Hi Murray. Hooray, hooray, at last someone else has found the 40 spots at
Peter Murrell. I was there in Jan '98 and had them like you at eye level
just near the pond. I've been telling people about it ever since and have
received nothing but cynical smiles from unbelievers. It certainly is an
easy place to see them, saves going over to Bruny (poor Tonia !)or risking
going on private land at Tinderbox ( although I also had them just round
the corner NW from there as well).
However, the tricky one is still that b... Scrubtit!!
Cheers. Tony
At 11:54 14/06/99 -0400, you wrote:
>I was in Hobart for the long weekend, and visited a site that has Forty
spotted Pardalotes and is very close to Hobart. Whilst the place has been
known to birders for a few years I don't think it has ever been mentioned
on birding-aus and isn't in any of the major site guides so I thought it
worth posting details.
>
>It is called the Peter Murrell Nature Reserve and is at Huntingfield, just
south of Hobart. To get there take the Southern Outlet from Hobart,
following the signs to Blackmans Bay when you get to the end. Continue
onwards until you get to the Australian Antarctic Division offices. Just
afterwards you get to a roundabout (where traffic to Blackmans Bay goes
left). Go straight on and turn left about fifty metres after the
roundabout. Continue along that road for, I guess, almost a kilometre
until you come to the very large Vodafone building. Immediately after that
you will see a sign to the reserve. Turn left onto the dirt track and
drive 200m to the end.
>
>I visited briefly in the middle of an overcast day and lots of birds were
present. As I drove there I could see two Wedge tailed Eagles circling in
the distance. Shortly after getting out of the car I heard a squawk in a
tree nearby and saw a Brown Falcon fly out. After it disappeared I turned
my attention to what had made it fly and found a white phase Grey Goshawk
was sitting there. I had a great look at it before it flew off, chased by
Forest Ravens.
>
>Within five minutes of getting out of the car I could hear Forty spots
calling. I soon tracked them down to the large eucalypts in the paddock
between the waterhole and the road. The birds were feeding at eye level
and could be seen very well. There were probably about six calling. I
later hear them calling in the trees around the waterhole as well.
>
>Other Tasmanian endemics seen there were Tasmanian Native Hen, Yellow
Wattlebird, Yellow throated Honeyeater and Black headed Honeyeater. Dusky
Robins are apparently seen there too, though I did not record any. It
would therefore be possible to see all the Tasmanian endemics by visiting
just this site and Fern Tree.
>
>Murray Lord
>Sydney
>
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Tony Russell,
45, Ridgefield Ave.,
Paradise.
Adelaide, South Australia
Ph: 08 8337 5959
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