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Over the weekend I decided to head to the extreme west and
east points of Central West NSW - these being Lake Cargelligo area in the west
and the Capertee Valley in the east.
Round Hill and Nombinnie NR ( where does Round Hill NR and
Nombinnie NR start and end?) were very overall very quiet, not helped by the
fact that the day began to start getting hot by 8 a.m. Whoey Tank only produced
several Spiny Cheeked Honeyeaters and a Striped Honeyeater. The wheat field, now
in Nombinnie NR according to the sign, was marginally more active with a couple
of male Variegated Fairywrens brightening up the area and many Rufous Whistlers.
I finally managed to get onto a Gilbert's Whistler (a tick thankyou very much)
but that was the best bird here.
Lake Cargelligo STW was the next stop. It was very hot, very
smelly and full of birds. Heaps of Red Necked Avocets and Glossy Ibis, Marsh
Sandpipers, Red Capped Plover and Sharp Tailed Stints, a pair of Banded
Lapwings, Black Tailed Native Hens among the waterbirds. My best birds here were
two small birds with yellowish wash on the breast, bright yellow rumps and
wagging tails. They were starting to give me silly ideas of being Yellow
Wagtails? until the male turned up, a very bright Orange Chat - very
spectacular.
Sunday was the Capertee Valleys turn. White Browed
Woodswallows and Rufous Songlarks were everywhere but there was a definite lack
of any lorikeets and many honeyeaters. Coco Creek was particularly active with
Yellow Tufted, New Holland and a Black Chinned Honeyeater being here - the only
honeyeaters I actually saw around. The Double Barred Finches were in place as
was a Southern Whiteface. At Glen Alice there was a Turquoise Parrot.
Overall, the weekend gave me 112 birds which was a good total
considering how warm and dry everywhere looked.
Regards Steve Gross
Orange NSW
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