birding-aus

Gloucester Tops NSW 20/9/09 - trip report

To: birding birding-aus <>
Subject: Gloucester Tops NSW 20/9/09 - trip report
From: David Stowe <>
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:43:17 +1000
Hi all,
Inspired by Peter Marsh's fantastic report from last week (and further by Nikolas!) Grant Brosie, Nick Livanos, Peter Madvig and I made a day trip up to Gloucester Tops yesterday to try to see the Rufous Scrub- bird!

We drove slowly along Kerrepit Rd listening but didn't hear anything so went to the gate to walk further. Along the track to Carey's Peak about 200-300m past the information board we heard our other target - Olive Whistler. Calling loudly were a pair that took a while to get views of but our patience was rewarded. (My first new bird of the day!) While walking back to the car we took a side track where we heard our first scrub-bird. We walked into the bush to get closer and were able to get quite close to the loudly calling bird (eventually to about 5m) but no luck on a visual. The patch of bush this bird was in was very thick as usual. We admitted defeat and went back along the road between the Kerrepit Rd turnoff and the Beech Walking Track. We did the short loop track but no birds calling here. On the way back along the road (before the Kerrepit turnoff) we heard another bird calling quite close to the road so we jumped out of the car and headed slowly towards the source. We tried Peter Marshs' technique using call playback while sitting on a log next to the root ball of a fallen tree. Grant amazingly picked up the bird calling at the base of another tree about 20m away and most of us had great binocular views of a bird that i was only expecting to hear all day, not actually see! Then to our excitement the bird came closer to the source of the calls and hopped under and over the tree we were sitting on. We were all able to get amazing views and even photos as it came out in the open at the base of the uprooted tree, before it circled us. Ecstatic with our view we then left the bird to go back to his calling. Another tick for me and also Peter and Nick. It looks from the photos to be a young male but happy to be corrected by the experts. I have posted a few images on my pbase site including a couple of shots of the habitat. The habitat really is amazing and it's no wonder these birds are more often heard than seen. The way this bird so quickly and silently moved through the undergrowth was amazing.

http://www.pbase.com/davidstowe/rufous_scrubbird
(click on the thumbnails to see the larger image)

Elated by our encounter we then made our way slowly down the hill stopping along the Sharpes Creek trail and at a few random spots looking for Russet-tailed Thrush. We eventually heard two birds calling at the day use/camping area after seeing a few Bassians on the road, but by this time it was almost fully dark and the birds were in thick scrub with no hope of a sighting. Since it was so late we then decided that it would be silly not to stay around a bit longer and see if we could find potentially my third tick for the day - Sooty Owl! After all we only had a 4 hour drive home :) So we went back up the hill a couple of km and heard Boobook and owlet nightjar. Our excitement continued when a gorgeous trilling Sooty Owl came in to a call! A gorgeous bird and quite pale compared to the field guides. On the drive out we saw Tawny Frogmouth and also a Long-nosed ? Bandicoot. It was a long day (especially for Peter and I) - I left home at 4:30am and got home at midnight! But totally worth it and one of the best days birding I've had in a long time. Sorry for not mentioning other birds seen as we were pretty focussed on our targets although a party of Red-browed Treecreepers were fantastic to see too on the road before the Beech Walking Track at the same spot we heard more Olive Whistlers.

Cheers,
David Stowe

===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU