Damien,
Would the "Greenfinches" have been White-plumed Honeyeters? There
were many flocks of these down the GD road today. Curiously enough
they're also called "Greenies" by country folk!
Any chance of somebody telling us where the Gilbert Whistler was seen
on the road too please? It would be useful to look out for this next
time.
Cheers
Alan
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On 23 Jun 2006, at 14:16, Damien Farine wrote:
5 wonderful days of adventure were spent travelling through the
fantastic variety of country that the Western Slopes has to offer.
After driving to Bathurst on Saturday night from Wollongong, a chilly
morning brought me my first new bird for the trip, none other than a
common blackbird.. one of those I never got around to ticking! A
lap of Mt Panorama (alot more fun than I ever had anticipated) and a
tour of the wonderful houses around town, and we were on our way,
next stop Macquarie Woods. This small forestry demonstration area
has a lovely camping ground, though was a bit chilly this particular
morning. A walk around the camp grounds brought the usual suspects;
crimson rosella, galah and so on. However upon driving back towards
the highway, the previously empty dams had suddenly filled with
birds, starting with great views of a Pacific Heron, and then Blue-
billed Ducks (another tick!).
Now we were onto the Burrendong Arboretum. An interesting place
this, didn't know what to expect, was just a red dot on my map, but
it bround me three new birds in the form of White-winged Cough,
Spiney-cheeked Honeyeater, and a bunch of Little Lorikeets. Also of
interest (to me) was passing an old Studebaker 6x6 Army truck now
being used as a water-hauler (Studes being my other passion). No
great highlights then as we headed for Dubbo.
The next morning was spent at the Zoo (as you do) though the grounds
surrounding the zoo proved lucrative in flushing out White-browed
Babblers and a Yellow-billed Spoonbill (both new to me again). That
afternoon we headed for the Warrumbungles, with a few stops along the
way all very quiet in terms of birds (it was getting late so none of
the walks were an option). However, a visit to the Siding Springs
observatory right on closing time brought the most unexpected of
birds for the trip, a Spotted Quail-thrush! I didn't even know these
buggers existed, but after some good views, I was happy to add it to
my list of ticks for the trip.
We spent the next two nights in Barradine, which we found totally by
chance and much to my surprise having never heard of Piliga State
Forest before! However we gladly spent the next day buzzing around
doing some 4wd-ing in the Corolla, racking up about 400ks of dirt
roads and an impressive list of new birds (nearly everything I saw!)
That day I added Crested Bellbird, Peaceful Dove, Speckled Warbler,
Brown treecreeper, Hooded Robin, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Striped
Honeyeater, Brown-headed Honeyeater, Chestnut-rumped Thornbill,
Diamond Firetail, Ring-necked Parrot, and Yellow-throated Miner.
The following morning it was off to the Mudgee area, starting with an
early morning drive through the back-roads and farmlands, seeing a
great many parrots, an unidentified (though suspected) Harrier, and
adding Blue-bonnet Parrot to my list. The long kilometers and many
towns to visit made this a quiet day in bird-counts, though a late
afternoon visit to Dunn's Swamp gave us great views of Superb
Lyrebirds in full-breeding doing their dance and calls all through
the area, a Restless Flycatcher buzzing about and a Musk Duck doing
some fishing.
The final day was the lottery, with a visit to the Capertee valley.
What a spot this is! Yet took us a while to find having missed the
turnoff! Once we finally got in there we had several good views of
Brown Falcons feeding on wombat carcasses, while the first tick for
me that day was a Crested Shrike-tit along Crown Station Road. A
nice moment happened here when I found myself surround with Red-
rumped Parrots and Spotted Pardalotes. I also spotted several flocks
of what I could only imagine were greenfinches, could this be right?
Heading towards Glen Davis (time was running out due to our 60km
detour), and we took to road going towards Wollemi National Park. At
the intersection, we had great views of a Zebra Finch feeding on the
road in front of the car (tick!). After chasing frogs at the creek
crossing just after the national parks entrance while surrounded by
Crimson Rosellas, a flash of yellow flew past and a large flock of
Turquoise Parrots flew in. Back towards Glen Davis again, just
before getting into town we met a very affectionate and friendly baby
wombat who must have been orphaned. Though looking a bit lost, he
was feeding well and we watched over him until he retreated into the
fields. Heading out of the valley I ran into another bird-watcher
who, though also having missed out on Regents thus far, did tell me
that he got great views the previous day of a Gilbert's Whistler in
the valley! A visit to the same spot proved far less fruitious for
me, the highlight being my peanut butter sandwich.
Finally, it was off to Katoomba where, after a few detours through
more dirt roads, national parks, and towns containing no more than a
cow, a house and a pub, we finally found our way back to the main
road to say goodbye to our dirt road adventures and a race against
dark and fog to see the three sisters. Stopping along the way at
Evan's lookout, I saw no Rock-warblers, but was surprised again when
a White-eared Honeyeater landed right in front of me (tick)! Again
the last thing I expected to see, though knew what it was straight
away as I had been after them at Piliga. Some more dodgy navigating
(we actually had a map of Katoomba!) and we made it to Echo Point,
with just enough light to catch the Three Sisters, a few Rock-
warblers (tick) hopping around with the White-browed Scrubwrens, and
evade the outrageous parking fees!
All in all, a successful trip with 26 lifers and confirmation of the
Greenfinches pending. A full list of birds seen to follow.
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