G'day birders,
This afternoon, I had a short amount of time to check-out some sites in the
Kimbolton State Forest near Lake Eppalock, south of Bendigo. I came across
numerous small flocks comprising several typically insectivorous species; these
mixed flocks are common in wooded habitats at this time of year.
At one site, where the vegetation included thickets of dense Wirilda Acacia
retinodes, I was observing a pair of Scarlet Robins, some Buff-rumped, Brown,
Striated and Yellow Thornbills, Superb Fairy-wrens, a Speckled Warbler, a pair
of Eastern Yellow Robins and a female or immature male (brown bird) Pink Robin.
Just a km or so further along the track, I stopped in another Wirilda patch
along a minor drainage line and found an immature male Rose Robin. This bird
had a faint but very noticeable wash of rose pink on its chest, grey upperparts
and the characteristic white tail edges. It foraged very low to the ground in
Wirilda and Drooping Cassinia, very much like a Grey Fantail (wing spreading,
tail fanning and aerial hawking).
This is now the second location in the forests south of Bendigo that is teeming
with robin species. Further along the track, I also saw a few Flame Robins
(male and female). Just a couple of months ago, I reported (on birding-aus)
seeing a mixed group of Red-capped and Scarlet Robins, and a Hooded Robin.
These also were at this same patch of forest.
In terms of Rose and especially Pink Robins, nearly all previous records in the
Bendigo area have been of brown birds, so todays observations (although the Rose
was pinkish!) were still 'more normal' than the situation in the nearby
Mandurang State Forest (where there are still Pink and Rose Robins in full adult
male plumage).
Cheers,
Chris
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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