I
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> On Dec 16, 28 Heisei, at 16:36, Penny Brockman <> wrote:
>
> Dear Birding-aussers
> Yh
> Following my request for info on conditions out west in NSW, my 2 sons and I
> headed that way. Spent the first night camping in Goulburn River National
> Park - all alone, beautiful, kangaroos hopping around (essential for a
> visiting Londoner), and heaps of birds early morning, including a noisy
> Channel-billed Cuckoo. 30 species were seen or heard, including very noisy
> Jacky Winters, White-throated Gerygones, T.Frogmouth and Noisy Miners.
>
> Then we continued west past Dubbo with the heat rising and ended up camping
> in Gundabooka Nat.Park, Yanda campsite by the side of the Darling River. Very
> hot here, not many flied and a few mozzies at night easily avoided. Birds
> were good but not exceptional due to the heat no doubt - hit 46 degrees
> 4.12.16 and we spent most of the time in air conditioning - cafe in Bourke,
> car driving there and then to Louth, and the pub in Louth where cold beers
> made for a happy time. Gundabooka camp site had visiting Grey-crowned
> Babbles, bee-eaters, Spotted Bowerbird, Brown Treecreepers everywhere, Brown
> Goshawk, noisy Apostlebirds, Jacky Winters and more noted in an early morning
> walk along the Darling river bank. All good stuff for a visiting UK birder.
> We even managed to fine 3 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos in Bourke - just the
> ticket! The heat was countered by our campsite having a large water tank with
> lots of water so we could shower and keep cool. heading home a stop on the
> Kamileroi Hghy o
n the Barwon River found 100s of Fairy Martin nests under the concrete bridge,
packed in and often one under another.
>
> Our last 2 nights were spent up in Mount Kaputar - absolutely gorgeous, cool,
> windy, and the last two ticks for my UK birding son - Spotted Quail-thrush
> and Double-banded Finch. Campsites here are very well set up, with hot
> showers and lots of space between sites. Super walks for all states of
> fitness. Interesting was seeing/hearing grey-type currawongs with the usual
> Pied Currawongs. Dark browny/grey/black with almost no or no white in wings
> and making a variety of clunking/clinking calls, foraging with the pieds. I'd
> recommend Kaputar particularly in hot weather out of school holiday time.
> From the amount of camping facilities, I guess it gets very crowded at such
> times.
>
> As noted by others, waterbirds were in very low numbers - 2 Yellow-billed
> Spoonbills on the Darling, one each White-faced and White-necked Herons, 1
> Little Pied Cormorant. All up the Gwydir, Macquarie Marsh or Narran Lakes i
> guessed.
>
> So we avoided areas further south, hardly suffered from flies/mozzies, and
> hit the heat full time! But a great quick trip and showed the UK birder some
> western birders and that great flat land.
>
> Happy birding to all, a good Christmas and may all your birding ambitions
> some true in 2017.
>
> Penny, Gloucester, NSW.
>
>
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