There have been several cancellations by participants and four places are now available. Contact Marcus if you would like to attend.
This camp will be on the Upper Murray, near Walwa, about 300km from Canberra. The property has 3km of access to the Murray River, with campsites set back from the river and Crown land along the riverbank. There are no facilities, except a toilet, so you will need to take everything else you need, including water, and take everything out, including your rubbish. Activities for the three full days are still in the planning stage. Cost is approx $20 per person per night. Maximum of 16 participants. NOTE: this trip is filling fast, so book now to secure your place.
To register, contact Marcus Hellyer at pickelbarrel@gmail.com with your name, mobile number and the name and mobile number of an emergency contact (ie. someone who will not be travelling with you).
There were ten (including Zoe the farm dog) who participated in the Easter Long Weekend campout. This sterling event was ably led by Marcus Hellyer (with assistance from Trish).
After setting up camp on the hill overlooking the Murray River a pleasant stroll along the aforementioned river was the order of the day. A goodly number of birds were found including Olive-backed Oriole, Restless Flycatcher, Azure Kingfisher, Whistling Kite and Australasian Shelduck.
Friday morning was spent visiting reserves along the Murray and the afternoon involved a visit to Pine Mountain with Varied Sitellas being a nice find. After Pine Mountain there was a split in the group. One group went to the Walwa pub and found a House Sparrow. The other group dropped into a picnic area on Pine Mountain and found Red-browed Treecreeper along with other nice bush birds. Back at camp the resident immature White-bellied Sea-Eagle did its first flypast.
Saturday found us at the Burrowa section of the Burrowa-Pine Mountain National Park which had lots of nice birds including a very obliging male Flame Robin. There was also a rather stunning waterfall. At night we had a meal at the Tintaldra Hotel.
On Sunday it was the turn of Mount Mittamatite Regional Park for a visit. On our way there we had probably the best bit of birding for the whole trip. A rather nondescript roadside verge and paddock with a couple of trees supported twenty plus species including Diamond Firetail, White-throated Gerygone, European Goldfinch and Dusky Woodswallow. The Park also had a nice suite of birds including a pair of Scarlet Robins showing themselves off.
And what would a birding trip be without a visit to sewerage settlement ponds. Khancoban provided the necessary venue and amongst the birds we found were Eastern Shrike-tit and a Chestnut Teal. Once again the party split into two groups. One group had another sewerage pond fix at Corryong and found lots of Yellow-billed Spoonbills and Australasian Shoveler. The other group found Golden-headed Cisticola on the farm gate.
That evening a fly pass of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos was a fitting finale. The final total number of bird species was 108 (not including the Guineafowl).
Thank you, Marcus for a great weekend.
Noel Luff
