Some July pelagic and Sooty Owl action

This is mostly to share a few pics and experiences from a couple of outings through July which didn’t quite translate into their own posts. I started with my second trip down to Tasmania for another pelagic weekend with an extra night tacked on for some spotlighting and then followed up with a few nights out in Bunyip State Park (for a change). I headed down to Tasmania early in July a day early with intention of exploring around Mt Field for quolls and perhaps the outside chance of a devil. As we flew into Hobart I started to question my decision as it was one of the more rough flights I have had in a while and as we came in I could see the tops of the sea being blown away in the high winds. Still upon landing I picked up a car and headed out to Mt Field and my nearby AirBnB accommodation choice. I stopped in and bought a 24 hour pass only to be told after the purchase that the park was closed past the entrance area due to weather conditions – pretty typical Tassie tourist experience really…. Still my first AirBnB experience was great as I dumped my stuff in a real traditional BnB before heading out for a long nights spotlighting. As I headed out on dusk I saw my first Eastern-barred Bandicoot which I thought was a good sign but then the rain started to set in. The area around the entrance to Mt Field is generally considered good for Eastern Quoll but I had no luck despite a number of hours searching at various times of the night. There were lots of large standing areas of water which I began to notice had started to move – the river had broken its banks so I had to retreat. I spent another couple of hours driving out towards Lake Pedder and again back the other way but after my second encounter with the local constabulary I was advised to go to bed due to various landslides and water over the road events. During the couple of hours of driving around I saw nothing more exciting than numerous pademelons and Bennett’s wallabies.

A bit of water at Mt Field

A bit of water at Mt Field



The next morning Mt Field was now completely closed so I drove out to Lake Pedder for a bit of tourist action at the dam wall. I was quite shocked to see how extensively areas of swamp and buttongrass had been burnt in recent fires. Eventually I headed back to Hobart to pick up Dean and Rohan for the weekend pelagic action. On the way down to Eaglehawk Neck we did a bit of spotlighting along some side roads before dropping off bags and heading down to Fortescue Bay. On this occasion we saw little aside from the usual pademelons and brushtails and heard only a distant Morepork or two. Still we were back at a decent hour for the pelagic the next day. Unfortunately I had not had the requisite steak and beer before the pelagic so the auguries were not good for the following day.

Kelp Gull

Kelp Gull

We headed out from Eaglehawk Neck on the Pauletta heading past the Hippolytes where both Fur-seals were seen. It was a pretty good day really with highlights including a young Salvin’s Albatross, Grey Petrel, Soft-plumaged, Grey and White-headed Petrels and both Antarctic and Slender-billed Prions. Great albatrosses were only a few Southern Royals and a single Gibson’s type Wanderer. A good haul but nothing compared to the excellent pelagics of the proceeding few months out of Eaglehawk Neck. Still it was a very good day at sea and a couple of Humpback Whales rounded out the list – I think we are sometimes spoilt from this port.

Grey Petrel

Grey Petrel

Gibson's Albatross

Gibson’s Albatross

Salvin's Albatross

Salvin’s Albatross

After the pelagic we had a quick wind down and a pot of Cascade and headed to the famous tree at Port Arthur to see if the Masked Owls were around but tonight they were either having a lie-in or residing elsewhere. After a local pub meal Rohan and I headed out to Lime Bay Conservation area where we rumbled a couple of Long-nosed Potoroo. The target here was Masked Owl and we had an immediate strong call response then nothing…. seems to be quite typical behaviour in Tasmania in our limited experience. We added a nice Southern Brown Bandicoot to the trip list before again heading into bed at a reasonable hour – we must be getting old. Still we were back down at the dock early for another pelagic on the Pauletta with the conditions quite benign as we headed out followed by a horde of hungry gulls. This day was much quieter than the previous with highlights being the good numbers of White-headed Petrel and a nominate Great-winged Petrel among the recently split Grey-faced Petrels. Tried not to be too disappointed as we headed back in as there will always be next time!

