MikeMules
Well-known member
Trip Report: Mildura and surrounds: 14 April-17 April 2003
Last week, my father and I used the term 1 holidays to go on a birdwatching trip up to NW Victoria, mostly around the Mildura area. For those who don’t know this neck of the woods, I’ve attached a map showing some of the places we visited.
Dad and I are familiar with the birds of the area, and this trip was intended as a reccy of good birding spots around Mildura, with target species of secondary importance. Fortunately we had the guidance and assistance of Laurie Jones, a long-time member of the Sunraysia BOC, in finding the best areas to go birdwatching.
We set off on Monday from a friend’s place in Shepparton, about half an hour after sunrise. Before we had been in the car 5 minutes, we were up a dozen species, including an Australian Hobby flying along Shepparton’s main street, and Straw-necked Ibis alongside the lake. Our first stop to stretch our legs was about 150km NW of Shepparton, in Cohuna. Again, magnificent views of another Hobby, this time harassing some Galahs, but also lots of Black Kites, and an adult Brown Goshawk, all around the irrigation channel. The Kites were gliding unharrassed, but the Goshawk was being chased from pillar to post by Noisy Miners, a Willy Wagtail and Blue-faced and White-plumed Honeyeaters.
Another 150km along, near Swan Hill, we stopped at Lake Bogu, in the midst of a dust-storm that turned the sky a dull red. In spite of the limited visibility, we got out the scopes and looked along the shore for migrating waders. It’s autumn down here, and most of the waders have left for Russia, but a few were still around. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints were there in breeding plumage, along with Australasian Shovellers and Red-necked Avocets. Resident Red-capped Plovers were also present, as was a solitary Double-banded Plover (probably from its breeding grounds in New Zealand) coming out of breeding plumage.
About 2:30pm, we arrived at Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, to look for the trip’s bogey bird, the Mallee Emu-wren. Emu-wrens are about the size of a mouse, and live in the middle of large tussocks of Porcupine Grass (Triodia). They come out very rarely, and at the first sign of anything strange, head straight back in for an hour or so. I saw one briefly in 1996, but dad has never seen any. Anyway, we looked at one of the recommended sites (also where I had previously seen it) for about an hour, but saw no sign. We did however see Inland Thornbill, Golden Whistler and Yellow-plumed Honeyeater.
The next day, we went on a tour of the Mildura area with Laurie. Mildura is a town built on the banks of the Murray River, that serves as the centre for irrigation farming of citrus, grapes and wheat. Over the river in NSW, we were shown several areas of Belar scrub and mallee, where we saw White-browed Treecreeper, Crested Bellbird and Gilbert’s Whistler. Because of the irrigation system and proximity to the river, Mildura has many billabongs, lakes, saltpans and reservoirs. Almost all were either empty or close to empty, and Laurie said he had never seen them so low. For those who don’t know, most of northern Victoria (and the rest of Australia) is in its seventh year of drought; the region had 100mm of rain in 2002 (as against the annual average of 250mm).
Because of the drought, we didn’t see many of the mallee specialties, especially honeyeaters since nothing was flowering. Most of Australia’s inland birds are partially or totally nomadic, including budgerigars and cockatiels, that were abundant in the area a couple of years ago, but were nowhere to be seen this time around.
One of the few places to have water, the Mildura Sewerage Farm, had plenty of birdlife, including Marsh and Wood Sandpipers, and Pink-eared Duck. It also had lots of raptors: White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Little Eagle, Whistling Kite and Black Kite. Lake Ranfurley, to the NW of Mildura, was also very low, but had Avocets, Banded and Black-winged Stilts, Shoveller and Red-necked Stint. Caspian Terns were everywhere throughout the irrigation areas, over the river, lakes and ditches. Strangely, we saw no Whiskered Terns.
On the way home on Thursday, we stopped off again at Hattah, this time taking one of the tracks through the sanddunes. About 10km down the track, we spotted a Striated Grasswren on the side of the road, which then obliged us with crippling on-and-off views for the next 5 minutes. When we reported it to the ranger (about 40km S), it was apparently the northernmost sighting of the species in the park for many years. Unfortunately we missed on the emu-wren again, in spite of trekking our way through countless sanddunes of Triodia (I still have the spine-tips in my shins). Oh well, maybe next time.
