Outing to Yanununbeyan

[martin butterfield <>]

The outing happened today with 9 members present.  The editors of Gang-gang may wish to take on the next few paragraphs as the trip report ( a more rambley version with detail about the Heathwren is at http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/cog-finally-does-yanununbeyan.html.

The first site was a partial ascent of Corner Hill.  This begins as grassland and then enters some woodland before dropping a little to a dam in another frost hollow.  A  good collection of bush birds were heard or seen as we moved up the slope.  

At one point I moved off the decrepid trail and flushed a small brown bird with a very bright chestnut rump and vent area.  It immediately dived into cover with occasional fleeting reappearances.   After some research it is clear we had seen a pair of Chestnut-rumped Heathwrens, with a nest with young.
 
On moving to the second site we walked to a point overlooking a bend in the Queanbeyan River. We were more or less at canopy height and obtained some good sightings of various honeyeaters including Yellow-faced, White-eared and White-naped before a Yellow-tufted Honeyeater appeared fossicking around in a Eucalyptus viminalis.   (This sighting was within 200m of an observation of the species on an ANPS outing some 2 months ago, and quite close - as the honeyeater flies - to a property at Urila where they are often seen.)

A Fan-tailed Cuckoo perched obligingly in full view, and good sightings we made of Rufous Whistler
(several of both sexes) and a female Golden Whistler.

 

We then adjourned for lunch at a spot a little further along the road - at a rather rocky creek crossing - where 3 White-eared Honeyeaters were playing chasey and Brown-headed Honeyeaters were calling.

A couple more sites were investigated but they were very thin on birds: no more species were added to the list.  However, including those seen in transit between formal sites we ended with a total of 44 species for the day which is not too bad.

A birdlist is attached and could the webmeister please attach this to the entry in the Trips section of the COG website.

--
Martin Butterfield

http://franmart.blogspot.com.au/

121103 COG Yanun.xlsx
Description: MS-Excel 2007 spreadsheet

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