Cape Petrel

Cape Petrel

Northern Giant-petrel

Northern Giant-petrel

White-headed Petrel

White-headed Petrel

Rohan and I are having a very non-competitive mammal year so we decided to head out to Gravelly Ridge Conservation Area to look for Eastern Bettongs before our flights home. This looks quite a good block of dry type woodland as we arrived on dusk into a horde of pademelons and wallabies. As we setup camera gear on dusk I waddled away from the car while scoffing dinner and almost immediately rumbled a bettong which I figured was a good sign. This was not quite the case as over the next hour or two we had only average views of a couple of further animals as we drive around. Still this area needs further investigation with more time! Alas around this time a tragic event occurred….. a European Hare skipped majestically across the road slaying Rohan’s bogey for the year – I was looking forward to him having to go spotlighting around the WTP to catch it up. A quick zip back to the airport only to be told our flights were inevitably delayed. While the weekend was slightly disappointing we still had a great time and saw plenty of good things.

Southern Royal Albatross

Southern Royal Albatross

Following the return from Tassie I headed out to Bunyip State Park for a change. The first visit was with Jonathan Newman, a British birder who is north of 7500 world species. After a couple of hours of silence and worsening weather conditions we managed to nail a nice Sooty Owl which flew in for a few photos and ended up giving walk away views. The following weekend I headed back on my own to an area I suspected Sooty Owls might be nesting and kicked back with a beer and a burger in the half hour leading up to dusk. Well before dusk two owls screamed and then bombed from what I think were separate hollows in an area of tall manna gums. On dark they popped out of the hollows and then spent the next hour in a trill duet which rivals any electronic synth pop band – some one should sample that shit! At one stage a male Powerful Owl called reasonably nearby which shut them up for a minute or so until they started up again. I eventually drove away with them still trilling and found another couple of owls including one in a completely new area. Clearly a good time of year to be out and listening!

Sooty Owl - Bunyip State Park

Sooty Owl – Bunyip State Park

My 100th Aussie mammal – New Holland Mouse

A couple of years ago I saw a Blue Whale surface beside the boat on a Portland pelagic and decided it was time to start a mammal list. I have put a bit of effort this year into finding new mammals and a recent tally put me on 99 identified species. I was fortunate enough on the weekend to be able to tag along while Phoebe Burns from Melbourne University and Museum Victoria checked traps for the endangered (in Victoria) New Holland Mouse at Wilson’s Promontory National Park. I am particularly interested in this species as it used to occur at a favourite childhood haunt Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve before becoming extinct sometime in the 80’s. In Victoria the species is in considerable trouble with the only known extant populations now in the Yanakie Isthmus area of Wilson’s Prom, Providence Ponds and some parts of the Gippsland Lakes.

New Holland Mouse habitat

New Holland Mouse habitat

I was up at 5am from my sister’s holiday house at Phillip Island trekking across to Yanakie where I met up with Rohan Clarke. At 7:30 am we met up with Phoebe and her assistant Jenne and drove in to her research sites on the isthmus. Despite being a life long regular visitor to the Prom, this was one area I had never really explored so it was interesting to see the areas of long unburnt ti-tree habitat. It was a very successful morning with Phoebe finding nine New Holland Mice and a few Bush Rats in her traps. The New Holland Mouse is a very charismatic animal and was often quite chilled after release, several times running between legs as they ran off to their holes. This was my first Pseudomys and I am looking forward to seeing more of this genus of Australian native rodents. Phoebe is studying this population for her PhD and took measurements of each of the captured animals with her research important for the continued survival of this species in Victoria. A few hog deer on the way out showed that the recent culling effort has had little effect on the population.

New Holland Mouse hole

New Holland Mouse hole

New Holland Mouse

New Holland Mouse

Later in the day I dropped in at Cape Liptrap to look for whales but all I saw was a few fur-seals. A lyrebird crossing the road near the Cape was very unusual as the habitat is very strange and the species does not occur at nearby Wilsons Prom. Eventually I got my Humpback as a few were showing well off the Cape Woolamai beach back at Phillip Island. All in all a very successful day!

