Today was the day that I had been waiting for for a couple weeks. It was the whole reason I came back up to Terrick Terrick National Park, the chance to see the elusive Plains-wanderer. After a rainy morning and a somewhat productive afternoon (Iphotographed White-browed Babblers, a new species to have on film), I finally got my chance.
Over the past few weeks, Ihave been in contact with a local birder who is involved in the Plains-wanderer surveys at Terrick Terrick National Park. Chris Coleborn, has been extremely helpful and was kind enough to set up the spotlighting trip for me this evening soI must start by saying thank you to him and Russell, who drove for us. We were joined by several others who are involved with the Friends of Terrick Terrick as well. I guess I should start out with a little bit of background on the Plains-wanderer. They are a small bird, that looks very much like a quail and for a long time it was believed that they were related to the Button-quail. However, now they have been reclassified into their own family and are thought to be more closely related with the waders, particularly seed-snipes.
However, their difficulty in classifying them is just the start of why I find these birds fascinating. They are birds of the grassland, a habitat that is rare in itself because of the conversion of grasslands to agricultural fields. Because of this they are restricted to only a few sites and are listed as endangered. Low population numbers are not the only reason these birds are seen by so few people; they are masters at camoflauge and rarely seen during the day. The only realisitic chance to see these birds is at night with a spotlight and then they are amazingly tame.
Biologically they are interesting birds too. The mating system is reverse of many birds with the male caring for the eggs and young while the female has multiple partners. As a consequence of this, the female has much more colorful plumage to attract mates while the male is patterned for concealment. This is by no way a unique system, but it is much less common than the reverse.
So, knowing all this, we set out to see if we could find one of these intriguing birds. Within 10 minutes of starting, we found an adult female in gorgeous breeding plumage. I had been told that these birds were quite tame and could be easily approached but I was still surprised when they allowed us to get within a meter or two. Once a bird ran to me and was only about 6 inches from my feet. After photographing for a few minutes we moved on and had a spectacular evening. By the end of the night we had seen five Plains-wanderers, 3 females and 2 males, as well as other birds like a male Little Button-Quail with three tiny chicks, Singing Bushlarks, Australian Pipits, and Stubble Quail. Other exciting sightings included a Fat-tailed Dunnart (a marsupial rodent) and a couple rare reptiles, 4 Curl Snakes and 2 Hooded Scalyfoots.
All in all it turned out to be quite a successful evening and made the trip well worth it. Once again I would like to thank Chris for organizing it and for Russell for driving. Thanks for making this possible.
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