Written by Day 1 – Monday, 2 January 2012
The old 400L f/5.6 had been gathering a little dust. Time to wheel it out and get some action I thought. So back in December I booked four nights at the Lake Cargelligo caravan park for a good old solo photo safari. I left Sydney around 10am for the 600km (370 mile) drive out to Lake Cargelligo in the western plains of New South Wales. I promptly became stuck in a very slow procession of traffic up over the Blue Mountains. Once past Katoomba it was plain sailing. I enjoy driving on any highway going west, the highways out there are wide, straight and empty. Certainly compared with coastal highways during the peak Christmas/New Year summer holiday season which are more akin to car parks. Birdwise on the drive out there wasn’t much action, a pair of Eastern Rosellas flew over the road to welcome me to the Central Tablelands. The other side of Parkes I saw a White-face Heron trying its luck in one of the many temporary pools between the highway and the railway line after recent rainfall. Sometime before Condobolin I saw the first bird of prey, although too far away to positively identify.
Arriving at Lake Cargelligo, population 1300, just after 5pm. I put up the tent at the caravan park and went on a drive to look at the lake. Plenty of people water skiiing behind noisy, fast boats, but no birds. The lake itself was originally an area of natural flood runoff. Since 1902 it has been artificially topped up by the nearby Lachlan River through a series of canals. In the 10 year drought of the 2000s it dried up for the first time in a hundred years. Heavy rains in 2010 filled it again, all 36,000 megalitres. I drove out to the weir/fish ladder to the north of town which is where one of the canals leading to the lake can be seen. On the way I stopped and saw Yellow-throated Miner, Red-rumped Parrot, Australian Ringneck and a pair of Black-shouldered Kites. The fish ladder is pretty cool but the only birds I saw out there were lots of Little Black Cormorants. There were a some unfamiliar calls from high up in the trees but I couldn’t work out what they were.
Australasian Grebe, Canon 50D and Canon 400L f/5.6 lens.
Day 2 – Tuesday, 3 January 2012
At the crack of dawn I was down at the local treatment works which is quite well known for its variety of wetland birds. Parking myself beside the second pond under a blanket hide I got decent shots of Red-kneed Dotterel, Black-frtonted Dotterel and Black-winged Stilt. I also had views of other birds including Swamp Hen, Grey Teal, Hardhead, Eurasian Coot, Australasian Grebe, Red-necked Avocet, Black Swan, Welcome Swallow, Australian Reed-Warbler and Cockatiel. A Yellow-billed Spoonbill flew overhead and a pair of Pink-eared Ducks kept to the far side of the pond. I caught fleeting glimpses of a Spotless Crake and chick but couldn’t manage any shots.
Sometime after that Vulpes vulpes showed up (aka European Red Fox), most probably breakfast on its mind. It’s about the only time I wished I had a gun. If you’re reading this and think I’m a nasty man, please be aware foxes are not native to Australia and are an environmental and agricultural disaster. Introduced in the mid 1800s for hunting they are a major contributor to extinction or decline of many native animals through prey or competition. As a result 1080 poison is often used in many nature reserves and national parks of New South Wales in an attempt to suppress their numbers.
European Red Fox at the Lake Cargelligo Sewage Treatment Works.
With the temperature tipped to hit 40C I took it easy until around 4pm when I drove over for a look around Round Hill Nature Reserve. It’s 40km to the north and contains 13,629 hectares of mostly mallee scrub. While driving here at 5pm it was still too hot for most birds. I drove the Quarry Trail around the eastern perimiter hoping to see more as the sun started to drop. Plenty of footprints and scats of emus but not much else. I saw a nice sunset from the back of the reserve where a section of sealed road goes over a small hill. I continued driving around at dusk and into the night with the hope of seeing some reptiles. Despite a very warm night it was very quiet and I didn’t see anything. On the way back I stopped at Booberoi Creek and poked around for another hour. There were at least two types of frogs calling but they were too good at hide and seek and I gave up.
Day 3 – Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Down at the treatment works for a second morning I saw more of the same plus four Black-tailed Native-hens. Still no luck with the Pink-eared Ducks. I managed a nice shot of a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. With the temperature a little less than the stinker of the previous day, I drove over to Curlew Waters and saw more noisy water skiiers plus a family of Grey-crowned Babblers and a flock of Dusky Woodswallows. I poked around the nearby reeds but heard only Swamp Hens and Reed Warblers. I tried out the macro lens on some mud wasps rolling up balls of mud at the water’s edge but it proved a difficult shot. While I had the macro out a dragonfly caught my eye. In fact I narrowly missed a shot of two joined dragonflies.
