Our southward journey home to
East Gippsland Victoria followed an inland route, shorter and quicker than the
coastal route as the roads are generally straight and flat with little traffic
and few towns. This is no doubt why so many van-towing southerners come north
each winter via inland routes.
The route was through cattle
country which is in drought and very dry at present. The road kill was horrendous. Roos and wallabies which bred up during the
last wet period are now attracted to the fenced off road sides where there is
good feed and in places even a green pick on the shoulders due to the extra
rainfall runoff from the impervious road surface. Add large trucks and road
trains travelling at speed at night and you have carnage. The crows, ravens and
Black Kites however were enjoying a food bonanza. It was not unusual for as
many as 15 Black Kites, and sometimes a few Whistling Kites among them, to fly
up from a carcass as we approached.
Our plan was to visit the
Salvator Rosa section in the remote far west of the Carnarvon National Park. From
Atherton we drove west to Mt Garnet and then generally south through Lynd
Junction, Charters Towers and Emerald to Springsure. From there it was west
along the rough dirt Dawson Development Road and then south via cattle station
roads/tracks to the Salvator Rosa camping area. Apart from the many patches of
bull dust, the main hazard we encountered on this road were six or seven road
trains carrying cattle. These huge trucks cannot move over and the dust they
raise totally obscures the road behind and any vehicles that might be following
them. So the only way to deal with this situation is to pull off the road and
stop and wait for them to pass and the dust to settle before moving on again.
The truck has passed however it is obviously not safe to return to the road until the dust has cleared. |
Carnarvon is a large park
generally covering rugged sandstone country, stretching from Salvator Rosa on
the Nogoa River near the western end of the park via the shortest straight line
distance, the way the crow flies, to the well known and spectacular Carnarvon
Gorge at the eastern end - over 150 kilometres, making this a large park.
We had previously visited the
other three sections, Ka Ka Mundi, Mt Moffatt and Carnarvon Gorge and had been
prevented from visiting Salvator Rosa in the past due to rain, which makes
travel on the black soil plains tracks impossible.
The name Salvator Rosa was given
by Major Mitchell whose party passed through the area in 1846 while exploring
for an inland route to Darwin. There were various plaques/cairns and signage
marking and commemorating this historic journey. The area feels remote today
even with our modern vehicles and communication aids. I pondered how it must
have felt for Major Mitchell and his party in 1846 exploring new country with
no possibility of rescue if they got into trouble.
We managed to see 44 species of
birds in this section of the park over two days, in spite of a large area
having been recently burnt in a managed back-burn to control a wild fire and
subsequent slow recovery due to the dry conditions.
Here are some photo highlights:
Pale-headed Rosella
There are six species of rosella,
genus Platycercus, in Australia and two subspecies of the Crimson Rosella. The
Pale-headed Rosella is the one you mostly see in Queensland. Like all of the
other rosellas they are a multi coloured parrot. The following shots are of a
male and female pair feeding together on the ground.
The male Pale-headed Rosella eating the slender seed pods to its left. |
Collared Sparrowhawk
We had just left the camping area
and forded the Nogoa River, definitely 4WD only, on our way south to explore
the area when a raptor flew up from the river and landed in a tree just ahead
of us. A check with the bins revealed a Collared Sparrowhawk based on its small
size. The smaller Collared Sparrowhawk and larger Brown Goshawk look almost
identical – see photo of a Brown Goshawk in the Wonga Beach – Cooktown –
Atherton post for comparison.
The bird waggled its tail and I
thought it must have been bathing in the river and was shaking off water even
though it did not look wet. Reading a field guide later I learnt that the tail
is waggled from side to side when the bird lands, a behavioral characteristic
of this species and to a lesser extent in the very similar Brown Goshawk.
After landing in this tree the Collared Sparrowhawk waggled its tail from side to side - a characteristic behaviour of this species. |
Striated Pardalote
We found many pairs busy
excavating nest tunnels in sandy banks along the 4WD tracks and small watercourses.
I am always amazed that such small birds can use their bills to excavate
tunnels in hard sand. The loose material is removed from the tunnel using their
feet. Once the tunnel is completed a bark and grass nest is then constructed in
an enlarged section at the inner end of the tunnel. Tree hollows may also be
used.
The Morcombe Field Guide shows
five races of pardalote, the ones we saw at Salvator Rosa were melanocephalus,
Black-headed Pardalote. In East Gippsland we have ornatus, Eastern Striated
Pardalote.
Plumb-headed Finch
A flock of some fifty or sixty
birds was feeding on the ground near Major Mitchell’s Spring. They were very
nervous and hard to get close to for a good photo. As soon as you got too close
they flew up into nearby trees where they waited to see if it was safe to
return to feeding on the ground. The shot below is of a male and a juvenile
bird.
The male Plumb-headed Finch has a plumb coloured throat patch just visible in this shot - the female does not have this patch but is otherwise similar to the male. The bird behind is a juvenile. |
Apostlebird
Apostlebirds are gregarious,
social and often tame birds when they live around places such as campgrounds
where they are exposed to humans who either deliberately feed them or
inadvertently leave food scraps and crumbs about.
As we packed up to leave, a few
of the local group moved into our campsite strutting about boldly looking for
any discarded food. I am sure they have learnt that food scraps are a strong
possibility when we humans leave a campsite and it was not just a coincidence
that they turned up as we packed. I took the opportunity to get some photos, however
their occupation of the site and my photo session were suddenly and rudely
interrupted by one of the local Magpies who swooped in with its snapping bill
sounding like castanets.
The Apostlebirds retreated to the
safety of a tree above the campsite from where they looked down with noisy
protest as the Magpie now strutted about the campsite to see what tit bits
might be on offer. Of course there were none as we are particularly strict on
not feeding wildlife or even inadvertently leaving or spilling food. The
protesting Apostlebirds attracted one of the local Laughing Kookaburras, which
flew in to see what was up, only adding to their trouble.
I managed a couple shots of one
of the Apostlebirds as it protested to no avail from the safety of a high
perch.
This Apostlebird is complaining noisily following its displacement from our campsite by a Magpie. |
This Apsotlebird is focused on the Magpie below. It soon gave up the protest and moved to another camp site to scavenge for food. |
Fairy-wren
There were good numbers of
Red-backed Fairy-wrens occupying reeds and dense vegetation along the edge of
the Nogoa River. To my surprise I found a male Superb Fairy-wren in full colour
along the River edge. Checking the guides, I found these birds must be at the
extreme northern edge of their range at Salvator Rosa. The edge of our campsite
was bounded by a large log on which someone had carved a fairy-wren – I thought
it was good enough for a photo.
Fairy-wren carving at our Salvator Rosa campsite on the Nogoa River. |
The Carnarvon National Park has
many spectacular sand stone cliffs and erosion over millions of years has
produced many unusual rock structures both large and small – a visit to this
park is highly recommended, especially to the Carnarvon Gorge at the eastern
end of the park, which unlike the other sections, is easily accessed.
From Salvator Rosa we headed west
to Tambo and then south via Augathella and Charleville to Cunnamulla where we
planned to spend a few days at Bowra Sanctuary before heading home.
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