| Birding
On My Own - Australia and New Zealand 2002 Emmalee Tarry |
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Little Desert National Park |
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The Malleefowl is one of three mound builders or Megapods in Australia. The other two: Australian Bush-Turkey and Orange-footed Scrubfowl are not endangered. All incubate their eggs in large mounds rather than using the parents body heat. Only the Malleefowl regulates the temperature of the mounds so closely.
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If a fox discovers a mound it will destroy the
whole clutch in a matter of minutes. Foxes remember the location and come back
again and again. The birds will not be able to recover and the mound eventually
abandoned. Once the eggs hatch the baby birds are on their own. They are very vulnerable to foxes and native raptors since their only defense is to hide. |
| Both male and female build the mound by raking dirt, sticks,
leaves with their powerful claws. A mated pair remains in the vicinity of their
mound and reuses it.. The mound is 10 feet in diameter and about 3 feet high. There is a depression in the top into which the eggs are laid. This mound is inside one of the enclosures and has a thermometer to record the temperature. The males keep the inside temperature of the mound at 33 o C |
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In good years a female will lay 17-22 eggs. In
dry years only 3 eggs may be laid. The Malleefowl is a large bird. It can fly, but prefers to walk on the ground. If forced to fly to escape it soon drops into the thicket. Exactly the behavior I observed out on the desert road. Notice the hint of a crest on this bird's head and the cryptic coloration of the back and wing feathers. The powerful feet are used to scape dirt and twigs on the mound. |
Whimpey's Desert Lodge Little Desert Tours Pts Ltd. 26 Brougham Street Nhill, Victoria 3418 |
(03) 5391 5232 littledesertlodge@wimmera.com.au Located 374 km from either Adelaide or Melbourne. Camping available at the lodge or in Horsham. |
Nhill Swamp mentioned as a good birding spot in Thomas and Thomas is completely dry because of the drought which is about 6 years old in this area. There were some birds on the sewage pond next to the cemetery.
Yookamura Earth Sanctuary
After the Little Desert, I went further south to Bool Lagoon near Naracoorte. Thomas and Thomas calls this the best site in South Australia for waterbirds and it was high on my list of places to visit. I was hoping for ducks, waders, and Australian Bittern. The area was totally dry and according to the manager of the campground in Naracoorte has been dry for the last six years. I was beginning to realize how serious the drought in Australia really is. This is the worst drought in 100 years in a land that is accustomed to droughts. The impact on the native birds is hard to estimate, but the impact on the visiting birder is that some profitable areas are totally worthless. On the other hand you can expect a bonanza at any source of water like a sewage treatment pond or small pools in the desert.
My next stop was an overnight at the Yookamurra Earth Sanctuary in South Australia. Not realizing that the sanctuary has powered and unpowered camp sites, I made reservations for room, dinner, and breakfast for AU$137. In retrospect I am glad I did because the hospitality services support the sanctuary. Founded originally as a private enterprise, the sanctuary has recently become part of the Australia Wildlife Conservancy. Guests should plan to arrive at the sanctuary about 4 PM. Access to the sanctuary requires driving about 13km on a dirt road which was under construction the day I arrived. Sometimes you have to forget about the insurance and just be very careful. I got there a little early, but they let me in anyway and I spent the afternoon birding on the grounds. Just outside the dining room a pool and feeding station attract a constant stream of birds. Some of the birds I saw there in the hot afternoon were: Common Bronzewing, Yellow-plumed Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater, Gray Shrike-thrush, Restless Flycatcher, Striated Pardalote, Australian Ringneck Parrot, Gray Currawong,
The sanctuary consists of 3000 acres of fenced enclosure and another 9000 acres that is not yet fenced. Yookamura was built by a private individual who hoped to use tourism to finance conservation in the Little Desert Lodge model. It was recently purchased by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. Primarily for the protection of endangered native animals particularly small marsupials including: Bilaby, Wombats, Numbats, Quolls, Woylie, Boodie. The sanctuary plans to introduce some Malleefowl from Whimbie. Some of the land was chained 70 years ago and you can still see where this was done from the air. Chaining is a method of clearing land where a heavy chain is dragged across the woods knocking down the trees and shrubs. After it was fenced; foxes, feral cats, and rabbits were physically removed. Trapping foxes is the hardest.
The evening began with dinner in the lodge. Joining me were two veterinarians from Britain who had been working in country for a year. Australia has a shortage of vets. They were on their way home to get married after which they will make a decision about coming back to live permanently. After dinner there was a short talk about the animals we could expect to see. We stepped outside into the darkness. As soon as the guide turned the torch on we could see that the desert was alive with Bilby, a small kangaroo with large ears and bicolor tail. The new railroad extension to Darwin from Alice Spring is going right through the prime territory of the endangered Bilby. Since introduced rabbits have had a devastating impact on Australian wildlife there is a movement to replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby.
The evening walk lasted about 2 hours during which we saw: Brush-tailed Possum, Betton, Quoll, Wombat. These small marsupial hide in burrows during the day coming out only at night. No owls were heard on this walk, but the guide says they sometimes have them.
The next morning we had a walk before breakfast to look for Numbat. The Numbat is especially hard to see at this time of year . They are active in the daytime, but usually hide in logs. We were not successful on this trip. After breakfast we tried again. We came upon a female carrying 3 young. She froze for some time and everyone had a good look. The young are not carried in a pouch, but cling to the mother's teats.
There were good birds on both morning trips including: Southern Scrubrobin, Varied Sitella, Spiney Honeyeater, Purple-crowned Lorikeet, Brown Treecreeper.
I was most impressed with two young men who along with a volunteer do all the work including providing the meals, hospitality services and taking care of the animals. Both were dedicated and enthusiastic about their work. All birders should include Yookamura in their trip plans both for birds and to see these small marsupials.
I spent the afternoon driving to Port Augusta the jumping off place for the trip up the red center.
| Yookamura Earth Sanctuary PO Box 117 Sedan 5353 South Australia |
(08) 8562 5011 yookamurra@ozemail.com.au www.esl.com.au/yookamurra.htm Located east of Adelaide in South Australia |
End: Little Desert National Park
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