We have been in the mtns {Sawpit Creek]; on our 1st morn in the bush we drove down & parked in the ski tube car pk; I walked down the shady lane beside the trickling creek
on my right; was heading for Bullock’s Hut near the Little Thredbo R. Along the way I was astounded to glimpse, drinking from that same stream a Latham’s Snipe!! Sadly, I startled `it’ & it quickly ran up the slope & away but I was fair flabbergasted to see
such a bird there & then (& so v much further from Japan! ) Though of course Slater confirms.
On our last morning, same region but a little further away, on opposite side of the river from said Hut I found a `Hotel tree’. In the upper area of an old tree’s trunk a flame robin
was coming & going catching dragon flies, `butchering’ them, etc & feeding his mate. She was mostly ensconced in or near their nest in a hollow section of the tree but once she came out on her `verandah ‘ branch to receive his food parcel & then disappeared
with it into the dark (unseen ) nest within. Once before some yrs ago i’d watched similar proceedings in similar spot but that time in a smaller deciduous hawthorn tree.
Anyway, this yr, at the base of the hotel tree, there was another dark & larger hollow section; a spotted pardalote was in & out of that, clearly on her way to her own nesting burrow deep inside the crumbly trunk.
[last yr I saw a rose robin, m., in this vicinity.]
Less happily, husband caught no trout there.
Happy b watching to all & see youse at the Members’ Night.
Sz
From: Danny McCreadie [
Sent: Tuesday, 24 December 2019 4:45 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Some good news - Young Woodswallows
It appears the Woodswallows are still raising young despite the conditions. 3 in this nest, there are other nests nearby.
Danny
