I went with a group of overseas birders to Glen Davis and almost cleaned up
on all the specialities of the valley. We stopped on the second sealed
section of road and had four Black-chinned Honeyeaters flying around us and
while talking to some other birders, two male Turquoise Parrots landed near
us, then flew down the road at us giving a colourful show.
The other birders were from Oman, he was Norwegian and she was from
Thailand. How cosmopolitan can we get here! They had dipped on the Regents
so I drew them a map of where to look and they turned around and set off
again. Not, however, before telling us of a pair of Barking Owls in the
row of Yellow Box just past the broken windmill and old water tanks.
We saw Crested Shrike-tits in the trees beside the bridge over the dry
creek that drains the water from the large farm dam on the left. Plum-head
Finches were gathering nesting material in the paddock beside Coco, and
seem common in the lower grasslands.
Lower down the valley we saw Diamond Firetails a plenty and White-browed
Babblers. Many Rufous Songlarks everywhere, a couple of Brown Songlarks and
good views of Pallid Cuckoos on fence posts. Rainbow Bee-eaters seemed to
be throughout the district.
Instead of going into Glen Davis we went left to Glen Alice and stayed on
that road towards Rylstone. We turned left down Glenolan Road and stopped
at the 1st concrete bridge. We walked downstream (ie. facing the bridge
before crossing it, turn left and stay on that bank) about 200 metres to a
pink ribbon tied to a low branch. We walked up to the fence and had a
gallery view of all the trees. They are all River Oak and are full of
mistletoe blossom. Here, without a tape, we saw four Regent Honeyeaters,
two Striped Honeyeaters and the usual White-plumed Honeyeaters plus a few
Mistletoebirds. In the trees around we had Hooded Robins, more Babblers
and Firetails.
Now here is a good reason for others to visit the site. When I first saw
the Regents a week ago I thought I had good views of the colour bands on
the legs. However, when I told David Geering the combinations, he thought
I may have been wrong. When I saw them with the group, the legs didn't
show well enough to correctly note the band colours. Can you help? There
have been so few records of Regent Honeyeaters lately this could be worth
looking at.
In case you are wondering, our visitors from Oman saw them too! They were
beaming with joy when they told us. We saw 65 species in the valley, I am
sure others could do much better without a group.
Another good bird that is around is the Devlin Creek, Epping, Powerful Owl.
The bird was absent for sometime but it is back in the Coachwood trees with
a big white fluffy chick. More directions can be supplied if required.
Trevor
Trevor & Annie Quested
Sydney, Australia
Phone +61 2 9955 6266
Fax + 61 2 9959 4005
|
