BIRDING NW VICTORIA

The Mallee country

It's been a while since our last overnight trip to Terrick-Terrick National Park in March 2016. We were keen to visit new territory, with the possibility of new species. We decided to drive to Little Desert and Wyperfeld national parks in NW Victoria, the former 375 km from Melbourne and the latter, about 100  km further north.

Little Desert National Park, Nhill (6 & 7 Sept 2016)

Study in perspective....canola fields brighten the way
 

Excitement as we drove into Little Desert National Park.....Malleefowl, our target bird!

The park is not really desert but mainly semi-arid heathland

The featureless mallee where one can easily get lost. Mallee refers to a group of mainly Eucalyptus plants with multiple stems growing out of the ground

 

Sanctuary Picnic Ground, our favourite nature walk
Red Gum woodland 

Open habitat but still hard to see the birds!

                                           

Shrubby woodland understorey with tiny yellow flowers

Not many flowers about as it was still early spring

Yellow appear to be the dominant colour, perhaps due to the soil type?

Wyperfeld National Park (8 & 9 Sept 2016)

I was all for full-on camping for the whole trip to really be up close to nature and to experience the outback. However, Yian would not have it and a compromise was agreed upon. So after 2 nights of relative luxury at the Acacia Motel in Nhill, we moved to Casuarina Camp in Wyperfeld.

Enroute to Wyperfeld, we spooked a flock of Little Corellas from a roadside field

Welcome view of Wyperfeld. Took a short cut and nearly got bogged down in very sandy ground. It was very stressful driving slowly over the sandy track, all the time worried about getting stuck but luckily the 4WD saved the day!

Casuarina camp ground - well-earned rest after succeeding in pitching the tent in gusty wind 

 Yian, overjoyed to have survived the first night camping in the bush

The great outdoors, kopi-o and biscuits....this is the life!

We were the only souls in Casuarina, with browsing roos,

wandering emus,

Greater Bluebonnets

and the ubiquitous Galah for company

With a name like Snowdrift, we just have to go take a look

The massive, snow-white sand dune smack in the middle of flatlands 

Doing the tourist thing.....huffing and puffing up Snowdrift sand dune

Successful ascent!

Trekking along flower-lined track...not only hot but...

also bothersome, shooing away the hundreds of flies that followed us!

Wildflowers along the track.....small but beautiful

Happy to finally connect with the rare Major Mitchell's Cockatoo on our very last day

Pretty signages at the entrance of country towns welcome visitors  

One of the many country towns, name soon forgotten, on the drive back to Melbourne

One town remembered, Brim, for its giant murals on grain silos

Taiping Lake Gardens Nature and Bird Walk 

Sunday, 4th January 2015

Time: 7.30 a.m.

Meeting Place: Car park, near Flemington Hotel

Open to members of the Malaysian Nature Society and the public. If you have a pair of binoculars please bring them along. If you don't have any, no worries. Wear comfortable walking shoes and attire. Bearing in mind this is still the monsoon season be prepared for soggy ground and wet weather. The walk should end by 10.00 a.m.

Taiping Raptor Festival

Why celebrate the return of the raptors ?

During the autumn months beginning from late September, thousands of raptors including hawks, buzzards and bazas, can be seen passing over Taiping, on their southbound migration to Indonesia where they will spend the winter months. Not many people in Taiping are aware that this spectacular show is being played out over the town every year. To raise awareness of this wonder of nature, the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) has organized the inaugural Taiping Raptor Festival 2011. All activities are free of charge.

Come join the celebration

• Attend talk on Raptors of Malaysia at Taiping Zoo seminar room.
• Go birdwatching with MNS members.
• Witness the amazing phenomenon of hundreds of raptors passing overhead at Scott’s Hill, Taiping Villa.
• Learn about raptors and why they migrate at our exhibition.
• Have fun at our children’s activity booth and take home the handicrafts you make for free.
• Go shopping at the MNS booth and stand a chance to win prizes.

• 

Waking up on World Environment Day 2011

Waking up this morning I was hit by pangs of guilt. Today is World Environment Day and I have nothing planned to celebrate it!

