From Kata Tjutja to the Desert Park

From Uluru we drove out for a sunrise at the other rock formation in the park. We were just a little bit late as the sun was coming up as we were pulling up. The viewing platform was kind of a longs ways so the photographs aren't that great.

Some say these rock formations know as the Kata Tjutja, which means "many heads" are more impressive than Uluru. I don't know about that but they are pretty cool. Although this rock formation is only sixteen miles from Uluru, its make up is very different. It is a conglomerate of sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of mainly granite and basalt held fast by a matrix of sandstone. The highest dome is seventeen hundred ninety-one feet above the desert floor.

                                                    SUNRISE ON KATA TJUTJA

                                                        ONE OF THE OLGAS

                                                     HIKING UP A CANYON

                                                    MIM TRYING TO SAVE HER HAT


Place names are so strange. This formation is also know as the Olgas for the highest peak, Mount Olga. When I heard that they were called the Olgas I thought maybe because they looked a little like the towers on the Kremlin. I know that's a stretch but I couldn't think of why these rocks in the middle of the outback should be called the Olgas. But that actually makes more sense than the true reason. They were named in 1872 for the daughter of Tsar Nicholas I, Grand Duchess Olga of Russia. The man who named the peak in her honor had been named a baron by the Tsar and this was his way of repaying the honor. But nowadays hardy anyone calls them the Olgas, just folks like me that can't  pronounce Kata Tjutja.

The long drive back to Alice Spring was uneventful except for the dozen or so Truck Trains that passed us going the other way. Miriam drove some of the way and I was able to play a little guitar and blog. As we made up our way up the Stuart Highway, we passed the same roadkill kangaroo that the eagle was eating on the way down to Uluru and he was still there on the way back.

After I started driving we started a game of Botichelli. She chose Bob Marley and I began to quiz her until I got some yes or no questions and I was able to establish that this person was dead, was not an American, was male, and was not known for playing rock music. There were a few more clues that I uncovered and to me it sure seemed like the person was Freddie Mercury. But it can't be because she said he wasn't famous for rock music. But I have played this game enough with Mim to know that her judgment on these kind of questions can be, ah.. questionable. So I said that I thought I knew who it is but he's definitely famous for rock. She said well ask me a question. So I asked "Were you the lead singer for Queen"? And she said "no, I'm not Rami Malek" and to which I replied "well I hope that's true because he's not dead" And she shot back "he is too, he died of AIDS" and I played along "you sure?" and she's like "yeah they just made a movie about him" and I played along "a movie about Rami Malek"?, she said and with confidence "yeah they did" and I said "oh because he just put out a movie recently where he played the lead singer of Queen" and we both fell apart laughing on this long lonesome road in the middle of nowhere.

Now for some birding! 
We got up before sunrise and drove out to the Alice Springs Desert Park. Mim went for a run while I birded around the outskirts of the park. The birding was pretty good as right away I saw our first finch of the trip, a large flock of Zebra Finches.

                                                                ZEBRA FINCH

Then I heard a really sweet three syllable whistling hoot and I left the finches to track it down. I found the area it was coming from but it sounded like it was inside the park and they were not open yet. As I was about to give up something caught my eye. I raised my binos and right there, not twenty yards away was a Peaceful Dove giving that call. I couldn't believe it was so close.

I heard some loud grating calls from back toward where I had left the van. I didn't really want to walk back but that call had to be some kind of parrot. I didn't want to miss a chance to see a parrot so I did an about face and hurried back to the van. Right next to the van in a really small tree were about five Australian Ringnecks! I would see many throughout the day, but I was very pleased to see these in such beautiful morning light.

Mim came back and I showed her the Ringnecks. The sound of a chorus of birdsong was coming from within the Desert Park. The Alice Springs Desert Park is a wildlife park as well as an environmental educational facility. It's super cool, a lot like the Arizona Sonora Museum just outside Tucson. The park is divided up into three different sections, each representing an ecosystem found in the Central Australian Desert. If you're interested in learning more about the park, click here.

The first section we walked through was the woodlands. In each section they have walk-through aviaries with native birds from that habitat. I took the following four pictures in that aviary.

                                                          BANDED PLOVER

                                                            INLAND DOTTEREL

                                                  WHITE-WINGED FAIRYWREN

                                                               YELLOW CHAT

Outside the aviary I heard a really interesting song. I have to say that it's so cool to hear so many songs that are new to my ears. This one was a loud and liquid gurgling song and just sounded like the coolest thing I'd ever heard. It turned out to be a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater. I'd been seeing these here and there but it seemed to me that there was something different about the song. So I looked it up and it turns out that sometimes they sing in what is known as "antiphonally". That is where one bird will start up a song and in the middle of the song he'll stop abruptly and without missing a beat another bird will take up the song where he left off and finish it. That's totally what this bird was doing. And I got this picture of him in the act. Amazing!

                                                   SPINY-CHEEKED HONEYEATER
I saw a bird moving around in a small tree. When I found it, it was coming out of a nest. It must have been feeding chicks. I followed it with my binoculars and saw that it was a White-browed Babbler. The name is really fitting for this one.

                                                  WHITE-BROWED BABBLER

I walked a little farther down the path and I was almost out of the woodland section and entering the sandlands section, where I saw something moving through the underbrush, walking on the ground like a quail. I almost dropped by binoculars where I saw that it was a Spinifex Pigeon. This was in the top ten of the birds I most wanted to see in Australia. It was pretty shy so I couldn't get very good pictures but if you look close you can see it's really a beauty. Check out that plume on the top of his head!

Another good bird and much more common was the Singing Honeyeater. It is the most wide-spread of all honeyeaters in Australia.

                                                       SINGING HONEYEATER

Mim had left a little while ago because they were having a birds of prey demonstration and she wanted to see it. I couldn't leave these birds so kept on birding. After seeing the Singing Honeyeater I entered the Sandlands Aviary. It was pretty cool but I wanted to be with the wild birds so I didn't stay for long.

I walked into the Sandlands section and met up with Mim. She was super excited because she was seeing all these wonderful birds. She told that she found a Splendid Fairywren and another fairywren that turned out to be a Varigated Fairywren. Now she has a bird on me and she's letting me have it.

I met a birder named Bob in the Sandlands section. He was a really nice guy and knew a lot about the distribution of birds in Australia. He was telling me that they are in the middle of a drought and that since the Desert Park irrigates, it pulls in a lot of birds from the surrounding desert, especially since they had had so many fires already this year.

He gave me a few good tips on where to find certain birds. He was there to photograph the Splendid Fairywren and as we were talking one hopped up on a bush and started belting out his song. Very nice!

                                                           SPLENDID FAIRYWREN

                                                        LONG NOSED DRAGON

It was getting pretty hot by now and Mim and I decided to go to the park's coffee shop and get an iced coffee. Oh did it hit the spot. What a great day of birding at a great place. 

Uluru

The next morning we got up early and set out to finish the drive to Uluru. We got to the little tourist establishment town of Yulara and checked-in to a caravan park. Then we took off for the rock.

It was amazing to see this icon of the Australian Outback. It was like the first time I was in the Amazon. Here I was, in this place I had read about all my life. I'd seen pictures and watched documentary movies where this was the subject.  And all the while never really imagined myself here.

Uluru or sometimes known as Ayer's Rock is one giant piece of sandstone standing one thousand one hundred and forty feet high and has a circumference of almost six miles. It is a sacred site for the aboriginal people of the area and their name for it is Uluru, which doesn't mean anything else in their language. The Whites first laid eyes on in it in 1873 and it was named for then Chief Secretary of South Australia, so basically it was named for someone who actually never saw it.  Which is, as Mim points out kind, of like, uh, Mt. McKinley and Denali. It was called Ayer's Rock for more than a century until 1993 when the Government of Australia officially gave its approval for it to have two names. So it was christened "Ayer's Rock/Uluru. That name stood until 2002 when the Australian Government granted a request made by the Alice Springs Tourism Association and changed the name to Uluru/Ayer's Rock.

There are many interesting things about Uluru and one of them being that there isn't a place where there is a space between one rock and another. It is homogeneous, one giant blob of sandstone and that is the reason for its survival. There are no scree slopes or alluvial fans. No small crevices that over the eons can transform into gorges such as the ones we visited in the MacDonnell Range. In the past there were other rocks like Uluru but they weren't homogeneous and thus the wind and rain have reduced them to the red dirt we are walking on now.

We were excited to be here and we sat out to hike the circumference. We began on the south side where there is a year around water source and thus according to the pamphlet was an "amazing place for birdwatching".We walked back into this area where the formation of the rock formed a small pocket canyon. The vegetation was lush and the breeze made it ten degrees cooler. Soon we saw five or six White=-plumed Honeyeaters and a Gray Shrike-Thrush. There wasn't much else going on so we started on our hike.

We came out of the little canyon and started walking the trail. As the wind began to die down the flies began to rise up. There were so many that it became a constant battle to keep them from getting to know you intimately. I abandoned my sun protection by taking off my hat and keeping up a constant assault on not only the flies, but on my face too. I would slap the right side, then middle, then left, then middle, and so on and so forth. People coming at us in the opposite direction had their own way of dealing with the menace. Some were very primitive using only their arms and hands and looking line they were doing some speed Thai Chi, while others picked a small branch off of a gum tree and were whacking against them like a flagellating monk. And then there we the ones wearing nets. It looked to me like the nets weren't doing the trick because they seemed to be as busy as the rest of us in the battle against the flies.

This was one of the longest six miles of my life. We'd hit areas where the wind would blow and we'd feel as if we had hit the promised land. Then we'd come to a stretch where the wind was still and as quickly as that feeling came, it disappeared.  But we pressed on and soon we had covered three-quarters of the circumference.

                                      FLYS ON MIM'S BACK -- CHECK OUT THE STRAP

At this point there was a long single file line climbing to the top of Uluru. Mounted in the rock were stakes with cables to assist people in the steep ascent. I had read about this climb and how the native people did not approve due to the sacred status of the rock. They had asked the government to disallow the climb but the government declined. So the aboriginal people of the area put up signs that read "Please do not climb, this is sacred land, please respect our wishes"and posted them in several locations in this specific area. But hundreds of people either couldn't read or didn't care because there was a steady stream of people climbing the rock. Later on I read that this is the last month that one can climb Uluru. It seems the government has finally decided to ban the climb.

We continued on and the wind died down, the sun was brutal, but now there were birds. So I started trying to track them down and all of a sudden the flies weren't so bad. At least in my opinion. Not so for Mim, cause she took one look at me, rolled her eyes and said "give me the dam keys, I'll meet you back at the van". So I fished them out of my pack and off she went off down the trail with her arms flailing about. I found a few Gray-headed Honeyeaters, a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, and two Little Woodswallows. Again it was really cool to watch the woodswallow. They are such good fliers and the backdrop of Uluru was, well, sublime.

                                                       LITTLE WOODSWALLOW

                                                 A BURNED AREA AT ULURU

                                                   COOL FORMATIONS IN THE ROCK

We meet up at the car and soon we were back at the caravan park for showers and a little R & R. After a shower I played a little guitar and wrote some in the blog while Mim went for a reconnaissance mission for the tourist park. She reported back that the swimming pool was filled with teens and there was a coffee shop that served iced coffees. I put away what I was doing and off we went.

The iced coffees were not as good as the ones at Omiston, but then again we were not as hot and tired either, so that may have had something to do with it. After coffee we went to the market for some ice because, did I mention that the night before we had gin and tonics with no ice! Can you even imagine the suffering? But the market was out of ice so it looked like it was going to be the same situation tonight. But no, Mim found a couple of little plastic ice trays. She was so thrilled at finding these ice trays that you would think that she had won the lottery and was going to retire tomorrow.

Backing up a little. She had conducted an experiment in preparation for this moment. She had filled a small plastic water bottle with water and placed it in the small freezer in the van. Sure enough it froze pretty solid, She took it out and I sat it in the sun. As it melted we wrestled for control of that bottle. And now in the market she was triumphant! We bought the ice trays and she filled them up with water and stuck them in the freezer announcing that we would be sipping ice cold gin and tonics while watching the sun set on Uluru. I gave out a "here, here,"  and added an "amen sister" and we made ourselves busy for the next few hours and tried hard not to check on the progress of the ice.

