> This is certainly cheating, as I don't cycle or walk to work (though I
> do walk to the train station). Most weekdays I travel from Geelong to
> Melbourne and back by country train. It's about 75km through flat open
> farmland on basalt plains, with a few small wetlands, in southern
> Victoria, and the big wide windows on the train are great for bird
> observing as we belt along at about 120 km/h.
> [snip]
I've caught the train several times from Canberra to Sydney, and have seen
some excellent birds on the morning (6:50am departure) trips. It takes a
little over four hours, but avoiding Sydney traffic and being able to read
or nap is certainly worth the extra time compared to driving.
My most recent trip on Saturday 23 August 1997 recorded the following birds:
Common Starling Eurasian Coot
Australian Magpie Great Cormorant
Common Myna White-winged Chough
Pied Currawong Nankeen Kestrel
Galah Welcome Swallow
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo Australian White Ibis
Crimson Rosella Australian Wood Duck
Red-rumped Parrot Australian Pelican
Pacific Black Duck Eastern Rosella
Australian Grebe Little Pied Cormorant
Brown Goshawk Laughing Kookaburra
Crested Pigeon Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
House Sparrow Superb Fairy-wren
Rock Dove Spotted Turtle-Dove
Straw-necked Ibis Collared Sparrowhawk
Australian Raven Magpielark
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Wedge-tailed Eagle
Black-shouldered Kite Common Blackbird
Noisy Miner Willy Wagtail
(Unidentified small birds, probably inc. Red-browed Finch and
Yellow-rumped Thornbills)
Other goodies that I've seen on this route previously are Brown Quail,
Red-whiskered Bulbul, Brown Falcon and Bar-shouldered Dove (which to date
is my only sighting.) In mid-winter, the early morning trips are also quite
beautiful with frost-covered vegetation beside the tracks.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Paul Taylor
|
