25 members turned out to this prime Spring club outing at McGrath's Hill,
Sydney only to be told by the leader that the venue had changed. We all
left for Mitchell Park where the we began birdwatching at last. Cuckoos
abound. We had Pallid and Brush in the telescopes, glimpsed Horsefield's
and Shining Bronze and heard Fantailed but didn't chase it. The usual
Spring migrants like Sacred Kingfisher, White-throated Gerygone and Leaden
Flycatcher put on a display. Scarlet Honeyeaters were everywhere in large
numbers which was a pleasing sight.
We set off and walked through the rainforest without seeing the Powerful Owl
and met Andrew Holmes coming the opposite way around to hear he had seen
Chestnut-rumped Heathwren. There were many wildflowers out on the ridge
track and we encountered parties of Yellow-tufted and White-naped
Honeyeaters and a pair of Peaceful Doves, not so common around Sydney these
days. A Crested Shrike-tit made a welcome appearance before lunch.We left at
2pm having seen 64 species.
We returned to McGrath's Hill sewer works to check the scene. A chance
meeting with Edwin Vella had told us to check the ponds at the back for
ducks. We saw one Pink-eared Duck, several Hardheads, I am sure I saw a
male Musk Duck but could not find it for the group, about 4 Australian
Shovelers, and the highlight was two Wandering Whistle-ducks. Andrew Holmes
had seen some Australian Crakes, John Monk saw a Baillon's Crake, most of us
saw a Pergerine Falcon and we all saw lots of Australian Reed Warblers and
Little Grassbirds. We added another 35 species to the list giving us 99
species for the day..
Trevor Quested
Sydney, Australia
A
To unsubscribe from this list, please send a message to
Include ONLY "unsubscribe birding-aus" in the message body (without the
quotes)
|
