Dear All,
Spent last weekend in Rushworth State Forest and Graytown-Heathcote
National Park, which together form one of the largest Box-Ironbark Forests
in Victoria. The forest is located approximately 120 km north of Melbourne
on the inland slopes of the Great Dividing Range. This area has been
affected by the drought for the past five or more years. There has been
some recent rain in the forest and there is a reasonably good flowering of
Ironbark at the moment, as a consequence nectivorous bird numbers were
higher than in most recent years. Small bush bird numbers were still low.
The trip was part of an ongoing Brush-tailed Phascogale monitoring program
but did allow a little time for birding. A few birds of interest were seen
including a small flock of Noisy Friarbirds, which is the first time I've
seen this species in the forest for a few years. Both Fan-tailed Cuckoo and
Olive-backed Oriole had decided to overwinter with the Oriole being
conspicuously vocal. Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters were also seen and this area
probably represents the south-eastern edge of their distribution.
Interestingly this bird is usually seen in roughly the same area of the
forest, a fairly pure stand of Ironbarks, quite a distance from the closest
patches of mallee.
The mammal list was also good with Brush-tailed Phascogale, Squirrel
Glider, Sugar Glider, Common Brushtail, Common Ringtail, Swamp Wallaby and
Eastern Grey Kangaroo.
Bibron's Toadlet, which are calling at this time of year, rounded out the
fauna list.
Cheers
Stuart Dashper
Bird List
Masked Lapwing
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Galah
Red-rumped Parrot
Musk Lorikeet
Little Lorikeet
Eastern Rosella
Crimson Rosella
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Laughing Kookaburra
Weebill
Buff-rumped Thornbill
Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Striated Pardalote
Spotted Pardalote
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Crested Shrike-tit
Restless Flycatcher
Willie Wagtail
White-browed Babbler
Brown Treecreeper
White-throated Treecreeper
Grey Shrike Thrush
Golden Whistler
Olive-backed Oriole
New Holland Honeyeater
Fuscous Honeyeater
White-eared Honeyeater
Brown-headed Honeyeater
Yellow-plumed Honeyeater
White-plumed Honeyeater
Yellow-tufted Honeyeater
Noisy Friarbird
Red Wattlebird
Noisy Miner
Yellow Robin
Scarlet Robin
Jacky Winter
Southern Whiteface
Superb Fairywren
Welcome Swallow
White-winged Chough
Grey Currawong
Australian Raven
Australian Magpie
House Sparrow
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