I had Friday, 29 June, off work so thought I?d head out of Canberra in a
westerly direction for a couple of days. I reached Jindalee State Forest
at 9am and spent about 3 hours looking around this ironbark forest. It
was a delight to see so many Brown Treecreepers ? they were everywhere,
and White-throated Treeecreepers were quite common, too. There was a
total absence of honeyeaters of any description, however. But there was a
good selection of woodland species, especially around the edges, including
Red-capped and Scarlet Robins, White-browed Babblers, Diamond Firetail,
Speckled Warblers, Peaceful Doves and Golden Whistler.
I, then, went on to spend the afternoon at Ingalba Nature Reserve on the
other side of Temora. I walked a long way for little reward ? again, no
honeyeaters! The most common species were Common Bronzewings and Eastern
Yellow Robins. The bronzewings were quite numerous ? I flushed dozens of
them, perhaps a 100 in total, as I walked through the forest.
I drove on to Leeton for the night, and arose next morning at 6.30am to
the beautiful song of a Pied Butcherbird ? there was a pair on the wire
outside my room. After breakfast, I was out at Fivebough Swamp at 7.30am
? my first visit to this splendid reserve, which makes Kelly?s look a bit
silly! The highlights here were 2 Brolga, lots of Black-winged Stilts and
Black-fronted Dotterel, 1 Red-capped Plover, 2 White-fronted Chat, Little
Grassbirds (including 2 feeding out in the open on the mud ? behaviour
I?ve not previously observed with this normally shy species), Variegated
Wren, and fabulous views of 2 Swamp Harriers repeatedly sending panic
through a flock of about 1000 ducks (mainly Grey Teal) as they quartered
the swamp. The one and only honeyeater of the entire trip was in the car
park at Fivebough ? you guessed it, a White-plumed!
I reluctantly left Fivebough late morning as I needed to be back in
Canberra by 5pm. I drove back via Narrandera, Grong Grong, Ganmain,
Coolamon and Junee seeing several groups of Apostlebirds along the way ?
why does one only ever see Apostlebirds on roadsides?! I made stops at
the Murumbang Interpretive Walk at Ganmain and the Junee Urban Wetlands
but saw nothing of note.
The weather throughout the trip was cold and overcast, with some rain and
wind ? not great weather, or time of year, for birding, but I was a bit
surprised at how thin on the ground the birds were, especially the absence
of honeyeaters.
Regards
Frank Antram
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