The Short-tailed Grasswren, like the Kalkadoon Grasswren, is a recently established species, split off from the Striated Grasswren. It has a very small range but most people seem to find them without too much trouble at one of two sites in Flinders Range National Park. Sunrise found me at one of these sites, Stokes Hill, and to my dismay Idiscovered that this is another grasswren that perfers the sea urchin like spinifex plant. However, unlike the Carpentarian and Kalkadoon Grasswrens, these birds tend to prefer more sparse spinifex so walking around isn't quite as painful. Without too terribly much trouble I managed to locate a single bird calling and luckily was able to get a few photographs. That makes me 4 for 5 for grasswren species so far this trip with photos of two of them and I should have another chance to see the one I missed!.
I spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the park trying to photograph some of the other birds Ihad seen with moderate success. Iended the day by finding some Yellow-footed Rock Wallabies in Brachina Gorge which were very skittish but Iplan to come back in the mornin to see if I can get some photos. After that I am going to head back north towards Lyndhurst but take the long way and explore some more of this area.
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