Nine of us had an interesting (and wet at times) visit to the Morwell NP and Billy Creek. The NP seemed alive with Striated and Spotted Pardalotes, White-throated Treecreepers and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters. No Brown Gerygones down by the creek though. An idle wish for a Rose Robin produced one almost immediately, followed literally a second later with a Rufous Fantail on the other side of the track. Where to look? Which one to photograph? Well, we saw both but got no decent pictures of either. Very nice though. Shortly thereafter, a pair of Golden Whistlers entertained us close by. A young female Superb Lyrebird gave us a close view for a minute as she tried to hide behind a bush. Grey Currawongs “clinked” around too. Somewhere though, our excitement at these sights offended the Gods who damped us down with a short shower.
After lunch, on to the Billy Creek walk for a kilometre or two. More showers then some hail; with the drought down here, we’d got out of the habit of wet weather gear, so gear and people got wet (well, the less well-prepared ones). Bulk excitement at the sight of THREE Rufous Fantails cavorting around in a Blackwood tree with lots of tail fanning. Same problem with pictures though; cloudy sky, dark trees, fast-moving birds, etc. A young Grey Shrike-thrush spied on us from the grass literally at our feet whilst Mum dive-bombed a couple of us.
Overall, 34 species sighted. Not high but a few goodies in there that made up for getting wet.
The December excursion will be in and around the Sale Environs on Wed 5th, followed by a Xmas picnic in the Botanical Gardens.
MORWELL NP
Fan-tailed Cuckoo 4
Wedge-tailed Eagle 2
Laughing Kookaburra 3
Sacred Kingfisher 1
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo 1
Australian King-Parrot 2
Crimson Rosella 2
Superb Lyrebird 2
White-throated Treecreeper 5
Lewin's Honeyeater 1
Yellow-faced Honeyeater 5
Spotted Pardalote 1
Striated Pardalote 3
White-browed Scrubwren 1
Brown Thornbill 4
Yellow Thornbill 1
Eastern Whipbird 3
Pied Currawong 3
Grey Currawong 1
Grey Shrike-thrush 2
Golden Whistler 1
Rufous Whistler 1
Rufous Fantail 1
Gray Fantail 4
Rose Robin 1
Eastern Yellow Robin 2
Silver-eye 2
Common Blackbird 1
BILLY CREEK
Shining Bronze-Cuckoo 2
Fan-tailed Cuckoo 1
White-faced Heron 1
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo 2
Yellow-faced Honeyeater 2
Red Wattlebird 1
Spotted Pardalote 1
Striated Pardalote 1
White-browed Scrubwren 1
Eastern Whipbird 1
Dusky Woodswallow 1
Australian Magpie 2
Grey Shrike-thrush 2
Golden Whistler 1
Rufous Fantail 3
Restless Flycatcher 1
Common Blackbird 1
