The first survey for the year was done by Prue and I, with Dave and Kathy Cook, this morning. It was grey initially but cleared later to very good conditions. There was a lot of Drooping Mistletoe and Brittle Gum in flower. 52 species were recorded overall, with 41 of these being noted during the 10 minute counts. The first half of the survey was quiet but things seemed to pick up once the sun came out. The highlight was the normally bird-free site 7 which had a large mixed flock pass through. Species involved were Striated and Spotted pardalotes (40+), Eastern Spinebill, Yellow-faced, Brown-headed and White-eared Honeyeaters, Weebills, Grey Fantails (10+), Scarlet Robin, Varied Sittella (3+), Rufous Whistlers, Striated and Buff-rumped Thornbills, and, unusually for the southern half of Gooroo, a White-throated Treecreeper. The latter is frequent in the more heavily vegetated northern half of the reserve, but very rarely recorded at our sites. Other birds of interest included a Hobby at site 9, incidental records of Brown Falcon and Collared Sparrowhawk, Grey Currawongs, and a couple of Golden Whistlers. Other than Noisy Friarbirds, which were in reasonable numbers, very few summer migrants were left, with single Western and White-throated Gerygones heard.
The non-avian highlight was a juvenile Common Dwarf Skink (Menetia greyii), a truly minuscule lizard! Also seen were Boulenger’s Skink, a Shingleback and a couple of Swamp Wallabies. 8 species of butterfly were noted: Meadow Argus, Common Grass-blue, Chequered Copper, Stencilled Hairstreak, Common and Shouldered Browns, and Imperial and Spotted Jezebels.
Steve
