33 members of the Hunter Bird Observers Club spent the Easter period in the
Barraba region of NSW. Although the conditions were damp at times, the
birding was tremendous. For those not familiar, Barraba is located approx
360 km NNW of Newcastle (turn left off the New England Highway at
Tamworth). Lat/long readings for Barraba are around 30 deg 36' / 150 deg
36'.
We mostly birded at two locations - Borah Reserve which is 20 km E of
Barraba and along part of the Nangarah bird route which is 15 km W of the
town. I have never seen so many Turquoise Parrot as are present at Borah
Reserve - dozens of them were there.
The Barraba birdos, led by a dynamic gentleman named Russ Watts, have
aroused quite a bit of interest in their local community about
birding/eco-tourism, and there are sign-posted birding routes all over the
place (a pamphlet called "Bird Routes of Barraba" is available from the
Barraba Information Centre, as is a similar one about local geological
points of interest). The roads into Barraba have signs saying "Welcome to
Barraba - a habitat of the Regent Honeyeater" accompanied by a large
picture of the bird. I've returned home with a bottle of wine having a
Regent Honeyeater label on it (it was a De Bortoli Durif before it was
re-labelled).
The bird list for the 4 days was:
Brown Quail
Aust. Wood Duck
Pacific Black Duck
Little Pied Cormorant
Little Black Cormorant
Great Cormorant
White-faced Heron
Straw-necked Ibis
Black-shouldered Kite
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Aust Hobby
Nankeen Kestrel
Black-fronted Dotterel
Masked Lapwing
Common Bronzewing
Crested Pigeon
Peaceful Dove
Galah
Little Corella
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Rainbow Lorikeet
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet
Little Lorikeet
Aust King-Parrot
Crimson Rosella
Eastern Rosella
Red-rumped Parrot
Turquoise Parrot
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Aust Owlet-nightjar
Azure Kingfisher
Laughing Kookaburra
Rainbow Bee-eater
White-throated Treecreeper
Brown Treecreeper
Superb Fairy-wren
Variegated Fairy-wren
Spotted Pardalote
Striated Pardalote
White-browed Scrubwren
Speckled Warbler
Weebill
Western Gerygone
White-throated Gerygone
Inland Thornbill
Buff-rumped Thornbill
Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Yellow Thornbill
Striated Thornbill
Southern Whiteface
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
Striped Honeyeater
Noisy Friarbird
Little Friarbird
Regent Honeyeater
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Noisy Miner
Lewin's Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Fuscous Honeyeater
White-plumed Honeyeater
Black-chinned Honeyeater
Brown-headed Honeyeater
White-naped Honeyeater
Scarlet Honeyeater
Jacky Winter
Hooded Robin
Eastern Yellow Robin
Varied Sitella
Crested Shrike-tit
Golden Whistler
Rufous Whistler
Grey Shrike-thrush
Leaden Flycatcher
Restless Flycatcher
Magpie-lark
Grey Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike
Cicadabird
Olive-backed Oriole
Dusky Woodswallow
Grey Butcherbird
Pied Butcherbird
Aust Magpie
Pied Currawong
Aust Raven
Little Raven
Torresian Crow
White-winged Chough
Apostlebird
Richard's Pipit
Double-barred Finch
Plum-headed Finch
Red-browed Finch
Diamond Firetail
Mistletoebird
Welcome Swallow
Tree Martin
Rufous Songlark
Brown Songlark
Silvereye
Common Starling
I'd recommend a visit to Barraba for anyone travelling into northern NSW,
and I am looking forward to my next chance to get back there.
Alan Stuart
HBOC President
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