After the excitement of Hattah Kulkyne, I set off for Murray Sunset National Park. Although this was in my original plans, I had intended to enter via the south end of the Park, but, as I drove up the highway I saw a sign and headed to the North-eastern corner instead.
I had only just entered the Park boundaries when I saw a small flock of medium sized birds fly off from what turned out to be a puddle. I decided it was worth checking out what these birds were. I was surprised and happy to see Banded Lapwings through the binos, so sat and waited in the car, in the heat, with the flies, until they started walking back towards the puddle. 5 of them, and whether it was my mind playing tricks on me or the heat of the day haze, they looked bigger than the ones I had seen in the NT previously. It was a nice tick to get started for the Park.
Murray Sunset is another potential place to see the Malleefowl. There are some really good displays showing what the nest looks like and what sort of terrain I should be looking for. Alas, no Malleefowl again, but I couldn't help but see the Bluebonnets. There were small groups everywhere which eventually turned into a larger group. They were tricky to get decent photos of so I ended up going at about 10 km/h and taking photos on the move, just to try to capture how many were in the group and the scenery I was driving past. I wouldn't recommend this as a photographing method, but the result was ok.
I had only just entered the Park boundaries when I saw a small flock of medium sized birds fly off from what turned out to be a puddle. I decided it was worth checking out what these birds were. I was surprised and happy to see Banded Lapwings through the binos, so sat and waited in the car, in the heat, with the flies, until they started walking back towards the puddle. 5 of them, and whether it was my mind playing tricks on me or the heat of the day haze, they looked bigger than the ones I had seen in the NT previously. It was a nice tick to get started for the Park.
Murray Sunset is another potential place to see the Malleefowl. There are some really good displays showing what the nest looks like and what sort of terrain I should be looking for. Alas, no Malleefowl again, but I couldn't help but see the Bluebonnets. There were small groups everywhere which eventually turned into a larger group. They were tricky to get decent photos of so I ended up going at about 10 km/h and taking photos on the move, just to try to capture how many were in the group and the scenery I was driving past. I wouldn't recommend this as a photographing method, but the result was ok.
Bluebonnets
Banded Lapwing
I had thought I would camp here for the night, but the flies were pretty horrendous during the day, so I was figuring with another 5-6 hours of daylight, I may as well keep going and keep away from the flies.
I continued up to Mildura, stopping in at the Kings Billabong Bird Hide, not one of the most exciting birding experiences, and it was a hot 5 km walk out to the hide and back. About the most exciting thing I took photos of was a large skink/lizard at the Hide itself.
There was also a close encounter with a very large Grey Kangaroo, who watched me closely as I walked towards its family, but I had also seen then and ensured they moved on before I got too close, but he kept a watchful eye on me and continued to bound parallel with me until they were gone.
Kangaroo
There were a few birds around, here are a couple. Peaceful Dove followed by Varied Sittella.
It was back on the road again, the intention to get to Renmark if possible, but I ended up staying at Lake Cullillinane. On the way I came across a small family of emus, one of my all time favourite birds, and couldn't resist stopping on the side of the Sturt Highway to take a few shots.
Emu
Finally pulled into Lake Cullullinane for the night. It had been a big day. I was at first delighted to see the Little Corellas hanging around in largish numbers. I was soon to realise there were more than I thought and they would be here for the night to keep me company. I did enjoy this scene below, where they were acting like Cormorants on a fallen tree in the lake.
Little Corellas
