OBP still at Maroubra

[Frank Hemmings <>]

I was walking through the heathland south of Maroubra beach where the
Orange Bellied Parrot had been seen before, and where I had made a number
of unsuccessful attempts to locate it, and was fairly dumbstruck to see
it sitting in some dead branches of tea tree (Leptospermum
laevigatum) at around 2:50pm.  Unfortunately I did not have my
binoculars, but then the bird was obligingly only about 5m away, so could
get some fairly good views of it.  Also unfortunately it was
backlit, but I managed to manouevre around the shrubs to get slightly
better side lighting. I observed it for about 15min as it sat in the
branches, and occasionally moved through to some other perches in the
shrub, but after that it flew down to ground level and I temporarily lost
it.  

I was later joined by David Hair at around 3:30 and we flushed it twice,
getting only passing views in flight both times, but couldn't relocate it
after that and we both had to return to work. It was silent whilst
perched in the tea tree, but did give the buzzing trill call when it
flew.  Binoculars would have helped a lot, but I am certain it was
the same bird seen previously at that location, and looked like an OBP to
me (even given it was my first observation of one). Just thought some of
you might like to know.  Cheers.
Frank

Frank Hemmings
Curator
John T. Waterhouse Herbarium
School of Biological, Environmental and Earth Sciences
University of New South Wales
UNSW SYDNEY 2052
AUSTRALIA

Tel +61 2 9385 3274
Fax +61 2 9385 1558