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With a strong aversion to trail bikes, Julian
Robinson and I chose a weekday for our heathwren hunt. We found 6 birds
relatively easily by playing a tape (in thick fog I might add). They would
have been nigh on impossible to find without the tape. They responded briefly to
the tape but did not hang around. One pair was only 30 to 40 metres north
of Alistair's pole. Fortunately for us, the pair were on either side of
the track that leads from the pole, calling to eachother and we were in the
middle so one had to cross the track eventually.
The other 4 were on the southern side of the road
and as stated earlier, they dislike being seen. There are 2 tracks
upslope but parallel to the road that can be accessed by a steep track about 40
meters east of Alastair's pole. Most birds were on the track along the top
of the ridge. We played the tape every 80 to 100 metres as we walked along
the tracks and where the scrub was thickest and got a response at most
stops. As there are thousands of hectares of that type of country, the
level of infestation we encountered suggests there is a plague of
heathwrens!
Warks Road had plenty of YFH, a couple of fuscous
and a couple of New Hollands.
Lindsay Nothrop
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