Trevor's Birding

Glen Alice Primary School and birds

No Comments »15th February, 2017; Category: Honeyeaters, Zoos

Glen Alice PS

In recent posts here I have written about our visit to the Capertee Valley last year. You can read about this visit by clicking on the links in the “related reading” section below.

In my last post, I highlighted the birds I saw in and near the small village of Glen Alice. We had afternoon tea there and this gave me the opportunity to do some birding. As we were driving through the town, we went past the local primary school. I was really taken by the school emblem or crest on their notice board, and I actually backed up the car and took a photo of it. Not many schools feature a bird as their school emblem. Good for them.

Zoo Snooze

The sign also informs the community that the children were going on a camp-over ‘Zoo Snooze’ on the following two days. This was probably at the Western Plains Zoo near Dubbo. The zoo is just over 200km to the north-west and it often caters for overnight stays by school groups.

Threatened birds

The fact remains that this valley is one of the strongholds of the Regent Honeyeater, one of our most threatened species of birds here in Australia. This interesting honeyeater is found throughout the Capertee Valley where suitable habitat exists. Sadly, much of its natural habitat has been cleared for farming over the years. Its natural range extends from south-east Queensland, through eastern New South Wales and into north-eastern Victoria. Nowhere is it common and conservation efforts have a focus on preserving this species and increasing its preferred habitat through revegetation programmes.

Regent Honeyeater

During our time in the Capertee Valley, I was not fortunate enough to see a Regent Honeyeater. In fact, I am sure that it is one species I have yet to see in the natural environment. The photos above and below were taken in a walk-through aviary in the Cleland Wildlife Park near Adelaide. This park is one of several zoos attempting to breed populations of this species, some of which have been released back into the wild.

Regent Honeyeater

Related Reading:

Glen Alice in Capertee Valley
My first birding visit to Capertee Valley
Threatened birds of Australia – Regent Honeyeater
Capertee birder – an amazing collection of articles about the birds of the valley and sound files of some of the birds.

Quaint old church

Near where we stopped to have afternoon tea, there was an old historic church, opened in about 1874. It sat comfortably in amongst the gum trees in a typically Australian bush setting. If I had been involved in building the church, I might have insisted that the windows be made much bigger. In that way, I would have been able to admire God’s amazing creation just outside. Knowing my tendency to get excited about birds, it might have also been a big distraction from what was occurring inside the building, or what was being said. Sigh. (I have been known to actually make lists of birds seen through a church window while the service is in progress.)

The little sign leaning against the wall facing my camera reads “Glen Alice Union Church.” Below the photo of the church, I have included a photo of the sign just inside the fence. I am annoyed that I didn’t capture the whole sign which gives a little of the history of the area.

Glen Alice Church 1874

Glen Alice in Capertee Valley

No Comments »11th February, 2017; Category: Birders, Bush birds, Finches, Good Birding Sites

Diamond Firetail finch

Earlier this week I wrote about my first visit to the Capertee Valley late last year. In general, this was a rather disappointing day of birding. I went with such high expectations, but I didn’t realise that I had underestimated the time needed to do this wonderful region justice. The road through the valley is an alternative route from Lithgow (north-west of Sydney) to Mudgee, though some of this section of the road is unsealed.

One really needs a full day to explore this area even superficially. Several days to a week would enable keen birders to really enjoy the delights of this valley. In this way, keen birders would be able to track down many of the wonderful birds of the valley. Along the route I took we noticed at least twenty signs pointing to Birdwatching Sites. Each would be worth stopping at for an hour or two. We only stopped at one, and that was in the small village of Glen Alice. This small settlement has a school, a community hall, an emergency fire station, an old church and several houses. Oh, I forgot – it also has a historic cemetery.

We went for a short drive along the only street before returning to the parking area near the old church. Here we stopped for afternoon tea. While we had our cuppa and some biscuits, I managed to do a little birding. Within seconds of getting out of the car, a solitary Diamond Firetail finch flew in and settled on the ground only a few metres from me. I was able to get a few quickly taken photos before it flew off again. These are the photos I have featured today.

