Hi all
I've recently (well a couple of weeks back now) returned from a trip to
Thredbo in the Snowy Mts (5 nights) and Narooma on the NSW South Coast (7
nights). First up, many thanks to those who responded to my RFIs for both
areas, especially for the advice to look at the Canberra Birds archives for
Snowy Mts sites. The trip was a family holiday, so birding was fitted in
around other activities, with a few birding specific early morning walks
thrown in.
Highlights across the 2 weeks are as follows:
THREDBO
On the way south from Sydney, we stopped at the Avon Dam for morning tea,
which produced a pair of Origma, a family of Leaden Flycatchers and a Superb
Lyrebird singing loudly down by the dam wall. Lunch was at Rowse Lagoon
near Goulburn, which seemed to have a lot of water, but was full of water
weeds, so one couldn't see much apart from Swamphen heads. Otherwise, the
drive down was uneventful. In fact in all the time around Canberra and
crossing the Monaro Plains I didn't see a single Brown Falcon, Kestrel or
Black Shouldered Kite, which I think was unusual.
During our four days in Thredbo, the weather was pretty ordinary, ranging
from low cloud, through drizzle, to out and out deluge, so some options were
restricted. (For example, I tried the Merritts/Meadows Nature Tracks one
morning but gave up after a short distance before the mud absorbed me).
Around the town, there were quite a few Gang-Gangs and large numbers of
Little Ravens and Pied Currawongs with begging chicks, and Crimson Rosellas,
Red Wattlebirds, White Eared and Yellow Faced Honeyeaters seemed plentiful.
I was also surprised to see several Great Cormorants flying up and down the
river.
One of my target birds was Olive Whistler (which I'd only ever seen before
when in Thredbo in 1993). The information I had said look for leptospermum
lined creeks and that was good advice. I heard several calling on such
creeks -such as behind the 6th tee on the golf course (on the Riverside
Walk), on the Bridle Track and in a creek that feeds the river just before
the main entrance into town (opposite the RTA depot). I managed several
glimpses and one very good sighting on the Bridle Track, where a pair of
birds sat high in some scrubby trees and gave me great views.
One morning I walked up the road to Dead Horse Gap and back along the river,
which produced several Gang-Gangs, a family of Flame Robins, a group of
Brown Headed Honeyeaters, two Crescent Honeyeaters, Brown and Striated
Thornbills and several very busy White Throated Treecreepers, as well as the
regular birds seen in the area. No Pink Robins though, which have been seen
along here in prior years (but since the 2003 bushfires which has left many
of the hillsides around Thredbo populated by dead trees with a healthy crop
of saplings coming through).
Our trip to the summit of Mt Kosciuszko produced very few birds - but the
weather may have had something to do with that. Just lots of Little Ravens,
Australian Pipits and, surprisingly, a Great Cormorant.
We spent one day around Jindabyne and then in the Perisher Valley area of
the park. The drive into Gadens Trout Farm at Jindabyne was very
productive, with a White Winged Triller, a Rufous Songlark, Restless
Flycatcher, Tree Martins, Goldfinches, Dusky Woodswallows and Pipits. On
the Rainbow Lake walk, we saw some more Flame Robins and a pair of Wedge
Tailed Eagles but a planned walk in the Sawpit Creek area was curtailed by
more rain.
NAROOMA
We stayed at a beach house in Dalmeny and did some trips to Eden and
Bermagui. We certainly had better weather here. We drove down from Thredbo
via Cooma (where I saw two Red Rumped Parrots) and Bemboka, stopping at the
Fred Piper Lookout. There were Gang-Gangs and Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos
here, much evidence of Superb Lyrebird activity and just across the road a
Bassian Thrush and a Red Browed Treecreeper. At Colombo Creek Reserve just
outside Bemboka, there was a Restless Flycatcher, a very busy Rufous
Whistler, with Clamorous Reed Warblers, Red Browed Finches, Yellow Rumped
Thornbills and Superb Blue Wrens in the creek side vegetation.
Our Dalmeny accommodation looked up the long beach to Potato Point and the
edge of Mummaga Lake. There was always plenty of bird traffic to watch,
including Sea Eagles, Little Egrets, Pied Oystercatchers, White Headed
Pigeons and daily visits from a Red Wattlebird with only his right wattle
and several pairs of Rainbow Lorikeets.
I paid several visits to the high tide roost for the waders in Narooma
Harbour. The full moon meant that there were big tides and the birds were
packed in quite tightly. At the roost and on the Wagonga Inlet mudflats
over the course of the week, I saw a good selection of waders including Bar
Tailed Godwit, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel (2), Great Knot (2), Pied
Oystercatcher, Grey Tailed Tattler (2) and, to my surprise, a single Gannet
on the roost. Plenty of Figbirds around town as well.
One morning I walked the rainforest track on the Box Cutting Road section of
Bodalla State Forest Drive. Wonga Pigeons called incessantly and I saw
several, plus a Brown Pigeon. My short walk produced a leech, which managed
to get into my shoe despite the chemical barriers I had sprayed on. Of more
interest, it also yielded a Superb Lyrebird, Gang-Gangs, a Rose Robin, Satin
Bowerbirds, several parties of Variegated Wren, Bell Miners, and a Bassian
Thrush. No sign of the Green Catbirds that are supposed to be around here.
Another day we went just north of Dalmeny to a rest area on the Princes
Highway, where there is a very good state forests rest area, with a walk
down to the shores of Mummaga Lake. This walk produced plenty of birds,
including a pair of Azure Kingfishers, a Cicadabird, adult and immature Fan
Tailed and Brush Cuckoos, a Bassian Thrush and a Peregrine overhead. I
meant to come back to this area in the early morning one day, but didn't
manage it. It had some good looking tracks and a variety of wooded habitats
and was easy to get to.
On our trips south of Narooma, I was able to make use of the Far South Coast
birdwatchers booklet "Birdwatching on the Far South Coast", which provided
plenty of good sites. For example, the Long Swamp at Bermagui held Musk
Duck just like the booklet suggested. Wallaga Lake was a good site, with 3
Hooded Plover and 26 Red Capped Plover on the sand bank in the middle of the
lake visible from the road causeway. At Eden, the booklet gives good
guidance for finding the Pacific Gulls and Black Faced Cormorants around the
Harbour. Also around Eden, on the way to Boyds Tower in Ben Boyd NP, I saw a
beautiful white phase Grey Goshawk and offshore were parties of Wedge Tailed
and Fluttering Shearwater feeding on something and several Arctic Jaegers
hassling them. There was one smaller black/white shearwater that looked a
lot paler around the head and blacker on the body, but I lost it quickly
when it headed away from me. Not sure if any other smaller b&w shearwaters
are likely off Eden in January?
On the way home from Eden I stopped at Mogareeka Inlet (where the Bega River
enters the sea) and checked out the colony of Little and Fairy Terns, plus
there were about a dozen Caspian terns here (they were common most of the
way up the coast actually).
We stopped at Sussex Inlet overnight on the way home, after lunch at Burrill
Lake where there was a Gull Billed Tern in with the Little, Caspian and
Crested Terns. Around Sussex Inlet there were quite a few flowering trees
that had attracted arrange of lorikeets, including Musks and a pair of
Littles. The surf beach had been hosting a pair of nesting Hooded Plover
but their fenced off nesting compound was empty of birds (they lost the eggs
to Ravens in November apparently) but the highlight here was not birds but a
big pod of dolphins surfing in the waves.
Anybody seeking directions to the Narooma sites (which seemed to be a bit
thin in the archives) drop me a note.
Cheers
Tom Wilson
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