What better way to spend a stinking hot afternoon than sitting in the shade
beside a waterhole in the bush.
On arriving at a little dam at the site of a former eucalyptus still in the
mallee vegetation near Inglewood in central Vic on the weekend I was a bit
disappointed at the almost total lack of birdlife.
Having spent a few previous hot afternoons here enjoying non stop drinking
action (the birds that is), I was baffled at the lack of activity. To make
it worse I had invited along a budding birdwatcher. The more times I told
him that I'd never seen it so quiet, the more I felt like a part of some
barmy army! The two of us had driven for some 40 minutes to the middle of
nowhere to sit and look at an empty dam!
After 20 minutes a lone White-eared Honeyeater came down for a drink. Then a
few more birds calling around and about but not coming down to the water.
A White-browed Babbler flew across our view into a small wattle nearby and
then whooosh....a male Brown Goshawk exploded from a nearby tree ,made a
beeline for the Babbler and missed. The Goshawk sat nearby for a
while,probably getting equally as frustrated at the view of a lifeless dam
as we were until it finally buzzed off through the mallee behind us.
We sat for another few minutes,until the bush telegraph finally came through
with the message that the coast was finally clear.
>From then on our main problem was too many birds to look at and id. Hordes
of honeyeaters totalling 10 different species came in at close range, along
with pardalotes,Weebills,Thornbills and Diamond firetails while Shy
Heathwrens and Crested Bellbirds called in the background.
The afternoon was saved! and my faith restored.
I'll be back before too long .
Cheers all
Simon Starr.
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