Saturday 30 September

In the early morning the Gilbert's Whistler which had been singing on and near my property was active again. We left around 6am to go up to the Flinders Ranges and within 5 minutes after arrival at Stokes Hill we heard a few Short-tailed Grasswrens. Shortly afterwards, at 10:10am, we had excellent views of one perched on a stone. After a coffee at the National Park shop we took a scenic route through the Flinders Ranges and saw Elegant Parrot, Sacred Kingfisher, 3 Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby and some Euros. We arrived at the Lyndhurst pub, gateway to the Strezelecki track through the barren outback, in time for sundowners.

Sunday 1 October

And early morning search of Mt Lyndhurst station produced within 1.5 hours all target species including two groups of Chestnut-breasted Whitefaces (10+4), Thick-billed Grasswren (4), Cinnamon Quail-thrush (1) and many Rufous Heathwrens. We then set off on the Strzelecki track along which we found Pied Honeyeater, Gibberbird (4), Chirruping Wedgebill and few more common species. A 45 min search of the Montecollina Bore area in 35C heat resulted in 3 Eyrean Grasswren. We had lunch here, accompanied by hundreds of bush flies. A hundred km's or so further up the Strzelecki track we turned right heading to Cameron Corner, and crossing one of the big red sand dunes at Merty Merty station I had to slam on the brakes to avoid driving over an Eyrean Grasswren crossing the track. A search of the sand dune was aborted as the temperature had risen to 37C. We stopped in at Cameron Corner, where NSW, Qld and SA meet, and as it was still only mid-afternoon we decided to move on to Tibooburra. While driving to Tibooburra we came across a flock of 22 Inland Dotterels and another Gibberbird. A pair of Bourke's Parrots flew across the road.

Monday 2 October

We left Tibooburra early (again) on our way to Adelaide Gate, in the hope of following up on Grey Grasswrens sightings by others earlier in the month. We had no precise location but soon we entered suitable habitat and had no trouble finding at least two Grey Grasswrens. At 8:10am, this was our 4th species of Grasswren in 46 hours! Also here were ~ 20 Orange Chats and a Gibberbird. We headed back to Tibooburra, and at the local waterhole we found 2 Bourke's Parrots, 2 Blue Bonnets, 10 Chrimsons Chats, 2 Red-backed Kingfisher and a flock of Native Hens. We drove to Broken Hill and with all target species found and not much else to do along the way, decided to return to Waikerie, where we arrived at 19:45 after 3 days and almost 2300 km (almost 1/2 of which on dirt roads).

Wednesday 27 September

In the evening I went looking for mammals with guests from Holland, an old friend of mine, Justin Jansen and his girlfriend. At Blanchetown we found an Echidna, a species high on the wish list of the guests. Nearby we quickly located a Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat suffering from mange, a disease that is ravaging the population. In total we recorded five wombats as well as a few Western Grey and Red Kangaroos (including young ones).


Thursday 28 September

We woke up early and set off to Gluepot Reserve. We focused on Justin's target species which included Scarlet-chested Parrot. These are extremely rare and while a spate of sightings occurred during Autumn, they hadn't been seen for over 3 months and of course we didn't find any. We had no trouble locating a flock of Black-eared Miners and no less than 20 Striated Grasswrens at different locations. It seemed like every suitable patch of Spinifex had some birds! We also found Shy Heathwren, Southern Scrub Robin, Chestnut Quail-Thrush, White-browed Treecreeper and many more common birds like Hooded Robin, Mulga Parrot, Crested Bellbird, Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo, White-fronted Honeyeater, Mallee Ringneck, Chestnut-crowned and White-browed Babbler, Brown Treecreeper, Brown-headed Honeyeater, Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Southern Whiteface, Apostlebird and Australian Raven. Mammals recorded were Euro, Red Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo.