The area planned for the major part of the outing is under heavy smoke with burning trees due to a hazard reduction incineration. Much of the rest of Eastern Namadgi is in the same state. Mt Tennent is clear so we will walk from the Namadgi Visitors Centre (NVC) as far up the track to the Cypress Pines as we feel like. Meet at NVC at 9:ooam.
The track is a bit steep in parts and there are some steps.
After the climb and descent we’ll tour the grounds of the NVC and could then check out Tharwa Sandwash. I’d suggest that lunch be brought if planning to do more than the initial walk.
21 Members and guests arrived at the Visitors Centre and headed off towards the lower slopes of Mount Tennent. The weather was beautifully clear with no signs of the smoke from the many Prescribed Burns in the area.
Throughout the 2.25 km ascent to the Cypress Pines Lookout we could see and hear migrating Honeyeaters flying just above the foliage and occasionally settling. At the start most of the birds were Yellow-faced Honeyeaters but as we went up the proportion of White-naped Honeyeaters increased. (Since the proportion of White-naped remained high later in the day at lower sites it could be suggested that the change in proportion was more a factor of time than height.) It is almost impossible to have an accurate count of the birds but amongst the group we considered 400 Yellow-faced and 150 White-naped to be reasonable estimates.
2 Wedge-tailed Eagles were soaring over the ridge behind the lookout when we got there, eventually disappearing over towards the summit of the mountain. The descent was a little less demanding, and delivered a few more species including 2 Jacky Winters on some dead timber in an open paddock. We totalled 24 species in this part of the outing, listed at this page.
After a pause for sustenance we ventured down to the River passing by the toolsheds of the Centre. While at the Gudgenby River we saw the most exciting action of the day with 3 Wedge-tailed Eagles overflying, 2 of which performed a spectacular talons locked tumbling flight. Returning to the Centre the distinctive call of a Peaceful Dove was heard and the bird soon spotted. The call then became stereophonic and 2 Peaceful Doves were evident in the one tree. We recorded 22 species in the grounds of the Centre as this checklist
A few members departed before the final foray to the Tharwa Sandwash. One of the departees was kind enough to swing by that site and send a text giving precise directions to the roosting Tawny Frogmouths. Having ticked them a few more members had other commitments but 6 of us walked along the basic track. A few more migrating honeyeaters were logged (2/3 Yellow-faced) as were a number of additional bush birds. We totalled 24 species on this stage of the trip.
Overall we recorded 47 species for the day.
