| Birding
On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002 Emmalee Tarry |
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Little Desert National Park |
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From the Barren Grounds I drove through Moss Vale and on to the Hume Highway South. The Hume links Sydney to Melbourne and Western Australia and is a beautiful divided limited access highway.
I saw my first live Echidna walking slowly across the busy highway. It had made 3 lanes safely and I didn't hit it so I hope it made it to the other side. The Echidna is one of the egg-laying mammals or Monotremes. After hatching the mother suckles the newborn until it grows spines. She then puts it in a burrow and continues to suckle it for some time.
The Echidna is active in the day time and feeds mostly on insects. The back is covered with spines. Rumor has it that the spines can puncture your car tires. True or not this provides some incentive for drivers to avoid running over one. The Echidna is not endangered. Late in the trip I saw a second Echidna crossing a smaller road and in the garden in Christchurch a slow moving Echidna was followed by a trail of tourists with cameras.
I spent the night in Wagga Wagga in a city campground on the bank of the Murrumbidgee River. I had White-plumed Honeyeater here and Dusky Woodswallow. The water level of the river is controlled to aid agriculture in the area. Wagga means crow in the aboriginal language so Wagga Wagga probably means more than one crow.
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My next overnight was at Seymour, Victoria, a town of little
note except for this wild Koala munching away in a tree in the campground. This
was the only Koala I saw in the wild probably because they are slow moving,
nocturnal and spend most of their time in the tops of trees. Unlike most arboreal animals they have a short stubby tail useless for gripping tree limbs. They climb trees using sharp claws to dig into the bark and hold onto branches with opposable toes. The lovable Koala is in trouble. Many are killed by automobiles, but their main problem is habitat destruction. |
| Almost every zoo has a Koala breeding program and they all
offer the opportunity to hold a Koala and have your picture taken. Well fed zoo
Koalas usually sleep away their days. This one woke up long enough for me to
get this picture. The Koala looks very much like a teddy bear. Related to the Wombat, it is not a bear. It should be called a Koala not Koala Bear. |
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A much more typical picture of a captive Koala sleeping away
the day. Notice how on the forelimbs two toes oppose the other three toes to
grip the tree branch. This Koala was photographed in a zoo in Queensland. |
Grampians National Park
I drove to the outskirts of Melbourne and then took the M8 west to Ballarat and on to Halls Gap in the Grampians National Park. The M stands for motorway and denotes the best grade of highway in Australia. Grampians National Park is a beautiful and popular park especially in September when most of the wild heather blooms. Halls Gap is a quiet tourist town located at the foot of the mountains. There are several campgrounds, hotels, YHA youth hostel and at least one independent Backpacker Hotel.
The best restaurant meal I had in Australia was at the Halls Gap Tavern. A flock of Sulfur-crested Cockatoos frequented the bird feeder in the back yard. It is a shame that more restaurants especially those that cater to tourists do not maintain bird feeders. People who do maintain feeders fill them with table scraps not bird seed. The bird seed industry seems to be an American phenomenon. It is surprising how much your learn about your own country by traveling the world.
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The Gallah is a rose colored parrot common in most
parts of Australia. Named for its call it lives in large flocks and often feeds
on the ground. The more rare Major Mitchell's Cockatoo looks something like the Gallah. I never did see Major Mitchell's Cockatoo. |
| It is safe to say that the Long-billed Corella seen
here cannot be missed if you spend some time in Halls Gap. This seems to be a
pair in this Eucalyptus tree. My second day here I spent driving country roads outside the park in the vicinity of Lake Fayan . Laughing Kokaburra, White-faced Heron, Crimson Rosella, White-plumed Honeyeater, Crested Pigeon , Jackie Winter, Gray Shrike-thrush, White-fronted Chat, and White-winged Chough. |
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In mud puddle in the parking lot Diamond Firetail Finch and Brown Songlark. A flock of Red-rumped Parrots are in the trees near the parking lot and flying down to drink from the puddle. I had a very hard time identifying another flock of parrots. I now believe that these parrots were Blue-winged Parrots. One would think that parrots would be an easy id, but no. Flocks usually contain both mature and immature birds and there is considerable variation in plumage. I was at first positive I had the Orange-bellied Parrot except it was far out of range. Finally reading the text I find that Blue-winged Parrot can show an orange belly patch.
Willy Wagtail, Superb Fairywren were also frequenting the puddles left by some rain the night before. Across the road from the dam were Black-tailed Nativehen.
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Three Emu were seen grazing every evening in this sheep paddock outside Halls Gap. Emu have been raised as domestic birds for food in Australia and these birds looked so at home in this sheep paddock that I believe they must be the descendents of domesticated birds. The ranger assured me that there were no Emu farms in the area. I never saw an Emu farm and didn't even see Emu on the menus so its popularity as a domesticated bird has waned. Emus do not fly, but can use their wings to jump over fences. |
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