Birding Auser's
Lying in bed and listening to the morning bird chorus and hoping the
Kookaburra's etc don't wake the kids up is normally how the day starts but for
the last week the morning birds have been eerily quiet here in Port Macquarie
on the NSW North Coast . The large flocks of Rainbow Lorikeets that are
continually harassed up and down the adjacent wet gully by the local goshawk
have apparently diminished in number and the Koel Cuckoo's that had arrived in
town don't appear to have stayed. Typically there are at least three male
Koel's calling constantly near by, but for the last three days...nothing and
the Cicadabird is also quiet.
I'm not sure if the birds are quiet due to the lack of significant rain for the
last 5 months, or if the intense hail storm that passed through last week has
freaked them all out. Hopefully the significant rain forecast to arrive this
weekend does deliver and the morning bird chorus recovers with it.
Bushfires are the other feature of the dry weather and the "Brushy Mountain
Complex" fires of ~9000ha has been burning in the Port Macquarie / Kempsey
hinterland for over a month now. This fire is burning in the Werrikimbee
National Park which is an Important Bird Area due to the population of Rufous
Scrub Birds present. Brushy Mountain after which the fire is actually named is
one of the main population sites for the Scrub Birds and again, hopefully, the
forecast rain does arrive before much more of that area is torched.
Unfortunately even if the rains put out the fire it could be months before
access is available to the area due to a large landslide that has closed the
Hastings Forest Way, which is the main access road to the site.
Tim
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