On 9 November Dick Schodde led a dozen COG members on a walk in “East O’Malley”. This began spectacularly with about 40 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos flying and feeding excitedly in the gardens of Callemonda Rise, some only a few metres from the spectators. The birds were stripping bark from acacias, and feeding on young hakeas.
Nearby a pair of Noisy Friarbirds were completing a nest in a street tree.
In the eastern hectare of ‘O’Malley’, it was decided to stroll towards an area of regrowth near the erosion gully, where nesting activity was intensive. In that area of about one hectare we noted nesting or other breeding activity by the following species:
Little Eagle
Rufous Whistler
Willy Wagtail
Red-browed Finch
Double-barred Finch
White-throated Gerygone
Leaden Flycatcher
White-winged Triller
Crimson Rosella
Galah
Dusky Woodswallow
Common Myna
Other species found in the vicinity included Brown-headed Honeyeater, Dollarbird, Grey Butcherbird and nesting Noisy Miners.
This was a great walk for the thinking birdwatcher. Dick discussed with the little group the reasons why the old Blakely’s Red Gums had prospered in the area and their importance to the bird attractiveness of ‘the hectare’. It was found that beyond that particular hotspot areas of less-dense growth contained no exceptional numbers of birds. The old farm dam produced not much beyond a spectacularly aggressive nesting cockatoo.
Dick’s insights on the habitat features of the area were appreciated by the group. These included his drawing attention to signs of how the Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos were using the general area. One pair of these lingered in the trees near promising hollows, and there were indications of bark-stripping, some at ground level.
Geoffrey Dabb