I have just returned from a late afternoon visit to Cox Scrub on the
Fleurieu Peninsula an hour from Adelaide. This was flagged by others as
the site most likely to produce CRHW as per my request from last week
(thanks to all who replied) -- though I didn't harbour any expectations
of finding one at that time of day or at this time of year, it was more
a recce since I had never been before.
I was horrified to find that what looked like about 2/3 of the entire
area (or at least from what I could see on from the eastern boundary)
has been burnt out. It is very recent, probably in the last week -- the
smell of charcoal is still in the air. Though most of the ground is now
cold, in one or two places I could see smoking logs, and in one place
there were still small flames. I covered them with sand as best I could
and hope it rains tonight, though it looks like the damage has been done.
The burnt area goes from the firebreak adjacent to the Asbourne Rd up
the hill as far as I walked (not quite to the top of the hill), and much
of the way south. There is an unburnt area in the SE corner. The
understory is completely gone in all but a few isolated pacthes.
The birds I did see well were all concentrated in the area close to the
carpark where there was less damage: dozens of New Holland and Brown
Honeyeaters, Several Red-rumped Parrots, Musk and Purple-crown
Lorikeets, Grey Shrike-thrush, and a few parties of Superb Fairywren.
Probably bad news for the dense heath dwellers though :-(.
regards, Ian
--
Prof. Ian Reid
School of Computer Science
University of Adelaide
Adelaide, 5005
ph: +61 (08) 83132135
www: http://cs.adelaide.edu.au
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