April 26 and 27, 2005
In the early afternoon today, as we floated along, I spied through the trees a lake, separated from the river by just a narrow strip of land. Thinking that a lake might attract a somewhat different community of birds. So, we pulled the boat up to the river’s edge to get out and take a look. To be honest, I don’t know if it was even a public space; there was no signage or nature trails. After returning home, however, I was able to find it on a map and determine that it’s called Scottie’s Billabong.
Before we’d even been off the boat for five minutes, I saw something that made my heart go pitter-patter. Footprints. BIG footprints. At first, I thought they might be Velociraptor tracks. Then I remembered that this wasn’t the Cretaceous, which meant they could only belong to ONE creature . . . an EMU!!!!!!!! Oh YEAH! We’d definitely found Emu footprints, and fresh ones by the look of things. Could the birds still be nearby? Well, if they were here, I was determined to find them, so I decided to hike all the way around the smallish lake.
I was right in thinking that there would be a different community, along with some of the familiar birds we’d seen all along the river. Red-kneed and Black-fronted Dotterel foraged along the edge of the lake, and I was excited to see some new game birds: Black-tailed Nativehen, with their distinctive green beaks. Pink-eared Duck and Grey Teal swam on the lake, while a variety parrots, including Red-rumped Parrot, Yellow Rosella, and my first Mulga Parrot. I was also excited to see Red Kangaroo coming to the water’s edge to drink. Gorgeous! This turned out to be a good day for lizards, as well, as I saw a Boulenger’s Snake-eyed Skink and another Eastern Water Skink.
Sadly, however, no Emu. In spite of this fact, I loved this place. The sun was beginning to set, so we decided to spend the night here, which would allow me to walk around the lake again first thing in the morning.
The next morning, I awoke before everyone else (as usual), and decided to circumambulate the lake to see if I could find Emu. The sun was barely up when I began, and the quality of the light was really beautiful as it came through a bit of early morning mist. It was easy to believe that I was the only person awake for miles and miles. Whistling Kite soared overhead, and the duck were back swimming in the lake, along with Australasian Grebe. Black-face Cuckooshrike, and Pied Butcherbird were perched in the trees, and I had my best look at a couple of gorgeous Dusky Woodswallow. Brown Treecreeper and Common Bronzewing were also seen, along with both Dotterel species seen the previous day. I was also happy to have several good looks at Mallee Ringneck, which are my favorite of the parrots I’ve seen.
When I reached the far side of the lake from where the boat was parked, there was a road that led away from the lake into some open space that stretched to the south. It was a fairly open grassland with scattered Eucalyptus trees, and was the first time I’d felt like I was genuinely in something I could call the Outback. I decided to walk out that way a bit, and I had an incredible experience with a whole field full of Red Kangaroo. There were at least a dozen of them spread out across the grassland, and I was able to get amazingly close to some of them before they spooked and bounded away. Wow. They are really beautiful creatures! So like the deer we see in North America in some ways (and they surely fill the same ecological niche), but so very exotic and different, too. I LOVED seeing them this way – so close, out in the wild.
After a while, not wanting to stress the kangaroos out too much with my presence, I continued around the lake, seeing birds and enjoying the morning. On the way back to the boat, I saw a couple of Western Grey Kangaroo, along with Red-rumped Parrot, a large Common Carp, and a new species for this trip: Striped Honeyeater. I was slightly disappointed about the dearth of Emu, but only slightly. I could count the footprints we’d seen the previous day, after all, and I’d seen a lot of other great wildlife.
Back on the boat, I made myself a cup of tea, and went up to sit on the roof and relax. Out of habit, I scanned the edge of the lake, but this time I saw something that made me look twice: shapes that looked different from what I’d seen there before. Large shapes. What on earth? Then, it hit me, and I realized what I was seeing. They were big and brown, and moving around at the far end of the lake . . . nothing but EMU could possible be that big. OMG EMU!!!! Three of them, and since they were about 600 m away, the photos aren’t great. All too soon, they wandered away out of sight, but I was thrilled thrilled thrilled with this sighting. EMUS!!!!! I’d SEEN them! They are SO COOL, and I’m so glad that we decided to spend the night here!
Before much longer, it was time for us to get back on the river, this time heading back toward Renmark for our return trip. But from this point on, anything we saw would just be icing on the cake now that I’d seen my EMUS!!!!
Species List
Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus), Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae novaehollandiae), Black-fronted Dotterel (Elseyornis melanops), Pacific Black Duck (Anas superciliosa superciliosa),
Black-tailed Nativehen (Tribonyx ventralis), Gray Teal (Anas gracilis gracilis), Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus), Boulenger’s Snake-eyed Skink (Morethia boulengeri), Eastern Water Skink (Eulamprus quoyii), Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae), Yellow Rosella (Platycercus elegans flaveolus), Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera), Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus), Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus), White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae novaehollandiae), White-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula penicillata), Blue-faced Honeyeater (Entomyzon cyanotis cyanotis), Mallee Ringneck (Barnardius zonarius barnardi), Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus), Noisy Miner (Manorina melanocephala), Mulga Parrot (Psephotellus varius), Australasian Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus melanotus), Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus), Red-rumped Parrot (Psephotus haematonotus haematonotus), Black-shouldered Lapwing (Vanellus miles novaehollandiae), Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), Eastern White-backed Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen tyrannica), Eastern Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla albiceps), Australian Shoveler (Spatula rhynchotis), Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis), Pied Butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis nigrogularis), Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos), Tree Martin (Petrochelidon nigricans), Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo novaehollandiae), Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio), Willie-wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys), Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus), Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena neoxena), Dusky Woodswallow (Artamus cyanopterus cyanopterus), Black-faced Cuckooshrike (Coracina novaehollandiae melanops), Striped Honeyeater (Plectorhyncha lanceolata), Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus), Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca cyanoleuca), Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus), Australasian Darter (Anhinga novaehollandiae novaehollandiae), Maned Duck (Chenonetta jubata), Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus), possible Sarcozona (Sarcozona praecox), Black Box (Eucalyptus largiflorens), Native Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza acanthocarpa), possible Purple Dewplant (Disphyma crassifolium)
Let me know what you think!