Trip report: Messa Rocks, Big Desert, Victoria, 15-18 September 2015

Hmm, not sure. They seemed quite curious and come very close. It was the only explanation for their behaviour I could think of. Perhaps someone else has a theory? —–Original Message—– From: Peter Shute Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2015 5:56 PM To: Bill Stent Cc: birding-aus@birding-aus.org Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Trip report: Messa Rocks, Big Desert, Victoria,15-18 September 2015 That sounds like a great trip. But why does lack of human contact make fairy-wrens and scrub-robins confiding? Surely humans don’t hunt species like that. Peter Shute Sent from my iPad > On 20 Sep 2015, at 4:56 PM, Bill Stent < billstent@gmail.com> wrote: > > Trip report: Messa Rocks, Big Desert, Victoria, 15-18 September 2015 > > > > When Dean Hewish asked whether I’d like to visit a feature in the Big > Desert > he’d found on Google Earth I was enthusiastic. The prospect of walking in > trackless desert has always been attractive to me, and birding is a great > way of discovering solitude. I was also after some dark skies, and the new > moon looked promising. > > > > Dean’s target was Messa Rocks. There were a couple of pictures on > Panoramio, > but the location was ambiguous, with the two near- identical pictures > marked > as being separated by 7.7 km. Eventually we decided the feature was at S > 35° > 40.430′ E 141° 13.223′. > > > > The general area is reached by travelling down one branch of Messa Track, > on > the western side of the Murrayville Track. We didn’t know the condition of > the track or how far we could get the Land Cruiser down the track. We > decided we’d figure it out as we went along, taking enough gear and water > to > stay safe, including a personal locator beacon as added insurance. > > > > Leaving Melbourne on Monday morning, we arrived at Broken Bucket at the > southern end of Murrayville Track soon after lunch. A Bustard had been > reported at Broken Bucket a couple of weeks before, and I was hoping to > tick > one off, but that wasn’t to be. However, it’s a very comfortable camping > spot, with bore water and a modern pit toilet. The birds there are a bit > thin, but we recorded 16 species. There were no stars that night, with > thunder and lightning and some rain, but not enough to be a problem (the > Murrayville Track becomes impassable even with a 4WD when muddy). > > > > On Tuesday morning we drove the 30 odd kilometres to the turnoff, stopping > along the way at a few sites. The turnoff to Messa Track West is about 2 > km > north of The Springs, which is where the Track kinks north. > > > > After a couple of passes we found the track. There’s a sign that says > “management vehicles and walkers only”, but we knew that the 2 miles to > the > west of the Track itself is public land, so we went that far and parked > the > 4WD. The track is quite overgrown and the 4WD picked up a few extra > scratches as we went. > > > > Taking everything we’d need for the next two days, we set off further. I > had > to leave the 500 mm lens behind, which hurt, but water was more important. > We also took a geocache to drop “somewhere”. > > > > Messa Track West winds through sandy country, with mallee and heathlands > dominating, but several unburnt areas had relatively tall Cypress Pine > stands, up to about 3 metres tall, and in the recently burnt areas there > are > loads of pine saplings about a foot tall. We began hearing Gilbert’s > Whistlers in these areas, but didn’t see any well. > > > > The track splits 10.3 km from the turnoff, with the right fork heading to > a > formation called The Granites. We kept to the left and reached Messa Rocks > after another 2.9 km for a late lunch. > > > > The original land level at Messa Rocks was put down while under the sea, a > long time ago, probably earlier than last century. Dean is an amateur > geologist so he’ll have more details. The crust is a metamorphic mix of > sandstone and strange marble-sized nodules, and covers a softer > under-layer, > and so as it weathered, it formed a cave just large enough to crawl into. > > > > The birds there are wonderful, and because humans don’t come here more > than > once every couple of years, they are very confiding. A bit of pishing and > I > had Variegated Fairy-wrens and Southern Scrub-robins at my feet. > > > > We bush bashed our