I had been looking forward to this outing ever since Jenny Bounds first discussed it when we were on the Plains-wanderer trip in December 1997. And along with the 10 other members who joined us I was certainly not disappointed.
We spent the Saturday morning carrying out the monthly Regent Honeyeater Census and the afternoon visiting several properties to inspect revegetation projects designed to help save this bird. On Sunday we visited some of the more likely sites where the species could occur. Though it took some searching as they were more dispersed than usual owing to the very good season, we eventually located and had very good views of a number of Regent Honeyeaters. This included two breeding pairs, one with a female on the nest, the other nest-building.
Our searching for them along the river oaks uncovered another surprise, with two male Scarlet Honeyeaters seen and at least one other heard. We also had excellent views of a male Barking Owl in a known and surprisingly open roost site at Glen Alice, with his mate presumably incubating or brooding in a nearby tree hollow. However, the undoubted highlight for all was a pair of Painted Honeyeaters feeding on flowering mistletoe etc for at least 10 minutes in the casuarina under which our bus was parked. This pair seemed unperturbed by our excitement and afforded very good views and photo opportunities before they flew off.
We could not help being impressed that the valley seemed full of birds, with over 120 species seen or heard including some which are known to be in danger elsewhere but which appeared to be relatively common, or even common, here. These included Hooded Robin, Brown Treecreeper, Diamond Firetail, Restless Flycatcher and Jacky Winter. The Rufous Songlark seemed to be calling everywhere, and the White-winged Triller and Olive-backed Oriole were also often seen or heard.
Birds were particularly active and seemed to be calling all day around our cottage on Goolooinboin Station, with its spectacular setting close to the sandstone cliffs. They included the Singing Bushlark rising from the cereal rye planted close by and the Little Lorikeets that we observed feeding in the blossoms rather than having the usual tail-end view as they zipped through the trees.
All of us felt very indebted to Jenny Bounds for organising this excursion, which, as a fully self-catered 4-day trip, was a rather big extension to the normal COG outings program. Not only was Jenny's attention to detail and driving skills excellent but her familiarity with the area and her very keen ear also uncovered most of the highlights. In spite of the long trip we all agreed that we should do it again, perhaps for slightly longer and during the week. Next time I would hope to see Plum-headed Finches (not seen) and Turquoise Parrots (seen by only a few).
Hopefully there will not be more Common Mynas - one turned up in the tree behind the cottage one morning (a first for Jenny in this valley) as we were setting out for some honeyeater searching.
Jack Holland