Tcharkuldu Rocks

Visited: spring

Recommendation: This is an unusual place and I still don't know whether to recommend it. I guess researching before I visit again will be the way to go and that would be my recommendation too.

A warning to start this post. It contains more photos of toilets than birds! Nothing against the tiny town of Minnipa, it was just one of those days. There was a rest stop in the town but I always prefer to go into the countryside if possible so I braved the dreaded unsealed road and headed to the local landmark of Tcharkuldu. A collection of rocks, I wasn't very interested but it did give a nice panorama. I parked up not too far from the 'Outback Dunny' and had a look around. To my disappointment the most common bird was the European Starling which has adapted well to the environment and I watched a pair building a nest in a hole in a dead tree. After that there were Yellow-throated Miner and lots of Galah. I did hear a Black-eared Cuckoo calling in the middle distance but it never came any closer.

Overnight I heard Tawny Frogmouth calling at regular intervals close by and to my birding shame I couldn't get out of my comfortable bed to find it. The morning just brought gloom and drizzle and although I was serenaded by Australasian Magpie and Grey Butcherbird, I was glad to move on. The drive out did bring me my first sighting of Western Grey Kangaroo which was interesting.