North-West QLD 2025 – Winton Day 1

My first few day stop on my trip was at Winton, I arrived pretty late in to Winton on the first night so grabbed a room at the hotel. A bit expensive but I needed a quick solution and allowed me to grab a parmi for dinner.

Winton Bore Water Treatment Plant
First thing in the morning I headed to the Bore Water Treatment Plant hoping to find the Little Grassbird with no luck. The area looked very good but was pretty quiet with only a few common species around including White-breasted Woodswallow, Gallah, Zebra Finch, Common Myna, Masked Lapwing, House Sparrow, a lone White-necked Heron, and White-plumed Honeyeater.

The early highlight was probably a Black-winged Kite sitting nicely and the Plum-headed Finch which is always a favourite of mine.

My best encounter at the bore water was a Rufous Songlark that was happy to come in very close to a fence post (I had to move back) and gave me every possible angle.

I left the bore plant a little disappointed as it looked like it had so much more potential, there were a couple of Great Egrets around but no other water type birds. The grass was in seed but there was not much feeding on it. I would imagine in times where water and food were a bit more scarce this spot would attract a lot more species.

I was very pleased however with the performance of the Nikon Z8 in the low morning light. I had the Nikon 180-600 on it with a 1.4TC and was worried this combo would struggle in such poor light but I ended up with some photos I was very happy with.

The Road to Lark Quarry

Heading out of Winton on the road to Lark Quarry I only got a couple of k’s down the road when I spotted a Brolga in one of the open plains beside the road.

Just driving then stopping when you see something interesting is one of my favourite ways to bird and explore. Not long further down the road a number of Diamond Dove were beside the road so I quickly pulled over for some more photos.

A creek crossing about 30k’s out of Winton was my next stop and this turned out to be a little hot spot with a number of species that you need to be out west to get. The first to get my attention was the Crimson Chat with a small flock present. Not yet into their full colours they were still a great site to see.

For whatever reason this little spot beside the creek turned out to be a hot spot with a mixed flock of species. The Red-backed Kingfisher was a target of mine to get some better photos of and one was sitting nicely in a tree.

Other species present included White-winged Triller and Hooded Robin neither of which where in colour. Black-faced Woodswallow, and more Diamond Dove were present. The Diamond Dove and White-winged Triller ended up being two of the most common species I saw on my trip.

Another bird on my upgrade photo wish list was the Spinifex Pigeon and at this spot I got my first encounter for the trip. it was great to get the classic upright pose shot.

I probably could have stayed longer at this spot but was keen to get back on the road so continued down the road for another 25k’s where a Brown Falcon sitting nicely close to the road made me pull over.

This turned out to be a great place to stop as out of nowhere a large mixed flock of Black-faced Woodswallow, Masked Wood Swallow, Budgerigar, White-winged Triller and a few other things suddenly appeared and landed in the trees nearby. This was one of those occasions where it was very difficult to focus your attention on one target and I probably missed a lot of great shots chasing the next thing that caught my eye. It was still great fun though with so many different species then I normally see.

Just as suddenly as they arrived they all took off again and I jumped back in the car and moved on. By this stage I thought I better get to Lark Quarry before it got to late in the day. My conscious effort was to only stop for reptiles and snakes or something very special. A Central Bearded Dragon got me to stop but other than that I remained on target. He did take some convincing that the road wasn’t the best place to stop though.

Finally arriving at the turn-off for Lark Quarry I noticed a big radio tower that was easy to get to and went in for a look. My hope was for the Grey Falcon as I had read that they like to be up high in the radio towers. I was in luck! Very distant shots with a heat haze as they were a long way up the tower but my first lifer for the trip.

Just past the tower 3 birds in flight got me excited as I thought I might have the Grey Falcon’s in flight, however they turned out to be just light phased Brown Falcons. My guess being a couple of young birds working on their flight skills as they play fighted and chased each other around.

By the time I pulled up at Lark Quarry it was the middle of the day. I missed the tour by about 30 minutes so decided to just do one of the short walks. It was very hot at this stage and the flies were getting pretty intense. You can find Southern Emu-wren here but at that time of the day my chances were slim to none. Apart from the calls of a Rufous Whistler and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater my only encounter was with a gorgeous little Slaters Ring Tailed Dragon, my first new reptile for the trip.

After Lark Quarry I intended to once again get to Opalton. I took the first turn-off coming from Lark Quarry with a road sign showing the road went through to many locations but somehow I must have missed a turn because the road came to what looked like a dead end with only 2 gated roads to choose from. One said no through road so I took the other which ran along side the fences and through multiple gates again. It felt like the wrong way but without any alternatives obvious I kept going until I blew a tire thanks to a large chunk of wire 🙁

Without a spare I was reluctant to keep going so decided to try and find a road heading back to the main road and came across a sign to a station. I recognised the station name from a sign coming off the main road earlier this morning so followed that back to the main road and started heading back towards Winton. I was still keen to get to Opalton but the thought of being stuck a long way from help with no spare tire was a bit off putting. My biggest issue now was that it would be late Saturday arvo by the time I got back to Winton so the chance of the tire place being open were very small. Sunday they definitely wouldn’t be open and Monday was a public holiday. My movements over the next few days were going to be a bit restricted.

Bladensburg National Park

Bladensburg National Park is not that far out of Winton so I thought I would set up camp there for a couple of days. I first went to Skull Waterhole for a look and despite it looking like a very likely place I saw very little wildlife only hearing one bird. My only photos were of a lone Wallaroo and then another Slaters Ring Tailed Dragon.

To continue my theme for the day I couldn’t find where you camp at Bladensburg NP so again headed back towards Winton, stopping to take a few extra photos of Red Kangaroo, more Zebra Finches, Australasian Grebe, and Rainbow Bee-eaters.

The free camp site on the edge of Winton called Long Waterhole was my camping spot for the night. The plains on the way in looked promising for further exploration but I was out of time for the day. A Nankeen Falcon was an easy capture before I put the camera away.

Long waterhole was a very pretty place to stay but also very popular with lots of other people around and even more popular with the flies. After a long day with some great sightings it was good to be able to set up the swag and have a feed.