Bird Watching Heaven in Numurkah and Surrounds

Edited on 21st October:  I did say below that we were novices at bird identification. Further reading about the redgum forest on the Murray River, as well as a closer look at our bird guide, has led me to realize that instead of the Turquoise Parrot, we were seeing the Red-rumped Parrot---not nearly as nice a name, I must say, but still a very pretty bird.

We have arrived back in Melbourne in one piece after a successful roadtrip, and I am taking a break from the tedium of the inevitable laundry and unpacking to catch up online.  Despite a fair amount of effort on the part of myself and my dad, I was unable to connect my computer to the wifi at our resort, but I continued to compose a few posts which I will put up over the next few days.  Here is the first:

16^th October 2010

We have no lake at the Lakeside Resort where we are staying, the temperature has plummeted to quite possibly its lowest point since we arrived in Australia, our journey yesterday took us through driving rain and wind to get to a town only a handful of people in Melbourne have heard of before, but joy of joys, we have the Turquoise Parrot. 

The resort where we are staying has suffered first hand from the drought I have written about previously.  It was built around a man-made lake and at one time offered a beach, beautiful views and lots of boating activities.  Once water rationing went into effect, however, the resort was no longer able to purchase the water needed to keep the lake filled, and currently the managers estimate that they lose more water each year through evaporation than they are able to buy.  They do have a plan to restore at least part of the lake to its former beauty, but it seems to me that it will be difficult as even more stringent guidelines for water use have been recommended within the past week, leading to angry protests from the farming communities in this area.

 

 

The swamp-that-used-to-be-a-lake may not be the thing of beauty it once was, but it is a marvelous place for bird-watching.  Earlier in the day my mom and I identified the magnificent Australian Pelican.  Sadly, my camera was not within reach, but we enjoyed watching a pair soar over the swamp.  Accompanying the pelicans were several cormorants. 

Later in the afternoon I arrived back at our villa excited about a beautiful bird I had seen and photographed while on a walk.  It took only a few moments to verify that my parents had just spotted the same bird outside our front door. After poring over the pages of our bird for some time (we are novices at bird identification, and there are 54 different parrots listed), we concluded that we had seen the Turquoise Parrot.

While I was grilling sausages later for supper, a few more came to visit our front lawn.  I left the picture-taking to my dad while I continued to examine our bird guide, stopping occasionally to turn the sizzling meat.  At that point I was looking up a crested bird we had noticed all day feeding on the grounds around us.  I was a bit deflated to learn it was *just* a Crested Pigeon, but I’ll include a picture nonetheless.

As for other birds of the day, we couldn’t help but notice a smallish bird with black feathers contrasting starkly with its brilliant white belly in the grass around our condo. The tail feathers spread out when it moves, and sure enough, it was listed with the Fantail birds as the Willie Wagtail.  Like the Crested Pigeon, it is abundantly common, but entertaining to watch as it wags and fans its tail while hunting insects on the ground.  The Willie has a sweet albeit repetitive song, a nice change from the shrill, noisy birds that populate the streets around our house in Melbourne.

Birds were not the only thing to appreciate in Numurkah.  Before we left Melbourne, I could sense a bit of bewilderment on the part of those who heard it was our destination.  Australia has so many spectacular tourist destinations.  Why would I be taking my parents to Numurkah?  The short answer is that road trips in the country are what my parents love best. The town reminded us very much of the one in which my mother grew up in rural Michigan. The fact that it was surrounded by flat grain fields and thousands of acres of cattle pasture further added to the impression.  The sheep and olive groves were not something we see in Michigan, of course, and we smiled over the juxtaposition of apple orchards, orange groves and cacti on the same back road.  We discussed how much my apple-growing grandfather would have marveled to see it and wished we could have shown him a picture.

As for the town itself, we love the main street, and my parents very much enjoyed having morning tea (in their case, coffee and a muffin) at the local bakery/coffee shop.  I would have liked to join them, but spent the time watching the younger ones swim for hours at the wonderful indoor pool.  Their pure enjoyment was a pleasure, however, and I alternated between joining them and reading with one eye on the pool.

Crosswalk Sign:

 

 

Comments

[janetjames]

Hi everyone - glad to see you had a good time, despite the lack of boating facilities. The parrots look beautiful. And, I can just picture your parents in that bakery/coffee shop.
Can you tell I'm just a tad jealous !
No pictures of the kids in this post - I miss seeing them. Perhaps next blog!
Give them all a big hug for us !

[Nikki]

I'm glad to see that you all had a wonderful time. I have to say that although I enjoy watching our cardinals and blue jays in the winter, there is no comparison to that beautiful parrot!

[Christie]

More pictures of the kids will be coming soon, especially in the bush safari blog about one of our best ever adventures. In the meantime we will give them an extra hug. Nikki, I agree about watching our red and blue birds especially with the background of snow. In my kitchen here in Melbourne, I have put up a picture of a purple finch eating at a bird feeder (just after a big snowstorm) off our porch in Seven Fields, and I love looking at it.