Hi all,
Ruth and I have just seen 36 Malleefowl along the Ouyen-Patchewollock Road. Maximum seen at any one time was four, but they were pretty well distributed along several kilometres of the road. Perhaps not as spectacular as the initial sightings, but still an absolutely amazing experience seeing such a rare and cryptic bird in such numbers!
Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria
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Hi, I visited the site during Easter on 29 and 30 March. Counted about 10 in the late afternoons but saw none in the morning. I found one pecking at the junction of Ouyen-Patchewollock Road. That part of the road was blocked so there was no vehicle passing and hence there should not be any spilt seed found along that short stretch of road unless it was blocked only recently.
Feeding on the bitumen road. http://500px.com/photo/30382985
Another question is since they like eating the seed, why don’t they feed in the crop field nearby? That could be the answer when later I stumbled upon a pair walking on the field not far from the famous road.
Photo link attached below. http://500px.com/photo/30384927
Also found a road kill but it was gone the next morning, presumably taken by night time scavenger.
Many thanks to those who reported the sighting earlier and those who replied in private to help me plan my trip.
Regards, Tun Pin Ong
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Hi all,
It’s not only the Patchewollock Rd that has lots of Malleefowl. Joy and I spent easter driving around in Hattah and the Murray-Sunset country and we saw many Mallefowl. We didn’t keep a count but I guess we saw about 20 birds and 2 active mounds without going looking.
Driving the Old Calder Highway south of Hattah at dusk and dawn was the best place but they were also seen and heard in the middle of the day as we looked for Red-lored Whistlers on Honeymoon Track. Talking to a ranger it seems that Malleefowl have had a couple of excellent seasons.
We found an immature Red-lored Whistler and two people we birded with found and photographed a Black-eared Miner. It was a wonderful 5 days of birding with just under a hundred species seen including all the expected birds. We also found a new spot (for us) for White-browed Treecreeper at the junction of Werrimull Track and Settlement Road, along the northern edge of the Murray-Sunset park.
cheers
Jenny http://jenniferspryausbirding.blogspot.com.au/ ===============================
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Chris,
The story goes that a truck carrying canola seed was trailing a line of seed along about 8-10km of this road about two months ago. The Malleefowl were attracted to this seed, partly because some of their habitat had been damaged by fire, and partly because they just like the seed, I guess. Apparently there has been some road kill – the locals are good and travel slowly along the road, but others not not. There are large warning signs that have been erected at either end of the strip, supplemented by many hand-painted signs along the way.
Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria
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Hi all – I didn’t follow this thread as closely as I would have liked.
Has there been any discussion of what sort of extreme stress is causing this behaviour? Are they getting killed by vehicles? Why is it happening?
Cheers, Chris.
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