Wednesday walks

[martin butterfield <>]

Gang-gang editors may wish to adopt these entries

Report of 15 February.

On 15 February 24 members attended the lower slopes of Mount Majura (which actually appears, from the TAMS map, to be in the Mount Ainslie section of Canberra Nature Park).  We were guided through their favourite patch by local residents Chris Ledger and Geoff Alves: many thanks folks- and doubly so for the lemon slice at the conclusion of the walk. 

 We ended up writing down 33 species of birds, mainly a collection of the commoner bush birds.  The highlights were 

• a juvenile Common Bronzewing picking up Acacia seeds very close to the observers.
• a female Collared Sparrowhawk displaying its square tail as it soared overhead; and 
• a troublesome juvenile cuckoo which provided several minutes of entertainment as it flitted - silently -  from tree to tree near the group.  Opinions varied as to whether it was a Fan-tailed cuckoo or a Brush Cuckoo.  The eventual decision was in favour of Brush Cuckoo.
  

Several honeyeaterspecies (Red Wattlebird, Noisy Friarbird and Brown-headed Honeyeater were enjoying the large amount of Eucalypt blossom, mainly Eucalyptus meliodora (Yellow Box) and E bridgesiana (Apple Box).

A full birdlist will be appended in due course to the entry in the Trips section of the COG website.

March walk

It is planned that the walk for 21 March 2012  will be to the Big Dam area of Mulligans Flat.  A confirming email with a mudmap for the access off Horse Park Drive will be sent closer to the date.

<Not for Gang-gang> The March walk will be cancelled in the (very unlikely judging by this years weather) case of a total fire ban or another venue chosen if the Reserve is closed to allow shooting/poisoning of rabbits and kangaroos or controlled burns.