Phils Creek and Pudman TSRs are woodlands where Eastern Shrike-tit, Little Friarbird, Jacky Winter and Brown Treecreeper have been seen. Grassy Creek Road between Rye Park and Rugby is good for Fairy Martins, raptors and Australasian Pipits.
Meeting time and place: Hall Primary School in Hoskins St Hall at 7.30 am for carpooling. Suggested contribution to driver, $10. Please bring correct money.
Walking distance: Phils Creek 2 km, other sites 0.4 km.
Degree of difficulty: easy
End time: 4.00 pm at Hall Primary School
What to bring: water, morning tea, lunch, sunscreen, water, sturdy shoes, hat. We will have lunch at H.E.A. Dunkley Park in Boorowa.
Participants must register with the leader by email at bsgraham1948@icloud.com no later than Friday 22 November, providing their name and mobile number, and the name and mobile number of an emergency contact.
Numbers limited to 16.
Bill Graham led a group of 8 members across six sites in the Boorowa and Rye Park district. We had a combined tally of 66 species across all sites. After meeting at Hall at 7:30am, our first stops were at Grassy Creek Road (Rye Park) and Mewburn Grove Cemetery (Rugby). Highlights were a Dollarbird and 2 Sacred Kingfisher at Grassy Creek Road, amongst 13 other species.
We arrived at Phil’s Creek TSR at 9.45am as the temperature exceeded 29˚, but were still able to seek out 42 species, most of which were woodland birds: highlights included 3 Brown Treecreeper, 2 Rainbow Bee-eater, 1 Leaden Flycatcher, 3 Brown-headed Honeyeater, a nesting Striped Honeyeater and a Mistletoebird. Raptors were active, 2 of which were identified as a Collared Sparrowhawk and a Nankeen Kestrel.
After morning tea, we proceeded to Boorowa Rotary Park for a pleasant but busy stroll along the shaded river in the low 30s temperature. Even in the heat, 24 species were still active, including plentiful White-plumed Honeyeater, Sacred Kingfisher and Rufous Songlark.
After lunch, our final stop in the 34˚ heat was at two farm dams on Ballyryan Rd, one of which had an abundant array of waders and ducks, despite it rapidly drying out, with the water only halfway up stilts’ legs over much of the dam. There were over 350 Grey Teal, 23 Pied Stilt, 25 Masked Lapwing, 12 Red-kneed Dotterel and 4 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. The final highlight of the day was the arrival of 4 Banded Lapwing, settling along the edge of the dam just as we were about to depart.
Many thanks to Bill for such as interesting and well researched road trip.
Mark Tindale