Sure enough, we drove out to the sunset viewing area with two hundred other people. But we were special cause Mim made us cheese and cracker plates, complete with olives and tomatoes, while I broke out my tripod and worked on a jerry-rigged system to catch a time lapsed photo of the sun set on Uluru. I found a good spot and claimed it by setting my tripod down in the red sand. Then I placed my phone in the landscape position and propped it up with a package of gum and a few sticks that I found on the ground. I got it just right when Mim came out with, you guessed it, an ice cold gin and tonic.That's when I knew that we were really roughing it.

On the Road to the Rock

After enjoying the best iced coffee in the world, we headed for Uluru. Miriam drove and I broke out the travel guitar that my friend Rich let me borrow for this trip. This guitar is really nice for traveling and sounds great too. It's made from carbon fiber and is indifferent to temperature and humidity. It's also so durable that on the website of the manufacture they have a picture of a guy who drove over it with his car. I promised Rich I wouldn't try that one. As if that's not amazing, the most amazing thing is that the neck detaches from the body of the guitar without taking off the strings. And when you attach it back, it's only requires a little fine tuning.

Mim drove as I went through my circle of fourths scale exercises. Then played a few fiddle tunes and then a few current favorite songs. Like "Hang Me, oh Hang Me" which Torrey taught me to play. And Springsteen's murder spree song Nebraska which tells the same story as the Martin Sheen/Sissy Spacek movie "Badlands". It was kind of hard to play as the shocks in the van aren't that great and the road is a bit bumpy, especially sitting in the back. But it was fun to play.

When we pulled into Alice Springs we had to stop in at the van rental place because a warning light had come on the day before. The mechanic  came out and hooked a reader to a secret USB port and push a couple of buttons, gave a sour look at the thing and then turned to me and smiled and said "no worries mate, if it comes on again just ignore it". I must have looked unconvinced because then he added "everything is going to be alright, mate". And I thought to myself, "where have I heard that before"? Well not from my dad who told me when I went into the Navy, "son, just expect that it's going to be hell on earth and then if it doesn't turn out that way, you're happy, and if it does, well then you were prepared". Or as my mother told me when my first love Marie broke my heart, "son, get used to it cause that right there is like the Porter Wagner says, them's the cold hard facts of life". And you wonder why I worry that Torrey is going to drop out of college, shave his head, tattoo his face, and join a religious cult like the Baptists.

But at this point I don't really know what option to take. Mim is inside checking her email so it's all up to me. Well I don't really expect the worst to happen anymore, although Mim and Torrey will tell you that I worry more than anyone they know. I felt like the customer here with a valid issue and so I though that I was in the driver's seat. That gave me a measure of confidence and I said "well I don't know about that, I think that I would like to trade this one in for a different one". But this guy is good, the smile never left his face, and he said "oh yeah, well we don't have another one mate, it's this one or nothing". Well I guess he explained exactly in a way so I could understand it and I said, "no worries, mate, we're fine with this one". "We'll be on our way now" and off we went into the wild blue yonder. The wild blue yonder was four hundred seventy-five kilometers of two lane highway across the Australian outback.

The road was in good shape and not really busy so we were able to make good time. The rental company makes you sign an agreement which says that you will not exceed one hundred and ten kilometers per hour, so we averaged about one hundred and five. When we did see the occasional car it was flying by us like we were standing still. But that was nothing compared to the "Truck Trains" found in the Australian Outback. These are big rigs hooked up to three or four trailers. And not your standard size trailers, these were extra long. They carried everything from cargo to hay to fuel. When I'd see one coming I'd slow down and pull over to the side of the road as far as I could, as if the truck lost control or a trailer jack-knifed we'd be safe and sound. It's really crazy because these guys fly down the road like they own it, because they do own it, it's might makes right here in the wild west. You can see them coming at you and the trailers are swaying back and fourth and you're thinking "holy shit". Then it passes you with a blast of hot air which displaces the van and sends it wobbling. Well that only happened once because from then on I was practically stopped when they passed.

                                                            TRUCK TRAIN

                                                       WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE

We had to reassess our plans as it became clear that we were not going to make it to our destination before dark. The reason it was important not to be driving after dark was very sad and too obvious. The side of the road was littered with the carcasses of road-kill Kangaroos. We were counting about one every five kilometers. We didn't see any live ones but that's because out here they are most active at dawn and dusk. We passed one that was fresh enough to have two Wedge-tailed Eagles on it.

