With the weather looking dodgy, Max, Ashwin and I migrated south to Barren Grounds, hoping to get some good birds to kick off the summer holidays. 2 hours and 21 White-necked Herons later, we arrived at Barren Grounds about 10:30. We walked around until 12:00, hearing every one of our main targets (Ground Parrot, Eastern Bristlebird and Pilotbird), but not seeing any, even though some were tantalisingly close. After a quick trip back to Carrington Falls to set up camp, we tried a track into Budderoo National Park, but it was very muddy and we got lost... With hours of daylight still left, we headed back to Barren Grounds and went on a long walk out to Cooks Nose. Again, we only heard our targets. The day was ending, we had walked 11kms, and still had nothing to show for it. A quick walk to the lookout near the carpark was finally kind enough to give us close (yet brief and obstructed) views of a single Eastern Bristlebird (neither Max nor I had seen these very well before). We headed off, and as we were about to get back onto the main road, what was calling right next to us but a Pilotbird! We jump out, and spent 10 minutes trying to coax it out towards us, but ended up having to resort to a bit of playback. Still, we got awesome views of a pair, happily scratching around in the leaf litter less than a metre from us (lifer for me). We stopped off at Budderoo National Park, and tried to find the numerous Bristlebirds calling all around us (at least 5), and had a quick attempt at flushing a Ground Parrot in a small patch of low heath, but all we got was wet, due to some hidden swampy patches under the vegetation.
An early dinner at the campsite before spotlighting was interrupted when, as we were all sitting on the table, a young male Flame Robin flies down and lands on the fence in front of us - another tick for me! With 3 great birds in the bag, what we needed now was that damn Ground Parrot... We headed off back to the entrance of Budderoo National Park, and as the fog descended and darkness approached, we heard the call. Followed by another. And another. 6 Ground Parrots calling from every direction!!! A quick (10 minute) stumble through the same heath as earlier was tense. We could hear the parrots, but couldn't see them. Suddenly, Ashwin put one up... and Max, the one who needed it for his list, misses it. Another one calls back where we came from, which I flush, and Max missies it too. A minute later one calls only 10 metres away, and Max gets a very brief view of a dark shape gliding across the heath, plus water in both of his shoes. Success!
Spotlighting yielded nothing (save a distant Boobook calling), so we went to bed early. The next morning, we went back to Budderoo to get Max a daylight Ground Parrot, but decided we didn't want to get wet again. More Bristlebirds were heard, but stayed uncooperative (unlike the lovely Southern Emu-wrens). Barren Grounds again for 30 minutes was quiet, until, as a last ditch effort, we walked back to the lookout, and heard a Bristlebird right next to the track singing it's heart out. We walked in to a slightly open area under some low trees, and were all rewarded with amazing views of a single Eastern Bristlebird singing away.
Driving to Sydney, Max missed the turn off to our Logrunner site (there goes that plan), so instead, we stopped off in the Royal National Park. Some nice birds were around the southern end of Lady Carrington Drive, but our hopes were set on Ashwin's Rockwarbler site. We got there, and with pressure high for him to produce, Ashwin failed to make the Rockwarblers show... Until I spotted one 100 metres down the cliff right next to where the waves were crashing on the rocks. Another success! A Tawny-crowned Honeyeater distracted us briefly, and then Ashwin spotted a Rockwarbler right in front of us, and we all saw him very nicely. Wattle Flat also produced some good birds, but the thunder overhead made us head back to the car, and for the whole drive back into Sydney, the rain which had been threatening us all weekend bucketed down. Literally - bucketed down!
In all, we counted up exactly 100 species for the trip, and we all saw some great birds, Max and I got 1 and 2 lifers respectively (much to Ashwin's disgust, as we're already ahead of him!), and NSW/Year ticks all round! A MASSIVE thank you has to go to Max’s dad for giving up his whole weekend and devoting it to transporting us!!!
Other highlights for the trip (from Barren Grounds, Lady Carrington Drive, Wattle Flat):
Crescent Honeyeater (BG)
Gang-gang (BG)
Brush Bronzewing (BG)
Grey Goshawk (BG)
Beautiful Firetail (BG)
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo (BG)
Yellow-throated Scrubwren (LCD)
Superb Lyrebird (LCD)
Black-faced Monarch (LCD)
Crested Shrike-tit (WF)
Rufous Fantail (WF)
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