Hi all
Yesterday late morning a few of us went chasing woodswallows in the Mareeba
area. No luck in the Koah and Chewko Road areas, and also out towards
Mutchilba. Also no luck initially along Channel Road however on returning
from Mutchilba along Channel Road we came across a flock of around 50 or so.
Some were definitely White-browed Woodswallows, which was our target
species.
The weather in the morning was overcast and drizzly, so we suspect aerial
insects would not be out and hence no woodswallows, apart from a few
White-breasted Woodswallows doing the usual thing and sitting on power
lines. When we eventually saw the woodswallows on Channel Road the weather
had cleared and warmed up.
It certainly makes a difference in identifying woodswallows when they are
sitting on fence lines. Driving between Hughenden and Winton it is easy to
identify Woodswallow species at 100 km an hour as they are sitting on the
fence close to the road, or soaring just above the car! When they are
distant in grey days we found it more difficult.
Despite the un-obliging nature of the woodswallows (could have saved us 4
hours of driving around by just being on Channel Road in the morning), it
was a good day birding. The other birding highlight was when we stopped at
Mutchilba to wait for woodswallows to come to us we saw White-winged Triller
- also a sign of dry conditions out west.
Ian Sinclair
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