We decided to bag Kings Canyon and go straight to Uluru. We stayed at a caravan park and when we pulled out money to pay they said "no charge mates". Wow! You won't find that anywhere I've ever been. So we found our little campsite and yes Mim whiffed up some gin and tonics and we were good.

The Red Center

We arrived in Alice Springs via a Qantas flight from Melbourne. It was interesting to see the land transforming slowly but steadily from the green rolling hills of Victoria to the brown Melee lands of Southern Australia and finally to the red dirt vast openness of The Red Center. It's also worth mentioning that this was the first flight for me with free WiFi. It was kind of surreal to be texting with my friend Tim and sending him a picture of the landing,,, as the plane was landing.

It was hot but we decided to forgo the super expensive cab fare and instead we took the shuttle into town where we picked up our rental Camper Van. This thing was really set up nicely with a fridge, stove, running water, two beds with nice linen, real stoneware, stainless steel cooking set, built-in GPS, camp chairs and table, clothes line, and I could go on but you get the picture. We were super excited about having this to travel in for the next five days!

Before leaving Alice Springs we stopped by the IGA for some supplies. We weren't really sure what we would find but for the most part we were pleasantly surprised. All we were looking for was breakfast and lunch stuff as we were staying at these outback caravan parks which had restaurants. We're on vacation and didn't want to cook dinners so we just had to get lunch and breakfast stuff. We found hummus, peanut butter, olives, chips just like at home, some Italian instant coffee that wasn't bad, grapes, grape tomatoes, tangerines, cereal for breakfast, and so on. They evan had soy milk. The big strike out was no good bread. The big home run, they did have gin, tonic, and limes!!!!! And oh did I mention Spam!!

We packed up the van with the groceries and headed for the MacDonnell Range National Park. This park is also called Tjoritja by the aboriginal people in the area. The mountain range was created by an uplifting/folding event that occurred over three-hundred million years ago. Over the ages the quartzite peaks and gorges have been sculpted by extreme temperatures, wind, and water. The park is known for having several beautiful gorges that have year around waterholes, vital for the wildlife in the area.

The first place we stopped was Simpson Gorge. We exited the van and found that it was even hotter here than in town. But I must confess it was not near as hot as I was expecting. We walked toward the gorge and had gone no more than twenty steps when we were the main focus in the lives of about fifty flies. That's fifty flies for Mim and fifty for me.

Now I pride myself on having a high tolerance for bugs. I think it comes from watching my Grandpa Sooney when he'd take me fishing when I was a little boy. For me, Grandpa Sooney was a saint and I wanted to be just like him. I still think that he is the reason that I have grown a garden every year of my life, as that is what he did, even the year he died at age eighty eight. I remember him baiting my hook while hundreds of mosquitoes buzzed all around him and not once did I see him try and swat them away. And I was watching for it too. I remember asking him how he could put up with all those mosquitoes and he'd say "well baby, I reckon I just don't pay'em any mind".

So that's what I'd try to do. As I was walking to the gorge and Mim was waving her arms in front of her like she was air swimming, I was just "paying'em no mind". That lasted about a minute or so and then I was air swimming too. Now I have heard people say "well at least they aren't the kind of flies that bite" yeah, so that's good, but it's hard to say that because we were not getting bit, that everything was hunky dory. Cause it wasn't.

These flies should be called Orifice Flies, because that's all they were interested in. They didn't want to get to know you as a person, the dogs just wanted into an orifice of yours and they weren't too particular which one. And they were down right clingy little fuckers too. One would dive into my beard and then as I tried to extract him, the little shit eater would cling to my hair so that I had to smash him all to hell and get his guts or whatever in my beard. And while I was smashing him there was another one trying to get into my ear and then another diving for my eye and yet another on the other side of my beard making good time for the corner of my mouth.

Something had to give. Thankfully it wasn't long before I realized that if I took my hat off and slapped my face with it every ten seconds or so, that I could pretty much keep the little shits at bay. I know, I know, some of you are thinking, and let's use a real cute baby talk voice here, "well they have to survive too and you are a guest in their habitat". You know what, you're absolutely right. But I'd like to see you come here and be all Grampa Sooney like.

