I’ve been guiding for Bellbird Tours for a few years now. It’s always a fun time chasing birds and as a bonus I can make a little pocket money to add to the massive amounts of filthy lucre that I accrue from my ‘real’ job. Peter and I were chatting about upcoming trips etc back towards the start of the year and I mentioned that if he wanted a hand for any of his longer trips, particularly desert ones, I’d be keen. Lo and behold – I was signed up as a driver for the ‘Comfy 9 Grasswren Trip’ from Adelaide to Isa, along with Dan Ashdown.
Over the next couple of months, I did some homework on the target species for the trip – if all went well, I could come away with about a dozen bird lifers! A few furticks were also possible, plus dozens of repticks etc so I was pumped. Saying goodbye to J and the buoys was tough as always. It was gonna be a fairly long trip and I was actually feeling a little nervous as Dad drove me to the airport – I’d never met Peter, Dashdown or any of the punters before so didn’t really know what to expect. The flight was uneventful (apart from seeing a human rare – a nun was seated close to me), and I was pretty shattered from work earlier in the week. Peter picked me up from the airport and we picked Dan up from the motel before going for lunch – I felt pretty out of it so was glad to get some calories. We had a quick chat about the plan, what to expect, etc… I felt much more relaxed after this. As we had a couple of hours to kill before picking up the hire car and meeting the punters Dan and I went for a walk to the Botanic Gardens.
There wasn’t too much happening there birdwise but we spun a couple of laps, catching up with some old friends like the PICU-mimicking Grey Currawong, Adelaide Rosella and GHFF. In the gardens I got a long-awaited museum tick – stepping through the doors of the Museum of Economic Botany to examine the papier-mâché models of fruit and vegetables was totally surreal as I’d imagined doing so for a LONG time thanks to Simon’s visit to the same place on TCATC. After that we picked up the hire car with Peter and cruised back to the hotel. I ducked out to pick up some supplies and record a segment for Ann re: what I assumed was Fluffy Glider. And then it was time to meet the punters! We gathered in a little room in the hotel and everyone introduced themselves, which was quite nice. First impressions were good. Peter gave the crew a little intel and then we walked round the corner to a busy restaurant for dinner. Dan got the biggest parmy I have ever seen in my life; the bloody thing looked like it had come off a Pterodactyl! I was getting a bit weary once back at the hotel – we hit the hay relatively early after rabbiting on about the blue paddock for a while.
Day one – Adelaide to Berri
Despite knowing we weren’t leaving until the civilised time of 0700, I awoke in the dark and skulked about under red light for a couple of hours so as not to wake Dash. It was fucking freezing, so the long johns went on. Little did I know they would be a permanent fixture of the trip – at least until we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. Dan got up after ‘the best sleep I can remember!’ and we devoured our uninspiring boxes of brekky. I had a cup of Earl and made a couple of coffees using the Aero – then it was time to go. Gathering in the pre-dawn light, serenaded by Blackbirds, the masks went on and we completed the first iteration of Tetris to get everyone and all the gear into the cars. According to my haruspicy back in Brisbane, this could be a three-lifer day!
A short drive up to the summit of Mt Lofty saw us out of the cars basically at dawn. Good googly moogly it was fresh. Subspecies ticks came thick and fast… I was frothed. The habitat looked fantastic for fossorial critters but if they had any sense they would have been deep underground. A nice prolonged view of a Brush Bronzewing was probably the highlight of this first stop, along with some other nice woodland goodies. Not a bad vista out over Radelaide either. We peeled out and stopped a little further down the hill where a huge furry animal lurked in the canopy – ‘we make them big down here’ grinned Peter. Dan flipped Hemiergis decresiensis under a bit of dead wood and the first lifer of the trip was under the belt.
The Laratinga Wetlands were the next stop. I remembered this place with great fondness, having visited it almost 10 years ago when I was still a young pup. The first two birds we saw after getting out of the cars were Blackbird and a Crested Shrike Tit, which was soon joined by two more. They simply did not give hoot that we were there goggling at them as they moved slowly past us. Wild – two MEGAs off the bat. We continued to the ponds, racking up new birds left and right and meeting an unbelievably cute hünd. The main targets here seemed to be Crakes. After trying pretty hard for one, and getting pretty average views, Peter went to make tea and I took over as leader – gulp. I took the crew around the corner and almost immediately spotted (heh) a Spotless Crake creeping through the reeds. Suddenly it was scared off by a Rakali! Most people didn’t see the Crake so we kept going, eventually rumbling a couple on the edge of one of the ponds along with a few Little Grassbirds. A nice hot cuppa washed down a few bikkies and then it was back to the vehicles. It was lifer time.