New Holland Mouse

New Holland Mouse

New Holland Mouse

New Holland Mouse

Birding around Bangalore

And now for something a little different – I have spent the past week or more in India for work. Last Saturday I managed to get a day away from the meetings to get a day out birding with Bopanna from Bangalore Birding – http://www.bangalorebirding.com/. I had used him last year for another day out to Nandi Hills, Hoskote Lake and Valley School and found him excellent with great skills and a very easy going personality. This year the plan was to head south for birding on the edge of the Cauvery River Wildlife Sanctuary to fill in a few species missed last year. Bopanna picked me up at 6 am and we headed out into Bangalore traffic which was even starting to get heavy at this hour.

Indian Jungle Crow

Indian Jungle Crow

About an hour south of Bangalore we stopped for coffee and then at a couple of wetlands where breeding plumaged Pheasant-tailed and Bronze-winged Jacanas were highlights as well as plenty of the usual wetland suspects. Eventually we turned off the main road and headed towards the sanctuary and the good birding really began. A quick stop in a paddock found good numbers of Jungle Bush Quail which were quite vocal and sat up nicely on rocks with an estimate of 15-20 birds in the immediate area. Cauvery WLS is a large area of more than 100,000 hectares but access to most is restricted so we birded in the buffer areas. In an area of dry forest I picked up my most wanted local target Blue-faced Malkoha as well as other nice birds including Brown-capped and Yellow-crowned Woodpeckers, Large Cuckooshrike, Small Minivet and Common Woodshrike. I always love Woodpeckers of any sort as they don’t occur back home and was even better to pick up a new one.

Jungle Bush Quail

Jungle Bush Quail

Brown-capped Woodpecker

Brown-capped Woodpecker

At a small village on a tributary of the Cauvery River we noticed a brand new bridge which we sat on and waited for the Lesser Fish Eagle which Bopanna assured me was reliable here. Sure enough right on cue the magnificent bird flew in and perched giving great views until some crows flushed it and it soared up the river over our head! This bridge was an excellent vantage point with other birds such as Crested Treeswift, Indian Grey Hornbill, various Kingfishers, White-browed Wagtail and Purple Heron giving good shows. A wild pig and some Bonnet Macaques got the mammal list ticking along.

Lesser Fish Eagle

Lesser Fish Eagle

From here we followed the road over the bridge into an excellent area of forest. Apparently roads like this are often restricted access but as this one led to a temple it was still open. Crossing the road was a nice Ruddy Mongoose which was a new mammal for me. We spent several hours in this area with many more nice birds seen. Highlights for me included a nesting pair of White-rumped Shama – was surprised to see they were cavity nesters, three soaring Short-toed Eagles, Black-hooded Oriole, Bay-backed Shrike, Black-naped Monarch and Yellow-eyed Babbler among many others. The forest looked so good I would not have been surprised to see a leopard cross the road or us to encounter some elephants which are apparently in this reserve in good numbers but unfortunately no luck on this day. Buried in the forest near the shrine was a small village whose inhabitants apparently get by harvesting elephant dung and subsistence farming. I could have happily spent several days just exploring this section but we moved on for lunch.

Yellow-crowed Woodpecker

Yellow-crowed Woodpecker

White-rumped Shama at nest

White-rumped Shama at nest

We had a good lunch at hotel on the Cauvery River where it seems that Indians and tourists make a good habit of drowning on a regular basis. The signs were quite morbid detailing the deaths and statistics with hundreds drowned in the last 20 years. There was some nice wildlife watching here with a mugger crocodile feasting on a dead dear as well as Wooly-necked Stork, Darter and a brace of Cormorants nesting in a large tree. After lunch we returned to the previous area of forest where I had a bit of a wander along a nearly dry creek. As we started to head back to Bangalore a pair of Barred Button-quails crossed the road giving great views of both male and female.

Barred Button-quail

Barred Button-quail

Wild cow encountered on foot

Wild cow encountered on foot

We meandered back to Bangalore stopping for anything that looked interesting. I was particularly happy to get better views of a couple of Pied (Jacobin) Cuckoos which sat on a wire. We ended up hitting right on 100 species for the day and I managed about 12 new ones which was great. I look forward to going out with Bopanna next time I am in Bangalore, hopefully for longer this time with a trip into the Western Ghats on the cards. Unfortunately the rest of my trip was consumed with work and with the hotel locations I did not even get a chance to get away again for more birding.

