Mid-month walk to Kama NR

[Martin Butterfield <>]

The editors of Gang-gang may wish to use this as the trip report.

24 members and guests assembled around the entrance to Kama Reserve at 8:30 on a brilliantly fine morning.  While waiting for meeting and greeting 2 Wedge-tailed Eagles and 2 White-faced Herons were seen perched.  The next interesting bird turned out, after some debate, to have been a relatively large Australian Hobby.

 

Moving on through the bush we recorded several of the regular bush bird species including a flock of 6 Brown-headed honeyeaters and 2 Dusky Woodswallows high overhead.  We were alerted to the presence of a Brown Honeyeater by the call and eventually got good views of it high on a dead tree.

 
As we moved into more open country we began to notice Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes.  While the most seen at one time was 5 birds they were all seeming to move uphill from the Molonglo and by the time we had finished the count of birds present was at least 20.  3 more White-faced Herons were seen close to the river.  A raptor just below the sewage service road resolved, after even more debate, to be a Nankeen Kestrel.

 

The river corridor was very active with large flocks of Silvereyes and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters (at least 50) moving through.  This coincides with two reports on the chatline of the Honeyeater migration starting today.  An unusual "bubbling call" heard from the Casuarinas eventually turned out to be an Olive-backed Oriole.  The walk back through the open country delivered 7 Australasian pipits.

 

In total we recorded 44 species.

A copy of the trip list will be loaded to the trips page of the COG website in due course, and a few images and some quips will be on my blog by the time you get this.

Could the following be loaded to the website and put in the forthcoming trips section of Gang-gang.

The mid month walk for April will be to the Birrigai Rock Shelter, starting from the Namadgi Visitors Centre at 9 am on 16 April.. Note the reversion to a 0900 kick-off.

Martin Butterfield

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