It appears that postings to birding-aus have plotted my movements over the
weekend. Quorrobolong on Friday and Saturday and then off to the Capertee
Valley. One of the great joys of the intervening trip was to listen to
"Grandstand" on ABC radio and the blow by blow account of Newcastle given
Melbourne the thrashing they deserve! Mind you, we were only midway through
the second half when I arrived in the valley. A dilemma solved by checking
areas of White Box not known to have Regent Honeyeaters. If they weren't
flowering and had no concentrations of small honeyeaters I would move on to
the next site. This way I was always close to the radio.
Just on full-time and I arrived at a site with several large flowering White
Box trees. Certainly worth a look so with an inner glow resulting from
Newcastle's resounding win and Melbourne's loss (later to be their demise
from the final series with Parramatta's win later that night - YOU BEAUTY!!)
I conducted a 20 minute 20 hectare Atlas survey while looking for Regent
Honeyeaters and/or Swift Parrots. None of either but a whopping 35 species
on the site including Turquoise Parrot, Painted Button-quail, Rose Robin,
Speckled Warbler and lots of honeyeaters.
The big surprise, however, was the bird giving the unfamiliar calls from
within some young Callitris. A bit of squeaking bought the bird into full
view at close range. Excellent extended views of a male Gilberts Whistler.
To my knowledge this is the first record for the Capertee Valley and well
east of the range given in Morris, McGill & Holmes as Cowra, Parkes and
Goonoo Forest near Dubbo.
This now raises two questions. Does this mean there is a resident outlier
population in the valley (this particular location is seldom visited by
birdwatchers) or simply a wandering bird, and do I keep the Golden Whistler
on my list? I gave a female Golden Whistler a cursory glance earlier. Was
this a female Gilberts? I suspect not but now there is an element of doubt.
GO THE KNIGHTS!!
David Geering
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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