This morning in the ACT

[martin butterfield <>]

I started by trolling out to Mulligans Flat to try to track down a Pied Butcherbird.  Thanks to the total lack of signage to the Reserve once in beautiful(?) downtown Forde I had some fair trouble finding the Reserve, let alone a Butcherbird!  Eventually I found myself somewhere where I could see a gate into the reserve and wandered in.  

The only Butcherbirds available were of the Grey persuasion: attractive songsters but not what I was seeking.  Wandering over towards the big dam I came across a couple of Rangers erecting next boxes for the delectation of the Brown treecreepers when they arrive.  Just after leaving them I was pleased to find a chough's nest and even more pleased to find a male Superb Parrot in the same tree (approximately 35:10:35S. 149:9:48 E judging from a later visit to Google Earth). Going back towards the water in the dam (more extensive now than I have found it for some years) a White necked Heron flew up in the air, looked at beautiful(?) downtown Forde from its elevated position and took off towards Mt Majura (possibly more due to the gale than expressing an architectural opinion).

I proceeded out to Kelly's Swamp wherein addition to the usual suspects I found:

• 2 Royal Spponbills sheltering underthe nest tree.  I suspect any attempt to buld a nest would have been blown away in the last couple of hours;
• 1 Great Egret;
• 6 Black-tailed Native Hens;
• 11 Australian pelicans; and
• 6 Whiskered terns doing a fly-by.

Martin