Ebird Checklist for Cauvery WLS

Silk worm cocoons

Silk worm cocoons

Pied Cuckoo

Pied Cuckoo

Yellow-wattled Lapwing

Yellow-wattled Lapwing

A feather for a tail

Earlier this week I knocked off work a bit early and headed up into the Central Highlands with Rohan Clarke http://www.wildlifeimages.com.au/ with a couple of targets in mind. We arrived at a site near the base of Lake Mountain that is known for Broad-toothed Rat and poked around a bit while waiting for dark. From here we headed out towards Woods Point stopping in likely looking habitat for owls, possum and glider. At the first stop we had a couple of Bobuck and a Greater Glider so things were off to a good start. Rohan had use of a thermal camera which again proved very good at picking up animals that otherwise would have been missed by normal spotlighting. A second stop had a calling Sooty Owl and yet more Greater Gliders and what Rohan thought was a Feather-tailed Glider but he could not relocate. This is a species which was high on my wish list so I was a bit disappointed to miss it…. but the night was young!

Bobuck

Bobuck

We moved on again to a new spot and almost immediately had good looks at a Leadbeater’s Possum flitting around. After seeing them in Tarago, Powelltown and Toolangi recently it was good to add another population to my records. We moved on and Rohan picked up a very small but hot object on the thermal camera – flicking on the headlamp I saw it was a Feather-tailed Glider which was quite light shy, zipping down the trunk and going to ground, fantastic stuff! The small eucalyptus it was in had a fair infestation of lerp which we surmised it was likely feeding on. I was elated but the twitching part of me was a bit torn – I had good views of its feather tail as it scuttled along but Feather-tailed Gliders have recently been split into two species, Narrow-toed and Broad-toed and both occur in Victoria so was unsure which I had seen. About now my head torch batteries started to die so I stopped to change them and of course Rohan located another another Feather-tailed Glider! Running across with a handful of batteries and torches there was a Feather-tailed Glider frozen in the fork of a small tree. In the excitement I did not check camera settings so the photos are not as good as they could be but were good enough to show that it was a Narrow-toed Feather-tailed Glider! Lifer and a very wanted tick under the belt! it gave us a good couple of minutes of viewing before vanishing into the night. We spent a fair bit of time in this area and found another couple of feather-tails which showed we must have found a good colony.

Narrow-toed Feather-tailed Glider - Yarra Ranges State Forest

Narrow-toed Feather-tailed Glider – Yarra Ranges State Forest

Narrow-toed Feather-tailed Glider - Yarra Ranges State Forest

Narrow-toed Feather-tailed Glider – Yarra Ranges State Forest

We continued east, stopping regularly getting as far as Matlock before heading back. Plenty of Greater Gliders seen and we checked a known location for Leadbeater’s that Rohan had found previously and quickly found a couple of animals which gave a pretty good show with their diagnostic movements through the mid canopy. Another stop in a random location pulled in yet another Leadbeater’s Possum which sat and watched us for a while. We checked again the Feather-tail colony but could not locate any animals on this occasion but did hear some very distant wild dogs or dingos. Rohan tried his best howling impersonation and rather quickly the dogs came closer and closer until they were only a couple of hundred meters away. About now they must have realised they were being conned as they lost interest – still it was a fun experience! We were driving towards the campsite to call it a night when we rumbled a small looking boobook in the middle of the road. Rohan immediately suspected it a Tasmanian Boobook or Morepork and a quick couple of photos showed it to be the case with its heavily spotted underparts and phonebook yellow eyes. This is an excellent record and again is supporting evidence that small numbers of these birds winter on the Australian mainland. In many ways this was the sighting of an already excellent night!

Tasmanian Boobook (Morepork)

Tasmanian Boobook (Morepork)

We camped down towards Big River where a pair of Powerful Owls called repeatedly just before dawn which rounded the night out well. Up early and back to Melbourne in time for an 11 am meeting. All in all it was a very successful evening with 5 Feather-tailed gliders, 4 Leadbeater’s Possums, 25+ Greater Gliders, Agile Antechinus and four owl species as well as plenty of the more usual suspects. The Leadbeater’s Possum records have been reported to relevant authorities. Now it is time to find a Broad-toed Feather-tailed!

