In previous years the honeyeater migration outing has been held near Angle Crossing where the honeyeaters could be counted as they funnelled down a narrow strip of native vegetation after passing through the Ingledene pine plantation. However, during the past year the pines have been felled windrowed and burnt leaving a barren landscape dotted with log piles and the odd native tree.
During a brief recce a few days before the outing this year, few honeyeaters were passing through the former viewing location, but many hundreds were following a different route through native vegetation along the northern edge of the former plantation. This was chosen as the new location for the outing.
Sunday 10 April was a glorious day for bird watching but just a bit too summery to be a good honeyeater migration day. A bit too warm, too humid and a bit breezy. They were still coming past but not with the same purpose and confidence as a few days earlier. During the outing we counted 1200 in 100 mins, whereas during the recce there were 1400 in 20 minutes. The honeyeaters were not very confident about their direction, making several false starts and usually waiting for large numbers to build up before committing to crossing open space. We saw several large groups of 200-300 birds but there were long periods in between when no honeyeater moved. The vast majority were Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, with occasional White-naped Honeyeaters and a few White-eared Honeyeaters and Eastern Spinebills.
For the rest of the morning, we retired to the Tharwa Sandwash on the Murrumbidgee River. This is always a good location to spend some time, and we saw 38 species in a little over an hour. We had good views of Restless Flycatcher, Dusky Woodswallow and Black-fronted Dotterel. A Southern Whiteface called persistently from the opposite bank but was too distant to be seen clearly, and a Brown Treecreeper patrolled the far bank giving only occasional glimpses of itself. Those who went for a short amble along the riverbank found Red-browed and Double-barred Finches, while a lucky few saw Diamond Firetails.
Nicki Taws