Volunteering/ Caretaking at Bowra Station (A.W.C.) for Birds Queensland

Volunteering/ Caretaking at Bowra 2019

Bowra Homestead in June

Cameron and I, in June 2019, volunteered for duties, for two weeks, at Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, outside Cunnamulla.  As volunteers for Birds Queensland, we would be responsible for bookings and payments lodged by visitors to the Sanctuary and to take charge of housekeeping duties related to the maintenance of appropriate facilities available to visitors.  The evening bird list was also an important part of the everyday operations: where visitors and staff notified which birds and how many (in a single location) were observed in the previous 24 hours.  These results, overnight, were relayed to Birds Queensland.  Sounds easy, doesn’t it.  Think again.

My computer skills were severely tested in the first few days in getting to grips with the complexities of the booking/ payment system.  Keeping track of who was where also had its challenges. 

Was it worth it?  Too right.  A good downpour of rain in April had caused a late spurt of thick herbage growth and tree blossom and the birds had launched into a breeding frenzy.  Freezing temperatures -5 degrees C and a bitter wind from the South, made dawn walks for bird spotting, along the Bore Drain Track, a feat of endurance.      

Herbage near the Bore Drain

The rewards were there: banded lapwings escorting their young out of harm’s way, southern whiteface feeding their chicks on fat green grubs, thousands of wood swallows filling the sky (black-faced, masked, white-breasted, white-browed), red-throats enjoying the lagoons at Gravel Pits, chestnut-breasted quail thrush displaying and calling.

Chestnut-breasted Quail- thrush (Cameron Whiley)

Fairy Martin nests under the house eaves

Red throat at Gravel Pits  (Cameron Whiley)

Bore

Marilyn, a frequent visitor to Bowra, introduced us to The Garden and the haunts of the white-browed treecreeper and the Hall’s babbler.

Rugged up, in search of the Hall's babbler

White-browed tree-creeper   (Maggie Overend)

White-winged fairy-wren  (Cameron Whiley)

White-winged fairy wrens were a regular on the Bore drain, crimson chats and red-capped robins were often seen, pallid cuckoos frequented the eucalypts on the fringe.  

Red-capped robin  (Cameron Whiley)

Black-breasted buzzard, little and wedge-tailed eagles, brown goshawk, brown falcon and the grey falcon, photographed by Kerrie, were some of the raptors to appear.   Fairy martens, in their funnel-shaped nests, under the eaves of the homestead, were active from early morning to dusk.  Australian ringneck parrots investigated a nest hollow at the door of the office.  Major Mitchell cockatoos feasted on small melons growing on the clay pans.  The elusive Bourke's parrots finally settled near the Home Dam.

Bourke's or Sundown parrot 

 Two visitors to Bowra entertained us with their stories and photos.  Bruce Hoskins, “Plumes of Oz”, and Brett Lewis, “Roaming the Outback”, have Youtube presentations well worth a look.  Two young scientists, from Canberra University, were at Bowra doing research on the Western water dragon, a reptile they are discovering is being impacted quite severely by climate change..     Kangaroo and wallaby numbers had been annihilated by the drought and then the rain and cold weather and had died in their thousands.  Their absence was very noticeable.  Also missing were the finch and native hen species.  Bird numbers had dropped significantly due to the on-going drought.

Fast forward to December here we are again back at Bowra and what a difference a few months make.   

Parched landscape on the road to the main gate

This time, Cameron and I were here in the capacity of volunteer caretakers for two weeks (No visitors/clients).  Our duties were maintaining bird lists and a general clean-up of the house and shearers’ quarters, in readiness for 2020.  John Barton, the Wildlife Conservancy appointed Manager and his wife, Melinda have made a huge difference to the facilities at Bowra.  The green cover was a thing of the past.  Cottage and Top dam were empty and water levels, at the others, were falling rapidly.  But the parrots were there in their hundreds, especially Blue Bonnets, feasting on the seeds available on the Acacias and the prickly ground covers.

Blue bonnet parrots  (Cameron Whiley)

 Honey eaters were noticeably missing until the Eucalypts, Mistletoe and Capparis  loranthifolia were in flower. Emus appeared with their chicks. 

Capparis loranthifolia

The native hens were back.  Juvenile red-capped robins were in abundance.  White-fronted honeyeaters left their location of Western Paddock and appeared at the Homestead lagoon.   One of the Canberran scientists Kris Wild, was back with 8 enthusiastic students who laboured, from dawn to dusk, in the overwhelming heat to continue the research on the Western dragon.  They were an inspiration.

Western dragon  (Cameron Whiley)

White-fronted honeyeater  (Cameron Whiley)

 Cameron hit the jackpot with photos of a pair of chestnut- breasted quail thrush, and the Hall’s babbler, the white-fronted, grey-headed, striped, spiny-cheeked, singing, black, brown-headed honey-eaters, budgerigars.

Grey-headed & Singing Honeyeaters (Maggie Overend)

Black honeyeater  (Cameron Whiley)

Striped honeyeater  (Cameron While)

Visiting Bowra, working there, has been a very rewarding experience.   A good season, with a decent amount of rain, will set the place up for an exciting 2020.   Here’s hoping.