More Leadbeater’s Possum action

I had some spare time Saturday night so I headed out to the Powelltown area to meet up with a mate Stephen and two of his sons – Adam (10) and Liam (8) to try and show them a Leadbeater’s Possum or two. On the way there I tracked through Tarago State Forest and was fortunate enough to spot a Platypus in the Tarago River minutes after talking to a fisherman who told me he had never seen a platypus there as the water is too dirty. Well the water looks pretty clean to me and Tarago Reservoir is in service as part of Melbourne’s water supply so I was not surprised to see a trail of muddy water and then a beak sticking up briefly in the increasing gloom. Now I just need to find a platypus in Bunyip sometime! A Bassian Thrush on the side of the road and a few lyrebirds were nice as I zipped around to Powelltown for the 6pm meetup.

With the boys both desperately wanting to see Leadbeater’s Possum and Stephen only having seen one previously, we headed out to check out colonies found previously over the past year or so. It was a full moon night so I was a little skeptical how we would go but we pretty quickly got onto a very nice possum which sat nicely for all to see. After a couple of happy snaps it jumped even closer beside the car showing us all its diagnostic movement which best resembles a squirrel. With the main target out of the way we continued on to try and get some better views as well as try and rustle up an owl or two.

Leadbeater's Possum - Yarra State Forest

Leadbeater’s Possum – Yarra State Forest

After a couple more stops we arrived at an area of perhaps ten year old regrowth that has been very productive on previous visits. It seems that this is a great place for possums and gliders of all shapes and sizes to travel and feed in the abundant wattle from denning sites nearby. Over a number of visits here I have found Greater, Yellow-bellied and Sugar Gliders, Ringtails and Bobucks and of course Leadbeater’s Possum – it seems as long as there are stags nearby, possums will travel to feed into areas like this. We were fortunate enough to find a number of Leadbeater’s Possums sitting low for some great views and a couple of snaps. Towards the end of this wander we watched several Leadbeater’s chase each other round, calling continuously in what appeared to be a territorial dispute. This was fascinating as it was probably the first time I have seen demonstrable interaction between individual Leadbeater’s Possums. The call was a continual staccato tsi-tsi-tsi-tsi which was very different to the drumming call I had heard in the past. Perhaps this was a territorial call, while the drumming is threat related? We had not heard a night bird of any description which is not unusual on full moon nights in my experience. I was very impressed by Adam and Liam’s knowledge, questions and discipline throughout our jaunt and I think they are both excellent young naturalists.

Leadbeater's Possum - Yarra State Forest

Leadbeater’s Possum – Yarra State Forest

Leadbeater's Possum - Yarra State Forest

Leadbeater’s Possum – Yarra State Forest

With Liam getting a bit tired we headed back to Powelltown managing a nice Southern Boobook on the way down the mountain – still we did pretty well overall – just over two hours for nine Leadbeater’s Possum! After dropping them back at their car I had a bit of decision to make about what to do next. I decided to go again to Bunyip to chase owls despite the full moon – in hindsight a bad choice. Three and half hours wandering around Bunyip produced plenty of Yellow-bellied, Greater and Sugar Gliders but I could not even get a peep out of an owl of any description. Still they will be waiting for next time….

Some Powerful Owl fun

With the forecast looking fantastic on Sunday night I finished up some family commitments and headed out to Bunyip State Park to look for some owl action. I arrived out there about 7:30 pm to still conditions and crystal clear skies. Jupiter was close to the moon which was half full and providing plenty of ambient light for moving around. Basic plan for the evening was to visit 4 sites in the park – two well known and two new sites – twice each to chase owls which should be quite vocal right now. I started at a nice known spot of mine where recently I have had Sooty and Powerful owl as well as the three regular gliders but all I had was silence. Despite a fair bit of poking around I could not even raise a ringtail. I moved on to another known spot where I had previously seen Masked Owl and sure enough after about 10 minutes I had strong call response several times but could not move the bird from its location in the forest across the valley.

