Rhonda and I spent the long weekend at Lake Cargelligo
and Round Hill. They have had a relatively good season and the place
looks a picture at the moment. Also plenty of birds around and we logged
111 species for the weekend. Our best sightings were the white-winged wren at the Cargelligo
sewerage plant, the shy heathwren
and the little woodswallow at
Round Hill. There were plenty of crimson chats around – they were
everywhere. Plenty of honeyeaters too although some that we say last trip
were absent (grey fronted most notable)
but we did find the black and singing. A good collection of
waterbirds at the sewerage works, including sharp-tailed,
curlew and marsh sandpipers, avocets
and stilts, as well as
a pair of shellducks. An
interesting find on the return trip was during a short stop at the Reefton State Forest
near Temora. Two years ago we stopped there and during a wander through
the reserve found a barking owl.
This time we walked barely 100 metres from our car and a barking owl flew
overhead. Also a good population of brown
treecreepers there. Another notable feature of the trip was
the numbers of white necked herons
along the road particularly between West Wyalong
and Cargelligo and there were three at the waterhole at Round Hill.
Lindsay and Rhonda Hansch
