Prue and I did our final woodland survey for the year this morning. Conditions were good although there was the occasional drop of rain, and it became increasingly humid as the morning progressed. As elsewhere there is phenomenal growth
of weeds, forbs and grass in the reserve, which made quite a change from the last few years of summer surveys. 40 species were recorded during our ten minute counts and 52 overall.
Amongst the more interesting species found were 2 Southern Whitefaces between sites 1 and 8, the first since 2016 for these surveys,
Pied Butcherbird heard in several places, a Brush Cuckoo in the distance, and quite a few
Stubble Quail calling.
A good range of summer migrants were seen, although apart from a couple of very noisy
Rufous Songlarks, these were mostly quiet and in low numbers. Species found included
White-throated and Western Gerygones, Noisy Friarbird, Rufous
Whistler, Sacred Kingfisher, Dusky Woodswallow,
Leaden Flycatcher, White-winged Triller and
Olive-backed Oriole. Other species of interest included Speckled
Warbler, Grey Currawong, Wedge-tailed Eagle and
Brown Falcon. There was a flock of 30+ Spotted Pardalotes at site 9. Breeding records were rather few but included 3 small
Australasian Grebe chicks on one of the dams, Common Starlings and
Yellow-rumped Thornbills carrying food, Striated Pardalotes entering a hollow, and
Superb Parrots with begging young.
It was nice to see large numbers of Common Brown butterflies after a couple of very poor years for them.
Steve
