canberrabirds

Oolambeyan Darcoola London

To: <>
Subject: Oolambeyan Darcoola London
From: "tom green" <>
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 10:39:16 +1000
I have just returned from a trip to several pastoral properties recently acquired by NSW NPs. Sue Lashko, Jenny Bounds, and I spent a few days birding through these parks with the assistance of local rangers.
 
Oolambeyan is the largest (20000 ha) of these reserves. It is mostly open riverine grassland with patches of hard red soils that support Plains Wanderer. The most interesting birding was around the homestead where we saw both Pied and Painted Honeyeaters. In the NW of the park is a sand-dune area with scattered pine and rosewood. Here we found a good range of birds. The number of Grey-crowned Babblers was particularly noteworthy.
 
Darcoola (to be renamed Kulyarr NP) is in contrast mostly saltbush with pigface and other small herbs as groundcover. Bluewinged Parrots have been reported from this park. We also saw a huge Wedgetailed Eagle nest. Darcoola is about 30k west of Hay.
 
London borders the Lachlan River and is about 80 k NW of Hay. It is a mix of saltbush and redsoil plains that also have plainswanderer potential. It also encompasses Lake Ita, a large redgum and lignum swamp that would be an excellent waterbird breeding area when the Lachlan floods.
 
We made side trips to Fivebough Swamp where we saw a pair of Brolgas and >50 Freckled Ducks, Binya State Forest, and the "Hay wetlands". Birders visiting the Hay wetlands would be well advised to take note of the 6pm gate locking deadline.
While driving between sites several large flocks of Whitefronted Chats were seen and in the evenings we often encountered flocks of up to 12 Banded Lapwings. Several Black Falcons were seen over flooded irrigation bays. A total of 137 sp were seen.
 
It is possible for bird groups to stay at the Oolambeyan homestwead and I hope that Jenny will be able to organise a COG visit to the area in mid October.
 
Tom Green
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
  • Oolambeyan Darcoola London, tom green <=
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the Canberra Ornithologists Group mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the list contact David McDonald, list manager, phone (02) 6231 8904 or email . If you can not contact David McDonald e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU