Question: Who would go walking at above 1100 m on the shortest day of the year when showers in the ranges and a maximum of 10oC has been forecast? Answer: Eighteen slightly crazy Canberra birdwatchers! And the prospects for a wet and miserable day spent walking among cloud and persistent drizzle, if not snow, looked pretty strong judging by the very low cloud cover over the mountains to the west as we drove down the Monaro Highway. When we dropped down into Michelago it was a certainly a big surprise to find the high peaks of the Tinderries virtually cloud free.
Despite some pessimism on my part this remained so, and went spent about 4 hours walking in the SE corner of this little known reserve under high cloud, with patches of sunshine and only the occasional strong gust of wind. If only the birds had realised what lovely weather it was it would have been a near perfect day. However, they turned out to be very quiet and uncooperative indeed, much more so than a number of atlassing visits I made to this area during 2002. We struggled to record a total of 20 species, a number of these by only a brief glimpse or a short call, and the trip was characterised more by what was not seen or heard.
Easily the most co-operative and the highlight of the day was a pair of Red-browed Treecreepers, which obligingly remained quiet and almost motionless while most of the participants obtained excellent views. I had not recorded this species here before, nor the Eastern Yellow Robin, which turned out to be probably the conspicuous species for the day. Even the Superb Lyrebirds, so vocal during a visit nearly a year ago to the day, were surprisingly quiet, with only the occasional short burst of calling. The Spotted Quail-thrush and Wonga Pigeon often seen here remained out of sight and hearing. While the patch of silver banksias at Roberts Creek near the end of the walk still contained the odd flowering spike, and some grevillea was coming into flower nearby, this was obviously not enough to sustain any honeyeaters.
Nevertheless participants had a very enjoyable walk in an area where most of them had not been or heard of before. A Wedge-tailed Eagle circling low while harassed by two Australian Ravens as we returned to the cars added a nice finishing touch. As an added bonus, a very mangy, ochre-coloured wombat made a bee-line straight past us to dive into shelter, where presumably its burrow was located, when we stopped to check a spot at the bottom of the range where a Chestnut-rumped Heathwren had been recorded several months ago. After such mild weather it certainly was a jolt to return to a wet, windy and cold Canberra.
Jack Holland