Once we entered the gorge the wind picked up and that kept the flies under control, not to mention it cooled us down a bit. The gorge was beautiful with red quartzite cliffs rising vertically out of a spring fed waterhole. There was a sign that informed us of a Rock Wallaby colony that lived in this massive rock fall, but they are mostly nocturnal and we didn't see one. Nor did we see or hear any birds in the gorge. But that was all okay with us because we were on vacation and in a magnificent place. And for now the flies were leaving us alone. Before returning to the van I did manage to find White-plumed Honeyeaters, Australian Magpies, Crested Pigeons, and a female Red-capped Robin.

                                                    WHITE-PLUMED HONEYEATER

After leaving Simpson gap we drove about another hundred miles to Omistion Gorge where we stayed at a run down caravan park. I say the park was run down because it was, but it was a great place to stay. We parked the van and got it all set up. Then Mim made us both gin and tonics in our water bottles and being the little rascals that we are, we took them with us to dinner. And way out there in the middle of nowhere I had one of the best Greek Salads that I have ever had. It had fresh red and orange peppers, tomatoes, olives, salad mix with spinach, feta, fresh onions, it was great!

We got up before sunrise and readied ourselves for a morning hiking the Ormiston Gorge Pound Loop. I had read about it from the reviews on Trails.com and it sounded like an amazing hike. We drove to the trail-head and began hiking down a desert wash. A couple of Crested Pigeons flew by as did several Galahs (a pink Cockatoo). Then I heard a bird sighing in one of the small gum trees that were scattered about in the wash. I got my binoculars on a Gray-crowned Babbler and then a Rufous Whistler. A little ways up the trail I saw several birds tightly perched on a small dead snag. I raised my binos and almost flushed them with my shout to Mim "Rainbow Bee-eaters, Rainbow Bee-eaters". Turns out I didn't have to worry because these guys were not shy or timid. They allowed us to approach very close and finally we had to walk right by them to get down the trail. When we did they just moved off a few yards.

                                                          RAINBOW BEE-EATER

The trail left the desert wash and began to climb up a hillside that had been recently burned. The entire hillside was devastated and when we reached the top of the hill it was easy to see that the entire mountain side was also burned. It was really sad because I had read these reports from other hikers and birders that described the rich desert plant and animal communities that had lived on this mountain side, and now it was all gone. Here and there you could find plants springing back to life, but as far as I could tell the animals were not going to be back for a long time.

When we reached the pass and we were relieved to see that the fire had not reached the other side. As we started down the pass we heard some bird activity and found a Willie-Wagtail and White-winged Triller. We could hear a Gray Shrike-Thrush in the canyon thicket. Later, on down the trail near to where the canyon gives way to a plateau we found the bird that I wanted to see the most in this area. A Dusky Grasswren! These birds are so beautiful and frisky. They have these stiff tails that they cock up so proud like in the air. They aren't flashy beautiful like a Fairywren, yet for me they couldn't be improved upon. And the little feller was super proud to be singing his song while we just sat back and admired him.

                                                        DUSKY GRASSWREN

A group of hikers came along and they were kind of noisy. The wren decided he'd had enough and went down into the scrub brush. I didn't want the hikers to get in front of us because I thought they might flush whatever might be up ahead. So we picked up the pace and got out in front. But it turns out that we didn't see or hear anything for about a mile or so.

When we reached the dry river bed that runs down through the gorge I heard a bird calling from a top a dead snag. It was a Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike. We tried to approach to get a better look but the hikers came along and flushed it. Oh well, we got pretty good looks and hopefully we'll see more of them on this trip because they are a really sharp looking bird. At this point Mim spotted a White-necked Heron or also known as a Pacific Heron down the canyon a bit. It was perched on a broken snag out over the wash and I thought that it would be a great photo. So we decided to go a little off-trail and hike down the riverbed to get a better look at the heron.

