What an odd place. I knew it would be good for birding as the name sanctuary implies. I knew it was open to the public and Google Maps showed it as a park area. But it was a cross between a wilderness area and commercial wildlife park. There was extensive fencing and enclosure areas - mostly with nothing in them and then areas of woodland and lake paths. The forest looked like dry eucalypt and the combination of dry and lots of water around made it a haven for birds. There were only a couple of avaries and pens with marsupials in them so we started with the walk around the lake.
But before we even entered the park, I had found lorikeets feeding in the car park. Always looking to get good shots of the Musk and better shots of the Purple-crowned Lorikeets, I waiting patiently for them to come closer. For once, they did.
Purple-crowned Lorikeet (Parvipsitta porphyrocephala)
I met up with friends Graeme and Ann that I had met in Karumba and we headed into the park. There was lots of activity initially but not much opportunity for good photography. We saw dark wallabies, emu and heaps of birds in the trees. In the water were ducks, cormorants and grebes.
We spent a bit of time in a hide on the far side of the lake and were serendaded by a bronzewing. The typical coo-ing of the pigeon was loud and echoed around the trees. It took us some time to locate the owner.
Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)
It wasn't until we were on our return on the lake path that Graeme found a pardalote just sitting on a branch right in front of us. It was unconcerned as we watched it and tried to improve our position for taking photographies. There were more of them above us and we thought there must be a nest close by. The male and female sat in the same place for breif moments as they moved around the tree.
Spotted Pardalote (Paralotus punctatus)
Parts of the park were given over to a walk through the pens and avaries. I liked the part where there were lookouts over a couple of large ponds. We were guided through them in tunnel like walkways with high fences on either side. It was a shame to not be able to see more of the area. One of the ponds was full of activity with wagtail and spoonbill nesting and swallows zooming around catching bugs. Fairywren bounced around the reeds and grasses. In the middle was a snoozing teal, which I just liked the look of.
Chestnut Teal (Anas castanea)
We had heard grassbird several times on our walk but hadn't been able to find the owner but here, the call was loud and clear. I used playback to call the bird and it popped up to see us. And then down again. We sat for a while watching it until it finally peeked into the sunshine.
Little Grassbird (Poodytes gramineus)
We saw 50 species of bird in our 3 hour walk. A fabulous but slightly weird place.
eBird List
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