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Hi all !
In May this year we added to our 30 acre block by
purchasing some land adjoining us. We now go from rolling hills, cleared pasture
country up to the top of a steep ridge. Basically the land is still fairly clear
and no bushes or understorey to speak of. Consequently was not expecting to add
many species to our current list in May, numbering 75 species. A walk to the top
of the ridge in June added Yellow rumped Thornbill and a couple of larger dams
on the new block have yielded Grey Teal & Australasian Grebe. A quick
sighting of a Buff banded Rail on our old block in July was a definite
highlight.
Back to the ridge top, in June I found several Grey
Fantail, Superb Blue Wren, Yellow faced Honeyeaters and Spotted Pardalotes all
of which had only been sighted once on our original block. The neighbouring
property has lantana thickets and scrubby White Mahogany & Spotted Gums
around 10 to 20 metres high, right up to our fence line. Today I decided
to combine work with pleasure and headed up the hill with hoe &
binoculars.
Had a wonderful day clearing small patches of
lantana & Scotch Thistles on our block and studying the birds in
between. The top corner of our block has a stand of about 25 , 30 metre
high Spotted Gums and a sprinkling of Ironbarks and other assorted smaller
Eucalypts.
One old gum has an old Wedge tailed Eagle nest in
it and I saw a Crimson Rosella inspecting a hollow about 10 metres from the
nest. The Wedgies were around , saw 4 today in the one bino view, but only
soaring on the strong breeze.
Anyway , finally to the birds of the day, I added
11 new species to the home list! It amazed me as to the diversity of the small
birds as the nearest water source would be 500 metres to a kilometre
away.
Striated Pardalote
Striated Thornbill
Yellow Thornbill
Golden Whistler
Grey Shrikethrush
Variegated Wren
Weebill
Red browed Finch
Varied Sittella
On the way back down one dam had Chestnut Teal
& Intermediate Egret. All in all 45 species seen for the day which is just
under half our new list of 92.
Cheers
Dick Jenkin
Dungog NSW 70 kms NW of
Newcastle.
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