Birds seen in Tumut

[David McDonald <>]

Hi Geoff, it would be great if you could submit these data to the national birding data base managed by Birds Australia: Birdata http://www.birdata.com.au/ . Enter Tumut as the location and zoom in there and you will see that there are few records from Tumut; each grey dot is the location of a record.
Regards - David

Geoff Bowen wrote:

Hi all

I realise Tumut is not exactly in the ACT, but I don't know of any birders in that area, so Canberra seems to hold the nearest concentration, so if this is too far off topic, please forgive me !

I have in-laws in Tumut and this was the 5th time I'd visited Australia & Tumut in particular. It's a pleasant little town that I've grown quite fond of. I have never seen anything on any list about Tumut, so I have had to find places to bird for myself. I have spent most time birding the area at the end of Boonderoo Road, which leads west off the Snowy Mountains Highway at the south end of town. Where the bitumen ends is a series of tracks that lead up into a dry forested area, where I have recorded the following:

Wedge-tailed Eagle

Black-shouldered Kite

Whistling Kite

Brown Goshawk

Peregrine

Masked Lapwing

Common Bronzewing

Peaceful Dove

Gang-gang Cockatoo

Australian King Parrot

Crimson Rosella

Eastern Rosella

Red-rumped Parrot

Tawny Frogmouth

Laughing Kookaburra

Sacred Kingfisher

Black-faced Cuckooshrike

Blackbird

Rufous Songlark

White-throated Treecreeper

Superb Fairy Wren

White-browed Scrubwren

Speckled Warbler

Brown Thornbill

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Yellow Thornbill

Striated Thornbill

Weebill

White-throated Gerygone

Willie Wagtail

Grey Fantail

Restless Flycatcher

Crested Shrike-Tit

Golden Whistler

Rufous Whistler

Grey Shrike-Thrush

Olive-backed Oriole

Australian Raven

White-winged Chough

Silvereye

Scarlet Robin

Eastern Yellow Robin

Spotted Pardalote

Striated Pardalote

Yellow-faced Honeyeater

White-eared Honeyeater

Yellow-tufted Honeyeater

Fuscous Honeyeater

White-plumed Honeyeater

White-naped Honeyeater

Black-chinned Honeyeater

Noisy Friarbird

Eastern Spinebill

Red Wattlebird

Varied Sittella

Goldfinch

Red-browed Finch

Double-barred Finch

White-browed Woodswallow

Dusky Woodswallow

Australian Magpie

Pied Currawong

Satin Bowerbird

Both Woodswallows (pairs each) were seen mobbing a Currawong in a most animated and persistent way leaving me with the impression they were nesting close by.

I'm sure that this area holds more than is contained in this list. Try to imagine what it's like having to try to remember a familiar sounding call (e.g. White-throated Treecreeper) than you know you know but can't quite align the call with the caller because it's a year or so since last you heard it ! That's what I face each time I visit Oz, and thus I waste a fair bit of time trying to track down a call that I think could be interesting, but really turns out to be something not so unusual that I have just forgotten ! Still, each trip I manage to eliminate a couple of these !

There is one other spot that I have spent a little time in the last couple of visits, the Riverglade Wetland which is adjacent to the Snowy Mountain Highway at the north end of town next to the caravan park. This looks like a promising area, but the management plan (on the Tumutshire web site) is a long way short of complete, but does hold some interesting birds:

Little Pied Cormorant
Pied Cormorant
Little Black Cormorant
Australian Pelican
Darter
Eastern Great Egret
White-faced Heron
White-necked Heron
Australian White Ibis
Straw-necked Ibis
Maned Duck
Pacific Black Duck
Australian Shoveler
Grey Teal
Whistling Kite
Australian Hobby	High over Wetland
Nankeen Kestrel
Purple Gallinule
Coot
Dusky Moorhen
Black-fronted Dotterel
Masked Lapwing
Galah
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Eastern Rosella
Little Corella
Laughing Kookaburra
Sacred Kingfisher	Visiting a nest hole ?
Rainbow Bee-eater	2 birds along the river - a pair ?
Dollarbird	Apparent pair
Welcome Swallow
Black-faced Cuckooshrike
Australian Reed Warbler
Little Grassbird	Bird carrying food along river bank
Superb Fairy Wren
White-browed Scrubwren
Brown Thornbill
White-throated Gerygone	At least 3 maybe 6 singing males
Willie Wagtail
Grey Fantail
Magpie Lark
Rufous Whistler
Australian Raven
Silvereye
Jacky Winter
Scarlet Robin
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Noisy Friarbird
Red Wattlebird
Starling
House Sparrow
Goldfinch
Red-browed Finch
Australian Magpie

Most of this last list was made during the last visit at the end of November just gone, and includes sightings from the adjoining Sewage Treatment Works.

If there's anything here that really ought to be reported elsewhere, please get in touch so I can pass this on.

No doubt I will be back in Tumut sometime in the near future, perhaps a little earlier in spring if possible so I can get more singing birds at the beginning of the breeding season.

Cheers

Geoff Bowen
Norwich, UK
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