The birdwatching was OK, but not great because of the drought. We saw 131 spp. in 4 days, and drove around 1400km. My thanks to Laurie, and his wife Hazel for their hospitality and help around Mildura. For those who are interested, the list of birds we saw (in approximate taxonomic order) follows. Best was Striated Grasswren. Lifers were White-winged Fairy-wren and Brown Quail.
Emu (Dromaius novahollandiae)
Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora)
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides)
Black Duck (Anas superciliosa)
Grey Teal (Anas gracilis)
Australasian Shoveller (Anas rhynchotis)
Hardhead (Aythya australis)
Australian Wood Duck (Chenonetta jubata)
Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus)
Musk Duck (Biziura lobata)
Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae)
Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus)
Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)
Darter (Anhinga melanogaster)
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris)
Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax varius)
Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax melanoeucos)
Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia)
Yellow-billed Spoonbill (Platalea flavipes)
Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis)
White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca)
White-faced Heron (Ardea novaehollandiae)
White-necked Heron (Ardea pacifica)
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris)
Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus)
White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Hiliaeetus leucogaster)
Little Eagle (Hiraaetus morphnoides)
Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax)
Brown Goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus)
Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides)
Australian Hobby (Falco longipennis)
Brown Falcon (Falco berigora)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Coot (Fulica atra)
Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa)
Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)
Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis)
Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata)
Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis)
Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
Banded Stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus)
Red-necked Avocet (Recurvirostra novaehollandiae)
Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus)
Double-banded Plover (Charadrius bicinctus)
Black-fronted Dotterel (Elseyornis melanops)
Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles)
Silver Gull (Larus novaehollandiae)
Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia)
Feral Pigeon (Columba livia)
Spotted Turtledove (Streptopelia chinensis)
Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)
Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata)
Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita)
Galah (Cacatua roseicapilla)
Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea)
Long-billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris)
Regent Parrot (Polytelis anthopeplus)
Crimson (Yellow) Rosella (Platycercus elegans flaveolus)
Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius)
Eastern Ringneck (Barnardius barnardi)
Red-rumped Parrot (Psephotus haematonotus)
Mulga Parrot (Psephotus varius)
Blue Bonnet (Northiella haematogaster)
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus)
White-browed Treecreeper (Climacteris affinis)
Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus)
Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens)
Variegated Fairy-wren (Malurus lambertii)
White-winged Fairy-wren (Malurus leucopterus)
Striated Grasswren (Amytornis striatus)
Spotted (Yellow-rumped) Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus xanthopygus)
Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus)
Inland Thornbill (Acanthiza apicalis)
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza uropygialis)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa)
Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris)
Southern Whiteface (Aphelocephala leucopsis)
Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala)
Yellow-throated Miner (Manorina flavigula)
Little Friarbird (Philemon citreogularis)
Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis)
Red Wattlebird (Anthocaera carunculata)
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis)
White-eared Honeyeater (Lichenostomus leucotis)
Singing Honeyeater (Lichenostomus virescens)
Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus ornatus)
White-plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus penicillatus)
Brown-headed Honeyeater (Melithreptus brevirostris)
White-fronted Honeyeater (Phylidonyris albifrons)
White-fronted Chat (Epthianura albifrons)
Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans)
Red-capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii)
Hooded Robin (Melanodryas cucullata)
Chestnut Quail-Thrush (Cinclosoma castanotus)
White-browed Babbler (Pomatostomus superciliosus)
Chestnut-crowned Babbler (Pomatostomus ruficeps)
Varied Sittella (Daphoenositta chrysoptera)
Gilbert’s Whistler (Pachycephala inornata)
Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris)
Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis)
Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica)
Crested Bellbird (Oreoica gutturalis)
Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae)
Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus)
White-breasted Woodswallow (Artamus leucorynchus)
White-browed Woodswallow (Artamus superciliosus)
Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus)
Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus)
Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis)
Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen)
Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides)
Little Raven (Corvus mellori)
White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos)
Apostlebird (Struthidea cinerea)
Magpie-Lark (Grallina cyanoleuca)
Restless Flycatcher (Myiagra inquieta)
Willy Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)
Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena)
Tree Martin (Hirundo nigricans)
Zebra Finch (Taenopygia guttata)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Common Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Mynah (Acridotheres tristis)
Last week, my father and I used the term 1 holidays to go on a birdwatching trip up to NW Victoria, mostly around the Mildura area. For those who don’t know this neck of the woods, I’ve attached a map showing some of the places we visited.
