Goorooyarroo - Saturday 3 January

["Marnix Zwankhuizen" <>]

I finally had a chance to go for a 3 hour bike ride through Gooroo yesterday afternoon. There was plenty of bird activity although not across the whole reserve. I recorded a total of 43 species. Unusually I did not record a single Pardalote! Less unusual but interesting was the absence of any Superb Parrots. My last record for Harrison was also back around christmas (~27 Dec).

Highlights were a pair of RED-CAPPED ROBINS in the northern section in company with a pair of SPECKLED WARBLERS (5 birds seen overall for the day). Nearby I found 4 noisy YELLOW THORNBILLS busy foraging in a flowering eucalypt. This is my first ever record of this species for Gooroo.

Also in the northern section were a HORSFIELD'S BRONZE-CUCKOO, a WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE and plenty of both gerygones and RUFOUS WHISTLERS.

The native grass plain at Dunnarts Flat is looking amazing. I was hoping to flush a button-quail but no luck apart from the resident pair of PIPITS.

In some great recovering grassy woodland on a slope near the easternmost Horse Park entrance I found 8 DUSKY WOODSWALLOWS, including begging young, some 7 WHITE-WINGED TRILLERS and a pair of SOUTHERN WHITEFACES.

Other birds seen included SACRED KINGFISHER, LEADEN FLYCATCHER, MISTLETOEBIRD (2), TREE MARTIN (4), BROWN-HEADED HONEYEATER and KESTREL plus an inquisitive echidna. And despite the warm weather and long grass not a single snake seen.

Cheers
Marnix