Victoria State Part 2: dry forest & endless plains!

31st March saw us again in the Chiltern National Park. It was a beautiful day & our first big success was Turquoise Parrot feeding in a field & flying up into nearby trees.

Turquoise Parrot

We then moved on to an area where we found a nice Bush Stone Curlew. While driving we saw several nice birds:

Whistling Kite

White-winged Chough

We drove on to the Whungu Broken Boosy State Park (what a wonderful name)! To look for a party of Superb Parrots. This is often a tough bird to find, but we were very lucky.

Superb Parrot

The famous Murray River.

Then onto Echuca on the Murray River, which forms the state boundary with New South Wales. Here the main attraction was the huge numbers of Long-billed Corellas along the river.

Long-billed Corella

There was a huge roost of around 400 birds.

A young Australian Darter

Maned Duck were common along the river.

Australian Magpie, here of the black-backed race.

It is big, empty country out here!

Saw the sign but didn't see the bird!

The end of yet another good day in Oz.

As dusk approached we moved onto the Patho Plains in our fruitless search for the Plains Wanderer! It was a beautiful evening though, but we again got to bed very late.

Lake Boga & a large flock of Australian Pelicans.

Caspian Terns & Silver Gulls.

Round Pond.

Several hundred Black Swans were on Round Pond.

The next day was a complete contrast as we birded Lake Boga & Round Pond. Waterbirds were everywhere in large numbers. A Peregrine sat in a distant tree.

Peregrine

Galahs

Mallee country.

Spent the afternoon in the Murry-Kulkyne State Park & the Hattah National Park. Regent Parrot at first proved elusive, but then gave us excellent views.

A male Regent Parrot.

One of the very tough birds to see in the mallee-

Mallee Emu Wren!

Late afternoon was spent in the mallee & almost immediately we scored with four Mallee Emu-Wrens! Amazing!