Low degree crossing at Fitzroy Crossing – 10,000 Birds

At any time when we go to Geikie Gorge we make a detour to go to the Low degree crossing at Fitzroy Crossing if the climate permits. Having noticed the attractive Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens in Geikie Gorge we hoped so as to add one other chook species to our 2022 12 months listing. There have been a number of modifications over current years on the low degree crossing and after some critical erosion a number of years in the past the monitor right down to the river was closed to autos. The crossing itself continues to be holding up, so you may stroll down the dusty monitor and observe the bird-life up and down stream. Since I final wrote in regards to the crossing in 2015 we have now visited yearly and as you may think about there may be at all times one thing new to see. At completely different instances of 12 months there are completely different birds to see and the water degree is extraordinarily variable. By September annually it’s normally at its lowest degree and on this current go to it was already previous 1pm and a sizzling and dry 43c.

As you may see within the header picture it’s now fairly a steep and dusty descent to the Fitzroy River. When it is vitally sizzling it’s a must to put on closed-in footwear otherwise you danger burning your ft. There have been quite a few Black Kites and Whistling Kites hovering within the thermals over the river. We might hear Gray-crowned Babblers within the dense bush as we made our method down.

Fitzroy River from the low degree bridge

The primary birds that we noticed have been Straw-necked Ibis ingesting on the river after which Magpie-larks and Black-fronted Dotterels. A number of bushes have been in flower and so they have been attracting Little Friarbirds, Rufous-throated Honeyeaters, White-gaped Honeyeaters and Yellow-tinted Honeyeaters. Fairy Martins have been dipping into the water and in addition Rainbow Bee-eaters swooped down catching bugs and returning to perch on the branches overhanging the river. There was fairly a raucous sound and the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos have been within the bushes and coming right down to drink.

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

We wandered throughout the low degree bridge to see what was beside the water in every path and shortly added Brolga, Peaceable Doves, Little Pied Cormorants, Masked Lapwings and Bar-shouldered Doves to the listing for the situation. There have been different raptors together with Brown Falcon and Brown Goshawk. Trying again in the direction of the bushes we quickly observed further birds together with Lengthy-tailed Finch, Rufous Whistler, Yellow-throated Miner, Paperbark Flycatcher, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Nice Bowerbird and White-winged Triller. I had observed a really small pool of water that was attracting the Double-barred Finch and I might hear one thing else within the close by dense bushes. It didn’t take lengthy and all of the sudden there have been Star Finch on the fringe of the pool ingesting. We hadn’t noticed Star Finch but in 2022, so standing out within the solar was value it! The Star Finch knew how one can cool off!

Star Finch

When the Star Finch bathed they nearly grew to become invisible till they stood up and their purple payments gave them away.

Star Finch and Double-barred Finch bathing and ingesting

As we climbed again up the steep dusty slope to the automobile we observed we have been being watched by a few agile wallabies. They have been staying within the shade for apparent causes and as soon as the daylight began to fade they’d make their method right down to the water to drink.

Agile wallaby

The climate might be difficult at the perfect of instances, however the rewards for venturing out in the midst of the day can be rewarding. Most of the finch species have to drink all through the day and if you can even do this in applicable clothes and footwear you might nicely observe a chook species you haven’t seen but this 12 months.