Hi
I visited Canberra from 10-15 July for a short family holiday. As well as a
few family trips out into the bush, I managed a couple of trips out on my
own to venues advised in response to my RFI a couple of weeks back (Thanks
to Alastair Smith & Graham Turner for the hints of spots to visit).
Highlights for me were:
- Little Eagle "surfing" the gale above Mt Ainslie on Sunday 10 July
- a very confiding Scarlet Robin at Tidbinbilla NR on 11 July - if I'd had
my camera out (instead of herding my two kids away from the edge of a dam) I
reckon he'd have come and perched on the lens!
- good selection of honeyeaters around the waterbird area at Tidbinbilla,
including Black Chinned, White Eared, and possible Fuscous (almost too
non-descript to be anything else)
- watching a dispute between 3 Brown Falcons at Adaminaby on 12 July whilst
on our way to the Mt Selwyn resort to see the snow
- a big flock of Hoary Headed Grebe on L Burley Griffin on 13 July doing
formation swimming
- good selection of ducks at Jerrabomberra Wetlands and Fyshwick STW on 13
July, including 2 Blue Billed Duck, 2 Freckled Duck, lots of Pink Eared Duck
and 1 Australasian Shoveler, plus the more common species and lots of grebes
and
- Gang-gangs and a Flame Robin and a Scarlet Robin in the Aust National
Botanic Gardens on 14 July
- lots of good woodland birds at Campbell Park on 14 July, including more
Scarlet Robins, a Grey Currawong doing an impression of a Varied Sittella,
lots of Weebills and Varied Sittellas, 2 friendly Speckled Warblers, a small
party of Crested Shrike Tits and a Common Bronzewing (that I nearly stepped
on and then took off with a huge clatter, giving me a huge scare)
We drove home a long way to Sydney via Boorowa & Cowra, hoping to find
Superb Parrots - it was a bit late in the season and they would probably
have mostly gone north, but I was hoping. The weather didn't help - any
Superb Parrot worth it's salt would have been safely tucked away in a tree
hollow away from the driving showers and the cold SW wind! - and there were
lots of Red Rumpeds trying to confuse me as well. I got one brief look at 3
bigger, long tailed birds but that as it, and they were gone into a thicker
patch of trees before I could really get a bead on them - next time I'll go
in the spring/summer when the weather's better!
One thing I noticed coming back was the large number of Kestrels and Black
Shouldered Kites hovering over the road sides - I reckon I was seeing one or
the other about every 3 or 4 minutes in the stretch
Boorowa-Cowra-Bathurst-Lithgow. I wonder if some of there were drought
refugees from further west?
Cheers
Tom Wilson
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