Had to throw the bin's, camera and field guide in the car just in case we happened upon something or (if time permitted?) we took a short trip to a nearby Conservation Park. So, we set out in beautiful weather....cool, cloudy and a little breezy - very nice for late February! As we made it to Clare, I decided to take a detour via the golf club/country club in search of Little Lorikeet but aborted the plan a few minutes into the search as our noisy and restless daughter was thinking only of the horse she had spied on a neighbouring street...so, I conceded defeat and opted for indulging in some horse petting much to Ivy's delight. I figured I'd make it back to Clare soon enough and would be better off searching for these little buggers on my own!
About 11 or 12 km's north of Clare I thought I spied a Black Falcon, Rosanne also weighed in, saying that she also saw the same bird as we whizzed by and she described a 'very dark raptor'. Nothing for it but to pull a U-turn and hope that the bird was still nicely perched by the roadside. I saw the silhouette off in the distance and didn't want to chance flushing the bird, so I grabbed the bin's and camera and set off toward it on foot. Within about 50 metres of the car I could see it was a Raven, but at 110km's with a split second view these things happen. On the way back to the car I could hear a call that I just couldn't place, coming from the paddock nearby and it sounded like a number of birds spread across 100-200 metres of field. Without any birds in sight, other than a solitary Brown Songlark, I thought they'd have to be Stubble Quails. Despite living so close to large areas of broadacre cropping I've never gone out looking for these birds and consequently never given them the 'tick'. I approached the fenceline of the property and as soon as I got within touching distance of the fence, one plump little Stubble Quail burst from the grass and flew for a good 20-30 metres before taking cover again.
It felt pretty to good to get such a great view with such little effort....lazy oaf that I can be!
So, onward we rolled toward Laura with a quick stop-off for some burgers and chips (loads of fresh salad on the burger and damn good chips too, I must say!) which we promptly took to the nearby park. As we sat there on the well-shaded bench, hoovering down some delicious deep fried vittles, an odd call pricked my ears and I was 'UP!' like a Doberman Pinscher ready to patrol a fenceline! It took a minute or two to get onto the little bird, which turned out to be a Brown-headed Honeyeater, which was keeping to thicker cover in some of the trees. But within a few minutes I got some great views of a bird I'm used to seeing only in relatively 'untouched' areas of bushland. It was flying back and forth from the shade of the eating area, out into the parklands and back with food, so I knew that young chicks must be about. Sure enough, two little fatties, that appeared to be recently fledged, popped out onto a nice bare little branch and began to 'pipe' their lungs out! Given the dappled shade I wasn't too confident of getting a decent picture of these birds but they came up alright, I reckon! I wouldn't normally seek out a bird with young to photograph but given the location and the fact that the birds seemed unperturbed by our presence, I thought it would be alright to take a few quick snaps.
Not bad for a "day off"!
Wati Tjulpu
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