Things brightened up a bit when I remembered that today I am doing MY Garden Birdwatch, a nationwide survey organised by the Bird Group of MNS Selangor.

I haven't been birdwatching for a few days now though it is my school holidays so I was more than happy to spend half an hour on the balcony, relaxing and enjoying the company of Kim Chye and the birds.

All in all, we listed 11 species which is not many by any means for the patch of trees and field in front of our house. We usually get more and our list from our balcony through the years have totalled over 70 species. We heard/saw flying overhead 5 other species but unfortunately they cannot be included, according to the rules of the survey. Missing were 7 species we see regularly but were not around today.

Lots of people would probably think I had a rather pathetic Sunday doing something so boring as birdwatching but I feel otherwise. I feel thankful that at least I have been outdoors in the limited time I have and am now more prepared to face mundane household chores besides being a citizen scientist.

Just to share with you, the following are some common garden birds which chose not to show up during the survey. Naughty, naughty, naughty!

White-throated Kingfisher, glowering at us but today no show

Common Myna, today strutting its act elsewhere

Common Iora, today neither seen nor heard. Missed its melodious song

Blue-throated Bee-eater, did a flypast but refused to perch

For anyone interested to participate next year go to : www.mygardenbirdwatch.com

R&R in Cuweh

After the Chinese New Year holidays, I felt I badly needed another holiday. So I took another holiday, albeit a short one. I spent a weekend with KC, Mei and Troy in Cuweh.

A tranquil Orang Asli village in Temenggor

Children rafting from village to village

Osprey hunting in the lake

Waking up when dawn is breaking

So quiet, so tranquil, so calming

Aaah....I am so rested and feel so rejuvenated

PLAY TIME AT CUWEH

Scenes of innocence and joy, but I worry. The forest is disappearing right before their very eyes. Are they going to be able to live the way their forebears lived? Are they going to be able to join the mainstream? They have no education. The nearest schools are in Gerik and Air Bainun, which requires transport by water then by road. What does the future hold for them? What can be done to ensure they have a future?

From Book 1 of PARADISE LOST

(John Milton)

Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit

Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast

Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

The forest disappearing on barges and lorries:

The following photos are from my recent trip,

This load is heading for Banding Island

This load is heading for Air Bainun

Can paradise be regained?

Happy Chinese New Year

Again a long lapse.

Supposed to be blogging about our trip to Yunnan but I have got so many photos to share and tales to tell and not enough time to do it. So as a stop gap measure I am posting two of our photos from the trip to greet all who happen by and are celebrating the Chinese New Year.

Black-necked Cranes, Grus nigricollis, taken in Zhongdian (now renamed Shangrila), Yunnan. This crane was our target bird and we hit jackpot in Napa Lake where we were practically surrounded by them. We now are the proud owners of a collection of hundreds of Black-necked Crane photos - standing, displaying, flying, landing, taking off, etc.,etc.

Brown-breasted Bulbul, Pcynonotus xanthorrhous. We were looking for this bird in Doi Angkang, Thailand some years ago and only saw two birds. In Yunnan it was the most often seen bulbul. This picture is shot in a tiny public garden in Dali Old Town.

Happy holidays to all.

Half A Loaf Is Better Than None

Between busy and lazy, a lot of time has lapsed since my last posting. So here I am again. Don't worry, I am not going to talk about bread. Let my story unfold and you will see why the title.

Whenever KC and I have a little time on our hands but not enough to go really far, we will take a drive around the Kamunting industrial area. Some of the old tin mining pools are still intact. The sandy ground with its grass and bushes have created an open country habitat that is home to hundreds of Jungle Mynas and other birds. Friends visiting from Australia had once said that they have never seen so many mynas in one spot before.

To others, mynas are a dime a dozen and not worth a second look. To KC and I, a flock of mynas holds the potential of a rare myna or starling especially during migration season. Today, we were rewarded with something unusual, an aberrant myna. Though not a species on its own, it is nonetheless rare, hence half a loaf is better than none.

These two birds differ only in colouration