drive to Lake Bindegolly.

 

Not too far west of Cunnamulla, we saw some BLUEBONNETS on the side of the road.  Bluebonnets are attractive parrots that I needed for my trip list.  I won’t see them anywhere else, after I get out of this area, so it was an excellent sighting.  Here are a couple of distant pictures of them, alongside the road.

 

 

Like I said, distant pictures, but you can see the colors on them.  I’m a sucker for blue colored birds, as I have mentioned before

 

We drove on, looking for Eulo Bore, for our first real stop.  As I explained the other day, a bore is a deep well that goes down into the huge aquifer that is under Queensland, 2 or 3 thousand feet down.  Water usually comes up without pumping it, as it is under pressure down there.  Eulo Bore has a dam (pond) associated with it, and sometimes good birds are seen there.  Somehow we missed it, and when we got to the little village of Eulo, where we intended to get petrol (gas), the shop was still closed, as it was only 7:40 by then.  We saw a guy walking around, and we asked where the bore was, and we found we had missed it.  Since the store wasn’t going to open for 20 minutes anyway, and we needed to buy petrol, we went back and found the bore.

 

Well, the dam ended up being dry, but we walked around the area for a short while.  Here is a picture of that area.

 

The places out here sure do look similar, don’t they?  The same trees and bushes, and the same dry ground.  We saw nothing at all interesting, and soon gave it up and went back into Eulo to load up on fuel.  I took the opportunity to buy a dozen eggs ($5.07 a dozen, rather than the $2.99 I had been paying, because we were out in the boonies for sure) and some sliced ham.  The store was tiny, and they sure didn’t have much stuff to buy.

 

While we were in town, we talked to a couple of people about Lake Bindegolly and both of them told us it was dry where we would be able to access it.  We discussed that, and decided to give it a miss, since it was still an hour down the road.  One of the people we talked to happened to work for the local tourist agency, and she told us about a place we could get to water that was “only” about 40 or 50 miles down a series of unpaved roads.  We decided to go for that, and headed out, with only some verbal instructions on how to find it.

 

Somewhere in that next stretch, Ken suddenly hit the brakes and called out “kingfisher”.  We all piled out and had great views of a RED-BACKED KINGFISHER (lifer).  I had hoped to see one at Bowra, but no one had reported seeing one lately, so it was amazing to see one today, while we were going to a place we had never thought of going to and had no information about.  Here is a picture of that little beaut.

 

The gray crown and the white undersides are the two keys to the identification.  I think the bill is also much lighter colored than the other kingfisher found out here, the Sacred Kingfisher, which I have showed pictures of a couple of times already.  So, first I got the Bluebonnets, for my trip list, and then I got the kingfisher for my life list as well as my trip list.  Amazing.

 

To give you an idea of our day, we mostly just drove along, talking and watching for birds, and from time to time would stop to check out a bird.  A couple of times we stopped to view towers, because some raptors perch or nest on towers.  At one point, someone noticed a lizard on the edge of the road, so we stopped.  Ken knows all the mammals and reptiles, as well as the birds, and he is interested in all of them.  This one was a Bearded Dragon.  Here is a picture of that little cutie.

 

You can’t tell the size there, but here is a shot of Ken cozying up to it, to take its picture.

 

And, here is my close-up of the head.

 

I thought it was interesting how it let us approach so close, without spooking it.  It was still sitting there when we drove on.

 

At one point, Ken though the habitat looked interesting off to the right and there was a small track leading off that way, so we drove over there.  There turned out to be some surface water, and here is a picture that I call Water in a Dry Land.

 

As we approached, a White-necked Heron flew up, and when it landed in a dead tree, I got this picture.

 

There were a few other common birds there, but nothing interesting.

 

Eventually we found our way to the water that the woman had described to us, and it turned out to be a section of the Paroo River that hadn’t dried up yet.  It was like a long, thin lake, which isn’t uncommon in outback Australia.  We didn’t find any interesting birds there but there was a picnic table by the water and it was time for lunch, so we took advantage.  Here is our lovely lunch site, by the Paroo River.  Note the picnic table in the lower left corner of the picture, in the shade.

 

I had the last of the three smoked chicken breasts I had bought days ago somewhere, along with some processed cheese slices, some very good vegetables (broccoli, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, and cherry tomatoes), potato chips, some choc chip cookies, and a Diet Coke.  The other guys had sandwich makings in an electric cooler and made themselves sandwiches.  It was a very pleasant lunch break.

 

So, after that, it was time to head back.  We went back a slightly different way, just for variety, and didn’t see much in the way of birds.  At one point, we did stop at a tower we had looked at earlier, and this time Steve spotted a bird on a nest.  We had seen the nest earlier, but there didn’t seem to be a bird on it then.  Steve had his scope, and he set it up on the nest.  At first, the bird didn’t show itself much, and there was discussion about what it might be.  Then the bird moved and gave us much better looks at it.  After that, the unanimous opinion was that it was a PEREGRIN FALCON.  That is a very good one for my trip list, as I didn’t really expect to see one here, but it won’t help my year list, as I saw Peregrine Falcon in the US already this year.  The name of the game over here is to maximize my trip list, though, and the Peregrine added to that.

