Hi All,
You may remember I asked for info on the Lake Cargelligo (LC) area a month or
so ago. I received
quite a bit of useful info from various members, which I am very thankful for.
We ended up heading off on the afternoon of the 28th, and spent the night in
Bathurst, before
heading for LC, via Gum Swamp at Forbes.
Gum Swamp was great, as was the treatment plant at LC that evening. Next
morning we headed
out through Chat Alley to Nombinnie and Round Hill Nature Reserves.
Temperatures were up around
35^, and bird activity was lower than I expected. LC had lots of Whiskered
Terns and Red-capped Plovers.
The following day we headed down the Rankin Springs Rd, which was full of bird
life. Ringnecks (Barnardi),
Blue Bonnets, and Cicadabirds were in abundance along the sides of the road. We
pulled in to
Pulletop NR, which was almost dead, just a few Yellow-plumed and Spiny-cheeked
Honeyeaters.
Our last birding stop was at Fivebough Wetlands in Leeton that evening. This
place was thriving,
but is quite overgrown, so it's difficult to actually see any of the birds on
the water. There was a lot
of bird traffic coming and going though. Some new species for me that we did
see were Australian Crake,
Magpie Goose, and Glossy Ibis. There was also a family of four Black-shouldered
Kite's out hunting.
As we were walking along the track through the reeds we spotted a fox up ahead
with an Australian
Wood Duck in it's mouth. It stood there looking at us for about 20 seconds,
starting towards us, stopping,
starting, stopping..... he obviously wanted to go past us. He eventually
scurried into the reeds, but just
as he did we spotted a very large Red-bellied Black Snake on the track right
next to him! The snake
disappeared into the reeds as we approached, and we gingerly walked past.
Only one other birder was spotted during the whole trip, a lady we met in
passing at Nombinnie.
Highlights for me were:
- The juvenile Emu that fell over on the road in front of us in Nombinnie (we
were stopped) and was so
panicked it couldn't get up, just legs and feathers everywhere!
- Red-capped Robins on the climb to the top of Round Hill.
- Rainbow Bee-eaters in Nombinnie NR.
- Raptors everywhere once we were West of Bathurst.
Overall we had an enjoyable road trip. I'd love to visit some of those places
again, but I think the quantity
of birdlife would be greater at a cooler time of the year.
Cheers,
Jason.
Kind Regards,
Jason McHattan
Support Engineer
Broadcast and Professional
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Amber Technology Limited
Unit 1, 2 Daydream Street, Warriewood NSW 2102
Australia
P: +61 (0) 2 9452 8600
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