27 -> 28 June 2004 - cold & dry
Mt Mee
Life has been v.busy on the mountain just lately, so not a lot of
birdwatching. However, I did spend a couple of days further up along
the range, north of the actual 'township' of Mt Mee, where a few
exciting sightings came my way.
We were staying in an isolated house out on an exposed spur.
The building itself is further exposed by having had all bushland
cleared to a radius of about 100 yards downhill around it. A fence
puts the house in a 'lawned' home-paddock of about an acre, and on
the south-west side of the house is a garden shrubbery. Outside the
fence are cattle, and a dam. The whole setting is generally drier,
windier, and colder than we are accustomed to.
The birding pleasures here were different from those we're
used to, even just fifteen minutes away along the range. Four main
observations were:-
- The birds visiting the open lawned area between the house
and the fence were almost all 'black and white' birds.
- The local pair of Torresian Crows were seen to land on the
backs of the cattle. Though the poddies were largely spared attention
by the birds, the big, slow-moving cows with, presumably, a pelt full
of ticks, etc., seemed to tolerate the crows for a minute or two
before swinging around irritably. The crows did not persevere.
- Striated Pardalotes were nesting in banks at two sites on
the property. About 150 yards separated the two nest areas seen. The
most closely observed bank proved to have two holes in it, several
inches apart. One had a largish opening and funnelled quickly to a
dead-end. The other had such a tiny opening as to be almost-missable!
The tunnel led out of sight, and the floor of it was sparsely but
evenly scattered with grass 'clippings'. It seemed to be this tunnel
that the birds were flying down to, from a nearby eucalypt, the
lowest facing branch of which appeared to be the regular staging post
used by the birds when approaching the nest. The pair was hard at
work flying to and fro, and quite vocal, once the sun came onto their
patch. (Once I thought I saw three birds leave the tunnel
opening...but only once.)...Given how v.cold the nights here were, it
was all quite a surprise to us.
- Not long before our stay ended, I had a first: a Shining
Bronze Cuckoo. Though my books often declare cuckoos to be difficult
to identify, this one certainly appeared to be a 'Golden', race
plagosus. I was more confused by the variation in migration info
given by each of the books...The bird itself cared nothing for all
this. It was keeping its activities mostly private within the foliage
of a large bush /small tree, but each time I crunched my feet on the
rocks/gravel, it appeared on one emergent branch or another and
seemed to check me out. What a splendid, glistening little creature!
Quite silent.
Lots of other birds away down in the gullies...But still,
home is better!
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Judith L-A
S-E Qld
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