View from the balcony of our cabin in Narrandera

Sydney Trip report June 2011

On the first day of our journey home we stayed in a cabin in the Lake Talbot Tourist Park, the same park as on our way over. This time we were upgraded to a cabin with a spa. Nice added extra at no extra cost. We had a very nice spa before retiring for the night. Next morning when we opened the blinds we were pleased with the view from our cabin balcony. This overlooked Lake Talbot and I was able to make a very nice list of birds while we had breakfast and packed the car (see the list below). Before leaving we drove down to the boat launching ramp just below our cabin and I was able to add a few more species to a growing list.

Just after breakfast I noticed a few birds in the bushes near the balcony, including several Chestnut-rumped Thornbills. It flew off before I could get a good shot, so I apologise for the blurred image (below). You can see better photos here.

Blurred photo of a Chestnut-rumped Thornbill in flight

Birds seen in or near Lake Talbot Tourist Park, Narrandera:

• Black swan
• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
• Galah
• Yellow Rosella
• Black cormorant
• White-necked Heron
• Yellow-billed Spoonbill
• Hoary Headed Grebe
• Great Crested Grebe
• Pacific Black Duck
• Grey Fantail
• Willie Wagtail
• Yellow-rumped Thornbill
• Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
• Weebill
• Magpie Lark
• Common Blackbird
• Rock Dove
• Crested Pigeon
• Australian Magpie

Lake Talbot Tourist Park, Narrandera, NSW

Sydney Trip Report June 2011

On our trip to Sydney earlier this year we stopped for the night at the Lake Talbot Tourist Park on the edge of Narrandera in the mid west of New South Wales. It’s a lovely town with beautiful country all around, the kind that makes you decide to make a return visit some day. We had a cabin booked for the night and this was very comfortable and we had a good night’s sleep. I’d recommend this park to any visitors.

Next morning I took out a few minutes to get some photos of the park and the lake. I could hear plenty of birds calling and saw a few in the park but didn’t have time to take any photos of them. Instead, I’ll just list the birds heard or seen as I packed the car.

• Galah
• Australian Raven
• Common Blackbird
• Willie Wagtail
• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
• Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
• Weebill
• Australian Magpie
• Noisy Miner
• Laughing Kookaburra
• Little Pied Cormorant
• Black Swan
• Grey Fantail
• White-winged Chough
• Magpie Lark

This area is obviously very good for birding and I’d like to explore the region in more depth someday. When we paid for our stay, the park office had several brochures available about birding places in the district. These pamphlets listed about 6 or 7 good birding spots near the town plus a little further off. It’s good to see that birders are being catered for in this way. It’s certainly a good birding are because this part of the state is a transition zone between birds of the highlands to the east and the much drier plains to the west.

Someday I’ll spend a week or so there.

Good birding.

Lake Talbot, Narrandera, NSW

Lake Talbot, Narrandera, NSW