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Visited: mid dry and early wet seasons
Recommendation: I love this free camping spot. It is a fabulous place to see a wide variety of wildlife without having to move far. If you are anywhere near Georgetown, pay it a visit at least.
I absolutely loved the Cumberland Dam and ended up spending 5 days here. It was my first real taste of the Outback and there was just nothing not to like here. I loved being able to explore and begin to get to know a diverse place like this and the wildlife within it. Bonus that my friend Louise came out for a couple of days too.
Cumberland Dam is the southern most location on the Far North Queensland section of the map. It is en route to Karumba and a little west of Georgetown. For anyone travelling from Cairns, this spot really marks the end of rural (and green) country and the start of the Outback. There is a free camp at the lagoon for caravans and campers to stay at. The lagoon and surrounding area are exceptionally beautiful.
The best thing about Cumberland Dam is that it is so different, with lots of arid dwelling birds but it is still accessible from Cairns, taking about 5 hours to drive here.
It is hot at the dam, even in mid-winter. There is some shade offered by the trees in the camp but the best place to sit is under the covered seating next to the dam. Grebes, stilts, jacanas, ducks and pygmy-geese work the water and shore while kites, eagles and falcons scour the ground from above.
Around the lake and camp are plenty of places for a host of birds to feed and breed. Nesting Double-barred Finch squeaked their way to and fro, Red-winged Parrots carefully eat prickly fruit and honeyeaters squabble. Wandering nonchantently through the camp were Gould's Goannas, unconcerned about human neighbours. I averaged 60 bird species a day here, lots of them new, unusual and uncommon.
Outside of the campsite was another small dam over the track where Cockatiel would flock and some shorebirds worked the area with a little more peace than at the main dam. The surrounding scrub area were not quiet either. Each morning mixed flocks of finches some down to the ground to feed. Doves, songlark and babblers would sing and coo. A resident Great Bowerbird had built a bower and was in the process of courting the female.
Eastern Great Egret (Ardea alba)
The dam is only the starting point of this area and I have split it into 3 parts.
1. The dam itself
Brimming with life, the water was always busy with loud family groups of Magpie Geese that you could hear before dawn. Even louder when a White-bellied Sea Eagle tried to snatch a juvenile. There were always Green Pygmy Geese, Pied Stilts, Pacific Black Ducks and Australian Grebes on the water and the Little Black Cormorants and Darter would sit in the trees, sometimes pushing off and flying over the lake till they found a good fishing spot. Forest Kingfisher and Rainbow Bee-eaters would dart out of the bushes and disappear again in a flash.
When it was too hot or I was tired I would just sit under the shelter and watch the daily dramas of the lake. It was very pleasant and I met some nice people there too (hello Deborah!). Reflecting the animal life I would be quiet and still for periods of time and then suddenly something would galvanise me into action and I would jump up and grab my camera ready for it. This was so when I was watching a Great Egret moving slowly along the water's edge and then suddenly shoot its head into the water. It pulled out the most enormous fish. Bear in mind that this bird weighs around 1.5kg and this fish could also be that heavy. It took sometime and manouvering to get it to land and then in a position to swallow it. Marvellous to watch.
You could walk around the dam to the south (where I took the above landscape photo from) and there was a raised track with trees and bushes on either side. It was a great position for photography as the area was teeming with birds. At the end of that little track is the dam wall itself. You can cross it and then walk all the way around the lake but the trick was to walk quietly to the edge of the trees and then look down the dam wall. More water pooled there and I often found a female Darter resting there in the sunshine. One afternoon I found a juvenile Nankeen Night Heron. I knew they were in the area but as they are so cryptic, it is very hard to find them. This one was out in the open and let me watch it for a while.
Juvenile Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus)
From the same position at a different time I was watching the Black and Whistling Kites circling and spotted a different raptor. I didn't know what it was, just that it was different. Always my cue to start taking photos. It was only after it had gone and I could look at my photos that I realised it was a Little Eagle. A first for me and I looked for the rest of my stay but it never came back.
