We are not long back from a trip through western NSW, SW Queensland, down the Strzelecki Track, through the Flinders Ranges and the South Australian and Victorian mallee.
There is a trip report and checklist of all species seen including reptiles, amphibians and butterflies on the website. There is also a link to wobbly footage of an inland dotterel eating a Zygophyllum species on Mt Lyndhurst Station and a mass of little black cormorants over the Strzelecki Creek.
I have travelled this route over thirty times so was surprised to see, for a trip first, three pale-headed rosellas on the Darling River at Bourke. There was no indication that they were anything other than wild birds.
Almost every passerine we saw was either nest building or feeding dependent young, which was great to see after so many years with poor breeding results. Having said that, the resident bird numbers are at rock bottom and it will take some time for numbers to build.
The cool September and the big rain events further north saw summer migrants not venturing too far south. For instance, good numbers of white-browed and lesser numbers of masked woodswallows were really only seen about Thargomindah in SW Queensland.
The highlight for me was seeing the inland wet again after years of drought and the vegetation responding magnificently to rain. A lot of the vegetation was photographed and plant names are being added to photos on the website. My reference material focuses on Western NSW rather than the Corner Country/Strzelecki/SW Queensland so I am happy to be corrected on plant names or pointed in the right direction where I¹m struggling to work out the species.
Let’s hope for a few more wet years.
Cheers
Philip Maher www.philipmaher.com
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