On
Saturday 6th September
2003, myself and David Mitford enjoyed a wonderful spring day in the
Capertee
Valley (approx. 200 km north-west of
Sydney CBD). Most of the regular Capertee birds were seen and with much breeding
activity in evidence as well as some fresh spring arrivals. We heard lots of
Eastern Banjo Frogs (Limnodynastes dumerilii) giving out there ?bonk bonk calls,
from many of the creeks and dams within the valley.
Our first
stop approximately half way between the town of
Capertee and the
Crown Station Rd junction
which proved a very good spot. Here we saw at least a dozen Plum-headed Finches
(the first of several sighting of this beautiful finch which appears to be
fairly common at the moment in the valley. We had very good views through
David?s scope and our binoculars), a family of Southern Whiteface including 3
juv. birds, lots of Double-barred Finches (including some juv. brownish faced
birds) and Red-browed Firetails, Jacky Winters, a nice pair of Turquoise
Parrots, 2-3 Black-chinned Honeyeaters and other honeyeaters, a Little Eagle, a
pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles (we saw a number of both eagles in the valley on
that day), a Collared Sparrowhawk, a few Pallid and a Fantail Cuckoo, both Golden and
Horsfield?s Bronze cuckoos heard and a Brown Falcon seen
soaring.
At our next
stop a few km further down the road we saw a group of (first of many)
White-browed Babblers with one nest building, lots of Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters,
another pair of Turquoise Parrots, Little Lorikeets and Plum-headed Finches
flying overhead and heard a Common Bronzewing and a Red-capped Robin (the later
a species which I don?t see/hear that often in the valley unlike at Bulga on the
other side of the Great Dividing Range). We also heard a strange call at this
spot which I thought came from a White-faced Heron, which we soon saw flying
from near a dam.
Our next stop
was near the T junction of the Glen Davis and Glen Alice Roads and also beside
the Capertee
River road crossing. We saw at least
2 Little Lorikeets land in the casuarinas and one of the lorikeets was seen
feasting in the mistletoe flowers growing from one of the casuarinas and about a
dozen of these lorikeets fly overhead. We also saw several Red-rumped Parrots,
small groups of Zebra Finches, several Fairy Martins, and a Singing Bushlark
singing away in the paddock and one vocal Hooded Robin calling from the other
side of the river giving its ?chweep chweep cweep? (a bit hard to describe in
words but a sort of fading away call). Still at this stage we still had not
heard/seen a single Rufous Songlark which should be quite numerous in the valley
at this time of year.
We soon met
Timothy and Linda Hyde at about noon and they showed us around there place in
the valley were we saw a pair of Little Eagles (which consisted of one dark and
light phase birds) nesting, several Diamond Firetails also nesting, more
Plum-headed Finches, Crested Shrike-tits, Striped Honeyeater, Brown
Tree-creepers, Pallid Cuckoos, Speckled Warblers, Striated and Yellow-rumped
Thornbills, lots of Dusky Woodswallows, White-browed Babblers, lots of Noisy
Friarbirds traveling in groups of up to 20 or so, Golden and Rufous Whistlers,
at least on pair of White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes (one being a light phase the
other a dark-phase bird) and Olive-backed Oriole. I also heard a Rainbow
Bee-eater in the distance. We also had seen a nice sized Common Wombat well
outside his burrow on the side of a dry creek.
Before
heading back towards Capertee, we decided to have a very late lunch at another
spot beside the Capertee
River. Our brief lunch was soon
interrupted when I heard a Barking Owl call very close by. We soon had very good
views of an adult Barking Owl calling ?woof woof? from one of the Casuarinas.
Two bold male Hooded Robins were mobbing this Owl amongst other birds. We also
saw another pair of Turquoise Parrots flying past as well as Jacky
Winters.
We headed
back up the road and stopped briefly for half an hour again at the Glen
Davis-Glen Alice T junction near the river where we saw the late afternoon sun
shine over the walls of the Capertee sandstone cliffs and a Brown Falcon
standing for some time in the middle of a paddock (probably recovering from a
good meal). Further on and on the
climb up towards Capertee was our final stop for the day, where we saw several
Plum-headed Finches come to roost in the reeds of a small dam and where a Reed
Warbler was seen, several Brown Tree-creepers on or on the side of the road,
White-plumed Honeyeaters doing display flights and we also heard and a Painted
Button-quail calling from the forest undergrowth on the other side of the road.
We also heard our only second Rufous Songlark still without a single sighting of
this species for the day (this will certainly go down as the day without Rufous
Songlark sightings in the Capertee
Valley for us in
Spring!!!!)
Nether the
less, another good day out and about in the
Capertee
Valley.
Edwin
Vella
