2006/07 Australia trip - Barradale's birds |
|||
Now that the school holidays were almost over we were heading back towards the coast, but we couldn’t make it in one day. 
We had a long drive from Millstream on the Pannawonica Road. It was mostly very good red gravel, so the temptation was to drive fast, but there were a couple of water crossings where the road was badly damaged, resulting in some panic slides to a stop. The first part of the road was flat with great expanses of imported grass, a bit like the Canadian prairies, but the far end of the road went through canyons between dry mesas and eroded cliffs, some real “Wagon Train” country.
We saw several large flocks of budgies on this drive but they moved very fast and we could not even get the camera out in time. We rejoined the coastal road in mid-afternoon and piled on the miles so that we could get to Barradale. This sounds like some romantic Tolkien location, but it’s just a large rest area that allows overnight camping along the Yannarie River. We joined the dozens of other campers just before sunset.
Sunday July 23rd
Free campgrounds like Barradale are usually a non-event, just somewhere to bush-camp for the night, but this one turned out to be a great birding spot. I took an early walk down to the river behind the rest area. The river was already dry but there were still a few shallow pools of water hidden down there. The pools held 
ducks, herons, and pelicans. And then the flocks of budgies came in. There were flocks of about a hundred little green torpedoes, but they’d all join together into a massive flock of thousands and wheel up into the sky and split apart again. The whole experience had the feel of perfect choreography. 
They’d come down to water to drink but only for a second and then they’d be gone again. I sat down at the edge of the pool so as not to frighten them, but then a herd of cows moved in and stood all around me, and 
the budgies stayed away.
Back at the camper, the budgies were wheeling overhead and there were also smaller flocks of cockatiels, larger, grey parrots with orange cheeks.
 |
Barradale (7.45) |
 |
|---|
Sandie and I went back down to the pools later and we saw budgies roosting in the trees and sneaking down for a drink, pelicans overhead, cockatiels roosting en masse, herons and ibis fishing in the pools, sandpipers at the edges. Oh yes, and there were kites circling overhead and the usual mix of pigeons, corellas, and miner birds. I thought I heard the budgies chanting “Who’s a pretty boy then”, but Sandie pointed out that they’d speak aborigine.