way south to drop the geocache a couple of kilometres > south, passing through more Cypress Pine, mallee and heath. The country is > pretty open there, and the going was slow but not too difficult. On the > way > back we finally got good close looks at Gilbert’s Whistlers, watching a > male > patrol his territory while calling to a female nearby. Again, the birds > didn’t seem troubled by our presence, although we didn’t approach too > close. > > > > Overnight it cleared, and while I took some ordinary photos of the Milky > Way, Spotted Nightjars cackled distantly to the north and south. > > > > Next day we explored the area, taking the path back to the fork and then > towards the Granites, which is a similar feature to the west. The track > petered out half way so we took some compass bearings and bush bashed our > way there, before returning in a direct line to the camping spot. The rest > of the day we sat around the cave, watching things like Brown Falcons > passing food in flight. It’s amazing they can actually fly upside-down for > a > moment. > > > > We returned to the car the next day, following the trail we’d come in on. > Passing through some sparse mallee and heath, we heard a Whistler call. We > were pretty familiar with the Gilbert’s call, which goes “chee-oo, > chee-oo, > chee-oo”, sometimes getting louder as it goes. This one was a bit > different, > going “ee-chee-oo, ee-chee-oo”. I got the bins on the bird, which had > landed > in a dead branch sticking out of a nearby mallee tree. The little beggar > had > the red bib patch extending over his bill up to his eyes. I practically > threw the bins at Dean and told him to look carefully (actually I think > those weren’t quite the words I used). He agreed – Red-lored Whistler. Not > a > tick for me, but easily the best view ever. And not a Cypress Pine (bigger > than a foot high) in sight. > > > > We stayed the night again at Broken Bucket, and again no Bustard, and no > Malleefowl. Oh well. Next day we drove back to Melbourne, taking a > circuitous route around Yanac and Telopea Downs, rather hopelessly looking > for the elusive tick. Alas, no. > > > > One of the best trips I’ve done, and thanks to Dean for suggesting it! > > > > > > Broken Bucket, 15 Sep; 18 Sep 2015 > > Weebill > > Grey Currawong > > Australian Magpie > > Red Wattlebird > > Grey Butcherbird > > Australian Raven > > Grey Shrike-thrush > > Wedge-tailed Eagle > > Spotted Pardalote (yellow-rumped form) > > Yellow-plumed Honeyeater > > White-eared Honeyeater > > Yellow-rumped Thornbill > > Galah > > Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater > > Golden Whistler > > Australian Shelduck (2 flying over treetops) > > > > Murrayville Track between Broken Bucket and The Springs, 16 Sep; 18 Sep > 2015 > > Pallid Cuckoo > > Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater > > Brown Falcon > > Willie Wagtail > > Gilbert’s Whistler > > White-backed Swallow > > Striated Pardalote > > Weebill > > Tawny-crowned Honeyeater > > Galah > > Spotted Pardalote > > Australian Magpie > > Red Wattlebird > > Red-capped Robin > > Yellow Thornbill > > Restless Flycatcher > > Australasian Pipit > > Masked Lapwing > > Pacific Black Duck > > > > Messa Rocks, The Granites, track between and direct line between, 16 Sep > 2015 > > > > Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater > > Pallid Cuckoo > > Weebill > > Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo > > Gilbert’s Whistler > > Tawny-crowned Honeyeater > > Galah > > Willie Wagtail > > Crested Bellbird > > Australian Kestrel (1) > > Variegated Fairy-wren > > Yellow-plumed Honeyeater > > Australian Raven > > Southern Scrub-robin > > Spotted Nightjar > > Grey Butcherbird > > Inland Thornbill > > White-eared Honeyeater > > White-Browed Babbler > > Shy Heathwren (1) > > Varied Sittella > > Striated Pardalote > > Hooded Robin > > Brown Falcon (pair) > > Grey Shrike-thrush > > Spotted Pardalote > > Rufous Whistler > > Golden Whistler > > Silvereye (1) > > Red-lored Whistler (1) > > Red-capped Robin > > > > Yanac area, 18 Sep 2015 > > Australian Magpie > > White-fronted Chat > > Red-rumped Parrot > > Galah > > Crested Pigeon > > Mallee Ringneck > > Common Bronzewing > > Willie Wagtail > > New Holland Honeyeater > > White-Browed Babbler > > Welcome Swallow > > Weebill > > Australian Wood Duck > > Corella (sp?) > > Grey Teal (probably) > > > > > > >