15 May 2011

This was one of those trips that starts with a rush. I rang my mate Tumby Tom the evening before. If the weather forecast was too bad, we were going to do some fishing, otherwise we were going to try to see grasswrens at the fabulous Mt Ive Station in South Australia’s Gawler Ranges.

Short-tailed Grasswren used to be a race of Striated Grasswren. It's now considered totally unique.

Our home at Mt Ive was to be the wonderful old Stone Cottage. On arrival, Skip, a lovely lady who is one of the managers, was attending to the local Flying Doctor. The brand new aircraft was made possible through a major donation by BHP Billiton. Camera-in-hand, we headed over to the dam where Frank Pierce had said Western Grasswren occur.  Alas it was windy and this made searching for grasswrens really difficult. The tell-tell high pitched calls are masked and even the faintest wave of grass stems obscures their movement.

The following day, after cooking breakfast in the shearers quarters communal kitchen we once again unsuccessfully tried for the Western Grasswren (grasswrens are really hard!)  So we decided to head to Lake Gairdner, a section of which backs onto Mt Ive Station and is the place for another type, Short-tailed Grasswren.

Usually at this time each year, Lake Gairdner becomes a race-track for the DLRA (Dry Lakes Racers Association) speed trials. People from all over Australia participate in the event where vehicles are timed through a 132 foot trap at the end of a 1.5 mile approach. Unfortunately it had been cancelled due to inclement weather but there were those like us who’d still much to enjoy in the beautiful scenery for a couple of days.

Armed with a local map and birding points of interest, Gordon and I headed out the main gate due west for about 9km until we found the track into Lake Gairdner. We dodged large pools of water to reach a place called Kevs Castle, a collection of candlestick-like rocks protruding from the mountain-side.  A steep gully ascends to the summit and the cliff-face is adorned with spinifex (Triodea), the favoured habitat of grasswrens.  Alas, we failed again, to find the second grasswren of our trip. We headed down to console ourselves instead, by photographing Peninsular Rock-Dragons (Ctenophorus fionni) and Tree Skinks (Egernia striolita).

I begin to wonder, what drives me to puff and pant my way over sharp rocks and prickly grasses chasing birds?  Put it this way, Gordon is 87 years old … going on 65. He says birding “keeps him young”. He is always out in the field watching, photographing and learning more about nature every day.  Gordon says, “it gives you something to look forward to, like the places you see along the way and the like-minded people you meet”.

Western Grasswren is another 'new species', that is, recently split from Thick-billed Grasswren. The sudden scientific appearance of these two new birds has really put Mt Ive Station on the map.

As we gazed out over the breathtaking views of the Gawler Ranges, Gordon made me realise how privileged we Australians are to be able to do this. I sure as hell won’t be hanging up my camera for a long, long time. We reached the lake mid-afternoon. What a site to behold. Lake Gairdner stretches north west as far as the eye can see and looks like a white desert. With recent rainwater shimmering across its surface, it’s no wonder the speed trials had been cancelled.

The Short-tailed Grasswrens live on the upper slopes of the hills, whilst the Westerns are more lowland. We decided to have another crack at Short-tailed Grasswren by driving up to the top of Mt Ive. It’s a serious bit of four wheel driving. We bounced and jolted all the way to the top but when the faithful Landcruiser finally crested the last rise we were greeted by a howling wind … my first thought was “why the bloody hell are we here!”

After half an hour searching the leeward slopes we hadn’t seen a thing. Then suddenly, in a small clearing of Triodea, there was a male Short-tailed Grasswren. An absolutely stunning little bird. No we were truly consoled!

With one grasswren successfully in the can, we woke to a beautiful windless morning and knew that if we were to get the Western Grasswren this would be the day. Out into the bluebush we trudged and after just 45 mins came across a pair that popped their heads up and sat on top of the bush before running along the ground in between the shrubbery.

For four years I have been consistently out in the field photographing Australian Birds and the Grasswrens remain my favourite. I just love how you can be in their habitat and look around for hours then all of a sudden you will see a quick movement as one circles around you and jumps up on some dead branch, a rock or clump of grass. They are beautiful little creatures and I am so grateful to the people who have enlightened me with information in order to see them.