Gluepot

Being in South Australia, I just couldn't leave without popping into Gluepot! It was 'kinda' on my way home anyway. The weather wasn't flash for photography, but dull days in the mallee tend to make for more interesting birding, especially for ground feeders that seem to feel safer coming to ground in the cover of dullness. The first section I visited was great for Parrots. Budgies, Mulga Parrots and the much nicer form to the eye of Mallee Ringneck (than the Port Lincoln form which I'd being seeing further west). I watched all three species of parrot feed on the ground nearby. Always good to see budgies behave like this, since other times I'd seen them they have been safe in the tops of gums. The unmistakeable call of a Gilberts Whistler whistled in the distants, so I went to check it out. I found a very scruffy and damp looking Whistler, which seemed to match nicely their aloof mannerisms. White-browed and Masked Woodswallows performed acrobatics in the trees..stretching there wings and pretending to fly even when perched. A small lizard, a kind of dragon I think, scurried around between spinifex clumps across the damp sand. My main reason for visiting Gluepot, was to try to locate some Black-eared Miners that the reserve is famous for. In contrast to previous visits, I found a group of them very easily, and even found a second group on my way out. I watched as a young was being fed insects by the adults. Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters were forever present, but since the weather was getting worse, I decided to keep moving onwards and cross the border into Victoria.