Hi birders,
While all the Sydney birders were having magic days at Magic Point, the
Central Coast FOC were having a magic day at Quorrobolong! Well may you
ask where is Quorrobolong ? It is a rural district in the Hunter Valley
of NSW, on the western slopes of the Watagan Mountains, and located
between Mulbring, Paxton and Cessnock. 18 members of the CCFOC led by
Arthur & Gwen Biggs toured the back roads of Quorrobolong. In a patch of
bush near Sandy Creek, among the bush birds were Pied Butcherbird,
Golden Whistler, Grey Fantail, Mistletoebird and many Yellow-faced
Honeyeaters; at Heatons Road on a large pond were many waterbirds
including nesting Black Swans, Royal Spoonbills, Great Egrets, a
Buff-banded Rail (great views and a new bird for 3 people), and nearby 2
Blue-faced Honeyeaters & Striated Pardalotes.
Onto Quorrobolong Hill, and in some box woodland we found Fuscous,
White-naped & Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters, Brown Treecreepers, Rose Robin,
Fantailed Cuckoo, a lone Rufous Whistler and many Golden Whistlers,
Little Lorrikeets, 3 Painted Button-quail, Jacky Winters and Variegated
Fairy-wrens. We visited Trevor Duckford's property nearby and were shown
nesting White-breasted Sea-Eagles and Wedge-tailed Eagles. From our
lunch spot on Norma & Trevor's verandah we could watch Grey-crowned
Babblers and Peaceful Doves in the garden, Red-rumped & King Parrots
and a Kestrel.
We finished the day at Ellalong Lagoon, Paxton. The Lagoon was full but
we managed Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Black-fronted Dotterel, 40+
Hardheads, Coots, Swamp Harrier, Black-shouldered Kites, Cisticolas,
Yellow-rumped Thornbills and plenty of White-faced Herons, Egrets and
ducks. A fine day and a lovely sunny afternoon all up produced a magic
76 species for the day! (6 Atlas Sheets and 6 Hunter Bird Observers Club
Record sheets were completed in case you ask!).
Alan Morris
CCFOC organiser
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to
Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
quotes)
|
