We walked about 40km in a series of walks from Easter Friday afternoon
to Monday at about 10.30am, birding as we went. Most of that time was
spent along creek lines (the Basin walk, Black Gin Gully, Wentworth
Gully) but we also walked the length of the Weddin Gap fire trail and
spent a fair bit of time along the hill tops East of the Ben Hall camp
ground and South/South-east of the Weddin Gap fire trail. We camped for
the three nights at the Ben Hall Camp Ground, keeping the binocs handy.
Light was excellent but there was a lot of wind which made birding
difficult. We heard no nocturnal birds - but it was often very windy at
night.
We saw 52 species in the park and a further seven species on nearby road
sides and in the Bimbi State Forest, but (and despite keeping a special
lookout for them) did not see Hooded Robins, Brown Treecreepers,
Gilbert's Whistlers, Turquoise Parrots, Spotted Firetail Finches or the
heathwren. Quite disappointing. Three quarters of the park was burned
January a year ago and, while there has been some germination from
recent rain events, the countryside is still in the grip of drought.
Small groups of stock and no crops, with sand drifts across at least one
of the roads near the park. There were scattered pools of water along
all creek lines we visited.
Best bird was a female Peregrine Falcon mobbing a Wedge-tailed Eagle,
and it was good to see several lots of Speckled Warblers, a group of
White-browed Babblers and a group of Grey-crowned Babblers and two lots
of Southern Whitefaces.
We saw quite a few Swamp Wallabies - probably a Red-necked Wallaby, not
all that many Greys and a single hare. There was a fair bit of turned
earth but not sure if that was feral pigs.
Con
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