Great birding on the Hay Plains NSW

Hay Plains, western New South Wales

2007 New South Wales trip report #7

Morning tea, 55kms west of Hay

Fifty five kilometres from Hay we pulled into a roadside rest area for morning tea. This flat uninteresting looking place seemed not to be a good birding place at first glance. Within minutes I had changed my mind. There seemed to be birds everywhere, and some very nice species into the bargain. My cup of tea soon was forgotten as I chased the birds around the saltbush area near the parking bay. Welcome Swallows were nice but not too exciting. About twenty White-backed Swallows were far more exciting; it’s a species I haven’t seen all that often.

Several Galahs flew overhead and a Nankeen Kestrel swooped past where I stood trying to identify the local wrens. In vain I tried to find the coloured male and three plain brown females gave me the run around. Eventually one came up from the bushes and perched in full view a few metres away. Ah-ha – a female White-winged Wren. Wonderful – but still no male. The metallic deep blue with contrasting white wings has to be seen to be believed. Another lost opportunity. [sigh]

In the midst of all this beating around the bushes, my wife called out, “What’s that?”  pointing to a bird perched on top of another bush. A White-winged Triller! I hadn’t seen one of those for over eight years. A real bonus bird, so I made sure I thanked my wife for this sighting.

Other common birds seen at this stop included Common Starlings, Little Ravens, Australian Magpies, and still more House Sparrows.

It had been a wonderful half hour stop. Forget that my cuppa went cold!

Update:

In September 2009 we had a male feeding and calling in our garden. I managed to get some nice photos of him (see below).

Related articles:

• The Trillers are here
• Trip reports – archive of links to many articles giving birding trip reports
  

White-winged Triller (male)