This is my first trip thread, so if I’m doing anything wrong or if I could something better please tell me. Also, sorry for the rather uninventive thread name. First off, a few notes: 1. I’m travelling with family, so not everything I do is animal related, however I’ll try to stick to animal related things 2. Internet is a luxury out here and most places don’t have service, so updates to this thread may vary wildly in time and size 3. This thread is heavily tied in to the big year thread Day one- Started the day very early in the morning and got on the road as quick as possible. One of the first things of interested that was seen was a small flock of yellow tailed black cockatoos, along with several Australian hobbies (correct plural?) who were perched on a number of lamp posts lining the side of the road. The road was very foggy so birds were hard to see and even harder to identify. Did manage to see several pheasant coucals. We passed through Kilkivan and then stopped for morning tea at Gayndah. Our eventual goal for the day was to reach Monto. We passed through Mundubbera and passed over the Burnett River, one of two rivers where lungfish can be found. Then we continued on to lake Wuruma to eat lunch. The lake was very large and impressive, despite it being several metres lower than its normal water line. The lake has been stocked with fish such as barramundi, Saratoga, silver perch and yellow belly. The lake was full of bird life. Dusky Moorhens numbered in there thousands and many had chicks. There were several Australian pelicans and great pied cormorants as well as a lone Australian darter. There were also several pied butcherbirds and noisy miners who were begging for scraps. There were also some cows wandering around the edge of the lake grazing. You’ll see a common trend here, basically in the outback every piece of land that isn’t national park is used to graze cattle. After this two very large eastern grey kangaroos were seen feeding in a lucern paddock. The next stop was very interesting, the bunyip hole. The bunyip hole was a very large billabong, surrounded by thick vegetation. The billabong is said to be home to a bunyip. The water apparently can often be seen churning and bubbling and strange noises can be heard coming from the billabong Aboriginals call the area “devil-devil” country and many people refuse to camp close to the billabong. Cattle have also supposedly been dragged down into the water as they drank never to be seen again. The billabong was home to several water birds such as pacific black ducks and cormorants, and in the thick bush around the billabong I saw a female superb fairy wren and a small flock of double barred finches. After this we finally reached our destination Monto. We would be staying the night at the Monto Caravan Park. Googling the park revealed a website that talked about wild bettongs being seen in park at night as well as bird feeding. I was excited. I had always wanted to see bettongs in the wild I finally had a chance to see one. Whoever runs the caravan park clearly likes birds, as there are the already mentioned daily bird feedings as well as a list of birds in the hotel guide that can be seen around the caravan park. A quick walk around revealed a elegant snake eyed skink that was basking on our cabin steps. I also saw a pair of superb Fairy wrens who were darting around a large pile of sticks, leaves and branches. I also got a great view of a couple of silver eyes, which was fantastic as these bird were lifers. There was also several brown honeyeaters flying around the park. Then it was time for the bird feeding. The birds were at first very shy and wary but eventually became comfortable enough to feed. The birds were mostly galahs, as well as a few rainbow lorikeets and several sulpher crested cockatoos. The birds were spread out across three different bird feeders. At one stage there were at least 20 galahs, 5 sulpher crested cockatoos and 4 rainbow lorikeets feeding from the one bird feeder. There was also a small peaceful dove that was feeding off the spilled seed off the ground. Most of the sulpher crested cockatoos were very old who were obviously hanging around the caravan park for a free feed. Next to come was a pretty exciting, a flock of apostle birds. I hadn’t seen apostle birds in years, around five to be exact. There was a flock of around eight or nine who were feeding off the spilled seed on the ground. After the bird feeding I waited until nightfall to search for the bettongs which were supposed to wander the park at night. I searched the whole park, at the bird feedings where they were said to be cleaning up after the birds, in the long grass around the park, under cabins and around the already mentioned rubbish pile. But try as I might I couldn’t find a bettong. So slightly disappointed, I had dinner at the Albert Hotel and than went to bed.
