Birding On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002
Emmalee Tarry 		Comments | Table of Contents

Little Desert National Park

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Great Ocean Road and Southern Right Whales

The Grampians National Park consists of 2 mountain ranges separated by a valley. The Dunkeld Road runs down the valley between two mountain Ranges. There is beautiful Eucalypt forest on either side of the road. As I drove, birds constantly flew across the road, but when I stopped they all ducked out of sight. I am heading south to Warrnambool and the Great Ocean Road.
Outside the park I entered farm country. Black Swans are native and very common in Australia. This bird is on a nest in a pond by the side of the road. It is not unusual to see a pond near the ocean with 500 swans.
A flock of more than one hundred Straw-necked Ibis with a few White Ibis was feeding alongside the road. At this stop I also had: Lapwings, Purple Swamphen, Eurasian Coot, Nankeen Kestrel, Singing Bushlark, Australian Shelduck, Australian Grebe.


Warrnambool is a college town on the coast of Victoria famous for a pod of Right Whales which winter in a bay very close to shore. According to my guide book, at Logan's Beach there is a viewing platform for whale watchers. August is the prime month and I am making this trip south to the coast to see the Southern Right Whale.

I stopped in MacDonalds to use the world famous American restrooms and to get directions to the whale viewing platform. The first person I asked was a very friendly older woman who tried very hard to be helpful. She was enthusiastic and gesturing wildly, but I couldn't understand a word she was saying. I finally thanked her and drove off in the general direction in which she pointed.

This got me down to a beach park where I stopped and asked a gentlemen and his wife for directions to the platform. It happened again. Very friendly talk, something about "cutting" and gestures, but this was not English either. Again I thanked him and started off in the general direction. When I came to a place where the road cut went through a hill I figured that was the "cutting". I am now very curious about this town. One would expect that a college town would produce people who could speak simple English.

I finally noticed a series of signs with little whales on them and followed them for some distance until they ended abruptly. I stopped and asked a third time and this time, the man was able to point to a bus and tell me to follow it. I ended up in a parking lot of the whale watching platform. It was Saturday and the lot was filled with tourist buses, cars, motorcycles, campers and even taxicabs. Take out food was available from catering trucks. Whale watching is popular.

The platform was a marvel with 3 levels of platform running about 100 feet on each level and room for more than 300 people. I had my telescope but couldn't find room to set it up and besides there was no need. The whales were right off the beach.

I could see the blows, callosities, and the lack of the dorsal fin. There was a mother with a baby close to the shore. Further out in the bay you see the blows and the arched black backs of several other whales.

I continued east to connect with the Great Ocean Road, one of Australia's great tourist attractions. Several hundred kilometers of road wind along a highly eroded cliffs with view points overlooking the ocean and many sea stacks and arches. You can't see very much from the road itself. You have to park and walk the tracks in the parks. I found a camp site in Port Campbell and resolved to do the highlights the next day.

The Twelve Apostles is the best known and most popular stop on the Great Ocean Road. There is a visitor's Center and a tunnel under the highway for pedestrians. There are at least 12 sea stacks Actually it seemed like there were more to me. Even in the middle of winter there were large numbers of tourists and the place has a zoo like atmosphere. Winter in Australia is school vacation in the northern hemisphere and so you see families touring Australia. There are Fairy Martins around the cliffs. It was beautiful sunny day with strong winds and high waves. The very best for enjoying the seascape.
The best stop is at a place called Lock Ord. It takes at least 2 hours to walk the tracks at this stop. A Singing Honeyeater took some time to identify as it was not in full breeding plumage as pictured in the guide. Rufous Bristlebird was a much larger bird than I was expecting.

I ran into a Red Fox hunting along the track and it refused to move so I could pass. . The introduced fox is an enormous problem especially to burrowing seabirds.
.Muttonbird Island is sea stack separated from the mainland by a channel about 20 yards wide. Unlike the smaller sea stacks it is very green and undermined with burrows of 50,000 pairs of Short-tailed Shearwaters. The guano from the birds fertilizes the grass on the island making it green as opposed to the bareness of the other sea stacks. I suspect that the fox is keeping the birds off the mainland.