Yellow-bellied Glider came in to greet the Powerful Owl

Yellow-bellied Glider came in to greet the Powerful Owl

I drove around a bit with only the occasional Greater Glider spotlit and the odd boobook calling for company plus numerous Geocrinia victoriana until I eventually had a Sooty Owl fly across the road in front of the car which is the first time this has happened for me. I stopped and could hear the Sooty moving away calling as it went before settling several hundred meters away. I tried to call it back but it would not come any closer. The reason for this was soon apparent as a pair of Powerful Owls started calling with the deep male in response to the higher pitched female. I was alerted to the Powerful Owl sitting above me by a number of Yellow-bellied Gliders calling raucously with one even gliding into the tree beside the owl and charging up the trunk. I had read about this behaviour from Yellow-bellied Gliders and while I had heard and seen them respond to Sooty Owl calls this is the first time I had witnessed the mobbing behaviour. Despite this the Powerful Owl sat completely unperturbed looking down at me allowing me to take a few happy snaps. By now a second Sooty Owl had joined the first as they sat screaming with indignation the gully over which the owl ignored. After 10 minutes the owl had not moved so I left it to its own devices – for all I know it is sitting there still. A couple more Greater Gliders and a Frogmouth on the way out rounded it off. All in all a pretty good night and home in bed just after 11 which is not bad for a school night!

Powerful Owl - Bunyip State Park

Powerful Owl – Bunyip State Park

Powerful Owl - Bunyip State Park

Powerful Owl – Bunyip State Park

Reason’s why we need a Great Forest Park – #1 – Leadbeater’s Possum

Last night I headed out to Toolangi State Forest with Rohan Clarke http://www.wildlifeimages.com.au/ for a night of spotlighting. Toolangi is not really a favourite site of mine due to the constant reminder of the destruction of clear fell logging with desolate coupes and immature regrowth through most of the area. Still it is the western most remaining bastion of the now critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum so it is these we targeted along with the more common forest inhabitants. The basic plan was a loop around through the forest looking for new locations and potentially following up some old ones.

Mature Mountain Ash in Toolangi State Forest

Mature Mountain Ash in Toolangi State Forest

The first few spots we tried were quiet with Bobuck, Greater and Sugar Gliders providing some interest. Rohan was using a thermal camera in the hope of picking up some interesting small mammals in the undergrowth while I used the more traditional head torch looking for eye shine higher up. A few small mammals and roosting birds were picked up with the camera which proves it can be a useful tool although I imagine you lose some of the experience of walking in the forest at night while staring at the screen. It was a seriously quiet night with not a single night bird heard or seen or Sugar Glider yap. More interestingly not a single frog was heard despite many heard on visits to other central highlands areas over the past couple of weeks. Less surprisingly microbats were not much in evidence with only a couple seen patrolling the forest roads.

We continued to try a number of new sites with no sign of Leadbeater’s Possum despite the habitat looking better although it was still not as prime looking as the areas around Poweltown. We did propose that potentially the less optimum habitat meant that the possums were in this area in lesser densities. The other theory was that they were less susceptible to our squeaking due to the time of year so went to check out a site where Rohan had previously found them. As soon as we left the car at this spot Rohan picked up one and then a second animal in quick succession – he is a jammy bastard like that! They were quite interested in us, jumping around and looking at us although not sitting close for good photos. We ended up finding 3 animals at this location and a separate animal perhaps 500 meters away which came in from a different direction. From here we tried some other prime looking areas without further success before calling it a night. All in all a successful evening for finding the 4 Leadbeater’s Possum but on the whole quite quiet for 6 hours of effort. With the recent upgrade (downgrade?) of Greater Glider to nationally vulnerable the good numbers in these forests could be important. Greater Gliders require large hollows for denning and breeding which are also important for other animals such as large forest owls so any moves to further protect the glider must also help these.

Unfortunately the possum’s did not sit for good pics but did manage a couple of ID shots below.

