Sound Recordings
Mungo National Park
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