A sunny great day for bird watching after the cold and windy
weather had abated. I encountered two small feeding flocks and some interesting
individuals that I had not seen before.
The new birds were two Restless Flycatchers with their
peculiar grinding sounds and their unusual movements while catching insects,
and two Speckled Warblers. I am fairly sure these would have been SW’s
– they were very pleasing with their creamy yellow flanks and underbelly with
strong black stripes, hopping around some trees and feeding on the ground for
only a few minutes.
In order of observation this is how the day went:
1 Australian Kestrel hovering for what seemed a long time in
one spot
1 Common Bronzewing (my first on Narra Hill)
6 Magpies
Feeding flock no 1:
Double-barred Finches
Diamond Firetails
Red-browed Firetails
Superb Wrens (lots mostly grey ones)
Buff-rumped Thornbills
Yellow-rumped Thornbills
Brown and or Striated Thornbills – only a few and not
seen long enough to be absolutely sure if I saw both
1 Weebill (probably)
White-eared honeyeaters (3 in total)
Another smaller feeding flock was more dispersed with some of
the above and 2 female Scarlet Robins and 4 European Goldfinches.
Following on from the above flock :
1 Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike
2 Wagtails
2 Grey Fantails and
1 Brown raptor – I thought it might have been one of
the usual Brown Falcons but it appeared to have white undertail coverts and appeared
to be smaller. Only the back and side views seen. Bill was smallish.
1 Striated Pardalote investigating a hole high in a tall
tree in the SW end of the reserve near the dam. (Yellow lores and red wing spot)
