Dharug National Park is of particular interest to birders as it
an excellent site for Glossy Black Cockatoo and Lewins Rail. Other interesting
birds to be seen in this park include Lyrebird, Brush Cuckoo, Satin Flycatcher,
Wonga Pigeon and night birds such as Owlet Nightjar, White Throated Night jar
and Boobook.
Dharug forms the southwest corner of the Gosford Local
Government Area. It encompasses about 15,000 ha bounded by the Hawesbury River
on the south and the historic Old Northern Road as its western boundary.
Essentially, the park is wilderness but access to the park is available on the
southern boundary at a picnic area at Hazell Dell and a very pleasant camping
and picnic area at Mill Creek. The camping area has composting toilets and gas
barbecues. The Eleven-Kilometre Circuit Walk from the picnic area allows access
for further exploration of the park. The Grasstree Circuit is only 1.6 Km and
follows Mill Creek through rainforest vegetation, which includes Lilly Pilly,
White Cherry and Coachwood. The return leg on the more elevated Hawesbury
sandstone areas provides a change in vegetation to Grey Gum, Sydney Peppermint,
Narrow Leafed Apple and Bloodwood.
Dharug National Park is about an hour’s drive from Gosford via
Mangrove Mountain and Central Mangrove and about 2 hours drive from Sydney via
Wisemans Ferry.
On the 28th December 2002, John Reidy, Robin Benson
and myself met at Mill Creek.. We arrived about 4pm, which allowed enough time
to explore the Grasstree Circuit walk. Dharug was severely burnt out in the 1994
bush fires and burnt again in late 1999. The understory of acacia hasn’t
recovered. Recent bush fires had destroyed the bush land to the south, west and
north so there was a profusion of honeyeaters feeding in the flowering
angophoras. Species included White-naped (with juveniles), Yellow-faced, Lewins,
Scarlet, White-eared, Silvereye, Noisy Friarbird, Little Wattlebird, Bell Miner
and Eastern Spinebill. We heard Gang Gang calling high up on the escarpment to
the north. Cicardabird was calling nearby but too far away to track
down.
Around the camping area we saw Rufous and Golden Whistler as
well as Leaden Flycatcher. We were thrilled when two glossy Black Cockatoo flew
5 metres over our heads. We were able to see the Glossy Black is much smaller
than the Yellow tail, with a very different flight pattern, a different call and
the red could be seen clearly in the tail.
We had tea at the picnic area and were joined by a male and
female Lyrebird, Common Bronzewing and Wonga Pigeon. The first call we heard on
dark was a Brush Cuckoo and then a Fantail Cuckoo joined in. We soon tracked
down a Boobook calling in the top of a tree in the picnic area.
As we waited for more action, we saw no less than 5 satellites
moving in the star studded sky as well as three meteors providing a show of
fireworks. We heard an Owlet Nightjar calling and played a tape. The bird came
straight at the tape and nearly took Rob’s head off. We were able to see the
bird twisting and turning in the spotlight. Despite the bird (or birds) calling
frequently we were unable to get another view. One consolation was seeing a
Common Wombat feeding beside the road.
At 10.30 p.m. we decide to pull up stumps as nothing responded
to the White-Throated Nightjar nor the Masked Owl tape. On the drive home we saw
both Ringtail and Brush-tail Possum which was a nice conclusion to an evening’s
birding.
