12 December 2022
Leader: Rob Grosvenor
It was lovely to see 15 hardy souls gather to birdwatch what could have been 100 acres of sodden bush. Quite a few donned their waterproof over pants in anticipation of a wet outing. Mercifully, we had two and a half hours of scudding clouds, a little sunshine and only a few drops of rain. The car park yielded a few species as we waited for everyone to arrive. A couple of Wood Duck, some Welcome Swallow, Magpie-lark, and a flyover Australian White Ibis. Little Raven and Noisy Miners were also present.
We thanked Diane for all her years organising the Midweek outings and welcomed Phillip into the role.
A prior recce of the site had established a few problems with fallen trees and extensive water over some paths. Our route through the woodland was tailored accordingly. After a slow start where sounds dominated, and sightings were restricted to glimpses we were presented with some lovely views of a rather tolerant male Common Bronzewing.
We proceeded past Green Dam and came across both Crimson and Eastern Rosella before being surprised by a beautiful Australian King-parrot.
Rainbow Lorikeets and Noisy Miners were very active around here along with a Pied Currawong and a Laughing Kookaburra.
An Australian White Ibis was seen landing in a nearby garden, and an Australian Magpie was heard. The parrot family though, was keen to make its presence felt with a flyover by 2 Galahs and a fly past by 2 Little Corellas, and just as we got near Brown Dam a flyover of 5 Sulphur Crested Cockatoos one of which presented for a photo.
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike also turned up here, submitting to the photographer’s lens.
Small birds were hard to find, and up to this point we’d managed 1 Brown Thornbill and a heard a few Spotted Pardalotes. We continued along Ridge Track and heard Grey Fantail as well as spotting a secretive Superb Fairy-wren. Bird Corner didn’t turn up much for us at the end of the group, but we did hear a Common Blackbird and a White-throated Treecreeper before descending the Northern Boundary Track.
As we neared Chris’s Track the Red Wattlebirds, which had been evident by their calls, revealed themselves along with a few more Superb Fairy-wrens. A Grey Butcherbird also made a brief appearance here.
Descending to Tadpole Dam more Red Wattlebirds became evident, a Grey Shrike-thrush was calling, and another Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike turned up. The Olive-backed Oriole’s rolling call was heard again by some in the group, but it proved rather elusive. Tea Tree Track provided a brief spell of LBJ activity with 2 groups of Thornbills – Brown working the middle canopy and a flock of Striated up top.
We then headed back to the car park and doing a final check with the lead group we were able to add a few more species to the list…Eastern Yellow Robin, Eastern Spinebill, and Fan-tailed Cuckoo. A quick walk over to the far side of the oval yielded some nice views of Eastern Rosellas and an Australian Magpie fossicking around in the grass. No Water birds apart from the Wood Duck and no Whistlers. On a more positive note, we didn’t record any Common Starlings or Common Mynas.
32 Species all up was a very satisfactory total for the morning.
Photos kindly provided by Eleanor Dilley and Steve Hoptroff.
Phillip.
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