UNCLASSIFIED
Hi all,
Benj Whitworth and I spent Tuesday exploring the remote southeast
corner of the COG Area of Interest (AOI) and beyond.
We left Canberra at around 10am and drove to Pikes Saddle
(Grid V30) via Captains Flat, Pointers Gap, Krawarree & Snowball, where we
passed a White-necked Heron beside the road.
Although it is possible to drive along the Badja Fire Trail
we preferred to park at the saddle and hike to Big Badja.
Highlights along the Badja fire trail included a Red-bellied
Black Snake, a Highlands Copperhead, Blotched Blue-tongues, plus water skinks and
garden skinks. Also a huge Emperor Gum Moth which had just emerged, Eucalypt
Chafer (iridescent green beetle), a Jumping Jack (jumping ants) nest and many
species of butterfly including Painted Lady and Brown. On reaching the summit
of Badja Trig at 1363 m we flushed a single Painted Button-quail from
among the dense scrub and heath. From the exquisite bright colouring it was
probably a female. Unfortunately looking at the Google Earth COG grid KML file
the summit lies just outside the COG AOI.
Admiring the 360 views from the windy summit we were joined
by a Peregrine Falcon and later on a Wedge-tailed Eagle. Around
us in the scrub were Eastern Spinebills in the flowering heath which
included Grevillea and Superb Lyrebirds further down.
We then continued further along the trail to a spot
overlooking Woila Creek and east to the ramparts of Tabletop and Mother Woila
in the heart of the Deua Wilderness.
After retracing our steps to the car as it started to
drizzle we drove south out of the COG AOI and headed for Badja State Forest. On
the way we spotted New Holland Honeyeater, Red-browed Finches and
Eastern Yellow Robin at the bridge over the Badja River and had two male
White-winged Trillers and a massive Echidna near Countegany.
There is a record of Variegated Fairy-wren from Badja SF
from the 90s, which was one of the reasons we decided to visit. Despite some
searching we didn’t record this pseices. Since my last visit several
years ago Badja SF has been logged to ruin. We drove along Badja Forest Rd and
then onto Peters Rd before the track became impassable. We were able to stop at
some remnant wet forest gullies and recorded Pilotbird, Eastern
Whipbird, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Eastern Yellow Robin and
a Wonga Pigeon. The number of Crescent Honeyeaters present was
amazing, every few hundred metres we could hear one.
All up a pretty good day.
Cheers
Marnix Zwankhuizen | Assistant Director
IT Solutions | Information Technology
Australian Electoral Commission
T: 02 6271 4465 | F: 02 6271 4644
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