Leadbeater's Possum - Toolangi State Forest

Leadbeater’s Possum – Toolangi State Forest

Leadbeater's Possum - Toolangi State Forest

Leadbeater’s Possum – Toolangi State Forest

I have to say that I was less impressed by the forest in Toolangi than area’s around Powelltown where I have been concentrating in recent times but there is still some excellent areas of mature forest. It is clearly being logged hard and even areas of regrowth don’t seem to be as diverse in structure. There also seems to be less old stags left which are important den sites for Leadbeater’s Possum. There is still clearly an important population of these animals (and others) here though that needs to be protected and protected now. There is only one way we can save the Leadbeater’s Possum and that is through protection in a properly funded Great Forest Park. Do not let their habitat and our water catchments become like the logging coupe below – it is devastation in that pic but even those “habitat trees” remaining wont be alive once the coupe is burnt. #GFNP

Recent coupe in Toolangi - not yet burnt

Recent coupe in Toolangi – not yet burnt

One night in Deni

Last weekend I was invited to join Phil Peel and his bunch of Filthy Flockers and friends for a full days birding on the Hay Plains around Deniliquin. Phil had organised Phil Maher http://www.philipmaher.com/ to take us around for a days birding followed by an evening spotlighting for Plains Wanderer and other targets after dark. Unfortunately Plains Wanderers had not been seen for a couple of months due to the extremely dry conditions so they were not considered much of a chance but it was still worth a look. If nothing else there were a few mammals in the area I could add to my year list and a pretty good chance of Inland Dotterel and Fat-tailed Dunnart which would be lifers.

I left work early on Friday afternoon and headed up to Deniliquin which is an easy 3 hour run from Melbourne arriving just after dark for a few beers and the exchanging of some wild birding tales. Phil Maher arrived around 7:30 am and we all piled into a bus for some birding at some of his local sites – he did warn that it was very dry and was not expecting much. Still we had a good mornings birding with plenty of Superb Parrots, Bluebonnets, White-winged Fairy-wrens and White-backed Swallows being highlights. Unfortunately the bird life was a bit quiet and the area would be well worth another visit after some rain. We were dropped back for lunch which was spent consuming a rather large parma and a couple of beers at the local pub

Flockers on the loose

Flockers on the loose

We were picked up mid afternoon and headed north looking for Ground Cuckoo-shrikes. Did not find these but Red Kangaroo was new for the year list as was Western Grey Kangaroo as we entered the property on which we would be spotlighting. Phil Maher has done a lot of work getting land holders onside and getting access to these properties and the owners of this property are particularly interested in conservation. A number of the locals helped with driving us around in the evening which gives them an additional financial reason to promote a good environment for Plains Wanderers. We had an excellent meal as the sun set and then headed out for the evening spread across four vehicles. We quite quickly found a lovely pair of Inland Dotterel which is a bird I had wanted to see since I was a young boy! They are fantastically camouflaged and would have easily been missed if they had not moved. We had an excellent photography session with the pair before leaving them in peace.

Inland Dotterel - Deniliquin area

Inland Dotterel – Deniliquin area

We then headed to what had been a reliable Plains Wanderer paddock up until a few months ago and the 4 cars split up to quarter the paddocks. Pretty quickly I spotted the eyeshine of a small mammal which was a Fat-tailed Dunnart! but it disappeared quickly down a hole. Not to worry, the other cars soon had one out in the open so we zipped across and were able to get a few nice photos of a very cute little carnivore. Apparently Narrow-nosed Planigales also inhabit these plains but Phil had only seen twice in the last 10 years so would be a real fluke to see without a concerted effort. There were good numbers of microbats around with White-striped Free-tailed Bats calling overhead and small grey fluttery ones which were likely Lesser Long-eared Bats. We scoured the paddock for a couple of hours picking up more dunnarts before calling it a night content that we had given it a good go. A celebratory beer for an excellent bird in the Inland Dotterel and we were already planning our next visit for Plains Wanderer.

Fat-tailed Dunnart - Deniliquin area

Fat-tailed Dunnart – Deniliquin area

On Sunday I eventually rolled out of bed and after a Maccas coffee started to head home. I checked out a few area of Red Gum forest between Deni and the border without finding too much of note so I decided to head to the Kamarooka area north of Bendigo. Kamarooka was the driest and quietest I have known it in well over 10 years of regular visits. In fact the Distillery Dam was completely dry! Still with a bit of effort I was able to turn up a few nice birds including Hooded Robins, Shy Heathwren, Jilberts Whistler and Variegated Fairy-wren. It was so quiet I didn’t stay too long and headed for home. Thanks to Phil Peel for the invite!

Distillery Dam - dry as a dead dingo's donger!

Distillery Dam – dry as a dead dingo’s donger!