Month: December 2017

11/11/2017 200km

Unbeknownst to us this wasn’t the start of our Tasmanian trip. We were up in plenty of time and hopped into the car at the appointed time, and click click click, dead battery, we thought we could jump start it, but couldn’t. We thought we could pull start it, but couldn’t (diesel can’t be pull started if there isn’t enough power to get the glow plugs to work). It was too late when we called the RACV, and even though we got priority he took too long, and we didn’t have enough time to get to the ferry. We went anyway in the vain hope that there might be a delay, we got there 25min too late, the ship was there but we couldn’t get on, we eventually booked a spot on the 25^th Nov being the next one we could get on. Inevitably the car wouldn’t start so we called the RACV again it cost me a new battery, but at least that’s all it was, the cruel thing is that I had used the car the day before and it had given no hint of giving up. Bad day you might think, ah but it gets worse! We spent the morning surveying my sites around Port Melbourne, being Toll Ship, Westgate Park, Westgate Park Lorimer St, Corporate Express Port Melbourne and Bridge St Port Melbourne. All sites I’d put in whilst working at various jobs, so far so good, we had lunch at Punchbowl Canteen at my site in Bridge St, 6 out of 10 for the Cheeseburger, it was nice and there was enough for a good lunch, but at $20 poor value, no disaster there. It was on our way back to Ocean Grove when I heard a strange sound from the car, it sounded like the flomping of a flat tyre, or perhaps something stuck in the tyre, I pulled over to investigate, we ran the car slowly up and down a small patch of road, narrowing it down to the left rear wheel, but it took us a while to find the problem, Bev all of a sudden noted that there were two wheel nuts missing, two more were very loose and about to fall out, so that was the noise, my wheel about to fall off! I was able to tighten up the remaining nuts and drive on. The reason the wheel-nuts were loose is that I had just replaced the tyres the day before, so they hadn’t tightened them up, very poor workmanship. I went to Autocare Ocean Grove and got them to check the wheel out, and they told me that it was unroadworthy as the wheel wobbling had opened up the holes in the wheel, so I took it back to Jax and to their credit they replaced the wheel and the lost wheel nuts.

25/11 113km

Up at 5.00 and off by 6.00 and got to Port Melbourne in good time, but the ship had been delayed so the line up went well down The Esplanade, we eventually got on, and the ship left about ½hr late, pity it hadn’t had the same problem a fortnight ago, we’d have made the ship. The whole trip was made through dead flat waters, good for Bev’s seasickness but lousy for birds. There were lots of Little Pied and Pied Cormorants roosting on the beacons on the way out with a few Little Black Cormorants, and a few Crested Terns also. Gannets were common in the bay, and some way out we also saw some seals and brief looks at Bottle-nosed Dolphins in the bay and Common Dolphins further out in Bass straight, then there was a lull before we started getting the shearwaters, most were Sooty and Short-tailed but I think there were others that I couldn’t identify, there was also an unidentified prion and a lone White-faced Storm Petrel. We docked at 7.15 and were the first off the ship, we did some shopping at the IGA and got some food at the 24hr bakery on the corner of Torquay Rd, tasty small sausage rolls, then went down to Henry Somerset CP to camp.

27/11 143km

There were some light showers overnight, they persisted all day at varying intensity. The reserve has been set up to preserve orchids, there were non out this time of year, there were some flowers still out, mainly some lilies. Got 17sp with Yellow Wattlebird and Tasmanian Scrubwren the only Tasmanian endemics, also got the black form of the Grey Currawong and the local form of sub-species of the Brown Thornbill. Headed down to Mersey River at Kimberley and got Silvereye. Parramatta Ck rest area had Magpie and Noisy Miner. Port Sorell beach had both Pied and Sooty Oystercatcher and Little Wattlebird. Rubicon River tributary had Forest Raven and Brush Bronzewing. Rubicon river had Golden Whistler and both Pallid and Fan-tailed Cuckoo. Franklin rivulet had Gold Finch and Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. Springlawn camp Narawntapu NP had some Tasmanian Native Hens with 4 little chicks, also saw a Tasmanian Pademelon and Tamar Wallaby. We took the dirt back road to Yorktown and down to Paper Beach reserve to camp at 13.50, there was no camping until 17.00 so we just parked, I had to clean a contact in the indicator array in the rear, I also had to change the fuse for the charging of the camper when we discovered that there was no charge in the battery after the days driving, with there being no sun the fridge was using up the power then turning off until it had enough power again. Spent most of the afternoon down by the shore, though a few times the showers were heavy enough to make me retreat to the shelter, it’s a very pleasant spot though it’s popular with the local dog walkers who run their dogs along the beach which disrupts the feeding of the Pied Oystercatchers, with so many dogs on the beach it worries me that they won’t get enough food to be able to breed, but what the hell do the dog owners care?