We pulled in to Monarto Conservation Reserve a short time later and it was all systems go for me. It didn’t take long until we found two Shy Heathwrens foraging quietly near the track. As Dan said later, whoever assigned these common names fucked it up – the rump on these Hylacola was heaps more chestnut than that on Chestnut-rumped, and they were nowhere near as shy as that species. I followed them for a bit, having a very pleasant time, but I eventually dragged myself away to catch up with the others. A calling Spinebill put the willies up the southerners for some reason, but we ended up finding several. Each small honeyeater passing through (and there were a lot) got grilled hard but no Purple-gaped were in evidence… yet. We basically tripped over the next new bird for me. The Southern Scrub-robin was cruising by xirself when we came eye-to-eye. Holy shit – what a bird! Just unbelievable. I’d really been looking forward to seeing this thing and it didn’t disappoint.
A semi-decent look at Purple-gaped followed soon after, but they were very flighty. I focused on getting good views (instead of shit photos) and eventually nailed the little brutes. The group had zoomed off, so Dan and I hustled up the track, stopping only to separate a male Western Whistler from his soul. A Midge Orchid sp. found by Richard was pretty cool too and gave some good views. What a whirlwind visit! I tried to remember the last time I had seen three lifers on land in halfa… it was probably back in Perth with the doomed Cocos crew in 2019. We hopped back in the cars and headed off to the north east, crossing the mighty Murray on the way.
The next stop was targeting fur – SOUTHERN HAIRY-NOSED WOMBAT!!! Peter had lined some up for us and we slowly cruised the road looking for one that had come out of its burrow to sunbathe. Suddenly the call came over the radio – “nine o clock – low!” We had amazing views of two big brutes in the late arvo. So sick. A short drive into Berri followed, where we chucked our bags into our (palatial) room and had a splash before ‘homework’ and dinner. We got our kit ready for the moaning and hit the sack – ‘twas to be a bitterly cold pre-dawn start.
Day TwO –Murray Sunset National Park
It was bloody freezing when we got up, and we were amazed to hear some BFHO chirping in the palm trees at the hotel while we were getting ready to go. We cruised east out of town, getting to the National Park around an hour after dawn. It was pretty damn cold and very quiet. I heard Shy Heathwren singing in the distance but that was about it. Peter had a few spots lined up for our targets so we formed up and went for a walk. In a short while we could hear a party of Striated Grasswren, but they weren’t interested in us at all and we moved the car down the road a bit. At this second stop we had unbelievable views of the Scrub-robin as it sang from a perch. Rumbled a ticklet too in the yellow-rumped form of Spotted Pardalote, which were feeding on the ground!
Soon I thought I could hear the Grasswren again, so I hung back from the group and tried some very soft squeaks on the squeaker. Almost immediately a female came to check me out. Deciding I wasn’t a threat she started foraging again and the rest of the crew appeared. There were four birds together there so I called the group back on the radio. Eventually Peter enticed a male up onto a little branch and the oos and aahs rang out through the mallee. We had gotten the main target (lifer for me) but had a few more to try for and spent some more time wandering through the mallee with no success.
Dan did manage to flip a Marble-faced Delma for me before we left, which was much appreciated. I’ve heard from several people after getting back that the mallee can be totally dead, which is what we experienced. It was good that we got the Striated in that instance! I got a tiny bit of reception in some ghost town on the way back and had some disturbing news – J was in a great deal of pain! I told her to get to Emergency asap before we kept going. I was worried about her for the rest of the day. Later I discovered that she needed to have her gall bladder removed the next morning! Madness! I did a bit of a ringaround to sort the hünds out (thanks Ma and Pa), spoke to J’s parents and got everything I could squared away before speaking to J again. She was feeling better thanks to some decent painkillers and was watching the tennis – my stress levels declined after this.
Dan and I zipped off for some extra-curricular birding in the late arvo after I got off the phone. We hit a massive local wetland and harvested more Mountain Ducks than I’d ever seen in my life, plus a few birds we would not see again on the trip… we were both getting tired, but after a pleasant dinner was consumed, we headed out for a poke around some dune habitat to the north of town with no results. Into the land of nod I went.
In the next instalment, our heroes will head east in search of another two Grasswrens… join us again soon 🙂