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I stayed the night at Lake Cargelligo and got up
early to revisit the STW. It looked ominous early, as it was very overcast. At
the STW, the Marsh Sandpiper and Whimbrel had disappeared, as had most of the
terns. I was surprised at the number of Red-kneed Dotterels - I
reckon all up there would have been more than fifty of them over the area. There
were all the usual ducks, Pink-ears, Harheads, Grey Teal, Shoveler
and several Australian Shelducks. While I was there a
flock of 25 flew over. Just as I was leaving a flock of 22 Glossy Ibis
arrived - I had never seen these before so they were a pleasant
surprise.
Finished here I headed out to Round Hill. On the
road out, I found plenty of Crimson Chats at the small patch of
lignum but a disappointing lack of Orange Chats. There were also
White-winged Wrens and a few Black Kites
soaring above. I continued out to Round Hill itself, where there was a
profusion of activity. Here I found - Budgerigars, plenty of
Red-capped Robins, Striped Honeyeaters, Emu, Spotted Bowerbird,
Horsfields Bronze-Cuckoo, Mulga Parrots, Southern Whiteface, Sacred Kingfishers
and Jacky Winters. Also of note was a lone
Major Mitchell's Cockatoo and a Red-backed
Kingfisher, both which were ticks for me.
I also headed over to the old wheatfield after a
while, and here I found several Black Honeyeaters (displaying
males), White-eared, White-fronted and Yellow-plumed
Honeyeaters, and Splendid and Variegated
Wrens. A quick trip up Round Hill proper was interesting - while up
there I saw a bird which I first thought was a feral pigeon- it was a very light
grey though, similar to a Black-shouldered Kite, but was flying very powerfully
- I still don't know what it was.
I soon met up with John Leonard from Canberra,
and apparently against the will of the weather gods decided to camp at the
Whooey Tank side of the hill. Murray Lord also arrived from Sydney, and got his
tent up just in time for a "deluge of biblical proportions". At the
time I was on the road at the top of the hill trying to get Spotted Nightjar,
when it began to rain. I whizzed back to the campsite, rally driver style and
just made it - the rain didn't stop all night.
The next morning Murray and I went to the
wheatfield, and were lucky to even get there- the rain had turned the roads into
a quagmire - we wandered round for quite a while, and got a reasonably
co-operative Southern Scrub-Robin with a tape. There were also
plenty of Black Honeyeaters, and the usual, but no Red-lored
Whistlers - I think someone with shares in the Lake Cargelligo petrol stations
started the firth that these damn birds have been found
there!
So at lunchtime we made the decision to head
back to Lake Cargelligo - had there been any more rain, we would have been in
serious trouble trying to get out (we were in enough as it was). The road back
to Lake Cargelligo was a lot of fun, as we spent half our time sliding from one
side to the other. In spite of this it was a very successful trip, that I
enjoyed - I ended up with a list of 130 species, including 11 lifers. I am still
left with a few gaps however, but unfortunately, they are going to have to wait
quite a while before I get another crack at
them.
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