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| Male Red-winged Parrot |
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| Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush calling. |
Our stay at
Bowra began on Sunday with a drive down to the front gate – 6 km at 10 - 15 kph
and lots of stopping – during which we had good views of a Black Falcon and a flock of 14
Emu right near the gate. The Grey Falcon was not in the “Falcon Tree” but our
hunt had begun. From the front gate we headed out to look for Chestnut-breasted
Quail-thrush and found one, of all places, up a tree where it moved from branch
to branch until it finally flew down and ran away, as they always do. Walking
on I had a very brief view of a pair of Hall’s Babblers then got very nice views
of Splendid Fairy-wrens and a female Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush.
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| This is an old map and location 7 is no longer accessible but it is otherwise accurate |
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| This little gentleman was all puffed up as he came down to drink with the females |
The rest of
the day was a drive out to Gumholes for lunch where we left our friend Ian and
his camera. Top birds at Gumholes were Plum-headed Finch, Double-bar Finch and
Diamond Dove as well as a couple of spectacular butterflies. After lunch we
drove on to do the Western Paddock loop, still looking for the elusive Grey
Falcon, a tick for Joy. The grass is incredibly long in all the paddocks and
the trees are fresh and growing, bright in new young leaves. A waterhole has
filled half way down the southern leg of the Western Paddock loop and a pair of
Spotted Harriers were working over the long grass. At the far back end of the
loop Joy finally got a look at a Grey Falcon as it took off and flew away over
the top of the mulga. YES, with the tick secured we could relax a bit and look
for the rest of the Bowra specials.
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| Male Plum-headed Finch |
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| Plum-headed Finch |
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| Diamond Dove |
Dinner that
night was Osso-bucco and as we ate it a Boobook (almost a nice alliteration
there) called from somewhere off in the distance, and frogs called from the
lake. The night was calm and clear with stars bright overhead so we sat around
in front of the tents and mused on the day's birding and the possible birds for
the next day, as you do.
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| Male Emus developing the blue face skin of breeding |
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| Emus have such wonderful expressions |
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| This very pale Emu looked huge; a reversion to something from Gondwanaland perhaps? |
The weather
on Monday was, again, perfect for birding with no wind and clear blue skies.
Our luck held in this regard as every day of our stay had daytime temps in the
high 20s C and at night it got down to the high teens. We had lunch by the dam
in the Western Paddock and as we ate a Spotted Harrier worked over the
grassland and a Black-breasted Buzzard glided back and forth on outspread wings
giving us prolonged repeat views.
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| Black-breasted Buzzard |
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| Crimson Chat |
Tuesday started
well with a nice male Crimson Chat just out of the camp site but then got way
better at 0830 when I collected Joy from her morning walk, drove 300 metres
down the track from the homestead junction, and found a Grey Falcon sitting in
the top of a dead tree. It flew as soon as I stopped but I had time to see its
slender silver-grey body and then the dark wing tips as it dropped down through
the tree tops and disappeared. At about 1630 we think we saw it close to the
morning location but it was so shy it flew before we got a good look. (Other
birders saw a grey Falcon on Thursday out at Sawpit so it seems that they are
moving around the property.)
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| Grey Falcon. A little bit of cheating. I took this photo in 2012 at Newhaven in Central Australia |
After that
bit of excitement the day’s birding took us first to the airport track,
followed by the homestead loop, then south Gumholes for lunch followed by the
rough track up the escarpment to look at the view and to find White-browed
Treecreepers on the way up, then back to camp. After dinner and bird call, run
each night in the shearers quarters by the volunteers, we sat outside for a
while looking at the stars and admiring a very small toad that was sitting
under the light waiting for insects to fall. Bedtime was 2100 but it felt
later, possibly because we had been getting up at 0600 to be birding by 0630.
Today we had driven to the southern, eastern, western and northern extremities
of Bowra and covered over 75 km, all at speeds of less than 30 kph.
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| White-browed Treecreeper |
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| Juvenile Double-barred Finch |
We started
each day with a sunrise walk along the bore-drain behind the camping area. As
an area with permanent water it is excellent for close views of the small bush
birds. Finches come down to drink as do honeyeaters and parrots. The drain is
also full of small fish and frogs, and damselflies and dragonflies flit in the
sunlight and hang from the reed stalks. We even found a spectacular green
spider whose large black eye flashed golden when the sun reflected from it.
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| Australian Bustard |
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| Red-capped Robin |
One bird
high on the wish list was Bourke's Parrot. We had one fleeting glimpse as a
pair took off from the bore drain but we wanted better views. We finally found
them on the track out to Sawpit. As we drove out we saw a Bourke's Parrot
sitting in the top of a dead tree. I inched the car forward and stopped, then
inched some more. Finally, as the bird hadn't flown, we got out and had a
proper look. After a few moments it flew to a line of trees where we saw a
second bird and the pair then proceeded with courtship feeding as we stood and
watched. What a special time, not only had we seen our Bourke's Parrots for the trip but they
had allowed us a prolonged visit.
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| Bourke's Parrot. The male is on the left |
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| Bourke's Parrot showing blue under-wing and vent |
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| Female Bourke's Parrot |
Conditions
at Bowra are exceptional at the moment with lots of water, and tall grasses
going to seed in all the old paddocks. The wattles are coming into flower, as
are many of the eucalypts. Budgies are all over the property in small numbers
and there are large numbers of Zebra and Plum-headed Finches. We didn't see
many honeyeaters but I expect that as more trees flower and the grass
seed-heads ripen there will be an explosion of birds. This spring could be an
exciting time at Bowra, I might have to see if I can rationalise a return visit
(smile).
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| Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike |
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| Juvenile Crested Bellbird |
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| Black-fronted Dotterel in the evening light. So many beautiful birds came into the dam at the campground one could sit in front of the tent all day and not get bored. |
My bird list totalled 105 species
and I know I missed a few, like the Wedge-tailed Eagle that flew over behind me
and the White-fronted Honeyeater that was reported from Sawpit. With not too
much effort we had seen all the Bowra specials but better views of the elusive
Grey Falcon would have been nice. The birds that did elude us though were the
night birds and try as we might we dipped on the Spotted Nightjar, the owls and
we saw only a disappearing view of what was probably a Tawny Frogmouth as we drove
into Cunnamulla one night for dinner.
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| Very dark phase Brown Falcon |
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| Brown Falcon |
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| Brown Treecreeper |
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| Black-faced Woodswallow with grasshopper |
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| Little Woodswallow |
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| White-fronted Woodswallow |
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| White-browed Woodswallow |
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| Brolga practicing his dance steps |
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| Brolga |
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| White-headed (Black-winged) Stilt |
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| Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush in the tree |
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| Chestnut-breasted Quail-thrush as they are normally seen, on the ground and about to walk away |
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| Chestnut-rumped Thornbill |
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| Inland Thornbill |
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| Hall's Babbler |
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| Juvenile Hall's Babbler |
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| Hall's Babbler |
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| Female Hooded Robin |
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| Male Hooded Robin near in the morning sun near the tent |
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| Noisy Friarbird |
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| Female Red-winged Parrot showing the pale blue on the back |
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| Southern Whiteface |
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| Varied Sittella |
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| Yellow-throated Miner |
All images & text © Jenny Spry
