birding-aus

Signs of autumn and a misty walk in the Blue Mountains, NSW

To: "Carol Probets" <>
Subject: Signs of autumn and a misty walk in the Blue Mountains, NSW
From: "Evan Beaver" <>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 12:56:16 +1100
Carol,

I saw half a dozen rufous fans around the mountains last weekend, Mt
Hay and Mt Wilson. What's their normal movement?

Another incentive to head up the hill for me at the moment is the
promise of Pilot Bird. I've got them on 4 separate day lists (calls
count) but still not on my life list! I think they recognise my call
as easily as I theirs.

EB

On 2/28/08, Carol Probets <> wrote:
> Yesterday (27/2/08) I noticed small, restless flocks of Silvereyes
> moving around and a Rufous Fantail came through my garden (Katoomba,
> NSW), sure signs that autumn is coming.
>
> I went for a short walk early this morning in very misty weather on
> Narrow Neck plateau to the south of Katoomba. Birds seem to be
> responding well to the wetter conditions of La Nina - I get the
> impression there are better numbers of small bush birds around
> generally than we've been seeing towards the latter part of the
> drought years.
>
> While I was driving out along the plateau, a Pilotbird darted across
> the track in front of the car. At this time of year, I find that
> Pilotbirds start to spend more time on the clifftop areas in habitats
> not normally acknowledged in the books for this species.
>
> Walking out beyond the gate I encountered a pair of Beautiful
> Firetails foraging in full view for as long as I wanted to watch.
> They were amongst a mixed flock which also included White-browed
> Scrubwrens, Eastern Yellow Robins, Red-browed Finches, Eastern
> Whipbird, Grey Shrike-thrush, White-throated and Red-browed
> Treecreepers, the latter on the smooth upper branches of Eucalyptus
> sieberi, and the former on the rough bark lower down.
>
> This was just past a wonderful rock outcrop overlooking a hanging
> swamp, known unofficially as "Morning Tea Rock". For years there was
> a family of Black Rock Skinks here which I would look for every time
> I walked past. A while ago someone pushed off a large chunk of
> boulder which slid down to the ground leaving an ugly scar, and
> there's no longer a suitable sized crevice for the skinks. It mars an
> otherwise beautiful and very special area.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Carol
>
>
>
>
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Carol Probets
> Guided birding in the Blue Mountains & Capertee Valley
> PO Box 330
> Katoomba NSW 2780
> Web: http://www.bmbirding.com.au
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> ===============================
> www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
>
> To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
> send the message:
> unsubscribe
> (in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
> to: 
> ===============================
>


-- 
Evan Beaver
Lapstone, Blue Mountains, NSW
lat=-33.77, lon=150.64
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, 
send the message:
unsubscribe 
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 
===============================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU