I had the fortune to catch up with my good friends Tim and Ritchie on a
throughwalk in the Bunya Mts Nat Park [on the Great Divide, NW of Toowoomba]
over the long weekend. We spent most of our time off the beaten tracks - we
followed the ridge down from the Pine Gorge Lkt, crossed Tim Shea Ck, back via
the Mt Mowbullan ridge, then along the tracks to Westcott picnic ground, and
onto a spot known as the 'Long Plain'. We passed through some interesting
vegetation, and there was a surprisingly large amount of fruit available [eg the
some of the giant stinging trees had lots of mulberry like fruits] but very few
fruit eating birds about.
Once we got away from Dandabah [where there is lots of human food on offer] we
saw relatively few birds. The fact that it was overcast on Sat, and rather
windy yesterday, meant that it wasn't easy to spot the birds, but even allowing
for that, there weren't a lot of birds about - perhaps they have buggered off to
the plains for the winter.
Birding highlights of the walk -
- looking down on a male regent bowerbird as he flew 300 metres to a bunya pine
tree [followed closely by his harem];
- watching a pair of buff-rumped thornbills having a bath in a tree hollow; and
- hearing a grey goshawk calling from a distant bunya pine, calling back and
having it fly over and perch in the tree above us a very handsome [sleek] bird
indeed.
Laurie.
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