Day Two: Today was a day where we didn’t have a set plan or destination. The only thing we had to do was drive to Barcaldine sometime within the next two days. We had two options, either to stay somewhere nearby to Monto and have a long drive the next day or drive half way to Barcaldine and stay the night and then drive the other half the next day, essentially splitting the long drive in the two. We decided with the first option. Nearby was Cania Gorge National Park which had some great bush walks. We left Monto behind and continued North West, on the way we saw several restless flycatchers, an exciting lifer, who were catching flies from their perches on a barb wire fence. Then on the road I saw a sign for Cania Gorge Caravan Park. I recognised the logo. The website I was looking at wasn’t for the Monto Caravan Park, but was instead for the Cania Gorge Caravan Park. I felt pretty stupid, as that meant that the night before I had spent a rather long amount of time in the freezing cold in the dark looking for bettongs that weren’t actually there. Anyway, it was still early and on the road between Monto and Cania Gorge we saw several more Eastern Grey Kangaroos. Cania Gorge was amazing. The road passed straight through the middle of the Gorge, and we were surrounded by steep rocky cliffs all around us. It was great. The rocks were coloured red, white, pink and grey. As we passed through the Gorge we passed over several small creeks and the cattle creep, a small gully which travels under the road and through which stockmen use to drive cattle through the area. As we reached the half way point of the road through the gorge the road was blocked as several cows were being herded across it. We passed by the structure of an old hut which served as a home to the couple who had established all of the walking tracks throughout the gorge. We then passed the entrance to the Caravan park and passed over three moon creek. Then we drove to a lookout which looked over Cania Dam. At the lookout we got a fantastic view of the Dam and the gorge. At the lookout we saw some pale headed rosellas and a large group of grey crowned honeyeaters, a very exciting and long awaited lifer. We watched there hilarious antics in the tree around the look out and then drove down to the dam. The dam is stocked with a large amount of fish such as barrimundi, Saratoga, golden perch, silver perch and catfish. In the centre of the dam was a small island that was covered with pelicans. As I watched the pelicans, a large white bird caught my eye. It was relatively big, white and had a bright red bill. I knew immediately that it was a term but it was the biggest tern I had ever seen. It was a caspian tern, another great lifer. Leaving the dam behind we decided to go the Cania Gorge Caravan Park for lunch. On the way there when passing over Three Moons Creek we slowed down and watched a male satin fly catcher, the fourth lifer of the day. We also saw some grey fantails and a rufous fantail. Once we reached the Caravan Park we decided that we would stay the night here and then drive to Barcaldine in the morning. Once again the possibility of seeing a bettong in presented itself and I was very exited, and this excitement was even further emphasised by the fact that on a gum tree outside my cabin was a sign that read “bettongs graze here after dark”. In the Caravan Park I saw several Eastern Grey Kangaroos, two with joeys and a small group of more grey crowned babblers. We decided to go on a walk on the many tracks through the Gorge and decided on the Two Story Cave Walk. The walk was really great, despite a lack of wildlife. King Orchid Crevice and Two Story Cave were the highlights of the walk. Brush Tailed Rock Wallabies do live on the rock faces of the gorge and the most likely places to see one of these would probably be on one of the various walks that go through the park and along the gorge. When we reached the end of the walk we saw a wild female king parrot along with several dusky moorhens who were feeding in Three Moon Creek below. On the drive back to the Caravan Park we saw two Pretty Faced Wallabies, a female and Joey who were grazing on the side of the road at the entrance to the caravan park. We pulled over to get a better look and they were clearly habituated to humans as they were perfectly content with feeding in front of us. After we got back to the Caravan Park, I went on a walk by myself along the bank of Three Moon Creek. I saw several dusky Moorhens as well as a striated pardolote, two eastern grey kangaroos and two more pretty faced Wallabies. Then on the way back to my cabin I saw a rather perplexing sight. A European Hare, in broad daylight, running up the middle of the road that heads out of the caravan park and on to the main road. Then several minutes later I saw the hare run back along the road and then disappear into a paddock. After this it was time for the bird feeding. There was a small rectangular fenced area in which were several logs and a wheel which had bowls for bird food on them. A man came with a bucket of liquid which appeared to be a mixture of water, milk and bread and filled several of the bowls with this liquid. Then he filled the rest of the bowls with bird seed and then poured the rest of the bird seed into everyone’s hands. The birds were mostly rainbow lorikeets, however there were many galahs and sulpher crested cockatoos as well. There were at least a hundred lorikeets and at one stage I had four feeding from the seed in my hand. As the rainbow lorikeets were feeding from my hands I saw a flock of white winged choughs fly past in the