                                                              PACIFIC HERON

                                                      LONG NOSED DRAGON

Along the way we found a Mistletoebird and a large family of White-plumed Honeyeaters. We also got a great look and plenty of photo opportunities with a Long-nosed Dragon. I was trying to get close to him when much to my surprise he got up on his hind legs and ran right at us. He stopped about ten yards away and we all stood still wondering who would make the next move, when he again got up and closed the distance between us. He was not at all shy. I took a video of him as I was approaching him but it's a lousy video because he didn't move. Finally we just walked away because a whole passel of school kids were coming down the canyon now. Well seven or eight of them anyhow. How many kids does it take to make a passel?

Further on down the canyon the red quartzite walls narrowed and the birdsong of several Dusky Grasswrens bounced from wall to wall and back again. I thought about how my friends John and Laura told me that they'd heard on a podcast that birds evolved their songs in relationship to the habitat they occupied. That for example the "Quick Three Beers" of an Olive-sided Flycatcher evolved that call, with that tone, at that pitch, because it can be best broadcast over a thick mature forest. And I realized that this sweet little trilling song filled with syllables played so well in this here canyon, on this here day, and being received by this here lucky guy.

                                                        DUSKY GRASSWREN

Later on down the canyon we saw another one of the birds that I so badly wanted to see. At first when I saw it, it was gliding along side the red walls and all I could see was the shape of this wings, its small compact body, and the black tail so finely edged in white. I knew right away that it was a Little Woodswallow. I had looked at several pictures and it was one of my favorite birds even before I saw this one. I was kind of afraid that this would be my only look, but never fear, it returned several times, flying by me and then landing in a dead snag that was about the same color as the woodswallow. Then it would take flight again and I was impressed to see the dark color of its body against the red walls and then against the blue sky.

                                                   THE RED WALLS OF THE GORGE

At the mouth of the canyon was a spring fed waterhole where a Pacific Heron was wading. Also, I was surprised to find a Little Pied Cormorant because we had seen them a few days ago and two thousand miles away on the Victoria Coastline. We also found some Black-chinned Honeyeaters and a Little Crow.

Believe it or not. out here in the middle of nowhere, and I do mean nowhere, there's a little coffee kiosk at the trail head. It's owned and operated by the indigenous people in the area. And I am telling you the truth, and if you don't believe me just ask Mim, they make the best dang iced coffee in the whole dang world. Shazam Shazam Shazam! And we'd need it because now we have about a six hour drive ahead of us. On to Uluru or otherwise known as Ayres Rock.

Lake Colac and You Yangs

We woke up well rested in our nice little farm cottage. This place was sweet. It had all the nice touches including a shower with a full on tile and glass shower just the way we did ours at home but even better.The picture on the wall of the shower was taken by a local photographer at low tide near the Twelve Apostles. 

                                        SHOWER AT THE LITTLE FARM COTTAGE

We have a three hour drive back to Melbourne. We need to catch a plane tomorrow morning for Alice Springs but we have time of a couple of stops along the way. The first stop is Lake Colac. I found this place by searching eBird for hotspots along our route This one looked like it had some potential for some good birds. In order to investigate it further I did a Goggle search for Lake Colac birding and got a web site of Adam who calls himself “the Lake Colac Birder”. His website has lots of good tips for locations around the lake. If you are interested click here I also sent him a RFI (request for information) and he got right back to me with some additional tips. He also let me know that he and a buddy of his published a book on The Birds of Lake Colac. He said that he would have gone out birding with me but he and his family were out of town that day. 

We pulled into the town of Colac.about 11:00 am and drove around looking for the Nature Reserve. We drove past it twice because it was not signed and it looked a lot more like a nice park than a nature reserve. Nonetheless, while walking down the path I heard this constant warbling song emanating from the reeds of the little stream that ran down the center of the park. I searched and searched but I couldn’t find the source of the song. Then we got distracted when a flock of Australian King Parrots flew into a nearby tree. They were gorging themselves on the flowers and were unconcerned with us. Interestedly enough they were almost all females. 

AUSTRALIAN KING PARROT

Moving on down the path we found a group of Satin Bowerbirds also feeding on the flowers of a very large tree. At first I thought that all of these birds were females but when I read the text of the field guide it explained that third and fourth year males look very similar to females. The males do not acquire adult plumage until the sixth or seventh year.  

