Ned's Corner is a well-known Victorian birding spot and I'd never been there, so I thought that situation should be rectified. Ned's Corner is run by the Trust for Nature and is located in the far north-west of the state, along the River Murray. As an added incentive, I'd been told that the race of the Australian Boobooks found there (contrary to the information in all of my field guides and even HANZAB) is in fact ocellata, a race I hadn't seen. Luckily, ocellata is visibly different from other Boobook races, having streaks on its breast rather than spots. I reckon even I could tell the difference. So I decided that I must visit Ned's Corner. We left early on Monday morning and went just as far as Ouyen, where we stopped to admire a pair of Striated Grasswren in Hattah/Kulkyne National Park. This is race howei, which I've seen several times before in Gluepot, but I believe only once before in my home state, Victoria. A pair of them came ridiculously close to us, belying their elusive reputation. Back in the township, we admired some Pink Cockatoos and some White-breasted Woodswallows. That afternoon, we failed to see Purple-gaped Honeyeaters, having to make do with White-fronted. Then we saw both Malleefowl and Chestnut Quail-thrush, and thought we'd had a pretty successful day.
On Tuesday, we started the day off with two very beautiful male Mallee Emu-wren. What pretty faces they have! Then we visited Etiwanda Wetlands - another new spot for me. I'd been hoping for a Baillon's Crake, but I was disappointed. Further on, at the intersection of Meridian and Macs Roads, several birders were busily occupied admiring Inland Dotterel. So we did too. After we'd drunk our fill of dotterel, we drove up Macs Road, where the birding was very good indeed. Apart from one skinny brown snake, we saw both Crimson and White-fronted Chats, White-winged Trillers and Chestnut-browned Babblers. We drove on to Lake Cullulleraine and booked into the Bushman's Rest Caravan Park. Here's the view from my cabin door.
It was distressingly windy as we drove off to explore Ned's Corner. It is a huge area, with a very large lake - Lake Walla Walla, which was sadly quite dry. I was sorry about the dry lake, but I was quite distressed by the ferocious wind. My hope of seeing my Australian Boobook quite evaporated. Nevertheless, we had to try. We rugged up and faced the wind boldly. It was a pretty miserable walk in the dark, full of disappointment that we'd come all this way for nothing. I was concentrating on not falling over and trying not to feel too sorry for myself, when suddenly, sitting high in a river red gum looking at us was a Boobook! Of course, it flew before I could get my binoculars focused on its breast to see if it were spotted or streaked. Perhaps it flew behind us, perhaps another bird appeared, we'll never know, but a few minutes later, we saw a Boobook sitting in another tree looking at us accusingly. This time I had a good look. It was ocellata without a doubt. So all the field guides that mention races, and even HANZAB, have got that wrong. My celebration was even sweeter because I'd been so sure that I was going to miss out. Luckily, it wasn't a very late night spotlighting, and we up again at sunset. Here's the view from my cabin.
We started Wednesday morning with a visit to Yarrara Flora and Fauna Reserve, where we were targetting White-browed Treecreepers. One came to greet us almost as soon as we arrived. The birding was great. We saw Splendid Fairywrens, Hooded and Red-capped Robins, Gilbert's and Rufous Whistlers and Crested Bellbirds. What a lovely list! About the only thing we missed out on that I'd hoped for was Sittellas. We commenced Thursday at Hattah, looking at Regent Parrots. In a very short while, we saw about 50 of them. Regent Parrots are classified as vulnerable, but there was no shortage of them that morning by the Hattah park office. Then we turned our attention to Red-lored Whistlers. I think I've only ever seen them once before. My memory is of lots of native pines and Gilbert's Whistlers sharing the habitat. Unfortunately, the wind was gusting in a most unpleasant fashion, not at all conducive to birding. We had a bit of a half-hearted look, but we knew in our hearts these were not ideal conditions to see Red-lored Whistlers. I thought it was interesting that there were no native pines in the area where we were looking, which is the popular spot for seeing these birds. We did see pardalotes, more Chestnut Quail-thrush, Mulga Parrots and some early Rainbow Bee-eaters, so our time was not entirely wasted. We drove on to Nowingi Line Track where there had been a recent report of a pair of Black Falcons. We arrived at the spot, and before the ignition was turned off, we saw a large black raptor high in the sky. It was a lone Black Falcon! You have to be lucky some time. We stayed that night in Mildura. We booked into our motel, and I went for a walk. I noticed a Little Crow being mobbed by Noisy Miners and attempted to photograph it. The crow flew toward me. I thought it was just trying to escape the miners and I walked on. But no: the crow was attacking me! With a vengeance. Far from avoiding the miners, the crow was taking out all its frustrations on one foolish female human. I hurried away as fast as I could. I've never been attacked by a corvid before. Indeed, I don't believe I've ever heard of a corvid attacking a person. But believe me, while it was not in the class of a magpie attack, you certainly don't want that large black beak making contact with your body. I couldn't get away quickly enough. That evening we went owling again. This time to King's Billabong. We set off at 7.15. I wanted an Owlet-nightjar and a Tawny Frogmouth. We immediately saw four brush-tailed possums, then a frogmouth soon after. It was a female, calling very softly, rocking forward with each call. Then I heard the soft whimper of an owlet-nightjar's call. I looked straight up and there it was. Unfortunately, it did not look down, so all I saw was the tiny body and not its pretty face. I still call that success. We were back at the car at 7.40, so it had taken us all of 25 minutes to achieve our aim. Altogether, a successful trip, despite the awful wind. We dipped on Sittellas and Purple-gaped Honeyeaters, it is true. But I saw Striated Grasswren, Mallee Emu-wren, a Malleefowl, several Chestnut Quail-thrush, Regent Parrots, White-browed Treecreepers, an Owlet-nightjar, a Black Falcon, several Inland Dotterel and, best of all, race ocellata of the Australian Boobook. And, I've now seen Ned's Corner.