distance. I was pretty excited as These were very long awaited lifers. The galahs were feeding from the spilled seed on the ground and the cockatoos were feeding from the seed bowls on the logs. One lorikeet feeding from the one of the bowls that contained liquid only had one. Then all of a sudden, all of the birds took off simultaneously, many birds running into each other and running into people. They flew in one great cloud and landed in some nearby gum trees. Then it all made sense when the dark shadow of a kite flying high above made an appearance. The birds were to wary to feed after that and everybody left the bird feeding area. Several minutes later all of the sulpher crested cockatoos returned and fed off the seed that had been left on the ground. More cockatoos gathered and at one stage there were at least 30 cockatoos feeding. Now it was, I waited on the cabin balcony to see if a bettong would appear. On the lawn in front of me cabin potato peelings and bread had been left for the bettongs to eat. After I had waited for around a hour, I saw movement near the bush surrounding the lawn. A small figure hopped out of the bush, behind a large gum tree and over to the food. I know immediately what it was, I was looking at a wild rufous bettong! To say I was estatic would be an understatement. The bettong looked around cautiously, and then began to feed. I moved around the other side of the cabin to get a better few and take a few photos. The bettong clearly knew I was there but was in know way bothered by my presence. I watched it feed for around ten minutes, before a loud bang from somewhere in the caravan park. The bettong began to move, but instead of retreating back into the bush like I thought it would, it instead hoped further into the caravan park. Later on, when I came outside again I saw the bettong had returned to the feed. It was much later now, so the the caravan park was much quieter and darker. This made the bettong much more comfortable and allowed me to get a much better view. The bettong one again knew I was there but wasn’t at all bothered by my presence. At that point, I had watched the bettong for at least half an hour, before the freezing night air forced me to return to the warmth of my cabin. Then I went to bed, feeling quite happy with the days events. Species Seen So Far: Mammals: Rufous Bettong European Hare Eastern Grey Kangaroo Birds: Caspian Tern Grey Crowned Babbler King Parrot Restless Flycatcher Satin Flycatcher Apostle Bird Peaceful Dove Silver Eye Superb Fairy Wren Double Barred Finch Willie Wagtail Domestic Pigeon Crested Pigeon Australian Pelican Pacific Black Duck Australian Wood Duck Dusky Moorhen Eurasian Coot Australian Darter Great Pied Cormorant Torresian Crow Australian Magpie Peewee Grey Fantail Rufous Fantail Striated Parolote Galah Sulpher Crested Cockatoo Rainbow Lorikeet Black Kite Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos Whistling Kite Australian Hobby Bar Shouldered Dove Pier Butcher Bird Black Swan Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike Blue Faced Honey Eater Little Black Cormorant White Faced Heron White Necked Heron Purple Swamphen Pheasant Coucal Noisy Miner Straw Necked Ibis Cattle Egret Australian White Ibis Masked Plover Laughing Kookaburra Welcome Swallow Nankeen Kestrel Black Shouldered Kite White Winged Cough Pale Headed Rosella Reptiles: Elegant Snake Eyed Skink
Use paragraphs. It makes the text easier to read, and follow, if it's broken into paragraphs. It's also easier to find things you've written if you need to. For instance, on Day 2 you incorrectly stated you saw a lifer - a group of Grey-crowned Honeyeaters and you watched their hilarious antics. From the rest of your post I realised what you saw was Grey-crowned Babblers. I could tell you where you went wrong by saying "in the second sentence of paragraph 3", but I can't. (It's currently the 22nd sentence in paragraph 1.) Highlight species names in bold in the main body of the text. I copied this from others because I found it helpful when skimming quickly through their writings. I only do this the first time I mention the species though. And, of course, if they had been in bold it would have been easier to find those Grey-crowned Honeyeaters you referred to. However, in species lists bold only for Lifers, as you have done. Type it first in WORD. Especially if you have no internet connection available for a couple of days, type it up as soon as you can in Word or another word processor application. Then format it, check spelling and grammar etc. Then, when you're online again, just cut and paste each day into a new post. (You may still need to go over it again as some of the formatting changes may be lost once in ZooChat, and may need to be re formatted). Re-read each post when you have finished it, preferably the next day. I usually re-read everything several times before posting as I find typos, errors, and realise I've left out crucial information or said something ambiguous. This is what I've found works for me when doing my write-ups, or reading other people's reports. Hope it helps. Hix
