Hi All,
First of all, special thanks to
everyone who responded to my request for information re the Clunes area. A
very interesting area and I've only touched a smidgen of the forests surrounding
Clunes. There's still Talbot and Creswick to be explored.
Along with members of the list recommending Mt.
Beckworth, a couple of local birders also rated it highly. So on the 11th
February (sorry it's a little out of date, but just catching up) and then 4th
March I was off to Mt. Beckworth.
The highlight of both visits was finding a
Speckled Warbler. Before this, I had only seen this bird
once. The locations of these sightings were within 1/2k of each
other, so it is quite possible that I saw the same bird twice.
Nevertheless, I was thrilled.
You are never far from the sound of
honeyeaters. Yellow-faced, Yellow-tufted, Fuscous, Black-chinned,
White-eared, White-naped, Red Wattlebird and Noisy Miner are
scattered throughout the park.
Striated, Brown, Buff-rumped &
Yellow-rumped Thornbills plus Weebills, Varied Sittella, Scarlet Robin, Superb
Fairy-wren, Red-browed Firetail, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, White-browed
Babblers, Striated & Spotted Pardalote, Silvereye, Kookaburra, Grey
Currawong, Rufous Whistler, Brown & White-throated Treecreeper, Grey
Fantail, Mistletoebird feeding young, Grey-Shrike-thrush, C.Bronzewing, Brown
Falcon & Whistling Kite.
Other birds around the Clunes area included
A.Raven, Magpie, Magpie-lark, Richards Pipit, Welcome Swallow,
Red-rumped Parrot, Nankeen Kestrel, White-plumed & New Holland
Honeyeater, Long-billed Corella, Eastern Shrike-tit, Galah, Rainbow
Bee-eater, Restless Flycatcher, Willie Wagtail, Diamond Firetail, Tree Martin,
Little Thornbill, Eastern Yellow Robin, Crested Pigeon, Masked
Lapwing.
There were lorikeets flying over, but I'm not
confident about identifying these 'on the wing.'
Happy birding
Marlene
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