Quilpie

We left our hilltop campsite west of Eromanga early on the morning of Martin's birthday, driving via Eromanga and Quilpie to Mariala NP. We again had ample travel time, so stopped to check for species of interest along the way. We came across several parties of Bourke's parrots feeding on seed and roosting in trees near small waterpoints, and stalked a number of Thornbill-dominated, mixed feeding flocks keeping an eye out for Slaty-backed thornbill (no luck), but finding plenty of Yellow and Yellow-rumped thornbills as well as the regular Inland and ubiquitous Chestnut-rumped thornbills. Sal scored a lovely few minutes closely watching a young male Crested bellbird chuk-chukking to himself contentedly as he preened in a tree.

We arrived at Mariala NP mid-afternoon and were surprised by the combination of beauty, quality of the Mulga habitat, and the lack of other patrons (2 cars came out as we drove in; 1 caravan doubled back to camp, we think, at the roadside campground). We camped the first night at the Mariala rockpool site in the heart of the park, in a Mulga Grove adjacent to rockpools just below an edge of the escarpment that winds its way throughout the park. The wintery-quiet was broken only by Grey shrike-thrush calling, a vocal White-browed treecreeper doing an astounding "falling bomb" call that startled Martin at close range, a Singing honeyeater showing us the extent of his or her repertoire, a Grey butcherbird being hopeful, some soft thumps from unseen Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies nocturnally foraging, and the few planes that tracked their high-altitude way across the sky throughout the night.

Next morning, we came across a party of White-browed babblers crossing the base of the 4WD track leading back up the escarpment. After driving up, we explored the escarpment day use area, catching a glimpse of two rock-wallabies' brilliantly- patterned ochre yellow/black pelage, and following parties of small insectivores as they chased invertebrates warmed by the rising sun. The sheer number of Splendid fairy-wrens hopping around on the ground like mice, their fluffed-up plumage backlit by the rays of the morning sun, had to be seen to be believed: we regularly had more than a dozen birds per party. They moved around with Thornbills, Red-capped robins, and White-browed treecreepers. We birded the tracks we could access throughput the park during the remainder of the day, including the area around the No 3 Bore campground, but apart from our regular insectivore troupes - one unsuccessfully accosted by a Grey butcherbird - birds were generally quiet in the cold conditions. But that didn't stop us having good encounters with Chestnut-breasted quail-thrush pairs, a raucous family of White-winged choughs, Mallee ringneck parrots, and more. After late-lunching at the roadside campsite, looking west over the escarpment, we camped up in the late afternoon at the old tank pad in the park. We sat for a couple of hours watching a pair of Common Bronzewings, Ringnecks, and Singing honeyeaters come in to drink at the dam; Magpies, Pied butcherbirds and Black-faced cuckoo-shrikes performing aerial manoeuvres to snatch insects from the air; a family of Purple-backed fairy-wrens trill around us; a Chestnut-rumped and a Yellow thornbill explore nearby foliage; a Grey-crowned babbler tear through en route to joining the remainder of his or her party; and a noisy young Australasian grebe repeatedly practise his take-off, flying and landing skills, watched by his parents.

Bird list for the park:Read more