Parnka Point

As previously mentioned, I’m in South Australia for work this week and decided to take the opportunity to fulfil a dream that predates birdwatching for me: to visit the Coorong.

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The Coorong is split into two huge lagoons which connected at a narrow channel called Hells Gate. A small headland extends toward this channel – this is Parnka Point, and it was one of the two main sites that I visited.

I went twice, spending a couple of hours there mid-morning on Monday 23 and from dawn on Tuesday 24 March.

Turning in I was very pleased to almost immediately see a family of emu – an adult of three juveniles – feeding quite close to the road. They tolerated me for a minute or so but reasonably quickly turned and headed away from my car.

My first trip I drove in past Avocet campground (1) and stopped at Pelican campground (2). Only one site was occupied – they were out having a coffee next to their caravan in the sun – so it was fairly quiet. As was common on this trip, I immediately heard both singing honeyeaters and red wattlebirds.

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Small groups of 10-12 Australian pelicans were gathered in different spots along the shore, usually accompanied by a mix of teals or cormorants. Flocks of silver gulls, crested terns and Australian shelduck would pass by overhead at regular intervals. On both visits, I found two musk ducks, one on either side of Hells Gate.

There’s a small trail along the shore toward the point which I followed down, finding two Australian raven, crested pigeon, and silvereye.

One of my big targets throughout the Coorong was elegant parrot, a small neophema parrot that is common across western and southern Australia but isn’t regularly found much further east than here. I got excited at Piccaninnie Ponds the day before when I heard the unmistakeable buzzing call of a neophema overhead, but it turned out to be blue-winged parrot. A great find and new for me both in South Australia and for 2026, but not a lifer.

It was again a buzzing overhead that first alerted me – what sounded like two flying over and heading west toward the point. I couldn’t see them to confirm but it gave me a good lead. I climbed up from the shore to the road, and was immediately rewarded: six little parrots had landed in a nearby coastal beard-heath and were cautiously watching me. Elegant parrots, no doubt about it.

In the end they were a constant companion while here, a curious and slightly flighty one.

After pursuing these parrots I found noisy miner, another crested pigeon and more singing honeyeaters. A grey butcherbird called from somewhere to the south. I also found a pair of Austrlaian pipits wandering along the ground here, flicking their tail and propping up on stones to watch me in the way that they do. By now the heat was really lifting off the ground and every photo I have of them is pretty hazy, but it was nice to see some – my first of the year.

I returned to the road and was approached by Robert B, a birder I met at Lake Albert Caravan Park, who has visited this location previously. He let me know that the elegant parrots were present in large numbers down at the point earlier that morning and that he was returning to photograph them. He also mentioned a common greenshank had been present there. He drove ahead and I followed slowly on foot.

I’m glad that I did, because I was only a few steps up the road when I heard the thin, high-pitched call of a male southern emuwren. I got a terrible ID shot and not more than that before it moved on and I decided not to pursue it – the harsh light, clear skies and open habitat was ruining all my photos even before I’d taken them.

I had one more very happy surprise as I approached the point: a bizarre flat call that I heard repeated but took me way too long to identify as that of a firetail, in this case my first ever beautiful firetail. From a lookout (3) I was able to spot a single individual sitting up in a tree calling. Birds of the World tells me they’re about the same size as a diamond firetail, but for whatever reason this one appeared to be a lot bigger than my memory of that related species.

Finally reaching the point (4) just in time to watch Robert drive off, I did find the common greenshanks that he mentioned (though I found eight, not one), as well as a great egret, more Australian pelicans, a couple of masked lapwings and hoary-headed grebes out on the water.

In the foliage around the point itself there were willie wagtail, superb fairywren and Australian magpie, as well as more singing honeyeater and silvereye.

A small flock of little raven and two Caspian terns flew overhead.

The elegant parrots were still passing overhead but I couldn’t find them in any reasonable spots to photograph so I turned back toward my car, taking the road the whole way this time rather than the trail by the shore.

Again, this turned out to be the right choice: I had a small flock of Pacific swifts hawking only 5 – 10m over my head. I’ve only ever seen this species a couple of times before, only at great distance, in the middle of a storm front, and very high up in the air. I never would have expected to find them on a perfectly clear day at sea level only metres above me.

They were so close that I actually struggled to take photographs of them as they zoomed around – I couldn’t track them while at full zoom and ended up shooting a bunch of mediocre shots at ~360mm. They stuck with me on my whole walk back to the car.

Day two went much the same as day one. I had fewer species overall but was more singularly focussed on trying to get elegant parrot shots in the soft light.

They were very easy to find here as they moved between observing from the coastal lignum and shrubby glasswort and feeding down on the ground. There was a lot of introduced European heliotrope covering the ground in a few spots around the point, which the parrots seemed to absolutely love. Any time I lost track of them – which was regularly, because they are small, blend into the foliage, and move to a new location with little provocation – I just cycled back to a different patch and inevitably found them again.

I got some cute shots, but not quite what I was after – they’re pretty low-light and distant.. They’re so wary when they’re on the ground and required more time and patience than I had on that particular day. Next time I visit I’ll camp at one of the two sites nearby, get there pre-dawn with some camo on, and just wait.

I’m very happy to have that excuse to return though, it has quickly shot to near the top of my favourite places to bird.

On my second day I also briefly stopped near Avocet campground and walked out to the shore from here. It was overcast and mid-morning, and there was far less activity. Still, I found my first spiny-cheeked honeyeater and New Holland honeyeaters for the site, so that was nice. I thought that I heard a rufous bristlebird calling as well but wasn’t confident enough to record it, so left without this apparently common species on my list. Next time!