Six people contributed to the Atlassing excursion to Lake Bathurst and surrounds. Jenny Bounds, Alastair Smith, Charles Buer, Meike Van Den Bergh and I met at lunchtime at The Loaded Dog Hotel in Tarago, before pushing off in differing directions for some afternoon Atlassing. Although Alastair and Jenny noted that the Taylors Creek Road was somewhat bleak with hardly a tree in sight, they had good views of Lake George and did spy Golden-headed Cisticola and an immature Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo, which was excellent. Dinner at the hotel was a lively affair, before Jenny and Alastair departed for the Big Smoke. We met Michael Lenz in the hotel carpark at 7.00am, before heading off for a day’s Atlassing. We first visited Michaels’ stamping ground, The Morass (and Lake Bathurst when it is not dry), just a few kilometres east of Tarago. The area search at The Morass revealed 120 Black Swans, 80 Australian Shelduck, 31 White-faced Heron, 64 Straw-necked Ibis and 2 Black-winged Stilts, amongst others.
We then separated into two vehicles after breakfast, the GPS and record sheets running hot all day. There is much farmland in the area, but there are good patches of remnant trees, watercourses, farm dams, areas of woodland towards Collector and south of Goulburn, wetlands, and forest at the eastern extreme of COG’s area of interest, providing plenty of opportunity for bird variety. Amongst the ‘specials’ were a flock of 12 White-fronted Chats, a Southern Whiteface, spectacular close views of 50 White-throated Needletails, a crowd of over 100 wood ducks at a small dam and a young White Winged Triller. Not surprisingly, the most commonly observed birds were Australian Magpies, European Starlings and Crimson Rosellas. The Monday morning looked promising, but severe rain about 10.00am curtailed the Atlassing somewhat. All the Atlassing was done from the roadside, with no need to go onto private land. All up, 87 species were data-captured in 52 two-hectare searches, 3 incidental records and 8 area searches, over a range of 51 different grids. A good effort from those who took part.
Alistair Bestow