Hi all
I spent the morning annoying the fauna of the Tharwa/Smiths
Rd/Angle Crossing area
Some highlights
At Tharwa Sandwash – Alive with birds, 51 species in a
couple of hours. At least 20 Rainbow Bee-eaters, I note that Bruce Ramsay saw
none here a couple of days ago, so these were presumably a migrating group. About
half seemed to be young birds, without the long central tail feathers, and
duller in colour than adults. All very noisy and active. Also here Diamond
Firetails, Brown Treecreeper, Black-fronted Dotterels with 2 half grown chicks,
a Rufous Songlark, Whitefaces etc etc etc. A Whistling Kite flew over, I saw
what may well have been the same bird later at Angle Crossing. There were 2
Wombats abroad in daylight, one of which ambled myopically past me at a distance
of about 3 metres. No idea if it knew I was there, if it did it clearly didn’t
care. And one Euro.
On the escarpment east of Angle Crossing, the nice surprise
of the day, 3 White-browed Woodswallows, an adult pair with a juvenile. At
least 20 Dusky Woodswallows, including a number of young birds also in this
area. Has anyone seen White-brows in this area earlier in the summer?
Also along Angle Crossing Rd but west of the crossing, 3
immature WW Trillers, 10+ Diamond Firetails, more Whitefaces and Dusky
Woodswallows.
Some lowlights
Complete lack of Hooded Robins – a species I expected
to see somewhere along the way, usually quite a good area for them. Bruce
Ramsay saw a pair at the Sandwash the other day.
4 Feral Pigs at Tharwa Sandwash, foraging on the slopes on
the eastern side of the river, all 4 were medium-sized and jet black in colour.
A very uninspiring ACT mammal tick.
The weather was a minor nuisance. Kept waiting for it
to clear a bit and warm up but it never did. This led to a very low reptile
list, a pity as this was one of the main purposes of the outing. One each Jacky
and Bearded Dragon at the Namadgi Visitor Centre Woodland Walk was all I could
find. Not much good for butterflies either, only a few common species out and about.
cheers
Steve
