AEGN

Road trip reflections: Nature and birdlife in outback NSW and Queensland

4 September 2024

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AEGN members Peter Sainsbury and David and Sally Rickards recently took a trip to outback NSW and Queensland to view nature and the teeming birdlife as a result of rains earlier this year. They found this usually dry landscape green and flourishing, with much birdlife and other entertainment along the way. Peter kindly agreed to share his perspective on the trip along with some excellent photographs:

By Peter Sainsbury

Will it be Hothouse Earth or Nuclear Winter? Why is an area twice as big as Victoria deforested every year? Which will be extinct first, polar bears or koalas? How much more plastic can we dump in the oceans? Environmentalists can be a thoroughly depressing mob!

So it’s good to get out into nature as often as possible to remind ourselves of its beauty, diversity, temper and capacity to recover, given half a chance, from the insults we inflict on it.

David and Sally Rickards and I have recently returned from a two-week road trip to outback NSW and Queensland as far north as Winton. We visited several conservation properties (Naree, Kilcowera, Bimblebox for instance) and saw forests, creeks and lagoons, wetlands, mountain ranges, plains and big skies everywhere. As we travelled north we also travelled back in time and visited the dinosaur museums at Eromanga and Winton.

We saw lots of hoppy-things (far too many as roadkill – oops, sorry, forget that, I’m trying to be optimistic) and a couple of echidnas but my real interest is birds – I stress ‘interest’, not ‘expertise’. Nonetheless, I counted 71 different species along the way, including some exciting ‘firsts’: Bourke’s parrot, Plum-headed finch, Splendid fairy wren, Chestnut-crowned babbler and Eastern blue bonnet. With luck, the AEGN editor will permit me to include a few photos – all the birds are courtesy of Mike Gilpin and the leopard tree is mine.

So, city dwellers, get out there and experience our wonderful nature. I can thoroughly recommend Rickards Outback Tours. The itinerary, transport, accommodation, food and entertainment (I was introduced to the very instructive and amusing Rest is History podcast along the way) were all first-rate. Plus, we won $40 in the trivia night in Longreach.

Owlet Nightjar
Pink Cockatoos
Splendid Fairy Wren
Nankeen Kestrel
Leopard Tree

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