best birds: Winter in the NSW Mallee

Winter in the NSW Mallee

Departing Sydney on Saturday morning with Max, we started counting birds as we crossed the Hawkesbury. On the drive to Forbes, the best birds seen included Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, Brown Falcons, Black-shouldered Kites, and a juvenile Spotted Harrier. At the Forbes Caravan Park, we had a quick 5 minute look around, and surprisingly managed to get a dark morph White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Hobby and Sacred Kingfisher. We hadn't even started to do proper birding and we'd already recorded 45 species for the trip list!

We had a few hours of daylight left, and what way can you spend time at Forbes other than Gum Swamp? My unfaltering optimism (perceived as a flaw in my personality by Max), hoped for a nice and obliging bittern. Unfortunately, life doesn't work like that, though we did get some great birds around the swamp including, but not limited to, Blue-billed Duck, Pink-eared Duck, Sea Eagle, Hoary-headed Grebe, plus some early migrants in the form of Rufous Songlark and Australian Reed-warbler. If this winning streak kept up, the next day looked promising!

Being my birthday (:D), we convinced our lovely driver, my mum, to leave at 7:00 to maximise time at Round Hill Reserve. The 2 hour drive included highlights such as Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Brolga, more Spotted Harriers and various western parrots such as Cockatiel, Ringneck and Mulga. We arrived in Round Hill Nature Reserve, and were very amused when we accidentally drove past the entrance to the "old wheat field" and found a large number of tyre tracks made by cars performing u-turns, obviously made by other birders missing the road (the sign was partially hidden behind a few bushes). Time for the real birding to begin!

The famous "old wheat field" is recognised as the best birding spot in Round Hill. It consists of an area of less-dense mallee that hasn't quite grown back after the area was cleared for farming many years ago. I'm not sure whether the birds prefer it, or we can just find them more easily here, but it didn't disappoint. The first target of the trip, White-fronted Honeyeater, was heard as we exited the car, but they proved to be extremely frustrating and neither of us had particularly good views. A pair of Shy Heathwren entertained for a few minutes, and Max alerted me to a pair of Chestnut Quail-thrush feeding only 3 metres away (the most obliging quail-thrushes for the whole trip… AKA, the only ones that didn’t run away!)

The track to the west of the wheat field was supposed to be reliable for Red-lored Whistler. No cigar, but we did find Yellow-plumed Honeyeater and Southern Scrub Robin. We did go to Whoey Tank, but there was nothing there worth mentioning (dead in all aspects of the word). By this point, we were getting a bit tired, and mum wanted to have a break from driving, so we opted to head to Lake Cargelligo for the famous STW. A quick stop at Chat Alley on the way out was very disappointing, not even a peep from anything remotely feathered. The STW however, that's another story!

A first for me, Australian Shelduck, was just about the first bird seen - a pair sitting right next to the bird hide. A walk round the STW proved to be fantastic, with White-fronted Chats, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, Brown Quail, Little Grassbird, White-winged Fairy-wren, Little Eagle, and fantastic views of both Baillon's and Spotted Crakes feeding in the open as the sun started to dip below the horizon.

The next morning was an even earlier start, and we arrived at the wheat field just after sunrise. It was VERY cold, and the only lifer found here was Grey-fronted Honeyeater. It was only when we turned the car back on that we realised we'd just been walking around for an hour in NEGATIVE FOUR DEGREES!!! I couldn't feel my nose...

The road leading south/west from the wheat field allowed us fantastic views of all 3 target honeyeater species (we'd only had brief views at the wheat field), and we sighted two Pink Cockatoos next to the railway, along with another Spotted Harrier. The only Malleefowl we managed for the whole trip decided to be invisible and just leave us a small trail of tantalising footprints…

On the way back to Lake Cargelligo for lunch, we stopped at Booberoi Creek, which was great with Brown Treecreepers, many Diamond Firetails and I finally got sitting views of a Painted Button-quail (albeit the dull male, but you can't have everything!). Absolute highlight of the day was to follow - we were on the track of a female Button-quail, when we flushed it and it flew off... right into a large flock of Choughs which let off a number of very loud screeches and most jumped straight up into the air. A very confused (and probably very frightened) quail kept going and disappeared into some long grass, where we decided to leave her be.

We scoped the lake, and added a few more birds to the trip list, and saw a few more Spotted Harriers (an extremely common bird this trip, we saw at least 12!). We headed back out to the reserve at dusk for some spotlighting. On the way, we thought we may as well try Whoey Tank again with our last hour of remaining daylight. In a perfect example of Sod’s Law, what do we find but a stunning, and very compliant Gilbert’s Whistler! Grant's "dead cert" Spotted Nightjars didn't show (though we're pretty sure we heard one), but at least we had great views of a pair of Barn Owls and an Owlet Nightjar at Booberoi Creek.

We drove back to Bathurst the next day (adding a few more Spotted Harriers and a Black Kite to the list), and I managed to spot Max a nice and close-up pair of Ground Cuckoo-shrikes next to the road. Later in the day at Boundary Road Reserve, Bathurst, I finally found a much needed Western Gerygone, as well as a few Speckled Warblers. The night was spent at my Grandparents and we drove back to Sydney the next day.

In the end, Max and I both got 9 lifers, and we saw 146 birds on the trip. A great way to spend the winter holidays!