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Myself and Stephen Mugford,
another birder from Canberra made a visit to Jindalee SF, near Cootamundra
today. The main idea of the trip was to find Masked Woodswallows for Stephen,
and given that I had seen both White-browed and Masked Woodswallows here only 2
weeks ago, it seemed like a good spot to start. Unfortunately though, we missed
out, but we still got some good sightings of other more common birds. We found
Fuscous and White-plumed Honeyeaters quite
plentiful, as well as Pallid Cuckoos and Sacred
Kingfishers. We located one group of Crested Shrike-Tits
(a great little bird) and also a White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike,
and we heard a lone Superb Parrot. The highlight
though, was very good views of a pair of Painted Button-Quail. This was a tick for me, and the
best views Stephen had had of the bird. I only saw the bird which was not very
far away because I heard a faint rustling from the very dry leaf litter. The
ease with which I could have missed it makes one wonder how often we pass within
metres of this bird without seeing it......
Another strange incident occured when we were
wandering through the forest. There was a sudden influx in the number of birds
flying about our heads, and it took us a few seconds to realise, that they were
actually about half a dozen small bats - very strange considering it was
lunchtime on a very warm, cloudless day.
And so that was it for a very pleasant day, topped off by the
sighting of a group of about another dozen Superb Parrots near
Binalong.
Nick Leseberg
24 Division ADFA
Northcott Dr. Campbell
A.C.T 2612
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