The reserve of 240ha has a woodland section to the east where Painted Button-quail have
been recorded. The larger section is grassland with scattered trees. The species list is 99,
including Scarlet, Flame and Red-capped Robins, Eastern Shrike-tit and various raptors.
Meet at Sutton Primary School carpark at 8.00am for carpooling. Walking distance about
3.5km. Degree of difficulty – medium. End time: approx. 11.30am. Bring water, morning tea, hat, sunscreen and wear long pants.
Please register with the leader by 19 April with your name and mobile number and name
and mobile number of an emergency contact. Numbers limited to 16.
Bill Graham (bsgraham1948@gmail.com)
On a perfect sunny and still, autumn morning, 13 members visited two sections of the 204 ha reserve. This reserve was declared in 2010 and is made up of two sections. We visited the grassland section first with some quite impressive remnant trees and recent regrowth, but severely eroded gullies. The large Eastern Grey Kangaroo population (including 2 white ones) keeps the grass mown, and there were very few weeds thanks to effective spraying. One dead tree contained a pair of Black-shouldered Kites, Australian Magpie, Red-rumped Parrots, Eastern Rosella and European Starling. A Brown Falcon temporarily disrupted things, but calm soon returned. Two Dusky Woodswallows and one Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike were seen, late to migrate or over-winterers? The usual range of cockatoos and parrots was recorded including one Superb Parrot and three Australian King Parrots. The grassland section yielded 29 species.
We then drove to the woodland section of the park and birded along the boundary between it and the grassland, returning to the cars through the woodland. We were hoping for robins, but none were seen. In fact, the birds were sparse and mainly unobtrusive, with White-eared Honeyeater and Grey Shrike-thrush giving just an occasional short call. A party of White-winged Choughs was seen, and Eastern Spinebills were busy in the flowering mistletoe.
As is often the case, “carpark birds” were the stars of the morning, with White-eared Honeyeater, a female Golden Whistler and a White-throated Treecreeper all showing well and at close quarters. The 16 species recorded in the woodland section gave us a cumulative total of 37 species, a very respectable outcome for an autumn outing.
Thanks to Bill Graham who always comes up with interesting places to go birding.
Sue Lashko
