As I left Dunmarra this morning before the sun was up, I was hoping to come across a gully with some water to check out the birding action. As I drove slowly along the dirt, I managed to interrupt some pre-dawn activity on the road of Common Bronzewings, Owlet-Nightjars, as well as a couple of kangaroos.
The Buchanon Highway was very smooth, with one exception. As I drew closer to the Hazard sign, it looked like a detour ahead. As I was only doing about 45 kms/hr, I hit the washout fairly slowly, but it still gave me a jolt. Needless to say I was even more cautious the following "hazards".
And so, I didn't find a gully but I did find a small dam. Just tucked in off the road, I spotted it just as it was light enough to see without the car lights. There was already lots of bird activity. Black Kites, Brown Falcons and Brown Goshawks were everywhere. The pair of Brown Goshawks were giving everything the hurry up, mainly the Galahs, Varied and (Red-collared) Rainbow Lorikeets. A family of 5 dingoes put the wind up me a little bit. They saw me, but kept coming all the way to the little dam. Thankfully they turned around after a quick drink.
And then the party started. At first it was just Double-barred Finches, then the Long-tailed Finches joined in, followed by a brief glimpse of a Gouldian Finch adult, then Zebra Finches, all the while being constantly sent packing by the Brown , Banded , Grey-fronted, Yellow-tinted and Rufous-throated Honeyeaters, not to mention the Willie Wagtails and Magpie Larks. And then there were the pigeons and doves - Bar-shouldered, Peaceful and Diamond Doves all arrived, Common Bronzewings, Crested Pigeons, the bird list just kept growing. I managed a few decent shots of the three finches in the title. Here is a sample:
The Buchanon Highway was very smooth, with one exception. As I drew closer to the Hazard sign, it looked like a detour ahead. As I was only doing about 45 kms/hr, I hit the washout fairly slowly, but it still gave me a jolt. Needless to say I was even more cautious the following "hazards".
And so, I didn't find a gully but I did find a small dam. Just tucked in off the road, I spotted it just as it was light enough to see without the car lights. There was already lots of bird activity. Black Kites, Brown Falcons and Brown Goshawks were everywhere. The pair of Brown Goshawks were giving everything the hurry up, mainly the Galahs, Varied and (Red-collared) Rainbow Lorikeets. A family of 5 dingoes put the wind up me a little bit. They saw me, but kept coming all the way to the little dam. Thankfully they turned around after a quick drink.
And then the party started. At first it was just Double-barred Finches, then the Long-tailed Finches joined in, followed by a brief glimpse of a Gouldian Finch adult, then Zebra Finches, all the while being constantly sent packing by the Brown , Banded , Grey-fronted, Yellow-tinted and Rufous-throated Honeyeaters, not to mention the Willie Wagtails and Magpie Larks. And then there were the pigeons and doves - Bar-shouldered, Peaceful and Diamond Doves all arrived, Common Bronzewings, Crested Pigeons, the bird list just kept growing. I managed a few decent shots of the three finches in the title. Here is a sample:
Gouldian Finch
Long-tailed Finch
Double-barred Finch
Great shots and story Richard!
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