The 4 November walk began in some confusion for those who had not previously been on a COG excursion in Campbell Park. The meeting place had been advertised as ‘in the car-park’; said car park being extensive and meandering, it took a little time before we all got together. Eventually quite a large group set off under the kindly and spontaneous leadership of Richard Mason and David Rosalky. We had an excellent walk.
The best of it was the abundance of nests and signs of breeding. A White-winged Chough was on her elegant, mud cup; a pair of Crimson Rosellas poked in and out of their hollow. We saw three examples of Noisy Friarbirds working with wool and dangling strips of plastic. The most clearly observed nest was the unfinished work of a Willie Wagtail, on a low, spindly shrub near a pond. We peered inside at an interior decorated by two red-tipped, grey, downy feathers, possibly from Eastern Rosellas or Red-rumped Parrots. The exterior was decorated/camouflaged by a horizontally placed green gum leaf, twined through the structure in the style of a feather on a hat.
The White-throated Gerygones seemed to be hovering near nests but we failed to locate them. The vertical, oval nest of a Western Gerygone, however, subtly hidden in the dense, inner branches of a sapling, was discovered. The entrance hole was visible and we were overjoyed. Nests of Starlings and Common Mynas were also found but they left us rather more underjoyed.
The hoped for Dollarbirds showed up. After amiable dispute, a Whistler was correctly deemed to be rufous (sun on the breast had dazzled one fan so that she at first falsely identified it as golden); after considerable debate, the experts settled on the Leaden form for the Flycatcher we saw. A highlight of the day was a White-winged Triller. Richard spotted a Skylark and Sue, a kestrel, harrying, then sharing a thermal with, a Wedgie. And of course, Pallid, Shining and Horsfield’s Bronze Cuckoos were found to be lurking amongst all this fecundity.
A total of forty-six birds were seen and heard by our lot. Several other groups of walkers were toting binoculars in the park that morning and no doubt all were equally rewarded by this very rich site.
Suzanne Edgar