I spent a few days at King Parrot Cottages and Event Centre, located at Pennyroyal Valley, near Deans Marsh.
The owners Nicole and Ryan invited me to conduct a bird survey to identify some of the birds that inhabit the area.
The first bird I noticed was a red wattlebird that was very busy chasing all other nectar eating birds away from the pond, including a few yellow-faced honeyeaters and eastern spinebills. Next I heard the distinctive song of a grey-shrike thrush and saw a pair carrying insects and a small lizard to an obvious nesting site under the balcony of the adjoining cottage.
Nicole emailed me a map of the walking trails around the property. After around 30 minutes, I was at the bottom of the valley, where there was a creek, which after the recent rains was almost a raging torrent.
The creek is surrounded by dense vegetation, which is a perfect habitat for pink robins and other birds that like wet forests. I sat on the high rocks around the creek, listening to the bird calls and hoping that the birds that I could hear would come into view.
I saw an olive whistler that was hiding behind some vegetation and then it disappeared. I also saw several pied currawongs, grey fantails and brown thornbills and was happy to hear and see several white-throated treecreepers.
The next morning I rose early and walked down the steep hill to the camping area on the property. The habitat in the camping area included grassy, cleared areas around the creek, surrounded by old gums and other trees.
I saw and heard gang-gang cockatoos, but they were too high in the canopy for a decent photo. Singing its heart out was the only introduced bird that I spotted – a male common blackbird. Silvereyes were moving through the lower shrubs on the side of the creek. There were many brown thornbills and a flock of around 10 striated thornbills.
I walked for most of the day, up and down the bush tracks, following the bird calls. I came across three Bassian thrush in the dense vegetation around the creek, so they were very hard to photograph. I was surprised to spot two rufous fantails in this area.
When I returned to the cottage for a cuppa, I saw a sizeable snake of around 1.5 metres, which I think was a copperhead, climbing up some bare branches outside the adjoining unit.
Unfortunately for the grey-shrike thrush pair, the snake was trying to get to their nest under the verandah. The birds were distressed and calling frantically and using the ‘broken wing’ routine trying to lure the snake away from the nest.
I wondered if I should throw something in the general direction of the snake (not at the snake) to scare it away, but just as I was contemplating this the snake fell to the ground with a thud.The nest was just out of its reach.
I received an email from Richard, who moved to Grovedale with his wife. Prior to moving Richard was hopeful of possibly hearing a Kookaburra calling, but has not heard a sound from one, even though he lives near the Waurn Ponds Creek which is surrounded by eucalypts. I think a combination of housing developments plus the lack of a forest environment would explain the lack of kookaburras, as they rely on old gum trees with big hollows for nesting and roosting.
I received an email from Alan in Ocean Grove. He reported that it was not a great fortnight for being out and about with the camera, but there was still plenty of action at Blue Waters Lake.
Alan observed lots of waterfowl either nesting or with young. Eurasian coots were sitting on two large nests, and an Australasian grebe was also sitting on a nest. Alan also photographed magpie larks nesting in a tree around the lake and a pair of rainbow lorikeets perched by the same nesting hole in the willow.
I also received a message from Phillip and Sandy informing me that at least one spotted pardalote fledgling has left the nest that was located in their carport.
Lyle from Roraima Nursery in Lara spotted a male eastern koel and a satin flycatcher in the nursery.