Within the next half hour, I made quite a nice little list of birds seen but didn’t get any more photos – well, not any that are worth showing here. The following species were either seen or heard:

Grey Butcherbird 1
Noisy Miner 8
Diamond Firetail 1
Australian Raven 4
Australian Magpie 4
Red Rumped Parrot 2
White-plumed Honeyeater 5
Willie Wagtail 2
Sacred Kingfisher 1
Little Black Cormorant 1
Hooded Robin 1
Rainbow Bee-eater 2
Superb Fairywren 2
Crimson Rosella 2
Australian Wood Duck 5
Magpie Lark 2
Rufous Whistler 1
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike 1
Fuscous Honeyeater 1

Several kilometres out of town in the locality known as Bogee, I added the following species:

Grey-crowned Babbler 3
Yellow-rumped Thornbill 3

Related reading:

My first birding visit to the Capertee Valley

Diamond Firetail finch

My first birding visit to Capertee Valley

2 Comments »8th February, 2017; Category: Birders, Good Birding Sites, Trip reports

Capertee Valley, New South Wales

After our trip to stay with family in Sydney last year, I decided to take a different route back home to Murray Bridge. On our previous trip we had travelled from Sydney via Katoomba to Dubbo on the first day on the return trip. North of the town of Lithgow we drove through the village of Capertee. I remember stopping there to change drivers. On that occasion, we continued on to Dubbo where we stayed the night. We planned to visit the Western Plains Zoo near Dubbo the following day.

Capertee Valley, New South Wales

On this trip, however, I planned our homeward trip differently. We planned to stop for the night in Mudgee. This was so we could drive through the popular birding area known as Capertee Valley. I had read a great deal about this valley from other birders, so I was looking forward to a good afternoon of great birding. I ended up being somewhat frustrated and a little disappointed. Because of the distances we travelled that day, I underestimated how much birding time I would actually have. Most of the day was taken up travelling. I should have scheduled several days in this area – at least a whole day, anyway.

Capertee Valley, New South Wales

Our first stop was just a few kilometres east of Capertee. It was lunchtime, so we stopped at a clearing in the forest on the side of the road.

It was quiet.

Far too quiet. As we sat there eating our picnic lunch, I heard just one bird calling, possibly a treecreeper but I couldn’t be sure which species. I didn’t see a single bird for that whole half hour. Admittedly, around midday is quite often the quietest period for birding here in Australia, especially on hot days. On this occasion, it was pleasantly warm.

As we were having our cup of tea – we always carry a thermos or two of hot water on these trips – a lady pulled up behind our car asking for directions. She, too, was a birder and this was her first venture into this area. Although we knew little of the area, and certainly not how to get to the place she was attempting to visit, we helped her as best we could.

Driving further on along the road travelling east, we eventually came to open country with occasional farmhouses nearby. The vista opened up to spectacular views ahead of us, and to the south. I stopped at one point and took the scenery shots shown above and below. In this area, I saw occasional ravens (probably Australian Ravens), a few Australian Magpies (back-backed sub-species here) and a few Magpie Larks and very little else. At one point I stopped the car, grabbed my camera and zoomed in on a bird quite some distance away. It was sitting on a fence post. I have included the very poor photo below. I think it was an Australasian Pipit.

Australasian Pipit?

We continued on until we came to an intersection where we turned left and drove north along towards the small community of Glen Alice. The countryside along this road is wonderfully spectacular, with towering sandstone cliffs bordering the valley. This road has a generally good quality dirt or gravel surface, though there was some evidence that recent heavy rain in the district can cause motorists a few problems.

Also along this road, and the road from Glen Alice to Rylestone, there are waypoints labelled “Bird Watching Site” with numbers ranging up to at least 19. While there is a pamphlet guide available for birders giving the location of these sites, I didn’t track one down. I think that they are available in Capertee. They certainly would be handy. Near the public toilets in the roadside park in Capertee there is a detailed map of the area showing all of the birding sites, along with lists of what can be seen at each point. Update: the pamphlet can be downloaded here as a PDF.

While my first visit to the Capertee Valley was somewhat disappointing, I did have some good sightings while we had afternoon tea at Glen Alice, but I will write about that in a few day’s time. This brief four-hour visit has given me the incentive to revisit this area in the near future, but for a much longer time.

