Red Lizard Camping Ground

Visited: autumn and winter

Recommendation: It might look like a barren patch of land but the resident birds of the caravan park are fantastic. Everything from Hall's Babblers to Pink Cockatoo, this place is wonderful.

Just before Charleville is a small campground and it was wonderful. A large area with good amenities and the threat of Pink Cockatoo visiting. It was warm and clear and there was plenty of activity. I was immediately on a mission to photograph the Chestnut-rumped Thornbill which I had seen numerous times further south. I stayed 2 nights and must have looked a bit mad stalking these tiny creatures. But who cares?

Chestnut-rumped Thornbill (Acanthiza uropygialis)

And that is how it was for my time there. I just wandered around in circles looking for birds. Every now and then I would return to the van for a cup of tea or to do some work. The birds, however, just kept coming and they got better and better. Next up was the Striped Honeyeater only found in this area. I had seen them several times and got half decent shots but now, they were very present.

Striped Honeyeater (Plectorhyncha lanceolata)

Chasing the thornbill was so helpful. I heard some babbler and I was already on the look out for the Hall's Babbler, only found local to this part of Australia. My luck was in and I picked up a lifer!

Hall's Babbler (Pomatostomus halli)

Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens)

Brown-headed Honeyeater (Melithreptus brevirostris)

While the red dirt and trees appeared to attract parrots and arid specialists, the water trough brought in a wide variety of smaller honeyeaters and bush birds. I spent a lot of time just sitting and watching the birds come and go. It was very pleasant and the sun and red background set the shots up nicely.

White-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula penicillata)

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis)

Red-capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii)

Double-barred Finch (Stizoptera bichenovii)

On my next visit in the winter, the area was very different but just as good. The water trough was gone but the birds weren't. In the first minutes of parking, I heard the Black-eared Cuckoo. After a wander around, I found a pair of them. This was only the second time I have seen them and I was struck by how much more colourful they were than when I saw them at Trephina Gorge. Instead of the rather plain bird I had seen before, they were just beautiful. I heard them call a couple more times but this was my only close up look at them.

Black-eared Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx osculans)

I parked the van backing on the the scrub area beyond the fence and there was a pile of branches and leaf litter which attracted a number of species looking for insects. The Restless Flycatcher and this lovely female Rufous Whistler were regular visitors.

Restless Flycatcher (Myiagra inquieta)

Rufous Whistler (Pachycephala rufiventris)

Also present and briefly sitting on the fence wire were some interesting smaller birds. This Superb Fairywren is a young male moulting into its adult colours. The pink petal sets it off nicely, I think. The busiest birds here were the Striated Pardalote. A pair of them were nesting in a tree hollow close by and they spent all day searching for and collecting nesting material. You had to admire their energy.

Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus)

Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus)