The Fabulous Foxlow Forty Five

["martin butterfield" <>]

As the weather forecast was quite reasonable for today I decided to do a 45km bicycle patrol through downtown Hoskintown to the Rossi turn-off, around the back of Foxlow Station and back up Captains Flat Road.  In terms of breeze only the leg back from Foxlow was reasonable.  However there were some very nifty birds around so the extra pedal power was worth it!

 

There were few birds in S16 so I didn't stop.  The first hot-spot was towards the bottom of S17 where the road out of Hoskintown takes a very sharp left.  Just before the bend are a few straggly hawthorns, where I found 4 Southern Whiteface and 6 Diamond Firetails (2 of which were sitting in a nest - undoubtedly a roost nest as per HANZAB, but I will be checking this area carefully in the breeding season).

 

Swinging round the corner into T17 and up the hill, a mixed feeding flock was evident including about 10 Yellow-rumped Thornbills, a further 2 Southern Whiteface and at least 3 Flame Robins.

 

Down a small hill and up another big one into T18 to look down into Foxlow Lagoon where the highlights were 2 Black Swans (not common in this area) and at least 1 Musk Duck. 

 

The road then undulates through S18 and pasture with another 2 Flame Robins and a final downhill gets close to the railway on the right with some mature trees and a lot of fallen timber on the right.   I could almost hear Con Boekel saying "This looks like Brown Treecreeper habitat." when the unmistakable call of that species rang out.  After a couple of minutes peering two Brown Treecreepers presented themselves for inspection.  So did a female Scarlet Robin.

 

The ride back up the main drag produced no exciting birds, with 8 common species in R17, but it was nice to have a tailwind.

 

Martin