The spring survey in the southern half of Goorooyarroo was done by
myself, Prue Buckley, and David and Kathy Cook
this morning. The day started windy and cool and continued that way for the rest of the morning, with
wind increasing. There was also the occasional spot of rain. The reserve was looking rather dry and overgrazed with not much in the way of spring wildflowers, apart from a few patches of Early Nancy. Despite this we managed to find
50 species during the morning with 45 of these during
our 10 minute counts.
The highlight was at least 8 White-browed Woodswallows at site 1. Raptors were prevalent with a Wedge-tailed Eagle being buzzed by a Brown Falcon, a pair of Brown Goshawks circling together,
with possibly a third different bird seen later, and up to 3 Nankeen Kestrels. Other interesting records included Varied Sittella,
White-throated Treecreeper, a female Rose Robin,
Speckled Warbler, Mistletoebird,
large numbers of Grey Fantails (35 counted) and at least 9 Golden Whistlers. Summer migrants
included Pallid, Fan-tailed and Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoos,
Dusky Woodswallows, Western and White-throated Gerygones,
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike and Rufous Whistler. Surprising misses were
Olive-backed Oriole, Noisy Friarbird and Superb Parrot.
Also seen were an Echidna,
2 Wallaroos and
2 Swamp Wallabies; reptiles seen were 2 Shinglebacks and a Jacky Dragon
Steve
