Prue and I, with Dave and Kathy Cook, had some fairly iffy weather for our winter survey, with rain threatening and an icy wind. Despite this we managed to find 37 species although numbers recorded at each site varied greatly depending on whether there was a mixed flock present or not. A Double-barred Finch near site 9 was possibly a new species record for the reserve. We had several flocks containing a variety of species such as Grey Shrike-thrush, Golden Whistler, Striated (many) and Spotted Pardalotes, Weebill, Striated, Yellow-rumped and Buff-rumped Thornbills, White-eared Honeyeater, Grey Fantail, Willy Wagtail and Scarlet Robin. At Site 2 in a sheltered and quite densely vegetated gully were Speckled Warbler, Brown Thornbill, Silvereye, Superb Fairy-wren and White-browed Scrubwren. A few Tree Martins, with a larger group of Welcome Swallows, were seen around a dam near Horse Park Drive. Other records included a Common Bronzewing, 2 Wedge-tailed Eagles and a Black-shouldered Kite
A Swamp Wallaby was seen, and Common Froglets Crinia signifera were in very good voice.
Steve
