Mountain Creek Rd today

[martin butterfield <>]

I made a foray along Mountain Creek Rd (MCR) this morning, primarily to see if there was any sugn of honeyeater migration along there.

My first stop was at the corner of MCR and Fairlight Rd wheer I wa imediately greeted by a flock of 25 Yellow-faced Honeyeaters (YFHE) heading South.  The other more interesting sighting here was a couple of Australian Gebes, one of which was sitting on a newly constructed nest about 40m back down Fairlight Rd.  In my 20 minutes i recorded 17 species.

Heading off N along MCR I noticed a large mixed flock of Sulphur-crested Cockies and Galahs (about 100 of each munching on something on the ground.  I next stopped at Tinkers Creek TSR and wandered about for an hour.Several flocks of YFHE, about 10 per flock, passed through the Reserve with most (totalling about 70 birds) heading N, with one group of indivdualists heading South.  In an hour I recorded 22 species including wester Gerygone and Scarlet Robin..

My final stop was the Mullion TSR where I was almost immediately greeted by a dozen YFHE heading NW.  No  other migratng birds seen.The TSR is well-populated by Noisy Miners (at least three groups totallng 15 birds and Eastern Rosellas (10)   Western Gerygone were still evident, but not in the numbers we encountered last September.  A couple (I am tempted to say pair but they looked rather similar in size) of Brown Goshawks passed overhead.

Martin