24 October to 2 November see South Australia

3 November

We decided to spend our last night back at Hattah-Kulkyne to catch up with a couple of birds we didn’t have time for on our way up. We drove around the Mournpall, Bitterang and Boolungal tracks looking for Chestnut-crowned Babbler and found them on the Boolungal Track.

Back in the Mornpall Campground at lunchtime a couple of Regent Parrots flew in to rest during the heat of the day in the trees above our campsite. Two Pink cockatoos also came in the rest. The usual parrots could also be seen around the campground Little Corella, Yellow Rosella and Mallee Ringneck.

4 November

We wanted to see a Mallee Emu Wren on our last morning and settled on searching an area about 300m past the entrance sign on the main access road to the park, we read they had been seen here recently. The site looked promising with lots of mature Triodia under Mallee. It is an easy site to access and being near a road it is difficult to get lost, the telephone wires and sound of traffic make it easy to find the way back to the road.

We searched for some time, listening for high pitched calls; although there was lots of bird activity no emu-wren could be heard. We saw Rufous Songlark, Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoo, White Winged Triller, White-fronted Honeyeater and one of the bluest male Splendid Fairywren I’ve ever seen. When heading back to the car to try another area we heard emu-wren calling from close range and managed to catch sight of a male and female as they skirted around us.

We decided to end our trip with this highlight and packed up camp to head down the Calder Hwy to home. We couldn’t resist a final stop at the intriguing Sea Lake and were rewarded with a Victorian sighting of Black-faced Woodswallow and also a small party of Rufous Fieldwren. No time to search for Orange Chats though so we reluctantly climbed back in the car and headed home.

Hattah Trip List