Day 2.
Nyngan to Cobar.
I woke early after an average sleep in the car, and then went and had a wonderfully hot shower which made everything much better. On the way back from the shower block the dawn chorus started up as the birds started their daily routine. For those who don’t know Nyngan, the Riverside Caravan Park is situated (as you would imagine) on the banks of the Bogan River, which with all the rains had lots of water in it. I walked to the riverbank to find the waterway was packed with birds! Dozens of White-necked Herons were flying around in the mist catching fish while in flight.
This surprised me as I thought the just hunted like other Herons and Egrets (always learning). Rufous Night Herons were stalking prey along the banks, Black Kites soared above the river and countless other birds going every which way made the river look more like a freeway. Twenty seven species were seen just standing in one spot on the river bank.
Species at the river...Black Kite, Whistling Kite, White-necked Heron, White-plumed Honeyeater, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Reed Warbler, Black Cormorant, Eastern Great Egret, Australian Pelican, Peaceful Dove, Galah, Willy Wagtail, Rufous Night Heron, White-faced Heron, Red-rumped Parrot, Mallee Ringneck, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Australian Raven, Starling, Apostlebird, Welcome Swallow, Sacred Kingfisher, Sacred Ibis, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Magpie, Magpie Lark, Kookaburra
After spending an hour beside the river (mainly waiting for the light to improve) I then headed out to Canonba Road, past the airport to see what I could find. This place is an absolute bird goldmine! Straight away I picked up the first Emu (with chicks) for the trip and then it was just a stop, start affair as I had to keep stopping to chase birds. Box Cowal was very impressive with many species in this small, but very healthy habitat. Several new birds were ticked off here and while I tried as hard as I could, I just couldn’t get a good picture of a ringneck or Blue Bonnet.
Species out on the airport road...White-winged Fairy-wren, Emu, Blue Bonnet, Black-shouldered Kite, Variegated Fairy-wren, Spotted Bowerbird, Cockatiel, Superb Parrot, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Jacky Winter, White-necked Heron, White-browed Babbler, Mallee Ringneck, Chestnut-crowned Babbler, Mistletoebird, Spotted Harrier, Black Kite, Pacific Black Duck, Australian Wood Duck, Grey-shrike Thrush.
Getting towards Lunchtime, I reluctantly turned the car back towards Nyngan and the drive to Cobar. Not much seen along the road (although I didn’t really look). One incident on the trip however was when I stopped to take a photo down the road (on orders from the family to take more than just bird photos), I had removed the Circ Pol filter and lens hood off of the 28-105mm lens and placed it on the roof of the car...You know where this is headed. I raced out onto the middle of the road took my photo then jumped back in the car and drove on. At 70km/h I heard a noise and looked in the side mirror just in time to see my filter and lens hood fly off and hit the road. A swear word came from my mouth as I saw black pieces littering the road, so I pulled over and walked back to the damage. Amazingly apart from a chip on the side of the filter, both survived the crash?!?!?
Into Cobar now and a chance meeting with a bird guy at the Tourist Info Centre and I had a hot location for Splendid Fairy-wrens. The walk took about an hour to complete and at the end of it I had ticked off Splendid Fairy-wren and Hall’s Babbler!
I came across another Spotted Bowerbird, but this one was at his bower. I sat down and watched this guy running around and squawking as several girls checked out his handy work. A great moment with less than great light, but still nice to see.
Staying overnight at the Cobar Caravan Park with very friendly Apostlebirds as neighbours, and will look for chats tomorrow morning before heading westward again to Gundabooka National Park (which only opened to traffic at 10am this morning).
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