This trip to the
Murray-Sunset was primarily a trip to celebrate New Year's Eve in a remote location, but
we did get the odd bit of birding in (we = Lawrie Conole, Fiona Kinsey, Susan Myers,
Stuart Dashper, Scott & Cecilia Chandry, Doug Futuyma, Alex Kutt, Jeanette Kemp) there
and along the road to and fro. Here are a few sketchy details (generated from
BirdInfo survey forms). Murray-Sunset NP, Pheeney Tk W of S Bore Tk, Vic ñ
Habitat: mallee
Jacky Winter
Nankeen Kestrel
Chestnut Quail-thrush
Shy Heathwren
Inland Thornbill
Brown-headed Honeyeater
Red Wattlebird
Purple-gaped Honeyeater
Grey-fronted Honeyeater
Yellow-plumed Honeyeater
White-fronted Honeyeater
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
Striped Honeyeater
Grey Currawong
Grey Butcherbird
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
White-browed Woodswallow
Masked Woodswallow
Tree Martin
Welcome Swallow
Willie Wagtail
Weebill
Striated Pardalote
Yellow-rumped Pardalote
Crested Bellbird
Grey Shrike-thrush
Rufous Whistler
Western Grey Kangaroo
White-eared Honeyeater
Silvereye
Australian Raven
Murray-Sunset
NP, Rocket Lake, NW Victoria ñ
Habitat: Samphire
Rocket Lake is large and mostly dry, with samphire
(Halosarcia &/or Sclerostegia, Sarcocornia quinqueflora) and other chenopods
(Maireana, Rhagodia, Atriplex) shrublands covering more than 90% of its surface. On the
ringing dunes and lunette, mallee (Eucalyptus spp.) and Belah (Casuarina pauper) woodland
occur. Vehicle access would be OK by 2WD in dry weather from North (Rocket Lake Track off
Settlement Road) or East (Pheeney's Track).
Crested Bellbird
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
Peregrine Falcon
Willie Wagtail
Pallid Cuckoo - juvenile being fed by Singing HEs.
Singing Honeyeater
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
Hooded Robin
Red-capped Robin
Australian Raven
Emu - Adult plus 8 half-grown birds.
Jacky Winter
Grey Butcherbird
Australian Magpie
Grey Shrike-thrush
Brown Treecreeper
White-fronted Chat
White-browed Woodswallow
Masked Woodswallow
Rufous Whistler
Striated Pardalote
Striped Honeyeater
Inland Thornbill
Southern Whiteface
Splendid Fairy-wren
Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Rainbow Bee-eater
Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Western Grey Kangaroo
Rabbit
White-backed Swallow
Welcome Swallow
Mistletoebird
Murray-Sunset NP, Shearer's
Quarters, NW Victoria ñ
Habitat: Belah
The area directly around the Shearer's Quarters is a
mixed open woodland of Belah (Casuarina pauper), Slender Cypress-pine (Callitris
preissii), Cattlebush (Alectryon oleifolia ssp. canescens), Sugarwood (Myoporum
platycarpum), Leafless Ballart (Exocarpos aphylla), Silver Needlewood (Hakea leucoptera),
etc. Large areas of mallee occur on surrounding dunes, some with Triodia
hummock-grassland. Nearby on plains and Copi Rises, a Bluebush chenopod shrubland
dominates, with occasional bands of Narrow-leaf Hopbush (Dodonaea angustissima) and
Cattlebush. South of the house, extensive areas of various mallee communities dominate on
deep sand, dunes and swales. Shrub layers there include species such as Nealie (Acacia
rigens), Dwarf Nealie (A. wilhelmiana), Hopbush (Dodonaea sp.), Sugarwood, Scrub
Cypress-pine (Callitris verrucosa), Moonah (Melaleuca lanceolata), Comb Grevillea
(Grevileea huegelii), Berrigan (Eremophila longifolia), Weeping Pittosporum (Pittosporum
phillyreoides), saltbushes (Atriplex and Rhagodia spp.) and bluebushes (Maireana spp.).
Wire-leaf Mistletoe (Amyema preissii) and Harlequin Mistletoe (Lysiana exocarpi) occur
commonly on Silver Needlewood and Cattlebush respectively.
Crested Bellbird
Major Mitchell's Cockatoo
Galah
Willie Wagtail
Mulga Parrot
Blue Bonnet
Brown Treecreeper
White-browed Woodswallow
Australian Raven
Australian Magpie
Pied Butcherbird
White-winged Chough
Brown Falcon
Swamp Harrier
Spotted Harrier
Peregrine Falcon
Black Falcon
Black Kite
Little Eagle
Nankeen Kestrel
Regent Parrot
Cockatiel
Striped Honeyeater
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
Singing Honeyeater
Yellow-plumed Honeyeater
White-eared Honeyeater
Southern Whiteface
Mistletoebird
Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
Inland Thornbill
Rainbow Bee-eater
White-browed Woodswallow
Masked Woodswallow - several observed feeding from flowering mallees (probing flowers)
Grey Butcherbird
Magpie-lark
White-browed Babbler
Chestnut-crowned Babbler
Grey Shrike-thrush
Varied Sittella
Red-capped Robin
Jacky Winter - FFY near house. Adult sitting on nest in mallee on Pheeney's Track
Brown Treecreeper
Splendid Fairy-wren
Emu
Rufous Whistler
Gilbert's Whistler
Bush Stone-curlew - heard near house on night of 30/12/1999
Brown-headed Honeyeater
Striated Pardalote
Yellow-rumped Pardalote
Mallee Ringneck
Crested Pigeon
Common Bronzewing
Restless Flycatcher
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Crimson Chat - in Bluebush near the Crater
White-winged Fairy-wren - a male seen; very dark blue-black
Australasian(Richard's) Pipit
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Welcome Swallow
Red-backed Kingfisher - FFY x 2
Ground Cuckoo-shrike - in Big Mallee/chenopod ground layer, South Bore Track, south of
house
Weebill
Chestnut Quail-thrush
Red Wattlebird
Hooded Robin
Grey Currawong
Australian Owlet-nightjar - numerous in mallee on South Bore Track, evening of 1/1/2000
Barn Owl
Southern Boobook
Brush Bronzewing
Shy Heathwren
Pallid Cuckoo
Stubble Quail
Black-faced Woodswallow
Tree Martin
Red Kangaroo
Western Grey Kangaroo
Rabbit
Fox
Gould's Wattled Bat
Little Mastiff-bat
White-striped Mastiff-bat |
SUNSET TRIP, 30/12/1999 - 2/1/2000.