                                                    SATIN BOWERBIRD

A few yards farther down the path we watched a Grey Butcherbird eating a very large grub. Behind us in the reeds I noticed that warbling song again. Like before we searched for the bird but he was not going for any of our pishes or squeaks. So I decided to pull out the magic bird magnet, my iPhone. I taped him singing a wonderful  song and then played it back to him. He instantaneously flew up and perched on one of the highest reeds, looking all around for the intruder. We enjoyed a great look at Australian Reed Warbler, a very fitting name. 

                                                        GRAY BUTCHERBIRD

                                                AUSTRALIAN REED-WARBLER

When we reached the lake we found the shoreline freckled with Silver gulls and Little Ravens. Did I mention that the wind was howling and the whitecaps on the lake looked like the New Jersey shore. Scanning the marshy areas of the lake we found Australian Pelicans, Little black Cormorants, Pacific Black-Ducks, Eurasian Coots, Pied Stilts, and one Great Crested Grebe. On the edge of the creek a top a tree was an Australian Darter. Like its New World cousin the Anhinga the Darter is sometimes called "The Snakebird". Darters are the coolest birds. Not only do they look prehistoric but they swim through the water effortlessly with only their neck and head sticking out of the water. Their feathers soak up water as opposed to repelling water like duck feathers. This allows the Darter to dive deeper in search of fish. It hunts by spearing fish with it's dagger like bill. Now tell me how cool is that? 

                                                 AUSTRALIAN DARTER

We heard a commotion in the direction of the park, I mean nature reserve, and looked that way to see about fifty Corollas landing in some flowering trees. We headed that way and along the way we saw two White-Winged Trillers in the marsh. 

We found both species of Corollas, although mostly Little Corollas but a few Long-billed Corollas too. They were very busy gobbling up the nice flowers of the tree and unconcerned with us. I also noticed about twenty Satin bowerbirds joining in on the feast, but again no adult males. 

                                                        LITTLE CORELLA

In a smaller tree off to the left there was a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater and on the lawn of a nearby house was an Australian Magpie feeding a fledging chick that was basically the same size as the adult. Get a job!! 

                                                        AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE

Well that was a fitting conclusion to our little birdwalk. Bird of the walk had to be the Darter. Now it was time to hit the road for You Yangs. 

You Yangs Regional Park is located about thirty miles southwest of Melbourne. It is characterized by bouldered strewn hills blanketed with flowering scrubs and patches of gum trees. The area we were directed to by Siri is primarily used for mountain bike recreation. But since the sun was fading fast we had no time to locate the section of the park I had intended to visit. This would have to do. 

                                            YOU YANGS REGIONAL PARK

We started off on a trail that climbed to a low rise . We climbed on top of a house sized boulder where the air was filled with birdsong. High atop a snag was a singing Mistletoebird and in the bushes around the rock Mim found an Eastern Yellow Robin and later I found a Rufous Whistler. Climbing further up the hill I investigated some ticking noises in the scrub and found a Brown Thornbill. At the top of the rise you can see a marsh where a Pacific Heron was hunting in the shallows. Several Australian Swamphens were patrolling the reeds and a couple of Eurasian Coots were doing what all coots do. 

It began to rain in earnest and so we started making our way back to the car. Along the way Mim found a female Hooded Robin and we also saw several Gray Fantails and a White-winged Whistler. 

Arriving at the airport motel we check in and unpack the car and then head straight to the motel restaurant. We are starving and relieved to find that it isn’t real busy. The wait person comes and takes our drink order and of course mine is a gin and tonic with lime. She is back with the drink in two shakes of a wallaby’s tail. When she leaves I eye the drink and notice that it is a little darker than usual. I point this out to Mim and she agrees. I hold it up to my nose and take a sniff and notice that it smells a bit off. Finally a little sip proves that this is no gin and tonic, it’s whiskey and tonic. I don’t know if there is such a drink but if there is I don’t know why anyone would drink it. It was awful. 

I go up to the bar and tell the bartender that I wanted a gin and tonic and she lets me know that what I have is a Jim and Tonic, which is a real drink here in Australian. I guess the Jim is for the Jim Beam. 

All's well that ends well. She makes me a gin and tonic so good that I decide to have two. Then it’s lights out for us.