Currawinya National Park

Wow. If only... we had more time... it hadn't rained on us... we had gone earlier in the year... etc, etc. We arrived at Currawinya mid-afternoon on our first Saturday away, spent 2 nights camping there and 2 days exploring, but feel like we only scraped the surface of what the habitats had to offer...

We wanted to get to the major lakes, Wyara (salt) and Numalla (freshwater), before the predicted rainfall event hit and closed the park - and we succeeded in doing that. Currawinya is part of a Ramsar-listed inland lake system, hosting internationally significant numbers of resident and migratory waterbirds during intermittent flood periods - the former using the area as part of a vast network of breeding sites whenever conditions are suitable. At the time of our visit, Lake Wyara was all miragey promise: a scintillating vista of faithfully-reflective salt, glistening confusingly on the impossibly-vast claypan before us. We walked through samphire down to the dry shoreline, watched by bemused Red kangaroos, to test out the strength of the freshly-crusted mud surface under our boots, and ponder the wanderings the Emus must have recently done to leave their prints meandering off into the middle distance... Only White-winged fairy-wrens, Orange chats, Little crows and Aussie ravens made their presence felt. Just 2 months ago, this area held thousands of resident waterfowl, hundreds of migratory waders, and even Blue-winged parrots - but now, Nada! Just a huge expanse of silence. Nearby, small waves were lapping noisily on the shores of Lake Numalla, but even fewer birds were present there. We had caught the lakes between seasons.

Our tent (it was still showering!) looked out over the northern end of the southern part of the lake, extending south from the channel (crossed by the main road) connecting the lake's northern side. Without walking anywhere, we could watch troops of graceful Red-necked Avocet silently advancing in line formation across the shallow lake waters, sweeping their bills from side to side to feed. At first light, flotillas of Grey and Chestnut teal, Australian wood ducks, Pacific black ducks, and Hardhead moved between their nocturnal roost behind the lignum and the open waters.

Elsewhere in the park, Sal found her first Southern whitefaces, keeping company with flocks of Chestnut-rumped thornbills, Red-capped robins and White-browed treecreepers. Mulga parrots and Major Mitchell (Pink) cockatoos became familiar sights, along with groups of rampaging Chestnut-crowned babblers.

Before we left the park on our last morning, as showers started to fall from the freezing, leaden skies, we investigated an eroded gully where we had seen White-backed swallows sallying the evening before - hoping to confirm Martin's suspicion they would be using nest holes in the gully walls as roosts. Two birds were patrolling the skies and chittering stridently as we walked quietly through the gully. Sal had no sooner pointed out a nest hole with droppings (evidence of recent use) than we were surprised by the sight of 5 White-backed swallows parachuting out of another hole only a few feet in front of us, taking to the air and joining their colony members in noisy flight. Before we knew it, there were just over 20 birds in the sky - around the same number we had seen over the stony rise up the hill the evening before. Feeling exhilarated, but a little guilty for disturbing their energy-saving slumber on such a non-productive morning, we exited the scene, leaving them to return to sleep out the poor weather.

Bird list for the park and surrounds:Baca lagi