WINTON BIRDING

Common roadside specie - Black faced Woodswallow

Winton is a place that I have been visiting for a long time. Popular with tourists and grey nomads, Winton first got noticed when it took advantage of a tenuous link with a visiting poet and the writing of a famous ballad and thus the ‘Waltzing Matilda Centre’ was born. More recently it has taken advantage of its links with the deep past, first with Lark Quarry  - the site of a Dinosaur Stampede – and then the Winton Age of Dinosaurs Museum – a genuine natural history museum specialising in the display of fossils from the surrounding area.

Red backed Kingfisher

And it has birds.

And it was for the birds first that I visited thirty years before with one Kath Shurcliff. I remember the trip fondly, for despite the mechanical issues, I did score multiple lifers.

And it was for the birds I returned with, what was then, the Townsville Bird Observer’s Club multiple times through the 90’s.

And it is the birds that I have returned for now.

And it is these birds and these places that Steve and I want to share in coming years.  

We have a few great days with great birds and the odd frustration as well birding around the greater Winton area. These days will be the subjects of the next blogging pages.

A single female Budgie