Hi everyone
I’ve just completed a fabulous tour through the South Australian Outback. It was a commercial tour, run by Bellbird Tours (Peter Waanders, the owner, is a long-term Birding-Aus subscriber). Peter has been running these tours since 2006. There are several Grasswren-targeted tours: we did the 6-Grasswren Tour. Unfortunately, the long-term closure of roads south of Innamincka prevented us from getting to the Grey Grasswren sites, so it was really a 5-grasswren tour, though I did the 2-day extension and we saw Sandhill Grasswren (aka Yellabinna Grasswren if it is split, which seems plausible) to give us 6 for the trip.
We visited iconic sites including Murray Sunset NP, Gluepot area, Flinders Ranges, Strzlecki Track to Montecollina Bore, Marree, Lyndhurst, Mt Ive Station, Port August and Yellabinna. Several of the sites were on private property, where permission had been granted for us to enter, and many of the key species were incredibly difficult to find. I would struggle to relocate most of them. That’s why I paid to go on a commercial tour – I would not have found any of these difficult birds myself!
Key species of the 192 seen included (* were new birds for me)
Inland Dotterel
Australian Pratincole
Black-breasted Buzzard
Square-tailed Kite
Spotted Harrier
Red-backed Kingfisher
Elegant Parrot *
Scarlet-chested Parrot *
Australian Ringneck (2 races)
Greater Bluebonnet
Mulga Parrot
Budgerigar
Sandhill Grasswren *
Striated Grasswren *
Short-tailed Grasswren *
Western Grasswren *
Thick-billed Grasswren *
Eyrean Grasswren *
Mallee Emuwren *
Splendid Fairywren
White-winged Fairywren
White-fronted Honeyeater
Grey-fronted Honeyeater
Gibberbird *
Crimson Chat
Orange Chat
Red-browed Pardalote
Redthroat
Shy Heathwren
Rufous Fieldwren
Chestnut-breasted Whiteface *
Slender-billed Thornbill *
Chestnut-crowned Babbler
Chestnut Quali-thrush
Copperback Quali-thrush *
Cinnamon Quali-thrush
Chirruping Wedgebill *
Crested Bellbird
Red-lored Whistler *
Gilbert’s Whistler
Southern Scrub-Robin
Hooded Robin
Western Yellow Robin
There were 7 birders on the tour, and two guides, in two Landcruisers. We stayed in good quality budget hotels where available, but also in some iconic outback pubs, such as Marree and Lyndhurst. Bellbird Tours run a "Comfortable 9 Grasswren Tour" so I asked Peter during the trip what the difference was in a "comfort" tour: slightly better accommodation, shorter driving distances most days, slightly fewer people in each vehicle, and some creature comforts like camp stools at all the lunch and morning tea stops. Well, I thought our tour was comfortable enough! True, we covered a lot of distance, and there was quite a bit of walking, but nothing strenuous or difficult.
The guides were both outstanding, taking time to find the birds and ensure everyone in the group had plenty of opportunity to see and photograph the birds. I particularly liked the way that the guides focused on the target birds at each site, until these had been found and seen by the whole group, before moving onto general birding around the site. This approach meant we were successful in seeing all the grasswrens, as well as other local specialties such as the whiteface, qual-thrushes, parrots and whistlers. Like most guides, Peter has known sites for all the target birds, with back-up sites for most. He has "rotated" some sites so that the birds are not "over-birded." The most difficult birds to see were Sandhill Grasswren and, surprisingly, Gibberbird, which was found after dozens of roadside stops in suitable habitat.
Our second guide was Katinka Domen, who runs her own worldwide tour company,
all4birding.com – both our guides were great company and worked hard to make sure our trip was thoroughly enjoyable, not just a madcap race through the outback ticking off birds. I really felt the pace was just right: yes, some long days in the heat, but plenty of opportunity to relax, either chatting in the car, or at dinner (we had some fabulous pub meals!) as well as lots of time to learn about the birds we were seeing and their habitat. On that note, we found the mallee in terrible condition around Gluepot, where they’ve had very little rain over recent years. Murray-Sunset was only a little better, but the mallee north of Ceduna in Yumbarra / Yellabina was in excellent condition.
The other thing that made the tour so enjoyable was the group – with some really outstanding birders and great new friends from Victoria, Brisbane, Germany and New Zealand.
Russell Woodford