A brief report for a weeks trip to the Chiltern box-ironbark woodlands and
Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park in Victoria's north east.
Date: 27 December 2007 - 3 January 2008
Weather: fine, hot days with mostly cool nights. Temperatures each day
around 30+ Celsius.
Summary
The Chiltern area of the national park is continuing to show the effects
of reduced rainfall. The understorey in many places was largely absent.
some dams were dry and in a few places many trees were showing signs of
water stress and/or insect damage with the outer twigs lacking leaf cover.
The past season had experienced little flowering or nectar production in
the ironbarks and this has contributed to the lack of honeyeaters and
small insectivorous birds normally found in this area.
Both the abundance and variety of birds was noticeably down this summer
compared to summer 05/06.
Some of the more interesting sightings during our week there are as
follows:
Glossy Ibis - single birds recorded at Chiltern Valley Dam no. 1, CV dam
no. 2 and the 'Barambogie Block' of the park near the freeway.
Australasian Shoveler at Barambogie Block (this tends to be the most
regular site the species appears in at Chiltern).
A single Intermediate Egret at Chiltern Valley dam no. 1
Latham's Snipe at CV dam no. 1 and Barambogie Block
Leaden Flycatcher (pair) off Koala Tk
Dollarbird at Chiltern Valley dam no. 2
Bee-eaters near Skeleton Hill Tk.
Although hot, we got out in the mornings and late afternoon to record the
above birds. Always worth a trip to this area of Victoria.
cheers, Martin
Some relevant links
Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park ->
http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm?park=93
Chiltern Bird Trails -> http://www.tourisminternet.com.au/chbird.htm
Chiltern Historic Drive -> http://www.tourisminternet.com.au/chdrive.htm
Chiltern Information Centre ->
http://www.abcmaps.com.au/RetailerPages/Chiltern.htm
Walkabout Chiltern ->
http://www.walkabout.com.au/locations/VICChiltern.shtml
Chiltern (Tourism Victoria web site) >
http://www.visitvictoria.com/displayobject.cfm/objectid.000BBB47-05F0-1F7D-83FC80C476A90000/vvt.vhtml
Martin O'Brien
Melbourne
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