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G'day birders,
Last sunday (13 Jan) I
got my first chance to get a look at the aftermath of the control burn near my
house in Blaxland (Lower Blue Mtns, about 70km west of Sydney CBD). Whilst the
fire was obviously a 'cool' fire it is amazing what little of the understorey is
left behind.
Only 4 species of bird were seen in the burnt area,
not a surprise really, there is good unburnt (or lesser burnt) areas nearby. The
4 were Grey Butcherbird, Red Wattlebird, Satin Bowerbird and
Blackbird.
The Butcherbird wasn't a surprise as it was feeding
in the ashes the day after the fire. There are still lots of small skinks
(Lampropholis spp) in the area, these are probably easy pickings as there is
little leaf litter cover for them.
The Bowerbird was feeding on the ground, on closer
inspection, it was feeding on the 1 - 2 cm high grass shoots which were just
starting to come up. I didn't notice them until I went up to where the bird
was feeding. Interstingly, the Bowerbirds were chasing the Blackbirds, so maybe
they were after the same food resource.
As for the Wattlebird, it was feeding in the
Banksia serrata, in the dead leaves. I have no idea what the bird was looking
for, but it was very busy.
As for the Sooty Owl I saw before the fire, it was
still in its rock ledge, safely in its unburnt deep gully. As before, it really
didn't care about me standing 8m away, it knew I wasn't able to climb 3m of
vertical sandstone.
Cheers
Graham Turner
Blaxland,
Lower Blue Mountains, where the fires have finally
stopped.....almost
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