Hi all,
I too ventured forth into the box/ironbark lands yesterday, around Kingower
and Moliagul north-west of Bendigo. Dry as a chip, though the bush looked
healthy enough after the summer rains we've had. Overall not much flowering
except for a few patches of Yellow Gum getting started. With much of the
forest in a state of regrowth its probably not surprising, old growth trees
are few and far between generally and these are the most freely flowering
ones. There appeared to be a fair amount of bud too so later in the season
should be reasonable for Yellow Gum flower and some White Box too.Once again
the Ironbarks seem to have gone to sleep. I'm looking forward to a year when
they wake up and start producing.
Swifties were present at two locations we visited, both areas that seem to
be favoured spots over the few years I've been looking anyway. A healthy
total of about 40 birds in the Moliagul Historic reserve and another 20
south-west of Rheola on the Bealiba road near O'briens dam road. This latter
site was quiet in the morning but dropped in again late afternoon and there
they were, very active and noisy before they buzzed off somewhere to roost
(i'd love to know where!). A surprise here was a White-fronted Honeyeater,a
fair way from the nearest mallee.
Much of the time the Swifties were feeding on lerps amongst the grey Box
foliage and allowed us to stand underneath them quite happily. Great views
were had by all.
As always I had to wonder how many Swifties we'd missed.
Away from the few hotspots the bush was very quiet. Smaller bush birds such
as Thornbills,fantails etc were only found away from the taller timber, on
some of the stunted ridges and more open shrubby areas.
I wonder how others have faired this weekend???
Simon Starr,
Pyramid hill, northern Victoria.
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