 Spring has sprung so we decided a trip to the Mallee (and a maiden voyage for the Troopy) would be a great thing to do - and it was: here's what we found at Wyperfeld, Hattah-Kulkyne and Murray-Sunset National parks....until the rain stopped us. On the way: Lake Tyrell We really enjoyed visiting Sea Lake a couple of years ago - we have never forgotten the fantastic steak at the Royal Hotel, owned and run by the community. So as we passed by this time - no time for steak - but we did a quick detour to lake Tyrell. Last time it was dry - this time, very wet, and brilliant in the spring sunshine! Wyperfeld National Park We met Michael Gooch (@explorethemallee) in Patchewollock on our first day of Mallee birding. As if by magic, we encountered a flock of pink cockatoos even before we hit the park boundary. The light was pretty soft but we were delighted to see them, especially given that surveys show their numbers are much reduced in that area. This was already promising to be a great day! We were hoping to see any birds but always love pink cockatoos and regent parrots - and one of these was already achieved. Not far into the park, our second target species was on show...the glorious regent parrot in bright sunshine with a blue sky background. Click on any photo to enlarge this gallery. Driving further into the park, we saw Australasian pipits, grey butcherbirds and rufous and brown song-larks and many more. An exciting find for us (a lifer!) was a pallid cuckoo - it was resting on one of the park signposts.  There was much more to our visit to Wyperfeld. Southern whiteface, a splendid fairy-wren in eclipse, Horsfield’s bronze cuckoo, spiny-cheeked honeyeater, and singing honeyeater were some of the highlights. Hattah-Kulkyne National Park We'd been here once before and had not had beginner's luck. Today we were hoping for better. So we headed north of the Information Centre towards the Lake Mournpall camping ground. It was peacefully inhabited by a few quiet campers. A flyover of about fifteen regent parrots marked our welcome - this was looking good. We then had a lovely amble in the bush both to the north and the south of the area, with a welcome cuppa in between. There were plenty of ringnecks around, though they were sometimes difficult to catch with the camera as they darted like green rockets from tree to tree.
There were some very interesting changes of landscape as we went. As we entered one particular grove of shrubs, white-browed babblers played around us, not worrying too much about our presence.  Occasionally we would come upon a patch of red dirt, seemingly devoid of life - though we knew it wasn't. The plant life was also varied and colourful. The blueish-purple flowers of the Austral Bugle made a nice showing. We also came across what looked like two scar trees. Once again we were lucky to discover a pair of pink cockatoos feasting quietly among the dead branches of a fallen tree ... we even managed to get quite close this time. On our way out of the park, we took the nature drive - a self-guided driving track about 6kms in length. This was really informative, and led us to another large wetland, the Australian coat of arms (we saw an emu and a kangaroo at the same time), and more regent parrots and ringnecks. We headed back to our digs at Ouyen, but that big blue sky was calling us to go further. Knowing that rain was forecast, we decided to make hay, and headed beyond Ouyen to Wyperfeld again, back to visit the parrots. We weren't disappointed. Murray-Sunset National Park
See our next post - this park deserves its own blog entry!
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