SOUTH WEST PARROTS & COCKATOOS - Part two

From Torbay Inlet I drove inland to the little country town of Rocky Gully, to find some of the southern population of the Western Corella, a race or sub-species known as Muir's Corella. A large flock was quickly located, some of which were roosting in the shade after a morning feed. In contrast to the Black-Cockatoos these birds forage on the ground, digging up tubers and bulbs and feeding on seeds. Thankfully the population has recovered after successful conservation efforts in the years after the 1940's, when only about 100 individuals survived in the wild. For decades before they had been shot and poisoned for the crop damage they were causing.

It was nice to see these characters having the last laugh!

Muir's Corella

Also in the vicinity a small group of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos, some roosting and others feeding in the seeding gums. Although males were present I couldn't get a fix on them with the camera, they seemed to prefer the denser foliage at the tops of the trees. In the south west these are also a sub-species, known as the Forest R.T.Black-Cockatoo, with larger bills and different  food and habitat  preferences than their northern cousins.  

Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo - female

Our next stop was the spectacular Stirling Range National Park where we based ourselves at the pleasant Moingup Campground. Here we were serenaded by the very similar calls of the Carnaby's and Baudin's Black-Cockatoos, mentioned in the previous post. 

Stirling Range

Another denizen of the surrounding bushland was the endemic and colourful Red-capped Parrot which was quite shy and unobtrusive until the distinct call was heard, usually in flight. Another bird with a bill adapted to removing the seed from deep gumnuts such as the Marri.

  

Red-capped Parrot - male

Red-capped Parrot - immature

On the drive out to Bluff Knoll we noticed small  flocks of  yellow-green birds flying up from beside the road. After pulling over to have a look at one particular group we identified them as Elegant Parrots, a suitable name for this pretty bird, one I had seen previously in South Australia and a lifer for Clare. 

Elegant Parrot - male

Bluff Knoll, Stirling Range National Park

In the surrounding sheep and wheat farming country we disturbed some Regent Parrots that had been drinking in a small dam beside a back road. When we pulled up to investigate most of them had dispersed, besides the one below that posed for me in the late afternoon light. This is the western race of the species, called smoker by the locals, on account of its smoky yellow plumage.  

Regent Parrot

Also keeping out of  close camera range were some unusually reticent Galahs.

Galah

Stirling Range National Park

Last but by no means least, this little nomad rounds out the dozen members of the parrot and cockatoo families seen on our south west sojourn. Unfortunately this was the only one I failed to photograph, due to it's propensity for frequenting the very tops of  blossoming gum trees, then flying off at the speed of light! A reasonably common bird but always a joy to see.

Purple-crowned Lorikeet
(photo-Wikimedia Commons)

Cheers & Happy Birding

GUNDABOOKA NATIONAL PARK

We headed south from Bowra into north west NSW, staying in Bourke for a couple of days where a few town birds graced us with their presence while we were in the local van park.

Galahs

Crested Pigeons

Little Crows

It was only another seventy kilometres to Gundabooka National Park, but the last twenty took us over an hour with the road in from the highway being pretty churned up from recent rain, even though it had dried up.  

  Dry Tank Campground and Mt Gunderbooka

Not long after setting up camp we had an unwelcome visitor snooping around the site.

Red Fox

Being winter and with the probable limited availability of food, this particular animal was scavenging and hunting (we observed it pouncing on grasshoppers) in broad daylight. Even with its terrible reputation it was still a beautiful looking specimen.  

This visitor was one we missed at Bowra, although we did see and photograph a bower there. We noticed a leg band and assumed it may have been the subject of some scientific study.

Spotted Bowerbird

A five kilometre return hike along the well graded track to the Mt Gunderbooka lookout gave us some good birding, including a sun-bathing member of the nightjar family. 

Australian Owlet-Nightjar

White-browed Treecreeper

On our walk we noticed a few of these small earthen craters with tunnels branching off underground. A cooling tower for an ants nest was the most obvious possibility, but the ants were nowhere to be seen.

The National Park gazetted in 1996, is named after the former pastoral station, a slight variation on the name of the mountain range within it's boundaries.  

Gunderbooka Range 

Cheers & Happy Birding

TERRICK TERRICK & CHRISTIE'S BEACH

Continuing on our travels, back in late February, we took a detour south to Terrick Terrick National Park in northern Victoria. The main purpose was to look for the Plains Wanderer, a rare and endangered endemic that is found in the protected grasslands in this area. We were unlucky in our quest to find this elusive bird, and I was doubly unlucky in losing a fairly new pair of prescription glasses when we were spotlighting for it along the back roads one night.  

The park is actually named after Mt Terrick Terrick, also known as Mitiamo Rock, a 95 metre high granite outcrop below which we camped.   

Looking across the park from Mitiamo Rock

Sunset from the Rock

Terrick Terrick Galah

The weather here was hot reaching 38 degrees so we only stayed a couple of nights and headed back to the Murray where it was quite a bit cooler on the banks of the river, which was very slowly rising thanks to the record rainfall in the catchment area further upstream.  

Sailboat on the Murray at Christie's Beach

The "sailor" Jeff,  joined us for a cuppa at our campsite after we yelled out to ask him if his was the same boat we saw the week before at Barmah Lakes. It turned out it was and next morning I spent a couple of hours out on the water with him experiencing the thrill of sailing on a stretch of Australia's longest river.

Heading back to shore

Watching a Murray sunset

Grey Teal on a park lake in Echuca

On our second night at Christie's Beach campground we had a huge downpour and hadn't realized the van was in a dip until we woke the next morning to find some of our gear floating around outside.

More water views

The gum tree below was one of a few we saw in nearby Millewa Regional Park just over the border in NSW. The contrasting patterns of the bark caught my eye, but I couldn't find anything similar when trawling the web for identification.

Eucalypt sp.

Close-up of  trunk

A WEEKEND BREAK

Had a chance to spend a couple of nights away to try out our newly acquired caravan. We stayed at a little van park along the Tin Can Bay road about 25km from Gympie, in S.E.Queensland.

Our site at Standown Park, Goomboorian.

One of the locals gave us a good looking over not long after we pulled up. 

Galah.

There was a small dam on the property with a pair of ducks loafing around and not too concerned about my presence.

Australian Wood Ducks

I have seen this species nesting high up in tree hollows and although having never witnessed it, marvel at the way the chicks survive their "parachuting" jump to the ground below.

Female

Male

They obviously weren't scared off by this other resident of the dam.

Crocodylus Plasticus

I went for a drive through the pine plantations of Toolara State Forest nearby and by following a mud map supplied by the van park manager, found my way to some lovely lakes hidden away in an area of beautiful natural bushland.

Scribbly Gum

On our way home we stopped for a cuppa at Lake Alford Park in Gympie where we watched some of the activity on and beside the water.

Pacific Black Duck and Dusky Moorhens.

Black Swan and cygnets.

The swans were unafraid of our presence, obviously habituated to the park visitors and virtually came right to our feet, maybe expecting a handout? The cygnets were quite clumsy on solid ground and preferred to flop down on their bellies to graze on the grass.