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Visited: summer
Recommendation: This dam attracts all sorts of wildlife and is a great place to start any exploration of Dryandra. I loved it here and got some great sightings.
The Old Mill Dam is in between the Congelin campground and Dryandra village itself. It's a fairly ordinary dull looking dam, the water was quite low when I visited in the summer, but as you might expect, there was quite a lot of activity around it. In the mornings and the afternoons the Carnaby's Black Cockatoos would come in to drink. At times I saw Western Rosellas and 28 Ringneck Parrots in the surrounding trees.
I came up here at night to do the short nocturnal walk along the Wandoo Trail. While I didn't see much on the trail, there was plenty around the dam. From the car park, I could already hear a frog. Sitting in the shallow water on the edge of the dam was a Motorbike Frog. I'd never seen (or heard) one before and they are quite striking. You can probably figure out why they are called the Motorbike Frog. They definitely don't wear leathers!
Motorbike Frog (Ranoidea moorei)
As I turned away I saw a python, a rather large python, and it sat so still I was fairly convinced it was dead for a while. It was so dull and grey that I couldn't identify it. Opinion on the Facebook ID pages confirmed it was a Southwestern Carpet Python. The dull skin was possibly because the snake was ready to shed its skin. It also looked like it had eaten and that might be why it was sluggish. Anyway, it had gone when I returned the next day, it had gone so I guess it was ok.
Southwestern Carpet Python (Morelia imbricata)
As I was driving out of the the Old Mill Dam picnic area I saw a Western Quoll or Chuditch, as it is known locally. I was so stunned that I was slow in getting my camera out and missed it.
I carried on looking around the area in the hope that I would see it again but instead found several of the endemic marsupials. These nocturnal Tammar Wallabies were super cute and very shy. I only managed to get one photo of them but I was pretty pleased. These endangered wallabies are the species that was introduced into New Zealand in the 1800s. Remant populations there are now considered to be pests.
Tammar Wallaby (Notamacropus eugenii)
Back at the dam in the daytime gave me another view of a Sand Monitor, sitting close to the road. I saw several of these attractive reptiles during my visits to the dam and was never disappointed or bored by them.
Sand Monitor (Varanus gouldii)
In one corner of the dam were a couple of bushes and some dead branches lying into the water. I had passed by a couple of times and saw honeyeaters coming down to drink so I knew it would be a good place to bird watch. So, on another morning when the sun was shining on the area, I sat close by and waiting. It was an intense 30 minutes for sure and I loved it.
Brown Honeyeater (Lichmera indistincta)
Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (Ptilotula ornata)
First up were the Brown and Yellow-plumed Honeyeater. The yellow-plumed look really interesting if you can photograph them facing you. Their plumes look like they are sticking out. Not to be today though as these juvenile and adult birds were too busy drinking and squabbling.
Rainbow Bee-eater (Merops ornatus)
28 Ringneck Parrot (Barnardius zonarius semitorquatus)
Making noise in the air above the dam were the Rainbow Bee-eaters and Ringnecks Parrots. The parrots were poking around in the scrub close by while the bee-eaters were hawking over the water.
Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus)
Brown-headed Honeyeater (Melithreptus brevirostris)
Amongst the honeyeater melee, I picked out a single Brown-headed Honeyeater and even a Striated Pardalote. The heat was driving everyone to the water.
Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (Gliciphila melanops)
Western Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus superciliosus)
My favourite sightings here were the Tawny-crowned Honeyeater and the Western Spinebill. I just love how nature can create brown birds like these and still make them so stunning.
Now this brown bird might not be so spectacular but I still like them. Thornbill are quite difficult to identify but all around here were Western Thornbill. Usually I saw them in small groups and they were very noisy. The bright, pale eye makes the bird look quite severe but they are very sweet.
Western Thornbill (Acanthiza inornata)
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