White-capped Albatross

Over the last couple of years we have had some interesting birding trips around the Eden area. On a couple of visits we have been lucky enough to be invited on boat trip to view birds and other marine life. On one trip we made it out to the pelagic zone where we saw Wandering Albatross, Yellow-nosed Albatross, Black-browed Albatross, Shy Albatross, Fairy Prion, Wilsons Storm Petrel, Grey-faced Petrel, White-chinned Petrel and Northern Giant-Petrel. Short-tailed Shearwater and Wedge-tailed Shearwater were also seen on the way out. On shore were Black-faced Cormorants and a White-bellied Sea-Eagle at the jetty.

This year we spent more time closer to the shore, fewer bird species were seen but we saw shearwaters in the hundreds fishing around huge schools of whitebait. When approaching the whitebait to view the birds Humpback Whales were spotted, we were privileged to see the whales feeding by opening their mouths and gulping down thousands of whitebait at a time. We also had pods of common dolphin swimming and leaping up along side the boat.

If you can't make it onto a boat trip then albatross and shearwaters can also be seen from the coast near the Green Cape Lighthouse. From here we have taken walks into the coastal scrub and heathlands and have seen Tawny-crowned Honeyeater and Beautiful Firetail, and on one occasion there were twenty or more Eastern Whipbirds.

Some interesting birds can also be seen around the township. We saw a White morph Grey Goshawk flying around the cliffs in Yallumgo Cove, a White-headed pigeon and an Australian Figbird in a garden on Imlay Street. Friends of ours previously told us they had seen a Chanel-billed Cuckoo in the park on Bramble Street.

At Lake Curalo we have seen Southern Emu-wren in the grass on the southern edge of the lake, Scarlet Honeyeater, Yellow-tailed Black- Cockatoo, Eastern Whipbird, Satin Bowerbird from the board walk, and on the lake Eastern Curlew, Eastern Reef Egret and Bar-tailed Godwit.

When driving back to Melbourne from Eden, Maxwell's Flora reserve is worth a visit. One trip we saw a small flock of Topknot Pigeon, Wonga Pigeon, a Rose Robin and Lewins Honeyeater on this walk. You can access the walk via Maxwells Road, off the Princess Hwy.

Eden Bird List

Map of Eden

Mungo Woolshed from the sand dunes
We visited Mungo National Park a few days after heavy rain so the self guided driving tours were closed and we were restricted to the walks from the visitors centre and main campground. This didn't stop us from enjoying our stay and seeing some interesting birds.

On a previous visit to the park we stayed in the Belah Camp which is a lovely remote and quiet camp but this time we decided on a little more luxury and stayed at the newly refurbished shearers quarters. The shearers quarters made a great base for the visit, apart from the clean rooms there was a fully equipped kitchen, heating/aircon, and a nice hot shower.

We arrived in the afternoon and after exploring the nearby Mungo Woolshed we took the Foreshore walk which lead out over bluebush to a Mallee and Cypress Pine covered sand dune. We soon saw signs of life in the bluebush it wasn't long before Southern Whiteface were seen perching in the tops of the bluebush. We heard fairywren calling and scanned around to find a few brown females, it took around five minutes looking before we finally saw the beautiful male White-winged Fairy-wren.

Lunette

Closer to the sandunes a party of Chestnut-crowed Babblers were foraging in the bluebush near to the base of the sand dunes and were then seen flying up into a Cypress Pine, where it looked as if they had a nest. The woodland on the sandunes seemed to be a parrot haven, Mallee Ringnecks and Blue Bonnets where foraging and sheltering in the trees, as we walked around to the far side of the dune many cockatiel were resting, preening and calling softly to each other. Out on the lake bed Pink Cockatoos and Little Corella were feeding.

Around 4pm we drove out to look at the Walls of China lunette . On the drive we searched for Orange Chat but did not find any, however we did see White-fronted Chat and Australasian Pipit. We walked out on the boardwalk that leads to the lunette and sand dunes, on a previous visit we saw Red-backed Kingfisher, Pallid Cuckoo and Black-faced Woodswallow here, today the only birds visible were a lovely flock of White-back Swallow and a couple of Singing Honeyeaters.

Shearers QuartersThe following morning Paul went out to the sand dunes to record some of the parrots and cockatiels while I relaxed in the sun at the shearers quarters and sipped my coffee while watching the Pink Cockatoos wheeling around for about an hour before they settled down to feed in the bluebush.

2010 Mungo National Park trip list

2007 Mungo National Park trip list

Information on Mungo National Park

View from the cultural/fauna walk

The living desert is situated 12 kilometers north of Broken Hilll on Nine Mile Road. The sanctuary contains an arboretum, a cultural/fauna trail and a 'sculpture symposium' all situated in the rocky slopes of the range lands. After recent rains the hills were awash with purple and yellow daisies and many of the plants in the arboretum were in full bloom.

Sturt Desert PeasWe had heard that Chiming Wedgebill could be seen at the sanctuary so decided to try the cultural/fauna walk trail to look for them, the trail leads up the rocky slopes and although we had seen quite a few birds in the car park only Singing and Spiny Cheeked Honeyeaters were seen on the windy slopes, I suspect that most sensible birds would be sheltering in the gorges. As the path lead to the lower parts of the slopes we could hear Chiming Wedgebills calling from below, however we decided to respect the many signs asking visitors not to walk off the paths and continued on to the arboretum where we again heard the Chiming Wedgebills, quite a distance from the path, near to the base of the hill which was also close to the entrance. We decided to search the area just outside the entrance and were finally rewarded with good views of a Chiming Wedgebill running through the grass and another sitting in a Mulga bush.

Living Desert trip list

Information on the Living Desert Park

This clip is a after and before comparison of the use of noise reduction on nature sound recordings. While the Izotope RX denoiser plugin is quite effective at eliminating background hiss examining the clip using a sonogram shows that some fine detail in the recording is also lost.

When we arrived at Gundabooka for a five day workshop with the Australian Sound Recording Group we knew straight away we were going to have a great time. Gundabooka National Park was in peak condition after heavy rainfall earlier in the year, resulting in a widespread flowering of eremophila and wildflowers throughout the region.

Mt Gundabooka

On arrival we headed for the Belah Shearers Quarters which was to be our home for the next five days. After greeting the other members and settling into our rooms we set of for a quick explore of the nearby dam and bush before dinner. We could hear Black Honeyeaters calling and it wasn't long before we saw them flitting around, these became one of the most common honeyeaters seen over the next five days. On the way to the dam we came across a party of Chestnut-crowned Babblers, a pair of Striped Honeyeaters in a nest that looked as if it was a hanging basket made of spiders web and a Spotted Bowerbird amongst other species. At the dam Black-fronted Dotterels were feeding around the margins, and an Australasian Grebe was on the water. A flock of Cockatiels were perched in a dead tree and later came down to drink. Mallee Ringnecks and Mulga Parrots were also nearby.

Track to Bennets Gorge

The next day the group went on a field trip to Bennets Gorge, fewer birds were seen in this area but perhaps not surprising as there were 20 of us marching through the bush, however we did see some Zebra Finch at the Mount Gundabooka Outlook and some were lucky enough to see a Black-eared Cuckoo.

Spotted Bowerbird Bower

Later in the afternoon a member of the group had discovered the Spotted Bowerbird's Bower. The bower was decorated with all sorts of found objects, a light globe took central position within the bower and an assortment of concrete, rocks and zinc bolts decorated the front. About half a metre away another area was decorated with a colorful cacheBowerbird cache.
My favorite objects here were a pair of child's safety scissors with bright red handles and a coiled piece of orange plastic coated electrical wire these were complimented with an array of bluish coloured items.

EremophilaMy highlight of the third day was a visit to a spot along the road a few kilometers north of the shearers quarters. A member of the group had successfully recorded Painted and Pied Honeyeaters here the day before and had reported seeing Painted Honeyeaters nesting. As we approached we flushed a couple of Diamond Doves which were sunning themselves of the road. Jill and Howard were already at the site and alerted us to a Pied Honeyeater which was calling mournfully from a dead tree, the Painted Honeyeaters could be heard calling not far away. As we stood waiting for the Painted Honeyeaters to make an appearance Black Honeyeaters were feeding on the nearby eremophila, Budgies and Woodswallow flew overhead. After a while a Painted Honeyeater flew down the the edge of the road to collect some nesting material and we were able to have a good look at its colors in the brilliant early morning sunshine. After watching the honeyeaters for a while we decided to return for the mornings presentation.

Mulga Ant Nest

Other birding highlights for the trip were a pair of Major Mitchells Cockatoos which were seen preening in a tree by the dam who also made several flyovers of the camp and a group of Red-winged Parrots that appeared on the third day and were seen on several occasions after that.

Throughout the week interesting talks were provided by the members and many members were able to make excellent recordings of some unusual nomadic species as well as some more common but interesting species. In all 22 AWSRG members, partners and friends attended the Workshop, including four United Kingdom based members. One new AWSRG member made a long trek from Western Australia by plane, train, bus and automobile to reach the workshop venue, whilst many others drove from NSW, Victoria and Queensland. The 2009 AWSRG Workshop was an event that will doubtless be fondly remembered for years to come by participants.

Gundabooka National Park bird list