Newman’s Rocks was very kind to me. A parrot flew and landed close by. For a brief moment I was treated to an intoxicating splendour. Small, bright scarlet breast, blue face, green back, a jewelled bird – ruby, sapphire, emerald. A male Scarlet Chested Parrot Neophema splendida. A tick but no photo. It was gone too soon.
The day started in the Great Western Woodlands, 160,000 square kilometers of mallee and other eucalypts located between Australia’s moist, cooler south-west corner and its desert interior. As we traveled east the woodland was interspersed with open saltbush patches which slowly came to dominate until we were on the Nullarbor Plain. No trees here. Our first camp site was on the cliffs looking out at the Southern Ocean and the Great Australian Byte.
The next day was a short one to camp in the vicinity of the Murrawijinie Caves. The Nullarbor Plain is limestone. There is no surface water but plenty of deep caves. The low scrub around this area is home to the Nullarbor Quail-thrush. Gayle and I have put in quite a few hours on a previous visit trying unsuccessfully to find this bird. So on this occasion we set aside a full afternoon and a full morning the next day. It took about 10 minutes to find the first one and then we found at least five more. Unfortunately they notice you at the same time you notice them and then they’re gone, hiding under bushes or simply flying away.
bobmcgee 