Hi birders,
I headed down to my new place in the Capertee Valley (which I wrote about a
fortnight ago) on Friday afternoon, the vehicle loaded with odds and ends
and carefully wrapped crockery scavenged from garage sales, and outdoor
furniture which I plan to position stategically in shady places for the
best views of birds. Arriving at the cabin half an hour before sunset, I
got to work unpacking the car while the cliffs glowed a fiery red against
the dispersing storm clouds and White-browed Woodswallows filled the sky.
I quickly had a look at the dam before it got dark, and was surprised to
see most of the dead branches that I had planted around the edge for the
birds to perch on as they come in for a drink, two weeks ago, were now
submerged. The valley had obviously received a fair amount of rain during
that time, just as we had in Katoomba.
Despite arriving so late in the day, by the time I had finished eating
dinner I had already added four species to the property list, bring it to
74. The first of these was a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike which called soon
after I arrived. Then, a flurry of alarm calls had me searching the sky for
the raptor - and sure enough, a Peregrine Falcon flew purposefully up
toward the cliffs.
After dark, my dinner was punctuated by the calls of several nocturnal
birds. The Owlet-nightjar was especially vocal, moving gradually all around
the cabin in a big loop as it gave a varied repertoire of calls from sweet
soft notes to harsh loud notes. As before, a Boobook called from an
adjoining property. New for the property list was a Tawny Frogmouth and a
Barn Owl, both of which called from the hillside behind the cabin. Four
nocturnal species in the first hour or so of darkness! (And that's not
counting the lapwings or the insomniac Willie Wagtail, or the distant dog
that I tried to turn into a Barking Owl.)
Early on Saturday morning the valley was clothed in a thick "pea-soup" fog,
which slowly lifted revealing glimpses of mountain and cliff as the sun
started to break through. Parts fo the valley are already looking much
greener after the rain, and one of my small creeklines even had water
flowing down it. The ground around the cabin is now a carpet of wildflowers
including native bluebells, billy buttons and a tiny Brachycome.
On my morning walk I found a White-browed Woodswallow's nest at eye level
in the fork of a shrub, with two fluffy chicks in it, and very agitated
parents nearby. After having a quick look I left them alone. The Painted
Button-quail was calling again, as was the Superb Lyrebird up the slope,
and a Painted Honeyeater had returned giving only a half-hearted call a
couple of times. The Crested Shrike-tits were still active, as were
Brown-headed Honeyeaters, Weebills, White-browed Babblers and I added
Yellow Thornbill to the list.
I had intended to spend much of Saturday digging out prickly pear, but
instead I spent most of my time enjoying the birds, the sunshine and the
majesty of the place. While walking around the front paddock I noticed that
there were vigorous young eucalypts coming up of their own accord around
the scattered old and dying trees. It's obviously a few years since cattle
were in here.
Noisy Miners on the property seem to be restricted to one small group
around the stockyards. I watched an Australian Hobby rush past as it
twisted and weaved in pursuit of Zebra Finches over the grassland. What a
display of speed and agility! It was however, unsuccessful this time and on
each occasion the finches escaped to the safety of foliage.
On Sunday morning I met up with a couple of visiting birders to show them
around the valley. As we stopped to open the front gate to my place, we
paused to watch some birds displaying over the grassland of a neighbouring
paddock. When one landed on a fence post, out came the scope and I was
surprised to see it was a Brown Songlark! In fact there were four grassland
species displaying here, the others being Singing Bushlark, Rufous Songlark
and Pipit. We spent some time comparing the flight styles and songs of
these four species, the first time I've ever seen all four displaying
together in a small area. All the while I was hoping they would cross the
fence so I could add them to my property list, but they insisted on staying
on the other side (with the exception of the Rufous Songlark which was on
the list anyway).
Up around the main dam my guests got good views of Diamond Firetails and
plenty of Fuscous Honeyeaters, and after some searching on foot, we finally
located three Turquoise Parrots from the vehicle!
We saw several flocks of Little Lorikeets in various parts of the valley,
but apart from this, nectar-feeders proved hard to find. We did manage to
find a Black-chinned Honeyeater foraging alone at Glen Alice.
By the time I left the valley yesterday my property list had grown to 79
species, without having ventured very far up the mountain. I'm greatly
looking forward to more visits.
By the way, several people have asked whether I am moving there full-time.
The answer is no - I will continue to live in Katoomba for the time being,
as my guiding work is based here. Also, the cabin has no electricity yet,
or running water, though it does have a full water tank. But I'll certainly
be taking every opportunity to spend time at the new place.
Cheers
Carol
Carol Probets
Blue Mountains NSW
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