Australia Road Trip 2024 - Part 1: Queensland

The next night at Morven was just as cold; it wasn’t until we got to Ifracombe that the weather started warming up. A Red-backed Kingfisher at the back of the pub put on a show.

 We moved on to Winton for a couple of nights, staying at the dusty Raceway Camp. Red-browed Pardalote was about the town cemetery and Plum-headed Finches were again common. Pink-eared Duck was on the sewerage ponds. One reason for this trip was that a succession of good wet seasons accounted for an unusually green landscape with plenty of water about along with carpets of wildflowers, thick grass and vigorous vegetation in all directions. 

That was the case for the whole of the trip. With that came loads of parrots with large flocks of Galah, Cockatiel and Budgerigar being frequently encountered. 

Our next stop was a couple of nights at the Discovery Caravan Park at Cloncurry. Chinaman’s Creek Dam was the hotspot here with the main target – Pictorella Mannikin – found easily. A pair with 4 young were about during several visits.

Spinifex Pigeon was common and the rocky hills resounded with the calls of Golden-backed Honeyeater.

Varied Lorikeet was numerous, feeding on the many luxuriously flowering eucalypts. Purple-backed Fairy-wren was approachable and a few Green Pygmy-Goose were on the dam, where a Freshwater Crocodile was seen distantly. A fly-by Grey Falcon was an unexpected sighting - but no image. 

Green Pygmy-Goose

 

Purple-necked Rock-Wallaby was easy to see on the ridge tops. Cloncurry Parrot was common in Cloncurry (and everywhere else in the region). 

Moving a little further west we camped in the now deserted town of Mary Kathleeen, once the base for Australia’s biggest uranium mine. The now closed mine was checked out for the regional endemic - Kalkadoon Grasswren. Two females and a male obliged in the early morning, allowing close approaches. I’d missed photographing this species during a trip to the area last year. 

Next stop was Moondarra Caravan Park outside Mt Isa – good not to have to stay in the town. Plenty of birds around the lake with Grey-fronted Honeyeater the most common species. An unusually red Wallaroo was spotted. A feral population of Indian Peafowl has lived for many years by the lake, but the debate about whether they are tickable is unresolved. 

 We moved on the World War II rest area north-west of Mt Isa for an overnighter. I’d searched here unsuccessfully last year for Carpentarian Grasswren (others in our group saw it briefly). This time I had more success, though it took 8 hours of searching over 2 days. I saw one bird briefly before a second grasswren put on a superb display, perching and singing for a couple of minutes. Probably the bird of the trip. I’d not seen this species since 1982 near Borroloola in the NT, where it is now believed to be extinct. 

 Other birds about the grasswren site included Spotted Bowerbird, Little Woodswallow, Crested Bellbird and loads of Black-tailed Treecreepers. Spinifexbird was seen briefly.