Bowra Wildlife Sanctury, Cunnamulla SW Queensland.

August 03, 2018

Possibly the double eyed fig parrot

Bowra Wildlife Sanctury, Cunnamulla SW Queensland.

When we did the Mildura Houseboat at the beginning of this Wallaby Dallas became hooked on bird watching which was lovely to experience. As we were about to leaving Charleville she said to me how would you like to stay at a Wildlife Sanctuary in Cunnamulla? On Wiki Camps I have found this Sanctuary and it sounds idyllic! You can read about the Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary at this link; http://www.australianwildlife.org/bowra-visitor-program.aspx

So off we set to locate this idyllic sanctuary some 8 kms the other side of Cunnamulla.

Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary has a long reputation as a reliable birding site with a bird list of over two hundred species, including nine threatened species. All four species of Australian Babblers are present and the rare Grey Falcon breeds on the sanctuary.

Bowra is open to bird watching visitors from the end of March to October each year. However, Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary may experience occasional closures for management purposes during the year, so it is imperative that you contact the visitor information team a few weeks before your planned arrival to confirm the sanctuary will be open on the dates you are planning to visit. Bookings are essential.

Once we had arrived and checked in it certainly was idyllic. We were shown where we could camp, and where not to camp, locations of all the amenities. We were also advised that the sanctuary was run by volunteers from the Birds Queensland organization and that they all meet at 1800 hrs in the Shearers Quarters for a Bird Call! In this gathering the visitors on site have a bird list (over 200 birds) read out and the data is collected from observers of what species has been sighted each day. To avoid double counting, the list is made up of the maximum number of species sighted at one time in one place, not an accumulation of birds seen by the observer over the day.

Well Dallas agreed to attend the Bird Call if she did not have to speak. The group were very welcoming and yes she did have several conversations. However, I did report on our sightings for the day which included;

· Dotterel, black fronted 3
· Duck, Pacific Black 2
· Stilt, White-headed, pied 1
· Pidgeon, crested 2
· Cockatoo, Major Mitchell 10
· Galah, pink 20
· Honeyeater, striped 2
· Magpie, Australian 1
· Wagtail, Willie 2
· Native Hens 2

· The following morning before and as we left we spotted similar but added

o Emus 6

o Quail brown 2

o Double Eyed Fig Parrot (Possibly)

We felt very privileged to have been to Bowra, particularly the welcome and information the Birds Queensland people and an SA couple gave us. Since leaving we both twitch when ever we see birds of differing species.

We drove on from Cunnamulla across the NSW border to Burke (we were advised not to stay here but feel it was not good advice) and then on to Nyngan where we stayed at the Nyngan Riverside Caravan Park right on the banks of the Warego River. That evening we met up with Peter and Robyn from NSW and Fran and Graham from Canberra and had a great night around a campfire exchanging stories about our trips. All good fun.

The areas of Cunnamulla, Bourke and Nyngan are all areas where wool was the first and primary industry and it would be interesting to try and trace some of the Paddle Wheelers that plied the local rivers with bales of wool as that was the primary form of transport in early days.

A Paddle Wheeler laden with bales of wool in the Cunnamulla area

As we drove away from Nyngan toward Dubbo it became obvious that the Warego provides water for the growing of cotton, lots of it! That evening we pulled into the Orange Caravan Park, set up and attended a wine tasting at the Orange Ferment Wine Centre. A good way to start a Friday evening!