Little Eagle (Hieraaetus moprhnoides)
2. The camp itself
Wandering the camp just like me were several Gould's Monitors. Being very large and bright yellow, they were a little intimidating. More than once I saw a surprised camper come head to head unexpectedly with one. But they were only really interested in eating ants and sunbathing (the monitors not the campers!).
Gould's Monitor (Varanus gouldii)
I often saw and heard Red-winged Parrots flying past, but one morning I spotted this one perched precariously on some bushes. As I crept forward I saw it pick some fruit and carefully unwrap the spiky protective wrapping and then settle down to eat. It took a good 10 minutes for the bird to finish the fruit and I swear it looked like it was really enjoying it. As did I!
Red-winged Parrot (Aprosmictus erythropterus)
One of my favourite sounds of the Australian bush is of fairywrens. The high pitched trill always seems so happy and busy. Whenever I hear it I am determined to find which species it is. In this case it was the Red-backed Fairywren. The females and juveniles are a pale brown and usually there is a single black and red-backed male. He is always tricky to find and I have never been able to photograph him clearly. Until now.
Male Red-backed Fairywren (Malurus melanocephalus)
The dominant honeyeater of the area was the Yellow-tinted. It took me a while to establish which species they were as they were always in family groups chasing each other at high speed. It took several days before I could get a decent shot. Other honeyeaters around were the Rufous-throated and Brown.
Yellow-tinted Honeyeater (Ptilotula flavescens)
3. The surrounding area
Outside of the camp was every bit as productive as inside. There was an unsealed road leading past the camp and away to cattle stations further south. Across that road was another dam which was also always busy. I walked everyday along that road and as soon as I was away from the water, the bird species would change. I saw Common Bronzewing, Jacky Winter, Blue-winged Kookaburra and Little Friarbird to name a few. Most of the time I didn't venture far however, I didn't need to. The area outside the camp fence and either side of the road was always busy but early morning saw Black-throated, Masked and Zebra Finch some to the ground to feed. The Rufous Songlark would be buzzing about as were the Black-faced Woodswallows. A real highlight was seeing a Red-backed Kingfisher close up for the first time.
Masked Finch (Poephila personata)
Red-backed Kingfisher (Todiramphus pyrrhopygius)
Black-throated Finch (Poephila cincta)
Rufous Songlark (Cincloramphus mathwesi)
The Great Bowerbird could often be seen (and heard) flying between somewhere just outside the camp fence and a particular bush near the south side of the dam. On day I set off to find out where his bower was. I walked along the edge of the fence line and found it easily under a bush. It was meticulously neat and one of the best looking bowers I have ever seen. A couple of times I saw the female come down and with the possibility of seeing a courtship display I brought out my chair, found some shade and for one afternoon just sat there and waited. I was not disappointed.
It began (as always with bowerbirds) with a lot of hissing and coughing. The female arrived, bringing a red bottle top presumably as a gift (I didn't find it the next day so I think the male removed it - didn't fit with the aesthetic). She then proceeded to inspect the bower, pulling at the stick construction with a lot more noise. Rather rudely I thought (but what do I know?), she picked up his carefully placed treasures on the path through the bower and chucked them around. During this time the male bowerbird sat patiently at the back of the bower and I did feel sorry for him. After more noise and some flashing of the pink crest behind her neck she rather unceremoniously departed. The male bird immediately got back to repairing the damage.
Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis)
While I was waiting for the bowerbirds to arrive, a Red-browed Pardalote suddenly flew into the tree above me. I hadn't got a really good look at these birds before and was excited to see one close up. My first shots were of its underside but eventually it perched in an upright position so I could get a better picture.
Red-browed Pardalote (pardalotus rubricatus)
One of the funniest events of my stay at the dam was when I was quietly standing next to a tree on the road photographing something and a Collared Sparrowhawk flew in above me. As I backed up and starting taking photos, it suddenly saw me and I captured its surprise.
Collared Sparrowhawk (Accipter cirrocephalus)
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