From: Martin on 21/03/2000 10:07 AM
To:
cc:
Subject: Wilson's Prom by boat, 18-19 March 2000
A group of biologists and bushwalkers enjoyed an interesting flora and fauna
weekend at Victoria's Wilson's Promontory National Park, South Gippsland.
We travelled by boat in the moonlit darkness from Port Welshpool to the
north-east corner of the Promontory landing on Tin Mine Cove beach. The evening
was warm and waters of Corner Inlet glassy which meant we could hear the soft
call of a Southern Boobook (owl) Ninox novaeseelandiae in the coastal scrub and
'chip-chip' calls of the White-striped Freetail Bat Tardarida australis overhead
as we alighted. Puuting up a tent in the moonlight wasn't as difficult as we
anticipated but picking out level ground was.
The morning brought a subdued chorus of birds, partly due to the lack of
flowering trees at the time and dense tea-tree understorey in this part of the
coast. Superb Fairy Wrens, White-browed Scrubwrens and the odd Forest Raven
maintained the campsite vigil. Away from camp, on the track to Lighthouse Point
on the eastern side of the Promontory, we recorded mainly Crescent Honeyeaters
and some Eastern Spinebills with a single Common Bronzewing in recently burnt
heath and a pair of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos with their strong but 'lazy'
flight. The reptiles were also out and we recorded juvenile Blotched
Blue-tongues, White's Skink and White-lipped Snake on the track enjoying the
afternoon sunshine. Birding highlights were the resident pair of White-bellied
Sea-Eagles patrolling the coast, Beautiful Firetails, Striated Thornbills and
Fairy Wrens bathing in Tin Mine Creek and Pacific Gulls in full adult plumage on
the beach.
This secluded part of the national park gave us a wonderful feeling of solitude
with the only man-made sounds being small planes overhead on the Sunday. Tin
Mine Cove can be reached by a longish walk from Millers Landing Carpark or a
boat trip with permission from Parks Victoria to camp and alight on the shore.
A spot well worth visiting again when the banksia's are in flower and the
ecological burns have started to have an impact.
Martin O'Brien
Department of Natural Resources and Environment
4/250 Victoria Pde.,
East Melbourne 3002
AUSTRALIA
Tel: 9412 4567
Fax: 9412 4586
(prefixes: Interstate 03 International 613)
email:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to
Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus"
in the message body (without the quotes)
|
