Hi there again
and sorry - I forgot to warmly thank all those who sent me advice on up
to date conditions out west - it put me heading SW towards Lake
Cargelligo etc., and at last got a visit to Mount Kaputar - the coolest
place on our way home = Penny
On 16/12/16 2:36 PM, Penny Brockman wrote:
> Dear Birding-aussers
>
> Following my request for info on conditions out west in NSW, my 2 sons
> and I headed that way. Spent the first night camping in Goulburn River
> National Park - all alone, beautiful, kangaroos hopping around
> (essential for a visiting Londoner), and heaps of birds early morning,
> including a noisy Channel-billed Cuckoo. 30 species were seen or
> heard, including very noisy Jacky Winters, White-throated Gerygones,
> T.Frogmouth and Noisy Miners.
>
> Then we continued west past Dubbo with the heat rising and ended up
> camping in Gundabooka Nat.Park, Yanda campsite by the side of the
> Darling River. Very hot here, not many flied and a few mozzies at
> night easily avoided. Birds were good but not exceptional due to the
> heat no doubt - hit 46 degrees 4.12.16 and we spent most of the time
> in air conditioning - cafe in Bourke, car driving there and then to
> Louth, and the pub in Louth where cold beers made for a happy time.
> Gundabooka camp site had visiting Grey-crowned Babbles, bee-eaters,
> Spotted Bowerbird, Brown Treecreepers everywhere, Brown Goshawk, noisy
> Apostlebirds, Jacky Winters and more noted in an early morning walk
> along the Darling river bank. All good stuff for a visiting UK
> birder. We even managed to fine 3 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos in
> Bourke - just the ticket! The heat was countered by our campsite
> having a large water tank with lots of water so we could shower and
> keep cool. heading home a stop on the Kamileroi Hghy on the Barwon
> River found 100s of Fairy Martin nests under the concrete bridge,
> packed in and often one under another.
>
> Our last 2 nights were spent up in Mount Kaputar - absolutely
> gorgeous, cool, windy, and the last two ticks for my UK birding son -
> Spotted Quail-thrush and Double-banded Finch. Campsites here are very
> well set up, with hot showers and lots of space between sites. Super
> walks for all states of fitness. Interesting was seeing/hearing
> grey-type currawongs with the usual Pied Currawongs. Dark
> browny/grey/black with almost no or no white in wings and making a
> variety of clunking/clinking calls, foraging with the pieds. I'd
> recommend Kaputar particularly in hot weather out of school holiday
> time. From the amount of camping facilities, I guess it gets very
> crowded at such times.
>
> As noted by others, waterbirds were in very low numbers - 2
> Yellow-billed Spoonbills on the Darling, one each White-faced and
> White-necked Herons, 1 Little Pied Cormorant. All up the Gwydir,
> Macquarie Marsh or Narran Lakes i guessed.
>
> So we avoided areas further south, hardly suffered from flies/mozzies,
> and hit the heat full time! But a great quick trip and showed the UK
> birder some western birders and that great flat land.
>
> Happy birding to all, a good Christmas and may all your birding
> ambitions some true in 2017.
>
> Penny, Gloucester, NSW.
>
>
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