by Hallu » Thu 07 Nov, 2013 2:01 pm
I've just recently begun to show interest in birdwatching, when I realized I still hadn't seen so many species, amongst which many are supposed to be common. I got myself Where to See Birds in Victoria By Tim Dolby, after consulting it online. It's a great little book with great birdwatching spots, although it really lacks detailed maps, and I which Tim Dolby put the same amount of details in the book as he does on his blog.
I decided to do a 5 day loop : First Heathcote-Graytown NP and Greater Bendigo NP, then further West with Kooyoora State Park, go North and explore the Kerang Lakes (which I knew nothing about), then veer East toward the Murray River. I wanted to do Barmah NP but it was closed due to spring floods, so I did the Edwards River section in Murray Valley NP, NSW. After that, I went to Chiltern-Mt Pilot, and finished with Warby-Ovens NP.
To be honest, I don't think I would have ever visited those parks if it weren't for the birdwatching component. They looked small, divided in pockets with farmland in the middle, and far from the wilderness feel I love about some of my favorite parks such as Croajingolong or the Mallee.
On the first day I drove straight to Graytown. The section of the park North of the town is supposed to be great for small birds. I didn't expect such poorly signed tracks though, and poorly signed picnic areas. The Mt Black Quarry area was nothing more that a clearing with some grass, a big hole, and no tables, unlike what the brochure said. But at least I saw a pretty uncommon Diamond Firetail (although I only realized it much later), and plenty of huge grass trees in flower. The Dargile area was nice, but too heavily vegetated for birdwatching. Next up was Mt Ida Lookout which was, well, rubbish, frankly. The views were obscured by trees (even further up the track where there's supposed to be a better spot) and only toward farmland. Birdwise there was nothing but choughs, but being my first day I didn't give as much time as I should have.
Finally I intended to camp at the free Notley campground, in the Northern section of Greater Bendigo NP. Before that I explored areas such as Mulga Dam and Rush Dam, with a surprising mallee vegetation, the closest patch of mallee from Melbourne. But the first dam was disturbed by a family who made the birds fly away, and the second one was disturbed by me, who got too close for a couple of ducks and herons. Trial and error I guess. I also heard a couple of gunshots, that were too close for my comfort, so I left to the campground. It's a nice area, with plenty of roos in the morning.
The second day I didn't expect much of it to be honest, I had no idea what Kooyoora was about. In the morning I explored the Southern section of Greater Bendigo NP which wasn't very good either. Too close to the roads, full of garbage (especially the One Tree Hill lookout), cyclists and runners. But Kooyoora was different. Full of lookouts, well signed walks, interesting rock formations... It looked like a small Mt Buffalo. It was also absolutely packed with sulphur-crested cockatoos and long-billed corellas, and it had many small pockets of forest fulled with little birds such as finches and honey-eaters. I did the Long Rock walking track, which goes through 2 lookouts, a nice ridge section with even better views, some rockholes and big rocks.
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- Diamond Firetail
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- Red-browed Finch
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- Long-billed Corella
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