For those who don't know it, Darebin Park lies on the Darebin Creek,
part in Ivanhoe, part in Alphington. Its deep valley has Silurian
sedimentary rocks with tilted strata on the east side and basalt on the
west. Larger birds, such as Magpies and Red Wattlebirds are easily found
here.
Smaller birds are not always easy to find but in the undergrowth next
to the Creek at the northern end of the Park I found a mixed flock -
Eastern Spinebill, Superb Fairy-wrens, Brown Thornbills and a Pink Robin
- a brown bird with distinct buff wing markings and no visible markings
on the tail. It zipped uphill among the basalt rocks, and I scrambled
up as soon as I could find a climbable spot - only to see it fly
downhill again and across the creek into dense growth.
Further downstream, below the concrete bridge, the path on the west
side brought White-plumed Honeyeaters, White-browed Scrubwrens and a
large flock of Silvereyes - the Tasmanian subspecies with tan flanks.
These arrived all buzzing and calling and dived into some large Boxthorn
bushes, where they dashed about feeding for some time. They were moving
in a dense pack and I suspect they will soon be heading south.
Later as I climbed the Pine Ridge on the Ivanhoe side to go home, I
stopped to get my breath near the first seat - and saw a small bird
alight on a bare tree-top on the south side of the Ridge. Binocs showed
a female Scarlet Honeyeater - which then dashed across the ridge to drop
towards the Creek on the north side.
Anthea Fleming
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
