Evening all,
Today was a massive trip - not for birding purposes, but to take the kids to
Thirlmere for a ride on various steam engines and Thomas-related activities.
Two-and-a-half hours on three trains got us as far as Tahmoor, with an
unidentified raptor (medium-sized, light under the shortish wings) and a lot of
Cattle Egrets on the way.
Outside Tahmoor station, we came across large numbers of Little Wattlebirds
(and being somewhat sleep-deprived, I accidentally wrote 'Little Lorikeets' in
the Birdline submission - if the correction doesn't go through before the
report is published, then disregard that...). A fair number of Noisy Friarbirds
also appeared, giving the rest of the family their best views they'd had of
them. After a fair walk into Thirlmere, there was also the first lifer of the
day for the Mrs and kids - a single Spotted Pardalote.
After hours of trains and engines, we had to make our way back. Luckily we
left enough time spare as a few minutes down the road, the second
rest-of-family lifer was seen: an Echidna, in broad daylight. The scattered
remains of an ant nest were nearby and it let us take quite a few photos from
quite short range.
The third was a hundred metres further down when our youngest (piggy-backing
on the Mrs for the 50-minute walk) pointed out some pigeons, which were a pair
of Common Bronzewings.
The last lifer was one for all four of us (I'd seen the previous three
before): a little outside Picton on the way home, a single White-headed Pigeon
flew alongside before turning and flying over the train.
Overall, it was seven hours travelling time, five of which were on trains.
While a lot of people I know complain about the trains around Sydney, they are
really quite good and really cheap compared to similar services elsewhere.
Cheers,
Tony
Photos, paintings and drawings of Australian, NZ, Swiss and British Birds
www.tonykeenebirds.co.uk
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