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For those subscribers who may be interested in
this trip but hadn't yet decided, perhaps the following excerpt from yesterday's
E-mail will help whet appetites.
If you are interested I can provide further
details.
Jack Holland
I have listed below the species that are
currently 'doing the rounds' of the block (Frogs' Hole Creek). They are just the
tip of the iceberg, but are the ones that are pehaps likely to be of most
interest to campout participants.
White-winged Trillers and White-browed Woodswallows
- lots of these here at the moment.
Masked Woodswallows - arrived only this morning, in
large numbers.
White-browed Babblers - are around every day but
are particularly vocal and obvious at the moment, mostly in the top half of the
block (ie the paddock you drive through before getting to the house, including
the high callitris ridge to the west).
Grey-Crowned Babblers - these have been recorded
many times this year (up to 8 birds at a time), all over the block and around
the house, but I have not observed them so often since I returned from holidays
(15 Sep). I saw two G-cBs building/adding to what I thought was a roosting
nest in early June. A few weeks later I saw two copulating near a second, much
larger nest. The smaller nest is about 500m from our front gate, located in
a smallish E. dealbata on the left-hand side of the track. The larger one
is located high up in large E. sideroxylon on the right of the track, about 100m
from our front gate. They are both on our neighbours' property, in open
paddocks. I haven't had time to investigate signs of breeding, apart from
the copulating I witnessed by chance back in June.
Crimson Chats - I have seen small groups of these
several times this week, in the top half of the block.
Cockatiels - a small flock of about 8 birds visited
on 27 Sep and a few have stayed on. I have seen and heard them every day since,
especially a male and female, which are very vocal.
Black-chinned Honeyaters - usually common, but I
haven't seen or heard them for a couple of weeks - ditto Striped
Honeyeaters.
Blue-faced Honeyeaters - there are usually a few of
these around each day, throughout the year.
Little Friarbirds - everywhere.
Superb Parrots - everywhere, sometimes in very
large numbers. (At times they fly so low, over and around me, I fear being
decapitated).
Hooded Robins - lots around, as usual.
A month after COG's visit last year a pair of
Regent Honeyeaters nested a couple of hundred metres from the house.
Unfortunately they abandoned the nest after a few days of strong winds. It would
be too much to hope that we would have them two years in a row!
I hope the weather is good for the weekend. When it
is calm the early mornings and late afternoons are magic, with birds everywhere.
I would recommend a slow walk around the paddock through which our entrance
track passes. Anywhere between our front gate and the house, including up along
the callitris ridge, usually provides plenty of interest - from about 3:30pm
onwards.
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