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While my big day will come tomorrow, a number of
sightings today in my local patch on the NW end of Cooleman Ridge were
noteworthy, no doubt helped by the better weather than forecast.
First up on the SW track I was very pleased to
record the Southern Whitefaces which I see from time to time, but even more
pleased to find them feeding 3 dependent young. After I flushed them they
huddled together on the track while the parents happily foraged and fed
them within 10 m of me holding 2 beagle
dogs. Close by were 3 Diamond Firetail, and earlier I had recorded at
least a dozen Brown Quail, a number of which obligingly refused to take to the
air but ran in front of us. A couple of Stubble Quail were also in the
area.
An hour later at the NW end of the Ridge, I
observed a pair of White-browed Woodswallows building a nest. This is the
first time I have recorded this species here in nearly 30 years of watching
birds in the area, and it was well worth crawling under the fence to confirm the
breeding record. A number of Diamond Firetail were also present, some
carrying nesting material, and Horsefield's Bronze-cuckoo was calling nearby,
the first here this season. However, the trillers and songlarks, while
still present, were much less conspicuous than they were on
Wednesday morning after the showers we had.
This afternoon I surveyed the edge of the former
Narrabundah Hill pine plantation and the Chapman horse paddocks. This area
has been very quiet for the past month, but yielded a Golden-headed Cisticola,
only the second seen here I've seen since the
fires, as well as several European Goldfinches, which are relatively uncommon
these days as opposed to 30 years ago.
I'm looking forward to a good day's surveying in
Namadgi tomorrow, and trust everyone is enjoying the participating in the blitz
as much as I am.
Jack Holland
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