The birds nest here from October through April. Then they disburse to the north Pacific passing north up the coast of Asia and returning down the coast of California in the fall. In October you are supposed to be able to see them return to their burrows in the evening. I resolve to be back here in October to see this spectacle.

Lock Ord is named for a ship that wrecked on Muttonbird Island with loss of all but two passengers. At one point the sea runs 100 m through a tunnel to emerge in a sink hole. These cliffs are always eroding as is Muttonbird Island itself. Perhaps it erodes more slowly because of the vegetation fertilized by the birds.

Little Desert National Park and Whimpy's Little Desert Lodge

I left the Great Ocean Road about noon drove north to Horsham on the western side of the Grampians to be in position for the Little Desert tomorrow. At the information center I inquired about seeing the Malleefowl and they told me about Whymbie's Little Desert Lodge and Tours and made reservation for me the next day. I drove west on C240 to Natimuk and then north on the road to Nhil through the Little Desert National Park. The Little Desert Lodge is at the north end of this road just south of Nhil.

There was a lot of bird song along the road in the dense brush. The birds were not sitting up in the strong wind and pishing didn't work at least not here. Two large birds walked slowly across the road about 50m ahead of the van. The light was behind them and I could not make out the plumage. They had to be either Malleefowl or Nativehens. I moved the car to spot where they had disappeared into the dense bush. I was so certain these were Malleefowl that I actually plunged into the bush something I had until this point avoided for fear of poisonous snakes. This caused one bird to fly out and away. After 20 yards it dropped back into the bush. The other bird remained in the dense bush making a clucking noise. Aware that I was hassling an endangered bird, I gave up and pushed on to the Little Desert Lodge.
Gate to Whimpy's Little Desert Lodge At the entrance to Little Desert Lodge, I was surprised by this electrified fence and gate. This was my first introduction to the Australia approach to protecting native animals endangered by introduced predators. A large area 300 acres or more is surrounded by solar powered electrified fence. Then all introduced predators are eliminated inside the enclosure. To protect Malleefowl, native Echidna are also eliminated within the enclosure.


The Little Desert Lodge was built by one man Whimpey Reichert and his family. He started by fencing about 300 acres of bush with an 8 foot electric fence. To support all this he built a guest lodge and campground with the enclosure. Birds can fly in and out as they please. With patience and using captive birds ,Whimpey was able to get Malleefowl to breed within the enclosure.

The day I arrived the conservation organization Trust for Nature was holding a meeting at the lodge. The Trust has provided funds to purchase and fence an additional 300 acres for the preservation of the Malleefowl. Whimpey was busy with the meeting and not giving the tours today. The reservation made by the information center was to see the captive birds in cages at the lodge. I was not happy that I would not see the wild birds so it was arranged for me to come back the next day and join the tour to be given for the Trust Board members to inspect the birds in the new enclosure.

I did go down to see the captive birds. A pair of Malleefowl are maintained inside a fully enclosed pen. This pair has produced 200 chicks. Breeding will start in September. In early August the pair show only a little interest in their mound. The mound is 10 feet in diameter and about 3 feet tall. The female lays eggs in a cavity in the top of mound. Afterward I walked some tracks within the fenced enclosure and had some good birds including a large flock of Diamond Firetail Finch and my first Flame Robin.
The Malleefowl requires mallee thickets or other dense, low vegetation with unburned litter accumulated over 20 years or more.

The Malleefowl that choose to remain and breed inside the enclosure have a higher breeding success rate than birds outside.

The solar powered electric fence keeps out introduced foxes and native Echidna. The young birds are also vulnerable to native raptors. Their only protection is shelter in the native brush. Notice the bird in the center of the path.

Water is provided in the enclosure .		 Maleefowl in habitat
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