Killawarra Forest would have to one of my favourite places to go birding. Only 10 minutes drive from home and such a hotspot for woodland bird diversity make it a top destiniation. This mornings outing was not different with 70 species recorded in a morning. A lot of Mugga Ironbark and Grey Box trees are flowering at present which is great for honeyeaters, in particular Noisy Friarbirds. There must be hundreds in the forest at the moment. Also notable this morning was the number of autumn-winter migrants now in the forest. This is one of the most pleasant times of the year in the forest watching the migrants move in from the higher ranges to the south. Today Crimson Rosella, Yellow-faced and White-naped Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill, Golden Whistler, Spotted Pardalote and Grey Fantail were all seen. An immature Flame Rbin was also observed as well, the first for this autumn-winter. In a few weeks there will be small flocks all over the countryside. Some more interesting sightings today included a late White-throated Needletail (I think my
latest record is 9th April), a Painted Honeyeater which also seems to be staying rather late,
Gilbert's Whistler and some Turquoise Parrots, which move about 5-20 km into the forest from the Warby Ranges to the south during autumn.
No Swift Parrots yet, but hopefully with the good flowering occuring it will be sooner rather than later. On the way home I stopped briefly by the Ovens River at Frosts Crossing. An immature Olive-backed was an interesting sighting. It seemed to be practicing singing with it getting the "ory-ory-ole" call not quite right. A terrific morning in the North East.Birdlist for Killawarra Forest:
Birdlist for Frosts Crossing:
No comments:
Post a Comment