Tuggeranong Hill outing 17 November

[sandra henderson <>]

The highlight of the outing came right near the end - a mistletoebird nest, with bird in attendance, which then perched on top of a nearby tree for us all to get good views. A very neat little pear-shaped nest, just off the track in a small eucalypt, only about 20m from houses. The Annual Bird Report indicates breeding records for this species are not common, so this was a special sighting!

The route was a loop out past the electricity substation through woodland, then back along the creek.  26 species in total, including Double-barred Finch, Red-browed Finch, Leaden Flycatcher, Grey Currawong, Olive-backed Oriole, White-throated Gerygone. A Brown Goshawk with a small animal in its clutches flew over at one point. Well done to all the participants who seemed to do a much better job of finding birds than I did for the morning!  Apologies are due to the non-flower watchers, because we also stopped to admire three species of orchid, including Purple donkey orchids (a new one for most of us) and numerous Common onion orchids. Other wildflowers were also putting on a good show. A possum in the large dead tree near the entry gate also woke up enough for us to get a good look at his face, before going back to sleep.  We finished with a quick visit, for those who were interested, to the Aboriginal grinding stone site further along in the reserve.

 

Sandra Henderson