Related reading:

Birds and animals of the Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo
Capertee Birder – an amazing collection of articles about the valley as well as sound recordings of some of the birds of the valley.
Capertee Valley Birdlist and map of birding sites as a PDF file.
Carol Probets site BM Birding – an excellent resource

Capertee Valley, New South Wales

Bird visitors at my window

7 Comments »28th January, 2017; Category: Bird Behaviour, Garden birds, Honeyeaters, Magpies and Currawongs, Murray Bridge

Australian Magpie (male)

Over recent days we have had both hot weather and lovely weather. This is normal for mid-summer days here in South Australia. For any new readers, I live about 80km or an hour’s drive south-east of Adelaide. Summer temperatures are usually in the high 20s or low 30s (30C is equal to 86F). During our worst summer days, temperatures can soar as high as 45C (113F), but thankfully such days only occur a few times every year.

Over recent weeks, many days have been in the mid-20s, which is very pleasant. On such days I love to open the large window next to my writing desk and let the fresh air into my office. If there is a breeze as well, that is an added bonus. One of the side benefits of this arrangement is the easy access to the bird life in our garden. I don’t even have to get up out of my chair to watch the birds. They come to me.

One one occasion, a friendly Australian Magpie (see photo above) sat on the rail of the pergola on this side of the house. He was in full view from where I sat. He suddenly stopped his carolling – our magpies are wonderful songsters – realised I was there and leant forward to get a better view of me. When I chatted with him, thanking him for the visit and the song, he answered me. How lovely.

Peaceful Doves are resident in our garden

On several occasions over the last week, one or two Peaceful Doves have alighted in the branches of a nearby tree, coo-ing persistently for about ten or fifteen minutes before moving on elsewhere in our garden. Their soft calls are very peaceful, so they are aptly named.

Only yesterday I had to stop what I was writing and look out to the garden bed next to my office window. A small family of White-browed Babblers were playing around in the bushes there, scolding each other as they scurried here and there. They were joined in this game by several New Holland Honeyeaters, their screeches usually a warning sign that a hawk or eagle is about. I think they were just having fun with the babblers. Even a couple of House Sparrows joined in the fun.

White-browed Babbler

One species we don’t always have around is the Rainbow Bee-eaters, a delightfully named bird with their many-coloured plumage and their liking for catching and eating bees and other flying insects. I smile when I see one sitting in a nearby tree, banging a bee against the branch to dispatch the sting of the bee before swallowing it whole. Yesterday two or three could be heard out of my window while I worked, and later I saw two gliding overhead. Delightful birds, and we miss them when they fly north for the winter.

Rainbow Bee-eater

For many years we never had wrens resident in our garden. They were only occasional visitors from up the hill. Then five years ago on our return from an overseas trip, we were greeted by two Superb Fairy-wrens, one of two local species. They have been a resident breeding species in our garden ever since, producing several broods over those five years. They are so secretive about their nests that I have yet to find one. They have plenty of good bushes around to build their nests. From time to time they will also come by my office, their twittering, tinkling calls easy on the ears as they hop along near my office window, jumping up occasionally to snatch a fly or mosquito silly enough to hang around too long.

Male Superb Fairy-wren

I don’t need to have the window open to hear our resident Mallee Ringneck parrots screeching outside as they fly from tree to tree, or over the house, or just sitting in a nearby tree wagging their tails joyfully. This tail wagging is probably a mating display. They have raised several broods successfully in recent years, their nest hollow being only 30 metres from my window.

What birds do you have in your garden?

Please tell me in the comments.

Good birding,

Trevor

Mallee Ringneck parrot

Happy Australia Day

No Comments »26th January, 2017; Category: General

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Today is a special day on the calendar of many Australians. Today is our national holiday – Australia Day. It was on this day in 1788 that the first European settlers arrived at Botany Bay, near Sydney. The First Fleet, a contingent of ships carrying soldiers and convicts, landed to establish the first non-indigenous settlement in what was to become Australia.

Many in modern Australia have mixed feelings about the celebration of this day, especially our Aboriginal Australians. I do not want to get into a discussion on the merits of these celebrations one way or another. All I wish to do is celebrate this wonderful land in which we live. I want to acknowledge our colourful and diverse birdlife, our beautiful flora and fauna and the amazing landscapes we enjoy.

So, today I do not wish to write very much – just show off some off the photos I have taken over the years as a celebration of this Great Land Down Under.

Have a great day. And I hope you see some wonderful birds, too.

Trevor

Further reading: