Hi birders,
This is the first chance I've had in a while to write up some of my
recent bird news from the Blue Mountains. People sometimes imagine
the mountains to be too cold in winter to see many birds, but this is
far from the case. In fact it can be the best time to see many of the
area's specials. But the seasons change and spring is now in the air.
As I write this I can hear a Rose Robin calling, and the flowering
plum across the road from my house contains at least 20 Red-whiskered
Bulbuls poking about in the flowers for nectar.
This winter has been a really good one for the flowering of banksias
and consequently honeyeaters have descended onto the heathlands in
droves. At Shipley Plateau near Blackheath, eleven species of
honeyeater have been regularly seen, including Yellow-tufted and
Fuscous, species not often found in the upper mountains. On 5th
August and again on the 28th, the numbers of Yellow-faced and
White-naped had to be seen to be believed: constantly chasing each
other, swirling around in little flocks and calling from deep within
the banksia shrubs. White-eared and Brown-headed have also set up
camp at this site. Narrow Neck peninsula near Katoomba is another
recent hotspot with Crescent Honeyeaters adding to the activity there.
The spring (reverse) migration of Yellow-faced and White-naped
Honeyeaters has got underway during the past month and, although not
usually as spectacular as the autumn migration, it will be
interesting to hear how the numbers develop after the phenomenal
numbers that moved through last autumn.
This has also been a very good year for the Petroica (red) robins in
this area. I'd been despairing at the decline of both Flame and
Scarlet Robins as my sightings of these gorgeous birds seemed to get
fewer and fewer over recent years. But this season I've been
heartened to see them with more regularity. Memorable sightings over
winter included a group of 7 male Flame Robins in the Megalong Valley
on 10th August. On 7th July in the Capertee Valley, I had the great
experience of seeing male Scarlet, Flame and Red-capped Robins all
within a couple of minutes in the same paddock. In the last couple of
weeks, Scarlet and Flame Robins have now returned to their breeding
areas at Shipley where Scarlets were seen building a nest on the 28th.
I already posted about the Square-tailed Kite we saw at Shipley on
28th August. This is only my second record of that species for the
upper Blue Mountains, though I've heard of two other reports over the
years (not including the lower mountains where they are more
frequent).
Despite what the books say, I most often encounter Pilotbirds in
heathy clifftop areas, especially in winter when they come up out of
the gullies more. (This could also have something to do with the fact
that I tend to spend lots of time in winter on heathy clifftop areas!
However the point is, they can certainly be found in this habitat.)
At both Narrow Neck and Evans Lookout I've occasionally had
Rockwarbler and Pilotbird together in the one binocular view. On 10th
and 11th August I had the pleasure of guiding Nigel Marven of
'Prehistoric Park' fame. Nigel is a keen and competent birder and his
first view of a Pilotbird was one which emerged, completely
unexpectedly from the shrubs on Narrow Neck while we were looking at
Crescent Honeyeaters.
Another species Nigel wanted to see was Tawny-crowned Honeyeater,
which we easily found displaying high above the heath at Mt Hay in
its distinctive song-flight, before dropping to shrub level and
posing in full view for us on an exposed branch.
I've been seeing fairly large winter flocks of Yellow-tailed
Black-Cockatoos at Woodford (c.60) and Kings Tableland (c.50), but
Glossies have been much harder than usual to find at their regular
haunts. One of the Glossy Black-Cockatoos reported by Neil Kirby at
Springwood Cemetery on 11th July was still there on 5th August.
Blue-billed Ducks are still at the Lithgow sewage ponds. They seem to
have become entrenched there and I usually see between 3 and 6 on
each visit.
A pair of Grey Currawongs began nesting at Blackheath in the first
week of August. On the 27th at Murphy's Glen, the forest was alive
with Shining Bronze-Cuckoos, all calling persistently and being
chased by smaller birds. A number of honeyeaters were focussing their
attention on the decorticating bark of the Blue Gums (E. deanei). On
the 28th, a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike was an unusual sighting on
Narrow Neck - the first time I've ever seen one this high up the
mountains. It was travelling through no doubt.
The upper Blue Mountains is approximately 100km west of Sydney and
around 1000 metres above sea level.
cheers
Carol
--
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Carol Probets
PO Box 330
Katoomba NSW 2780
Phone (02) 4782 1831
Email:
Guided birding in the Blue Mountains & Capertee Valley
ABN 73 550 267 027
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