The path between Kambah Pool and Pine Island offers a fairly easy walk to the Gorge along (although mostly well above) the Murrumbidgee River. It is about 2.5 km to the Gorge with a steepish down and up (roughly 30 metres elevation) about half way along, where the path dips to the river. There is potential for interesting sightings, especially the famed Peregrine Falcons near the Gorge, although it’s well before their nesting season. The vegetation is regenerating quite well since the 2003 bushfires, but is still more open than before fires so you may want sunscreen, certainly bring water and something for morning tea.
Meet Michael Robbins at 9 am at the car park at the south end of Kambah Pool, second turning left after you cross the cattle gird at the entry to the Bullen Range Nature Reserve.
Four brace of COG stalwarts found their way through thick fog to Kambah Pool where they were blessed with beautiful sunshine, and numerous Sulphur-crested Cockatoos sitting atop the dead trunks along the top of the Bullen Range waiting for their chief to order a raid. Fortunately it didn’t happen. Instead the group followed the intrepid chronicler of Red Rocks Peregrine Falcons down to the Murrumbidgee River in search of the Crescent Honeyeaters she’d heard earlier. We found them just upstream among mistletoe flowering in the Casuarina cunninghamiana. After much looking everyone managed at least a halfway reasonable view of this first of the nine species of honeyeaters we saw. Not everyone was as lucky to get a good view of the Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters we saw across the river, although by the end of the trip most people had seen or heard Eastern Spinebills, White-eared, New Holland, Yellow-faced and White-naped Honeyeaters, and Noisy Miners, with a few people seeing/hearing the Brown-headed Honeyeater.
The leader, having remembered that the new path (‘Centennial Trail’) no longer dips steeply down to the river, but contours along higher up so as to make it easier for mountain bikers, led the group along the river bank, having little desire to climb back up to the path -a cooler, but perhaps more interesting walk. Certainly most of the party had good views of Little Pied Cormorant and Great Cormorant, and a few of Pacific Black Duck, Red-browed Finches and White-browed Scrub-wrens that favoured the river route. Before leaving the river we saw two green Satin Bowerbirds on the other side. Arriving at Red Rocks all saw the nest site, but none the famed Peregrine Falcon. However, we did see two Brown Falcons and a Wedge-tailed Eagle.
Returning along the Centennial Trail we did see several Eastern Yellow Robin, a male Scarlet Robin, Superb Fairy-wren, Striated Thornbill, Brown Thornbill and Silvereye. We saw/heard 42 species for the morning.
