Grant and I departed Maitland at 0500 heading for the Hunter Bird Observer Club Easter camp at Borah Travelling Stock Reserve, west of Tamworth. A totally awesome 3 days with 99 species seen and 26 new birds for my life list.
Accommodation was basic camping with no amenities except for a hole in the ground and a thunder box.
Basic list of Hunter birds until we drove through Tamworth and then it magically began to change to Western birds. We arrived at camp before lunch and hurriedly threw the tents up and hit the bush in search of birds. Grant was going ballistic as he knows the patch of ground fairly intimately, so I was rapidly ticking new species until days end when we had 63 species (I had 14 new birds).
Day two and more of the same, except that we were hitting the ground at first light. Nine new birds added to our total, gave us 72 species, and 3 more ticks for me. By the end of day two the number of species seen by the club was 87 species within the TSR or short walking distance thereof.
Day 3 was our return to the Hunter day, and after breaking camp, having breakfast and saying goodbye to those who hadn’t already gone walking, we headed out the gate with a plan of going further west before heading east. Travelling west again and very quickly we were adding more species. 12 more species were recorded before we finally headed for home and a further 13 more before we reached my house in Medowie. So day 3 had 27 new birds giving us a total of 99 birds seen, and I picked up a further 9 lifers bringing my weekend total to 26 life ticks.
A great weekend for which I owe a great deal of thanks to Grant, his eagle eyes and awesome bird knowledge.
Bird list for the weekend in order of sighting, as follows...Lifers for me in bold type.
Day 1.
Magpie, Pied Butcherbird, Aust. Wood Duck, Raven, Magpie Lark, Black Shouldered Kite, Eastern Rosella, Kestrel, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Willy Wagtail, Starling, Sparrow, Common Myna, Red-rumped Parrot, Spotted Turtle-dove, Crested Pigeon, Galah, Welcome Swallow, Masked Lapwing, Kookaburra, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Currawong, Rainbow Lorikeet, Common Blackbird, Little Corella, Noisy Minor, Brown Goshawk, Feral Pigeon, Noisy Friar-bird, Red-winged Parrot, Superb Fairy-wren, Restless Flycatcher, Double-barred Finch, White-faced Heron, Apostlebird, White-backed Swallow, Cockatiel, White-winged Chough, Jacky Winter, Mistletoebird, Grey-crowned Babbler, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Tree Martin, Zebra Finch, Blue-faced Honeyeater, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Varied Sittella, Grey Shrike-thrush, White-plumed Honeyeater, Azure Kingfisher, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Diamond Firetail, Hooded Robin, Striped Honeyeater, Striated Pardalote, Turquoise Parrot, Speckled Warbler, Dusky Woodswallow and Brown Treecreeper.
Day 2
Collared Sparrowhawk, Little Friarbird, Black-chinned Honeyeater, Little Lorikeet, Fuscous Honeyeater, Crested-Shrike-tit, Black-fronted Dotterel and King Parrot.
Day 3.
Aust. Pipit, Brown Falcon, Yellow-throated Minor, Southern Whiteface, Singing Honeyeater, Black Falcon, Plum-headed Finch, White-winged Fairy-wren, Horsfield’s Bushlark, Aust. Grebe, Western Gerygone, Ground Cuckoo-shrike, Black Swan, Sacred Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Great Egret, Little Pied Cormorant, Royal Spoonbill, Purple Swamphen, Chestnut Teal, Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo, Musk Duck, White-headed Pigeon, Aust. Hobby and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet.
Several 'David Attenborough' moments on the weekend including up close times with a cute female Turquoise Parrot, some time up close-ish with Plum-headed Finches and a sighting of 3 Ground Cuckoo-shrikes.
Accommodation was basic camping with no amenities except for a hole in the ground and a thunder box.
Basic list of Hunter birds until we drove through Tamworth and then it magically began to change to Western birds. We arrived at camp before lunch and hurriedly threw the tents up and hit the bush in search of birds. Grant was going ballistic as he knows the patch of ground fairly intimately, so I was rapidly ticking new species until days end when we had 63 species (I had 14 new birds).
Day two and more of the same, except that we were hitting the ground at first light. Nine new birds added to our total, gave us 72 species, and 3 more ticks for me. By the end of day two the number of species seen by the club was 87 species within the TSR or short walking distance thereof.
Day 3 was our return to the Hunter day, and after breaking camp, having breakfast and saying goodbye to those who hadn’t already gone walking, we headed out the gate with a plan of going further west before heading east. Travelling west again and very quickly we were adding more species. 12 more species were recorded before we finally headed for home and a further 13 more before we reached my house in Medowie. So day 3 had 27 new birds giving us a total of 99 birds seen, and I picked up a further 9 lifers bringing my weekend total to 26 life ticks.
A great weekend for which I owe a great deal of thanks to Grant, his eagle eyes and awesome bird knowledge.
Bird list for the weekend in order of sighting, as follows...Lifers for me in bold type.
Day 1.
Magpie, Pied Butcherbird, Aust. Wood Duck, Raven, Magpie Lark, Black Shouldered Kite, Eastern Rosella, Kestrel, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Willy Wagtail, Starling, Sparrow, Common Myna, Red-rumped Parrot, Spotted Turtle-dove, Crested Pigeon, Galah, Welcome Swallow, Masked Lapwing, Kookaburra, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Currawong, Rainbow Lorikeet, Common Blackbird, Little Corella, Noisy Minor, Brown Goshawk, Feral Pigeon, Noisy Friar-bird, Red-winged Parrot, Superb Fairy-wren, Restless Flycatcher, Double-barred Finch, White-faced Heron, Apostlebird, White-backed Swallow, Cockatiel, White-winged Chough, Jacky Winter, Mistletoebird, Grey-crowned Babbler, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Tree Martin, Zebra Finch, Blue-faced Honeyeater, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Varied Sittella, Grey Shrike-thrush, White-plumed Honeyeater, Azure Kingfisher, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Diamond Firetail, Hooded Robin, Striped Honeyeater, Striated Pardalote, Turquoise Parrot, Speckled Warbler, Dusky Woodswallow and Brown Treecreeper.
Day 2
Collared Sparrowhawk, Little Friarbird, Black-chinned Honeyeater, Little Lorikeet, Fuscous Honeyeater, Crested-Shrike-tit, Black-fronted Dotterel and King Parrot.
Day 3.
Aust. Pipit, Brown Falcon, Yellow-throated Minor, Southern Whiteface, Singing Honeyeater, Black Falcon, Plum-headed Finch, White-winged Fairy-wren, Horsfield’s Bushlark, Aust. Grebe, Western Gerygone, Ground Cuckoo-shrike, Black Swan, Sacred Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Great Egret, Little Pied Cormorant, Royal Spoonbill, Purple Swamphen, Chestnut Teal, Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo, Musk Duck, White-headed Pigeon, Aust. Hobby and Scaly-breasted Lorikeet.
Several 'David Attenborough' moments on the weekend including up close times with a cute female Turquoise Parrot, some time up close-ish with Plum-headed Finches and a sighting of 3 Ground Cuckoo-shrikes.
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