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 Mootwingi National Park - Easter 1998
The Canyon |
The lure of Hall's Babblers and Grey Falcons
took us to Mootwingee for our Easter break. It was a long drive from Melbourne to over 100
km north of Broken Hill but well worth it! An uneventful drive with an overnight stop at
Hattah NP and Chirruping Wedgebills, Redthroats and Orange Chats along the way, saw us
setting up camp about midday on the Friday. The drive in is flat and featureless but not
devoid of birds - lots of Emus, Pink Cockatoos and best of all, Bourke's Parrot. An
afternoon walk in the canyon area was productive with lots of Striped Honeyeaters,
White-browed Babblers and Euro wallabies - the common Macropod here. |
| The well equipped camp site is populated by
White-winged Choughs and Apostlebirds. They are certainly not backwards in coming forward
and you need to watch your food. It's a great opportunity to observe the behaviour of
these highly sociable mudnesters. Their play activity is vigorous and the Apostlebirds in
particular indulge in a great deal of allopreening. Since our visit this park has been
handed back to the traditional owners, the Mutawintji people. The aboriginal rock art in
this park is also spectacular, it is possible to visit these areas with a guide. There are
no shops or mod-cons in the camp ground but there are showers, tables and barbecue areas.
Beware of the showers - they are the coldest I have ever experienced... |
Apostlebird |
What happened to our gleaming white car!? |
The Canyon track is worth walking at least two
or three times. Unfortunately there are feral goats everywhere but we eventually had great
looks at Hall's Babbler. A very nice bird. We also had a reasonable look at Grey Falcon in
flight. No sign at all of Yellow-footed Rock-Wallaby, which must be getting rather scarce.
We drove home via Kinchega NP and got caught on the dirt road after a rain storm! The
bulldust turned to clag and we were forced to drive about 150 km at 40kph with the results
apparent in the picture here. Funnily enough our very light, wimpy 4WD handled these
conditions considerably better than a lot of heavier vehicles, judging by the number we
passed on the "side" of the road. |
Major Mitchell Cockatoos at Mootwingee |
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