Dramatic weather and changing birds in the Cape rtee

[Rob Roy <>]

Carol,

I wonder if you know what your messages do to the morale of us poor office-bound plebs? I'm a very fine shade of green but happy for you.

Your block certainly sounds like a little piece of paradise (despite the occasional goat!).

Please keep the stories and your discoveries coming. I look forward to reading them.

Regards,
Robert Roy
www.roblog.com/4images/
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Mob 0407 66 80 90
Email
Glenwood NSW 2768 Australia
Canon EOS 300D, Sigma 400/f5.6 APO
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Alas, must amass more cash for good glass
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-----Original Message-----
From: Carol Probets
Sent: Friday, 13 February 2004 1:30 PM
To:
Subject: [BIRDING-AUS] Dramatic weather and changing birds in the Capertee

Whenever I visit my block in the Capertee Valley it's getting increasingly difficult to drag myself away. I've just spent the past two days there, and despite the stifling heat which exceeded 40 degrees in the cabin on both days, the place was alive with birds. A terrific thunderstorm yesterday afternoon provided welcome relief, some much needed rain, and breathtaking drama!

When I arrived at noon on Wednesday, I found the resident Willie Wagtail underneath the cabin, sheltering from the midday sun. For the past few visits the property birdlist has been stuck at 87 but I knew this would change as the seasons changed, and birds finish breeding and start moving around more. Some of these changes are now starting to happen.

The White-winged Trillers and White-browed Woodswallows all seem to have left the property, the Rufous Songlarks have stopped singing, and this was the first time in the last seven visits that I didn't see any Turquoise Parrots. On the other hand, the Diamond Firetail numbers have been gradually climbing and this week I counted between 25 and 30 drinking at the dam together. The Rainbow Bee-eaters were out in force. As the dark storm clouds built up yesterday they filled the sky like fragments of a rainbow which has been smashed to pieces.

The Box Mistletoe (Amyema miquelii) is now flowering well and there is plenty of it, attracting large numbers of Little Lorikeets which are constantly hurtling across the sky in every direction. Noisy Friarbirds were everywhere, their noisily yapping juveniles obvious. On my previous visit a fortnight ago I noticed a few flocks of Noisy Friarbirds travelling through. Black-chinned Honeyeaters are easy to find and regularly drink at the dam.

Suddenly yesterday there was an Eastern Spinebill in every patch of trees, feeding in the mistletoe. It seems like they arrived overnight, together with a single New Holland Honeyeater which turned up at the cabin. These are among the commonest garden birds where I live in Katoomba, but in the Capertee they are less common and became species numbers 88 and 89 for the property.

Over breakfast, as my guests and I watched three Striped Honeyeaters in the birdbath, I noticed a very large flock of ravens moving across the front paddock. I listened for their calls and sure enough, they had the deep notes of Little Ravens, making species number 90 for the property!

Yesterday morning I had headed out for what was to be a short pre-breakfast stroll and, as usual, ended up being lured further and further up the mountain by the ever-changing habitat. I found a ridge covered in huge mounds of spinifex (Triodia sp.) and grass-trees (Xanthorrhoea sp.). The plant-list is constantly growing. I was also able to add a species to the mammal list, albeit not a particularly welcome one, with feral goats being heard from up the hillside. I flushed a Spotted Quail-thrush from the hillside, and lower down a Painted Button-quail.

On Wednesday evening during dinner, a large Lace Monitor had strolled past the door of the cabin. One of my visitors went out with a camera to try and photograph it and of course it headed up the nearest tree, which was a small Hickory. We left it alone, thinking it would come down, but instead it decided to go to sleep right there, its belly draped along the branch and all four legs dangling in mid-air on each side. It was still there in the morning. However it disappeared without us noticing as the temperature started to rise again.

It was after my visitors had left and I was putting off going home, when the storm arrived. I sat outside and watched the black clouds building up from the west before I was forced to make a dash for the cabin.

Thunderstorms seem so much more dramatic in the Capertee Valley! Maybe it's something to do with the towering cliffs, maybe it's the way you can see the storms travelling across the valley, or the way the thunder echoes off the mountains. There was lightning all around and the rain was torrential for more than half an hour. As soon as it stopped and everything was fresh and clean and calm again, flocks of birds started flying across the paddocks in their dozens - Red-rumped Parrots, Striated Pardalotes, Diamond Firetails, Little Lorikeets. All the birds seemed restless. The rain had turned the trunks of the Slaty Box trees into rich shades of orange, lime green, khaki and cream.

Driving out of the valley I saw about 10 White-throated Needletails flying around in the aftermath of the storm. Now I can't wait to go back again.

Cheers

Carol

Carol Probets
Blue Mountains NSW

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