Today’s excursion at Prince Henry Drive was rescheduled from destinations proposed earlier, which proved unworkable at this time. As always, we enjoyed easy birding with the advantage of being able to look down on some tree tops.
Despite pleasant weather, the abundance of small bush birds was not high, having not yet entered the period of autumn-winter northward migration.
A number of warm-season migrants were still present, including Cicadabird, Barred Cuckoo-shrike, Rufous Fantail and Spangled Drongo. Brown-coloured Regent Bowerbirds were busy eating small berries of what may have been a ribbonwood tree, an indigenous vine-scrub species. A pair of Grey Goshawks was out-and-about quite a lot, causing frequent concerns for smaller birds.
As well as experiencing the wildlife, our group appreciated good camaraderie, discussing subjects as diverse as council elections and personal episodes of bush mite ‘attacks’.
Here’s the full list for the day, thirty-one species in total.
| Australasian Figbird | Sphecotheres vieilloti |
| Australian King-Parrot | Alisterus scapularis |
| Australian Magpie | Gymnorhina tibicen |
| Barred Cuckoo-shrike | Coracina lineata |
| Bar-shouldered Dove | Geopelia humeralis |
| Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike | Coracina novaehollandiae |
| Blue-faced Honeyeater | Entomyzon cyanotis |
| Brown Goshawk | Accipiter fasciatus |
| Common Cicadabird | Edolisoma tenuirostre |
| Eastern Whipbird | Psophodes olivaceus |
| Golden Whistler | Pachycephala pectoralis |
| Grey Butcherbird | Cracticus torquatus |
| Grey Goshawk | Accipiter novaehollandiae |
| Grey Shrike-thrush | Colluricincla harmonica |
| Laughing Kookaburra | Dacelo novaeguineae |
| Lewin’s Honeyeater | Meliphaga lewinii |
| Magpie-lark | Grallina cyanoleuca |
| Mistletoebird | Dicaeum hirundinaceum |
| Noisy Miner | Manorina melanocephala |
| Pale-headed Rosella | Platycercus adscitus |
| Pied Butcherbird | Cracticus nigrogularis |
| Pied Currawong | Strepera graculina |
| Rainbow Bee-eater | Merops ornatus |
| Regent Bowerbird | Sericulus chrysocephalus |
| Rufous Fantail | Rhipidura rufifrons |
| Silvereye | Zosterops lateralis |
| Spangled Drongo | Dicrurus bracteatus |
| Striated Pardalote | Pardalotus striatus |
| Torresian Crow | Corvus orru |
| Variegated Fairy-wren | Malurus lamberti |
| White-browed Scrubwren | Sericornis frontalis |
