This outing was scheduled for 12 July but had to be postponed due to bad weather.
Meet at 9.00 am at the Cringan Cres. carpark at the corner of the Valley Ave and Warwick St. opposite Gungahlin College and Swimming Pool. The grasslands cover most of the area with some isolated mature eucalypts. A wetland near Burgmann College has Golden-headed Cisticolas. About 20 species is the usual count. In summer, Eurasian Skylark and Superb Parrots feed or fly over and Tree Martins breed. Other species include Australasian Pipit, Nankeen Kestrel and Noisy Miners. We could do half the time in the grasslands and half at the Valley Ponds. Bring morning tea. No booking required.
Eight COG members joined the walk where 29 species were recorded. Data on ebird shows 53 species for this site. The walk began in an offset between Burgmann School and Mullangarri. The offset yielded a Eurasian Skylark in full song, 4 Grey Teal, 3 Australasian Swamphens, a Dusky Moorhen, 2 Golden-headed Cisticolas and an Australian Reed-Warbler. The offset pond has runoff from the Grasslands and without it the species count would be much lower. There is little in the way of understorey, so species dependent on it are absent. The eucalypts provide nesting hollows for parrots, cockatoos, galahs, Tree Martins, Striated Pardalotes, Common Starlings and Common Mynas. There were 9 Noisy Miners which are the dominant honeyeater and one Red Wattlebird. Two Nankeen Kestrels were seen, one chased by Galahs. Breeding for Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Australian Raven and Australian Magpie was recorded. Given the numbers of eucalypts felled for developments in Gungahlin, this site, which is hard country for birds, is still a refuge for many species.