|
It was a cool sunny, but quite windy Monday morning, sometimes with rather strong gusts making observation a little difficult. Barbara Allan and I observed 39 species at sites and 5 species in between sites – Common Bronzewing
(1), Magpie-lark (2), Australasian Pipit (2); Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo (3), and an anonymous raptor (possibly a Brown Goshawk) on North Rd. Surprising. We saw aor heard no currawongs, no Crested Pigeons, no Mistletoebirds, no orioles, and no Grey Shrike-thrush
(apart form an isolated mystery squawk at one site). And even more surprising, no kangaroos at all (though fresh droppings). There was lots of ground cover with lots of wildflowers – Fringed Lily, Blue Devils, Billy Buttons as well as Paterson’s Curse and
St John’s Wort.
There were Crimson and Eastern Rosellas here and there, with 12 Red-rumped Parrots at the Grenade Range site just north of the airport. Apart from a couple of Noisy Friarbirds, one or two Red Wattlebirds and a bunch of Noisy Miners, there were
few honeyeaters. Summer migrants were few and far between. There were Rufous Whistlers at some sites, White-winged Triller and Dusky Woodswallows at Mick’s Dam, a couple of Black-faced Cuckoo-shrikes, two Grey Fantails, and 3 Leaden Flycatchers (dy).
Magpies and ravens were common, but the only raptor identified was a Nankeen Kestrel. Mick’s Dam, at the northern end of the range, was the only body of water on which we observed any birds, which included Wood Duck, Grey Teal, Eurasian Coot,
and Australasian Grebe. All dams were full to the brim.
There were some interesting mixed flocks of small birds, including Weebill, Buff and Yellow-rumped thornbills, Brown Thornbill, Western and White-throated Gerygones, Superb Fairy-wren and Speckled Warblers with dependent young.
So despite the gusty wind, we did manage to observe a relatively respectable number of species.
|
