The bird walk in March was at Anglesea, near the Pony Club, off Camp Road and the river at the end of Bingley Pde.
A somewhat quiet area, with tall trees and thick understory – the very wide path enabled easy viewing as the vegetation beside the path was low.
Grey Fantails ‘danced’ around us, Eastern Yellow Robins remained perched for easy identification while the Rufous Whistler eluded some of us.
The lovely colours and pattern on the Spotted Pardalotes were clearly visible as they hung from small branches while feeding, looking like Christmas ornaments. We noticed that more common birds, such as magpies, were not seen during our walk and that there were few larger birds. Perhaps this area is more suitable for smaller birds? The river did not provide us with water birds on this occasion. The temperature steadily increased, so we returned to the Angair offices for morning tea, satisfied with the total count of 19 different species sighted.
We would love people to join us, to try this rewarding pastime. When locations are held nearby they only take 2 to 21/2 hours and would make your weekend even more wonderful. Angair has binoculars that can be borrowed. The Angair owned telescope is shared by everyone. So, no experience or special skills required. “Seeing” with binoculars improves with use, and it would be great to have mastered this method before the exciting spring season when birds are in abundance. Come and meet some lovely people who are willing to share their knowledge.
Below are all the birds identified on this day:
- Brown Goshawk – ? possible (in flight, overhead)
- Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
- Gang-gang Cockatoo
- Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
- Crimson Rosella
- Blue-winged Parrot
- Superb Fairy-wren
- White-browed Scrubwren
- Brown Thornbill
- Red Wattlebird
- New Holland Honeyeater
- Brown-headed Honeyeater
- White-naped Honeyeater
- Rufous Whilstler [1male, 1 female]
- Grey Shrike-Thrush
- Grey Fantail
- Raven sp. [Little?] – (in flight, overhead)
- Eastern Yellow Robin
- Red-browed Finch
Lynn Bunning (photo of Grey Fantail by Margaret Lacey and track photo by Ellinor Campbell)