 

We continued on our way, and I took that opportunity to ask them about various birds I wanted to see on this trip.  They gave me good ideas, and we were talking about what Ken and I might go looking for this weekend, when I plan to stay with him for three nights, over on the Sunshine Coast of southern Queensland.  Somehow Yellow Thornbill came up, and they said they had seen them at the Cunnamulla STP (Sewage Treatment Plant) on their way to Bowra on Sunday.  So, they decided to detour a little to go there, to get it for me.  As soon as we got there and got out of the car, they heard the call, and there was one in the tree right above us.  When I saw it, I remembered that I had seen that species before, so I checked my little notebook, and sure enough, I had seen on my first Saturday at Warriewood Wetlands, in North Sydney.  So, it wasn’t one for my trip list after all.

 

In the meantime, though, they had mentioned that they had heard another bird that I definitely had not seen, and I didn’t really expect to see.  So, we set out to see if we could find that one for me.  Here is a picture of one of the three ponds there at the Cunnamulla STP.

 

There were a number of duck species on the ponds there, but nothing new for me. We walked around, and when my expert guides heard the call of the bird we were looking for, Steve played the call on his phone, to see if we could entice one to come out for us to see.  We had fleeting glimpses of little birds, and some of them were probably our target species.  Steve played the call several times and finally we saw what might be the bird in question on the other side of one of the ponds.  Steve had brought his scope along, and he set it up, pointing at the other side, where we had seen an interesting looking bird.  There were a couple of reed-warblers, but that wasn’t what we were looking for.  Eventually, though, I did get excellent scope views of LITTLE GRASSBIRD.  In fact, I saw an adult bird feeding a plain looking immature bird twice.  Score!  I only had Little Grassbird at a 20% chance in my spreadsheet, so this was outstanding.  It was one that I definitely would have needed help with.

 

So, after that, we headed back to Bowra, although we did stop in Cunnamulla for some provisions.  I got a couple of meat pies at the bakery, to heat up later for dinner.  I tried for some yogurt at the grocery store, but they didn’t have any Greek yogurt, which is higher protein, and the one they did have said “Best By September 23”, so I passed on it.

 

It was only about 4 PM by then, though, and while discussing what birds I could still see at Bowra for my trip list, there was one that the other guys had seen the other late afternoon, when I had bailed out early and stayed at home while they went up to an area called Sawpits.  Ken very kindly offered to take me up there to look to for it, and after he dropped Steve and Russ off at the shearers’ quarters, he and I went up to Sawpits.  On the way, there was a large raptor on the horizon, and Ken immediately could see that it was interesting.  We drove forward to get closer and got out, but the bird had flown behind some trees.  We picked it up briefly again, and Ken confirmed his first impression that it was a Square-tailed Kite.  That would have been a wonderful bird for me to have gotten, and I only have it at 10% in my spreadsheet, but it is in Upper/Lower case because I am not counting it.  I have no doubt what it was, as Ken was certain, and he told me what he had seen that convinced him, but I hadn’t seen it in my binoculars, and I just didn’t have a good enough look at it to count it.  There have been two or three species on this trip that I thought long and hard about, and came down on the side of counting them, but this one is one that I came down on the other side for.  I would love to see one, but it just wasn’t a good enough look to meet my standards.  Birding is interesting, because each birder has to set his own standards about what they will count and what they will not count, and the criteria used vary all over the map.  I have my own standards, and I try to stick to them.

 

We drove on to where they had seen the birds I still needed to see.  As we approached where they had seen them, Ken spotted one almost right away, and it cooperated and sat out in plain view for a long time.  Here is a picture of the last of the six woodswallow species in Australia for my trip list, LITTLE WOODSWALLOW.

 

The picture is a little “soft”, as most of my hand-held 50X optical zoom pictures are, but it shows the colors of the bird, and I’m satisfied with it.  A professional photographer would sneer at most of my pictures, but they meet my needs just fine, and I do like my little super-zoom cameras that I have owned over the years.

 

Since we were already there, Ken and I decided to go on down to the water that remains at Sawpits, to see what might be coming in to the water as the day ended.  There was a lot of action, and although we didn’t see anything new, it was very pleasant to sit in the shade on a log and watch the various birds, kangaroos, and goats come to the water.  Here is a picture of the water from our vantage point.

 

To give you an idea of the zoom power of my little super-zoom camera, note the stick sticking out over the water, about halfway down on the left, directly under the big tree that sticks out over the water.  You can barely see the stick in the picture, if you know exactly where to look.  Here is a picture of a Brown-headed Honeyeater on that stick.

 

With the naked eye, you could maybe just barely see that there was a bird there at all, but maybe not.  The technology of these cameras never ceases to amaze me.

 

So, it was after five PM by then, and we headed back to camp.  Ken dropped me at my cottage, and I proceeded to have a drinkie, work on my pictures and this report, and have my humble dinner.  Now I’ll wrap this up and try to send it off by email, if my mobile phone connection is up to it tonight.

 

I picked up 5 more species today for my trip list, one of which was a lifer.  That brings me to 193 species for the trip, of which 10 of them are lifers.  Tomorrow it is going to be tough to add another one, although Steve says that one lifer species I need is a dead cert, so we will see.  I don’t see how I can possibly see new ones the following two days, when I’m driving to the Sunshine Coast, but let’s just take it one day at a time, and see if I can get one tomorrow.  I have one more day here at Bowra.  This is an incredible trip for me, and I’m enjoying the hell out of it.  My cold seems completely gone, and I feel great.