Birding the Mulga of Charleville

Major Mitchell Cockatoo

I planned a sojourn in search of the Night Parrot to north-west Queensland with my venerable birding colleagues from Melbourne, Bernie O'Keefe and Scott Baker. More on that later, but first a series of birding blog posts from the trip.

Corones Hotel

I arrived a couple of days early in Charleville for a spot of birding, booking a hire car and a room in the homely Corones Hotel, which I highly recommend.

Charleville Sewage Treatment Works

My first afternoon saw me at the sewage treatment works near town, an excellent spot to kick off the trip.

Various ducks including Australasian Shoveler (far left) and Freckled Duck (fair right)

Pink-eared Duck and Grey Teal were in large numbers and among the mass of ducks were a single Blue-billed Duck, a pair of Australasian Shoveler and a single Freckled Duck.

Blue-billed Duck with Coot & Hardhead

Several Black-tailed Native-hens and Red-kneed Dotterels were present.

Red-kneed Dotterel

 Of interest was a single Spotless Crake in the reeds; this species is scarce in western Queensland.

Spotless Crake

Little Grassbird was quite common, with 5-6 birds seen.

Little Grassbird

Australasian Grebe and Hoary-headed Grebe were equally common. A list of species from the ponds can be found here.

Hoary-headed Grebe

I birded mulga patches along various roads about Charleville. I found the Avadale Road north-west of the town particularly good. Here I found a nice flock of Little Woodswallows in the early morning.

Little Woodswallow

A large flock of Major Mitchell Cockatoos was feeding in a paddock on the Avadale Road, with some perched in trees nearby. Several young were being fed by adults.

Major Mitchell Cockatoo feeding young

I encountered 3 Australian Bustards along the road.

Australian Bustard

And many Emus, including a party drinking at a waterhole.

Emu drinking

White-browed Treecreeper proved to be quite common.

White-browed Treecreeper

A few parties of Splendid Fairy-wren were about.

Splendied Fairy-wrens

Hooded Robin and Red-capped Robin were both common.

Hooded Robin

Red-capped Robin

Brown-headed Honeyeater was of interest.  A full bird list from Adavale Road can be found here.

Brown-headed Honeyeater

Elsewhere around Charleville I found a party of Hall's Babblers and some more Major Mitchell Cockatoos 20km out along the road to Cunnamulla.

Masked Woodswallow & White-browed Woodswallow

When Bernie & Scott joined me after a marathon drive from Melbourne, we headed north for our first evening together in the delightful Infracombe Hotel near Longreach. Here, large numbers of White-browed and Masked Woodswallows were roosting. More to come...