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Canon 50D and Canon 400L f/5.6 lens shot whilst lying in the mud!
In the afternoon I drove out to the sleepy, rural village of Eubalong (pronounced “you-balong”). The Lachlan River just so happens to meander right next to town. At a picnic area on the north side by the river I saw a great commotion in the trees. Dusky Woodswallows seemed to be having a squabble. While shooting them I spied another bird high up in the trees, a Spotted Bowerbird. Then in another tree I spied another bird. Hang on a sec, kingfishers! (You see I’m still trying to get a decent shot of any of our eight native kingfishers – Kookaburras don’t count!). There they were, a pair of Red-backed Kingfishers, nice, but so high up the only shots I could manage were blurry record shots.
After this I decided to drive over to Chat Alley, a few roadside bushes that have become known for seeing chats. It was still too hot so I drive further towards Round Hill Nature Reserve and chilled out by Booberoi Creek where I had previously looked for frogs. On the way a Whistling Kite flew over the road to perch in a tree. I stopped but it flew off. It was quiet by the river, at least there was some shade. I spied a Little Friarbird in the trees. At around 6pm I went over to Chat Alley, it’s not a pleasant place in summer, it’s bone dry, full of prickly bushes and tons of annoying flies. I didn’t see any chats but there were White-winged Fairy Wrens but the males did not want to play ball with the camera so I ended up with a nice dragonfly instead. On the drive out I saw three Black-shouldered Kites (each flew off just as I stopped). The sunset on the way home was spectacular and I regret not stopping for a shot although there would not have been much for a foreground except empty paddocks of wheat stubble (what’s left after it is harvested).
Day 4 – Wednesday, 5 January 2012
A third morning at the treament works but again the ducks were still playing hard to get. I managed a better shot of a Spotless Crake but still only a record shot. They’re not easy to get shoot, they skulk around deep in the reed beds and every so often, dart out to the next reed bed.
Leaving the treatment works a little earlier than usual I drove into town thinking I might buy a cold drink. As I drove past the police station I noticed cockatoos on the power lines. Whoa, they’re pink! I got a couple of shots off before they took off. I watched where they went and followed them to a lane leading off the main street. There they were feeding on the cones of a cypress. That’s where I got one of my favourite shots of the trip, a portrait of a Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo.
Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, Canon 50D and Canon 400L f/5.6 lens.
Elated with the Major Mitchell’s I drove around a dirt track circuit which connects the Lake Cargelligo Eubalong Road to the Lake Cargelligo Condobolin Road via the weir. Near the weir you can also see the Sheet of Water. It’s a basic road but doable in a two-wheel drive but not after rain. For much of the route it’s a one-lane track, dry but quite chewed up after the last lot of wet weather. On the way I saw plenty of Dusky Woodswallows plus a flock of 8-10 Blue Bonnets and a Whistling Kite which may have been feeding on dead fish along with nearby crows. At the Sheet of Water I saw ducks and cormorants but they were too far away and not accessible without water craft.
In the late afternoon I drove back out toward Round Hill Nature Reserve but drove up the opposite site which is a different reserve, Nombinnie Nature Reserve. I saw many Rainbow Bee-eaters plus an interesting mixed flock of woodswallows including both White-browed and Masked Woodswallows. After the woodswallows I chased an Inland Thornbill then a Western Greygone but only managed record shots of both. Before leaving the nature reserve I saw a flock of Common Bronzewing near the dam by the railway line.
White-browed Woodswallow, Canon 50D and Canon 400L f/5.6 lens.
On the drive back to town just prior to sunset I saw no fewer than five Black-shouldered Kites (assuming none were the similar but far less common Letter-winged Kite) plus two more unidentified birds of prey.
Day 5 – Friday, 6 January 2012
This was the first day I wasn’t up at the crack of dawn. Instead I was up a little after sunset and walked around the caravan park and admired the Red-rumped Parrots looking for an early morning feed. Meanwhile a flock of a hundred Galahs grazed in the nearby oval.
Not long after I packed up and started the drive home. There were many birds on the road catching some early morning sunshine. I very nearly collected a couple of ravens. I’m sure a sun baking Bearded Dragon on the road coming into Parkes was about to become a statistic. The drive up the pass to Mount Victoria was like driving into the heavens. The cool, thick fog and spitting rain at the top of the Blue Mountains was a far cry from the baking summer sun I had experienced out west. There’s no question, we’re all softies living on the coast. Our climate is far too easy.