This morning, David Mitford, David
Koffel and myself
spent a few hours this morning at Scheyville NP in
the hope of tracking down a pair of Red-chested Buttonquail
seen there before Christmas. We saw no platelets and had no luck in finding it
but we saw/heard a good variety of woodland birds including 2 Musk Lorikeets; Peaceful
Doves; Pheasant Coucals (calling repeatedly
throughout the morning); Fan-tailed and Shining Bronze-cuckoos; Jacky Winter; a
pair Crested Shrike-tits; numerous Rufous Whistlers
(lots of young birds. Just squeak and watch them all come around); Leaden Flycatchers;
Variegated Wrens (3 adult males and a female); Buff-rumped
Thornbill; White-throated Gerygones;
Varied Sitellas; Double-barred Finches; Noisy
Friarbirds; White-eared, Brown-headed and Scarlet Honeyeaters; Olive-backed
Orioles and Dusky Woodswallows. The place appeared to
be alive with birds!
The Pheasant Coucal is not typical
bird of the dry shale country/Cumberland Plain Woodland (more so found in the
coastal areas around Sydney where there is dense undergrowth like Narrabeen, Kur-ring-gai Chase NP,
Red Hill, Cronulla area and Royal NP or along the
Hawkesbury River) so its presence at Scheyville is
quite interesting. Prospect Reservoir near Blacktown is another
locality where it also has recently occurred in shale Country in Sydney. Also not
typical of this habitat is the Variegated Wrens and White-eared Honeyeater.
Edwin Vella
