Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Barrier Highway


We headed out on the Barrier Highway at dusk and spent the night at Cockburn on the New South Wales / South Australia border, then on to Yunta for a breakfast stop and Hawker for lunch. Plenty of raptors along the way - kites, kestrels, eagles - though getting good images of them was a challenge. The wedgies in particular would move off if we breached their personal space.
The Miners we almost dismissed as familiar noisy miners, however a closer look revealed that they were their western cousins. Other variations on familiar birds were the SA race of the ringneck, and the white-backed magpie.

We reached Hawker on the 20th August. Four days earlier they recorded their hottest August day on record, and it was still rather warm - especially as just two days before we had been wearing long johns, beanies and gloves in Nyngan. House Sparrows in their hundreds occupied every niche at the rest area.
Bird List:
Wedge-tailed Eagle (pictured above)
Australian Magpie
Black Kite
Major Mitchell Cockatoo
Galah
Little Corella
Willie Wagtail
Square-tailed Kite
Emu
Yellow-throated Miner
Australian Kestrel
White-winged Chough
South Australian Ringneck Parrot
White-backed Magpie
Black-faced Woodswallow
House Sparrow

2 comments:

  1. Love the WEdgie, marj..

    Enjoy yourself... :)

    cheers,
    steve

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  2. I have been waiting patiently for more blog on this trip. Thought you might have liked it so much that you weren't coming back :)

    ReplyDelete