Dad and I are familiar with the birds of the area, and this trip was intended as a reccy of good birding spots around Mildura, with target species of secondary importance. Fortunately we had the guidance and assistance of Laurie Jones, a long-time member of the Sunraysia BOC, in finding the best areas to go birdwatching.
We set off on Monday from a friend’s place in Shepparton, about half an hour after sunrise. Before we had been in the car 5 minutes, we were up a dozen species, including an Australian Hobby flying along Shepparton’s main street, and Straw-necked Ibis alongside the lake. Our first stop to stretch our legs was about 150km NW of Shepparton, in Cohuna. Again, magnificent views of another Hobby, this time harassing some Galahs, but also lots of Black Kites, and an adult Brown Goshawk, all around the irrigation channel. The Kites were gliding unharrassed, but the Goshawk was being chased from pillar to post by Noisy Miners, a Willy Wagtail and Blue-faced and White-plumed Honeyeaters.
Another 150km along, near Swan Hill, we stopped at Lake Bogu, in the midst of a dust-storm that turned the sky a dull red. In spite of the limited visibility, we got out the scopes and looked along the shore for migrating waders. It’s autumn down here, and most of the waders have left for Russia, but a few were still around. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints were there in breeding plumage, along with Australasian Shovellers and Red-necked Avocets. Resident Red-capped Plovers were also present, as was a solitary Double-banded Plover (probably from its breeding grounds in New Zealand) coming out of breeding plumage.
About 2:30pm, we arrived at Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, to look for the trip’s bogey bird, the Mallee Emu-wren. Emu-wrens are about the size of a mouse, and live in the middle of large tussocks of Porcupine Grass (Triodia). They come out very rarely, and at the first sign of anything strange, head straight back in for an hour or so. I saw one briefly in 1996, but dad has never seen any. Anyway, we looked at one of the recommended sites (also where I had previously seen it) for about an hour, but saw no sign. We did however see Inland Thornbill, Golden Whistler and Yellow-plumed Honeyeater.
The next day, we went on a tour of the Mildura area with Laurie. Mildura is a town built on the banks of the Murray River, that serves as the centre for irrigation farming of citrus, grapes and wheat. Over the river in NSW, we were shown several areas of Belar scrub and mallee, where we saw White-browed Treecreeper, Crested Bellbird and Gilbert’s Whistler. Because of the irrigation system and proximity to the river, Mildura has many billabongs, lakes, saltpans and reservoirs. Almost all were either empty or close to empty, and Laurie said he had never seen them so low. For those who don’t know, most of northern Victoria (and the rest of Australia) is in its seventh year of drought; the region had 100mm of rain in 2002 (as against the annual average of 250mm).
Because of the drought, we didn’t see many of the mallee specialties, especially honeyeaters since nothing was flowering. Most of Australia’s inland birds are partially or totally nomadic, including budgerigars and cockatiels, that were abundant in the area a couple of years ago, but were nowhere to be seen this time around.
One of the few places to have water, the Mildura Sewerage Farm, had plenty of birdlife, including Marsh and Wood Sandpipers, and Pink-eared Duck. It also had lots of raptors: White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Little Eagle, Whistling Kite and Black Kite. Lake Ranfurley, to the NW of Mildura, was also very low, but had Avocets, Banded and Black-winged Stilts, Shoveller and Red-necked Stint. Caspian Terns were everywhere throughout the irrigation areas, over the river, lakes and ditches. Strangely, we saw no Whiskered Terns.
On the way home on Thursday, we stopped off again at Hattah, this time taking one of the tracks through the sanddunes. About 10km down the track, we spotted a Striated Grasswren on the side of the road, which then obliged us with crippling on-and-off views for the next 5 minutes. When we reported it to the ranger (about 40km S), it was apparently the northernmost sighting of the species in the park for many years. Unfortunately we missed on the emu-wren again, in spite of trekking our way through countless sanddunes of Triodia (I still have the spine-tips in my shins). Oh well, maybe next time.
The birdwatching was OK, but not great because of the drought. We saw 131 spp. in 4 days, and drove around 1400km. My thanks to Laurie, and his wife Hazel for their hospitality and help around Mildura. For those who are interested, the list of birds we saw (in approximate taxonomic order) follows. Best was Striated Grasswren. Lifers were White-winged Fairy-wren and Brown Quail.