Thanks @Hix , I’ve tried to incorporate as many of your tips as possible so hopefully the thread is much more enjoyable to read as a whole. Day Three: Today was a long drive, what would possibly be the longest drive of the trip. We had to drive from Cania Gorge to Barcaldine, which was roughly 700km. The reason for this was that we had already booked accommodation in Barcaldine. We started off the day very early and left at dawn. As we left the gorge we saw two Pretty Faced Wallabies and several Eastern Grey Kangaroos. Eventually we left the gorge and continued north west on the Burnett Highway. After driving for about an hour we stopped in Thangool for a short break. In Thangool, there was a very high amount of House Sparrows, a common sight in most towns. Although sparrows are non existent in the bush they are virtually present in every single country town in very large numbers, which was pretty surprising. Thangool is the very beginning of the black soil plains. The soil is black and volcanic and as a result is highly fertile. When the soil is wet it expands and when it is dry it contracts. As a result, the road is very bumpy and uneven as the bitumen is warped by the ever changing soil. After Thangool we passed through Biloela and then Rolleston. After this, Carnarvon Gorge could be seen to the south of the road in the distance. Then we passed through the small towns of Banana and Moura. After we passed through Moura we saw two massive coal mines, and great scars could be seen where the ground had been stripped of coal. There was a large conveyor belt that transferred the coal underneath the highway and into a chute that dropped the coal into train carriages to be transported across Australia. Then I spotted a young pair of Wedge Tailed Eagles, who were flying around a dead gum tree trying to rid themselves of the Torresian Crows who were pestering them. Around half an hour of driving later, we saw a pair of very large birds. At first I thought they were pelicans or wedge tails, but then I saw their long legs and neck and realised these birds weren’t either of those. Then they turned and I saw their grey body and red head, they were Brolgas! They flew around the road a few times rather gracefully before disappearing behind some trees. I was so excited, brolgas had been one of the animals I had most wanted to see on the trip, and here they were. After we saw the brolgas, we continued North West. On the highway, saw a lot of feral pigs as roadkill, which was interesting as I didn’t know they were so common this far west. Later on we saw two large shapes in the sky. A pair of absolutely gargantuan Wedge Tailed Eagles were soaring in some thermals overhead. We pulled over and watched them glide around effortlessly. You could easily tell the female as she was much larger than her partner. After this we continued on to Springsure and stopped for lunch. Then, on the road to Emerald we saw a rather peculiar and interesting sight. In amongst the gum trees were hundreds of low lying palm trees. There were all different shapes and sizes, with some being much lower to the ground then others. This strange landscape continued on for several hundred kilometres and could be seen in every direction. Then we reached Emerald, a rather large town, that has a booming economy thanks to the large amount of gemstones in the area. The area around Emerald is called the gem fields due to the large amount of gems that can be found in the area. After Emerald we passed through Anakie, Jericho and Alpha. All of these towns have also greatly benefited from the gemstone mines in the area. On the road between Alpha and Jericho, we passed over the Great Dividing Range, a mountain range that divides the way that water flows. The range is also the third largest land based range in the world. After these small towns the road to Barcaldine was very straight, flat and boring. On roads like these, the Australian Government puts up trivia signs on the side of the road in an effort to prevent people from falling asleep at the wheel. Now we were only around one hundred kilometres from Barcaldine, but it was getting dark. Kangaroos are largely crepuscular, and have no road sense. We had tried to avoid driving in the dark for this very reason. If you hit a kangaroo it’s usually bad news for everyone involved. The road into Barcaldine was by far the worst road we had been on so far for roadkill. Every three feet was the body of a kangaroo, it was truely horrible. Feeding from one of these very fresh carcasses was another Wedge Tailed Eagle. It was fully grown but was still quite small, and was therefore probably a male. We also saw one Eastern Grey Kangaroo who was feeding on the side road, before being spooked by the lights coming from the truck in front of us, disappearing into the paddock that ran parallel to the road. Finally we reached Barcaldine and had a mediocre dinner at a local surf and turf, before going to bed. Species Seen So Far: Mammals: Rufous Bettong European Hare Eastern Grey Kangaroo Pretty Faced Wallaby Birds: Caspian Tern Grey Crowned Babbler White Winged Chough Brolga* Restless Flycatcher Satin Flycatcher Silver Eye Superb Fairy Wren Double Barred Finch Willie Wagtail Domestic Pigeon Crested Pigeon Australian Pelican Pacific Black Duck Australian Wood Duck Dusky Moorhen Eurasian Coot Australian Darter Great Pied Cormorant Torresian Crow Australian Magpie Peewee Grey Fantail Rufous Fantail Striated Parolote Galah Sulpher Crested Cockatoo Rainbow Lorikeet Black Kite Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos Whistling Kite Australian Hobby Bar Shouldered Dove Pier Butcher Bird Black Swan Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike Blue Faced Honey Eater Little Black Cormorant White Faced Heron White Necked Heron House Sparrow Purple Swamphen Pheasant Coucal Noisy Miner Straw Necked Ibis Cattle Egret Australian White Ibis Masked Plover Laughing Kookaburra Welcome Swallow Nankeen Kestrel Black Shouldered Kite Pale Headed Rosella Peaceful Dove King Parrot Apostle Bird Fork Tailed Swift Reptiles: Elegant Snake Eyed Skink *new additions to the list
