Just to add a little to this story, over a few years of intermittently driving the roads between Patchewollock, Ouyen and Walpeup I have seen single Malleefowl by the edge of the road a few times. That may not sound much, but compared with other areas/roadsides it’s a good strike rate ( no pun intended )
Then on 23rd August last year, after telling the birder sitting next to me that this is a good road for a chance of a Malleefowl, we saw one ahead of us. There was much excitement, we slowed down and got some reasonable views before it slunk off into the mallee. A few hundred metres further along there was another one. This bird allowed great views for some time. I told my travel companion how lucky he was. Then another kilometre further up the road a third Malleefowl appeared. This was when the “Twilight Zone” music rang around my head ( apologies if you never caught that show) but needless to say I was wondering what the hell was going on. It was mid to late afternoon on an overcast day.
Later that day we bumped into a ranger in Murray-Sunset NP, who reported seeing the best numbers they had ever seen in the “sunset” country that year. A long early morning drive he said produced around 30 sightings. I was shocked to say the least.
A few questions arise from this. Malleefowl feeding by the edge of roads and tracks is not necessariy associated with grain spill. Late August is definitely not the time for that.
And birds on tracks within the national park again says they are finding something other than grain spill.
Common Bronzewings have always been a feature along the roadsides around Ouyen/Patchewollock, I had always assumed gathering stones for their crop. Is this a possibility for Malleefowl. They eat a lot of Wattle seed, particularly in summer, so stones for their crop might be important ? Others may know more on this than me.
As an aside, after observing Malleefowl regularly and reliably for number of years in north-west Victoria, I am still yet to see a young bird that has not reached adult size. !!
Cheers,
Simon Starr.
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Comments
One response to “Malleefowl Bonanza”
It has been pointed out to me that this is an incorrect view. Apparently the story is that Superb Parrots and other parrot species used to suffer high mortality feeding on spilt grain by roadsides. It was when the practice of carrying uncovered loads of wheat was stopped (meaning fewer spillages, especially on bends) that Superb Parrot numbers began to recover.
John Leonard