South East Adventure Days 2 & 3 - Bool Lagoon to Salt Creek and the Coorong

 Another early start on Tuesday morning as we wanted to get down to Bool Lagoon to have another look around. We didn’t do the full lap around, but drove slowly along the road, seeing plenty of water birds and some whistling kites and a swamp harrier soaring around.

Whistling Kite, Bool Lagoon, SA

Swamp Harrier (juvenile), Bool Lagoon, SA

Then we went along to Hacks Lagoon and spent a while watching some magpie geese, welcome swallows, tree martins and yellow-rumped thornbills.

Magpie Goose, Hacks Lagoon, SA

Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Hacks Lagoon, SA

Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Hacks Lagoon, SA

Welcome Swallows, Hacks Lagoon, SA

We left and headed for Salt Creek, passing back through Naracoorte, Lucindale, and Kingston where we stopped for an early lunch. We arrived at Salt Creek by 12:30 and checked into our cabin, then went for a look around. We drove around Salt Creek Road and found an entry gate to Martin’s Washpool Conservation Park, so we went for a walk in there. We didn’t reach the lake, but saw a few birds, including my first spiny-cheeked honeyeaters and brown thornbills for the year. I also got a glimpse of a southern emu wren flitting across the path after listening to a pair call to each other for a while. We left the park and drove further around the road to Messent Conservation Park, but found the road to be quite rough, and no visible walking trails. We drove back to Salt Creek, noting another entrance gate to Martins Washpool, but didn’t bother going in.

We went along the Salt Creek Loop Road and found the malleefowl mound right where another birder from Facebook (thanks Jenni Anne) said it would be, but no malleefowl (unsurprising as it was afternoon by this stage). 

Malleefowl mound, Salt Creek Loop Road, SA

We didn’t bother waiting around, and instead did the Ngrugie Ngoppun walk (which means ‘good walk’ in Ngarrindjeri. We didn’t see a lot of birds, but it was a nice walk and we got some good views of the lagoon.

The Coorong, SA

The Coorong, SA

The Coorong, SA

Back at the Heart of the Coorong Roadhouse where we had dinner and stayed overnight, the owner Adam sussed out that we were here to see birds, and told us that second gate to Martins Washpool Reserve was the one we should’ve gone through, and that we could see malleefowl in there too, but also that we should let our tyres down to do the whole track. Since we didn’t bring a heavy duty compressor to pump the tyres back up, we decided the plan for the morning would be to drive along the track for a short distance and then walk in further to where Adam had seen plenty of malleefowl previously.

We did just that, and walked a long way in, but didn't come across any malleefowl mounds or the lake, however I did add emu and Australian ringneck to my year list, and there were a lot of kangaroos around. 

Martins Washpool Conservation Park, SA

We returned to the roadhouse where we had amazing egg and bacon sandwiches for breakfast, before heading back home via several lookout points along the Coorong. We went to Jacks Point to view the largest pelican breeding colony in Australia, and we could see hundreds of them across the lagoon on an island. The breeding colony is protected, and anyone going within 150m of it gets a big fine. The best spot we stopped at was Parnka Point, which juts out so far that it is the narrowest point of the Coorong and separates the northern lagoon from the southern lagoon. 

Parnka Point, Coorong, SA

Parnka Point, Coorong, SA

Parnka Point, Coorong, SA

I ended up seeing 59 species over the three days, including 19 additions to my 2017 SA list, and 3 lifers. Checklists for each site were submitted to eBird.org

SPECIES LIST

Emu

Magpie Goose

Black Swan

Australian Shelduck

Pacific Black Duck

Australasian Shoveler

Grey Teal

Chestnut Teal

Hardhead

Blue-billed Duck

Musk Duck

Hoary-headed Grebe

Little Pied Cormorant

Little Black Cormorant

Australian Pelican

White-faced Heron

Glossy Ibis

Australian White Ibis

Straw-necked Ibis

Royal Spoonbill

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Swamp Harrier

Whistling Kite

Australasian Swamphen

Dusky Moorhen

Eurasian Coot

Brolga

Black-winged Stilt

Australian Pied Oystercatcher

Masked Lapwing

Red-capped Plover

Latham's Snipe

Silver Gull

Whiskered Tern

Crested Pigeon

Brown Falcon

Galah

Australian Ringneck

Crimson Rosella

Rainbow Lorikeet

Southern Emu-wren

Superb Fairy-wren

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater

Red Wattlebird

Singing Honeyeater

White-fronted Chat

New Holland Honeyeater

Brown Thornbill

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

White-browed Babbler

Australian Magpie

Willie Wagtail

Grey Fantail

Magpie-lark

Little Raven

Welcome Swallow

Tree Martin

Silvereye

European Goldfinch