Emu (Dromaius novahollandiae)
Brown Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora)
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)
Australian Shelduck (Tadorna tadornoides)
Black Duck (Anas superciliosa)
Grey Teal (Anas gracilis)
Australasian Shoveller (Anas rhynchotis)
Hardhead (Aythya australis)
Australian Wood Duck (Chenonetta jubata)
Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus)
Musk Duck (Biziura lobata)
Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae)
Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus)
Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)
Darter (Anhinga melanogaster)
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris)
Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax varius)
Little Pied Cormorant (Phalacrocorax melanoeucos)
Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia)
Yellow-billed Spoonbill (Platalea flavipes)
Straw-necked Ibis (Threskiornis spinicollis)
White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca)
White-faced Heron (Ardea novaehollandiae)
White-necked Heron (Ardea pacifica)
Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus axillaris)
Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus)
White-bellied Sea-Eagle (Hiliaeetus leucogaster)
Little Eagle (Hiraaetus morphnoides)
Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax)
Brown Goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus)
Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides)
Australian Hobby (Falco longipennis)
Brown Falcon (Falco berigora)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Coot (Fulica atra)
Dusky Moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa)
Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)
Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatilis)
Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata)
Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis)
Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
Banded Stilt (Cladorhynchus leucocephalus)
Red-necked Avocet (Recurvirostra novaehollandiae)
Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus)
Double-banded Plover (Charadrius bicinctus)
Black-fronted Dotterel (Elseyornis melanops)
Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles)
Silver Gull (Larus novaehollandiae)
Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia)
Feral Pigeon (Columba livia)
Spotted Turtledove (Streptopelia chinensis)
Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)
Peaceful Dove (Geopelia striata)
Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita)
Galah (Cacatua roseicapilla)
Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea)
Long-billed Corella (Cacatua tenuirostris)
Regent Parrot (Polytelis anthopeplus)
Crimson (Yellow) Rosella (Platycercus elegans flaveolus)
Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius)
Eastern Ringneck (Barnardius barnardi)
Red-rumped Parrot (Psephotus haematonotus)
Mulga Parrot (Psephotus varius)
Blue Bonnet (Northiella haematogaster)
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae)
Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus)
White-browed Treecreeper (Climacteris affinis)
Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus)
Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens)
Variegated Fairy-wren (Malurus lambertii)
White-winged Fairy-wren (Malurus leucopterus)
Striated Grasswren (Amytornis striatus)
Spotted (Yellow-rumped) Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus xanthopygus)
Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus)
Inland Thornbill (Acanthiza apicalis)
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza uropygialis)
Yellow-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza chrysorrhoa)
Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris)
Southern Whiteface (Aphelocephala leucopsis)
Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala)
Yellow-throated Miner (Manorina flavigula)
Little Friarbird (Philemon citreogularis)
Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis)
Red Wattlebird (Anthocaera carunculata)
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis)
White-eared Honeyeater (Lichenostomus leucotis)
Singing Honeyeater (Lichenostomus virescens)
Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus ornatus)
White-plumed Honeyeater (Lichenostomus penicillatus)
Brown-headed Honeyeater (Melithreptus brevirostris)
White-fronted Honeyeater (Phylidonyris albifrons)
White-fronted Chat (Epthianura albifrons)
Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans)
Red-capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii)
Hooded Robin (Melanodryas cucullata)
Chestnut Quail-Thrush (Cinclosoma castanotus)
White-browed Babbler (Pomatostomus superciliosus)
Chestnut-crowned Babbler (Pomatostomus ruficeps)
Varied Sittella (Daphoenositta chrysoptera)
Gilbert’s Whistler (Pachycephala inornata)
Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris)
Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis)
Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica)
Crested Bellbird (Oreoica gutturalis)
Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae)
Olive-backed Oriole (Oriolus sagittatus)
White-breasted Woodswallow (Artamus leucorynchus)
White-browed Woodswallow (Artamus superciliosus)
Black-faced Woodswallow (Artamus cinereus)
Grey Butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus)
Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis)
Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen)
Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides)
Little Raven (Corvus mellori)
White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos)
Apostlebird (Struthidea cinerea)
Magpie-Lark (Grallina cyanoleuca)
Restless Flycatcher (Myiagra inquieta)
Willy Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)
Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena)
Tree Martin (Hirundo nigricans)
Zebra Finch (Taenopygia guttata)
House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Common Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Mynah (Acridotheres tristis)
