Brookfield Conservation Park

Yesterday I went to Brookfield Conservation Park to check out how the mallee was looking after the recent rains we've been havining. It is in great shape, and looking very green. It was a cold start, 5C (41F) when I left Adelaide, but by the time I got to the Barossa Valley it was down to freezing point and the local hot air balloonists were taking advantage of the cold still conditions. Brookfield is about a 90 minute drive North East of Adelaide and has been conserved mainly due to its population of Wombats. These nocturnal animals live in burrows and the park is littered with them. This one had fresh diggings in it. It started to drizzle while I was watching a small group of Tree Martins, and I managed to get a few close shots of them and also of the ever present Yellow-plumed Honeyeater. Just as I was about to move on, I heard the call of a couple of Brown Treecreepers. Oddly for a treecreeper, browns spend a lot of time foraging on the ground. I took a couple of shots, but the best was in a tree, where they should be! The park has two circular nature drives each of around 10Km (6 miles) and I headed round the Mallee drive stopping anywhere I saw or heard anything. I spotted a pair of Mallee Ringnecks prospecting nest holes, lots of Red-capped Robins, and also groups of Varied Sittela noisily feeding. As the park is pretty big, and largely undisturbed (I saw no-one else the whole time I was there) it has a healthy kangaroo population too. I saw a few Red Kangaroos and plenty of Western Grey Kangaroos.

Mallee Birds

In my last post I mentioned some of the other birds I heard and saw while photographing the Mallee Emu-wren at Hattah-Kulkyne National Park. The habitat there is Mallee which is characterised by smallish multi-trunked eucalypts usually growing to less than 6m (20ft) with an understory of scrub and/or spinifex. This habitat is prone to bush fires, and indeed many plant species require a bush fire to promote regeneration. I have birded fairly regularly in mallee in both Victoria and South Australia. My favourite areas are Brookfield Conservation Park and the Birds Australia Reserve at Gluepot both in the Riverland in South Australia. And so to the birds: Firstly a male and female Chestnut Quail-thrush.

Southern Scrub-robin and Striped Honeyeater

Mallee Ringneck and a female Mulga Parrot

And finally, a couple of real special birds. Malleefowl and the endangered Red-lored Whistler

One of these photos is a "cheat", taken in captivity at Cleland Wildlife Park in the Adelaide Hills........any idea which?