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Survey trip

Crows Nest National Park

It was a cold morning (four degrees) when we set off but it turned out to be a very enjoyable and eventful morning.

With only four people able to make it (Scot, Reet, Libbie and new member Tricia) it was a small group but we managed to survey four sites. Most of the paths were still in shadow so the birds were relatively subdued.

Over the four sites were surveyed we only logged 19 species – which is not a lot but given the time of day and the time of year it’s understandable.

Here’s the list of what we saw

Australian King-ParrotAlisterus scapularis
Australian Wood DuckChenonetta jubata
Brown QuailSynoicus ypsilophora
Brown ThornbillAcanthiza pusilla
Eastern SpinebillAcanthorhynchus tenuirostris
Eastern WhipbirdPsophodes olivaceus
GalahEolophus roseicapilla
Golden WhistlerPachycephala pectoralis
Grey FantailRhipidura fuliginosa
Laughing KookaburraDacelo novaeguineae
Leaden FlycatcherMyiagra rubecula
Lewin’s HoneyeaterMeliphaga lewinii
Noisy MinerManorina melanocephala
Spotted PardalotePardalotus punctatus
Striated PardalotePardalotus striatus
Superb Fairy-wrenMalurus cyaneus
Torresian CrowCorvus orru
White-throated TreecreeperCormobates leucophaea
Yellow-faced HoneyeaterCaligavis chrysops

The surveys can be seen in full on the Birdata website here. However when you compare this to all the data for Crows Nest National Park you can see there’s a lot more there to see – 125 species recorded.

The day may have been light on for birds – but it still had two highlights! Firstly the Brown quail – we came across a juvenile all by himself and realised we had probably inadvertently separated him from his family group. And then further on 11 of them in one group. Both of these encounters I recorded on my mobile phone below.

And the other highlight was just the sheer beauty of the place – we were there ahead of anyone else and with the recent rain it just looked gorgeous 🙂 Be sure to click on the panoramic image below to see it in its full size.

Bottlebrush swimming hole, Crows Nest National Park. Photo: Scot McPhie
Crows Nest Falls Photo: Scot McPhie