Two day trip – Mudgee and back!
A sudden decision by me to head west to look for birds found me planning a trip to Mudgee over Tuesday and Wednesday.
Day 1.
Departure was delayed by an hour after the lady at the car hire place couldn’t get my credit card to work, but after a drive into the bank and back again I was hunky dory and on my way. The day was looking to be a warm one with a chance of thunderstorms. No storms were seem but warm was an understatement! The temperature was nudging 40 degrees less than half way into my drive and there was very little birdlife to be seen.
Newcastle to Mudgee list.
Wedge-tailed Eagle, Willy Wagtail, Raven, Indian Mynah, Magpie, Magpie-lark, Welcome Swallow, Starling, Red-rumped Parrot, White-faced Heron, Noisy Minor, Aust. Wood Duck, Crested Pigeon, White-winged Chough and Yellow-rumped Thornbill.
As soon as I arrived in Mudgee I checked in to the Caravan Park I was camping at, put my tent up to bags a spot (overlooking the creek), and then hit the Tourist Information Centre for their Bird Route maps. The heat was ridiculous (42 degrees), but I decided to check out a couple of the locations to see what was to be had.
Rocky Waterhole Rd Bridge.
A short drive out of town to this bridge (actually a causeway/bridge). The map said it was good for Reed-warblers...that was the only bird I saw there, so the maps were as good as their word so far
Avisford Reserve
Run by NPWS at the end of the main street, this spot looked to be an old disused dam. By dam, I don’t mean cow paddock dam, I mean a big dam with curved concrete wall (still there)! No water to be seen but the site did seem to hold some potential.
King Parrot, Rufous Whistler, Eastern Yellow Robin, Common Bronzewing, Variegated and Superb Fairy-wren, Red-browed Firetail and some mystery calls were heard too.
Every bird was suffering from the heat and I called an early end to the spot after being harassed by dogs from nearby properties.
A sudden decision by me to head west to look for birds found me planning a trip to Mudgee over Tuesday and Wednesday.
Day 1.
Departure was delayed by an hour after the lady at the car hire place couldn’t get my credit card to work, but after a drive into the bank and back again I was hunky dory and on my way. The day was looking to be a warm one with a chance of thunderstorms. No storms were seem but warm was an understatement! The temperature was nudging 40 degrees less than half way into my drive and there was very little birdlife to be seen.
Newcastle to Mudgee list.
Wedge-tailed Eagle, Willy Wagtail, Raven, Indian Mynah, Magpie, Magpie-lark, Welcome Swallow, Starling, Red-rumped Parrot, White-faced Heron, Noisy Minor, Aust. Wood Duck, Crested Pigeon, White-winged Chough and Yellow-rumped Thornbill.
As soon as I arrived in Mudgee I checked in to the Caravan Park I was camping at, put my tent up to bags a spot (overlooking the creek), and then hit the Tourist Information Centre for their Bird Route maps. The heat was ridiculous (42 degrees), but I decided to check out a couple of the locations to see what was to be had.
Rocky Waterhole Rd Bridge.
A short drive out of town to this bridge (actually a causeway/bridge). The map said it was good for Reed-warblers...that was the only bird I saw there, so the maps were as good as their word so far
Avisford Reserve
Run by NPWS at the end of the main street, this spot looked to be an old disused dam. By dam, I don’t mean cow paddock dam, I mean a big dam with curved concrete wall (still there)! No water to be seen but the site did seem to hold some potential.
King Parrot, Rufous Whistler, Eastern Yellow Robin, Common Bronzewing, Variegated and Superb Fairy-wren, Red-browed Firetail and some mystery calls were heard too.
Every bird was suffering from the heat and I called an early end to the spot after being harassed by dogs from nearby properties.
I went to the first pub I could find, and shouted myself a schooner of coke while checking out other places to visit. I ended up checking some nearby TSR’s and found nothing but Starlings. The region is nice and green after a recent soaking of rain so I suspect the starlings (thousands of the buggers), were feeding up on grass seeds and the like.I went back to the tent to see what was in the creek area before I did some shopping. The Caravan Park was a little gold mine for birds. It even yielded two lifers for me!
Peaceful Dove, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Pacific Black Duck, Dusky Moorhen (+8 chicks), Red-browed Firetail, Common Blackbird, Galah, Sacred Kingfisher, Grey Shrike-thrush, Willy Wagtail, Mistletoebird, Little Black Cormorant, Reed Warbler, White-plumed Honeyeater and of course the Fairy-wrens.
Off to the shops and also to Eagle Boys to buy dinner. This was the highlight of the day as I sat on the creek bank, in the shade of a tree, with my feet in the flowing water while I ate my pizza and had a cold drink. Absolute heaven! Had a terrible night’s sleep in the warm, still night. Woke almost every hour. Went for a shower at 1am then back to bed. Got up at 4.30am and broke camp so I was ready to go to Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve before sunrise.
Day 2.
Decided to go to Honeyeater Flat day area within the Munghorn Gap NR and work my way back out from there. After driving past the place twice (stupid entrance sign is in the paddock and not by the road so I missed it in the dark), I drove in as far as I could and got out. Lots of bird song to be heard...unfortunately 80% of it was from a darn Rufous Whistler above my head! Went for a wander and it was already heating up and the sun was yet to clear the hills. Two more lifers in here. One was easy to ID but hard to find. The unmistakeable call of a Superb Lyrebird coming from down in the gully among the rocks had me stalking to catch a glimpse. Amazing how easy it is to pick them when you hear 8-9 very different birds calling repetitively from the one spot. Got a glimpse and recorded the Lyrebird call on a P&S digicam movie.
Birds from Honeyeater Flat...
Superb Lyrebird, Grey Fantail, Brown Treecreeper, Brown Thornbill, Eastern Yellow Robin, Rufous Whistler, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, White-winged Chough, Silvereye, Superb Fairy-wren, Eastern Spinebill, Eastern Rosella, Raven, Kookaburra, Magpie, Galah and Noisy Minor.
Next point of interest was Moolarben Day area. Quite sweaty already but went for a look. Again several mystery calls and more of the same sighted, with one exception... Leaden Flycatcher.
Birds from Moolarben...
Leaden Flycatcher, Rufous Whistler, White-winged Chough, Grey Fantail, Fantail Cuckoo, Superb Fairy-wren, Galah, Kookaburra, Eastern Spinebill, Mistletoebird, Brown Thornbill and a few mystery calls.
The temperature by 9am was back up to 37 degrees so I decided to check bridges, back roads etc as I started to make my way home. One new bird was found Dusky Woodswallow, but apart from that, nothing that hasn’t been already listed..
I got back into Newie around 2pm and headed for Blackbutt to see the Powerful Owls. Again I couldn’t find the track, and when I did (Thanks Dan), there were no Owls, just millions of mosquitoes. I am destined never to see a mythical Powerful Owl.
The temp in Newcastle was heaps cooler but there was a sea fog over everything which wrote off any chances of birding along the coast, so I headed for home...earlier than planned.All in all it was a good, but very hot, trip. I would of course have loved to have seen more new birds but the weather was against me for the whole time. Still seven lifers in two days ain’t such a bad thing. I will save up my pennies again for the HBOC Easter camp and try again for more Western birds then, since most of the birds I saw on this trip are also on my backyard and Medowie lists.
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