The spring survey in the southern half of Goorooyarroo was done by myself, Prue Buckley, and David and Kathy Cook this morning. It was humid, mild to warm and mostly sunny. The wind was starting to pick up
by the time we finished. The reserve was looking green with lots of native and introduced forbs in flower, dam were full and there was water in the creeks. A stark contrast to the equivalent survey last year! We recorded a total of 55 species during the morning,
with 46 of those during our 10 minute counts, compared to 54 and 47 last year.
Amongst the interesting species recorded were a
Rainbow Bee-eater heard at site 9, Speckled Warbler also at site 9, a
Brown Goshawk at site 4, and Sacred Kingfisher at site 5. There were good numbers of summer migrants such as
Mistletoebird, Noisy Friarbird, White-throated and
Western Gerygones, and Rufous Whistler. The complete absence of cuckoos was a surprise. Small numbers of
Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and a couple of White-napes were heard and seen passing through. Breeding was noted for
White-winged Choughs (4 chicks in a nest), Tawny Frogmouth,
Buff-rumped and Yellow-rumped Thornbills, Striated
Pardalote, and Crimson Rosella.
Other fauna included a Shingleback, 2 Cunningham’s Skinks, and 5 common species of butterfly.
Steve