28/11 228km

Up at 6.00, and went to use the toilet only to find that it was locked, that’s not very nice! Ended with 39sp and left at 7.15 with the toilets still closed. Over to Georgetown and up to Low Head lighthouse for Black-faced Cormorant, there are Little Penguins here but they leave at dawn so we saw none, I only found a dead one with a Southern Blue-tounged Lizard nearby. We went to the visitor centre in Georgetown when they opened at 9.00 to get a parks pass, but they couldn’t issue a year pass, so we went around to Services Tasmania, but they didn’t open until 10.00. The pass cost $76.00 with a seniors discount. We then went south to Hillwood strawberry farm to get some berries, but at $10 for a large punnet of mixed berries they aren’t cheap, Used some back roads to get to Lilydale Falls camp, a nice spot with a very pleasant stream to walk along up to the 1^st falls then a short walk to the 2^nd falls. We then had lunch, then through more back roads to Derby Park camp which is on the edge of town, again with a nice river along the edge, but all the good habitat is on the other side of the river. More back roads heading north to Village Green camp Waterhouse CP, and had a relaxing afternoon by the seashore, adding White-bellied Sea Eagle to the list. The peace was shattered by a school group arriving at 18.30 to camp.

                          Sea Spurge, an intoduced species from Europe

28/11 257km

The school group turned out to be not so bad as they made little or no noise during the night. Added a few more birds in the morning, and found a small pond with Black Duck and some Clicking Froglets calling. Drove west to Stumpy’s bay camp 2 Mt William NP and found some Hooded Plovers on the beach. South to Policeman’s point Bay of Fires CP which had a lone Hooded Plover, hopefully that means the other one is on a nest behind the dune. There were also some Fairy Terns, and Red-necked Stints. Took Fire track down to Swimcart beach camp which is the first camp that’s been popular with the grey nomads, but it was poor in birdlife. Inland to St. Columba Falls, an old site at a rather spectacular plunge of water, we found Tasmanian Thornbill, Scrubtit and Pink Robin. On the way back we stopped at Pyengana cheeses and decided on the mid aged tasty to buy a small piece, as it’s very expensive. Picked up fuel at the United servo at $1.35.9cpl and stopped at St Helen’s basin camp at 16.20, the camp has a pleasant aspect with our site overlooking the calm waters of the basin, whilst listening to the ocean a few hundred meters to the east. The Parks people have put some large boulders over an old track onto the beach, unfortunately one wasn’t big enough and some twit has moved it to use the track, that would be ignorant enough, but the beach is used by Hooded Plovers and Little Terns to breed on at this time of year, and he’s gone hooning around right where the birds would be, there were no plovers or small terns, did he frighten them off? All too often I am seeing the stupidity of a minority of humans who have no consideration for the impact that their selfish acts perpetrate on our wildlife, ah but wait it gets worse! Whilst he was on the beach he must have leisurely got out and had a few beers, then carelessly tossed them aside before blithely driving off, ah but there’s more! There was a sandcastle which suggests that he’s teaching his children that it’s okay to do what he’s doing, and so it goes on and on and on… I think for some people there really are no limits to their arrogance. It angers me, it really angers me.

29/11 206km

Added White-fronted Chat and others to end with 26sp, and headed south to Trout Ck camp Scamander, I decided to go against the advised route which is in along the south side of the river then along Eastern Ck Rd to Trout Rd, all well signposted to the camp on easy roads. I chose the short cut up via the golf course, I mean how hard could it be? The road led up the hill at a reasonable gradient, but when we got to the top the track down the hill towards the camp literally fell off the hillside straight down, the beginning was just steep, but then the rocks started getting bigger and sharper. I should have backed out, but I put on my dogged hat and kept on going after all my Hema Navigator suggested that the road, yes it had it listed as a road not a goat track went out at the other end, it wasn’t long before there was a big thump as I hit a big rock, and I knew I wasn’t going to get back up this hill, there was another tough section lower down, but eventually I made it to the bottom, which was the really worrying part, could I get through the creek? What was the up hill section like to get to the main track in? In the end both were easy and we made it to the camp, which has a very pleasant aspect but is overused by rubbish throwers, very messy, which ruined the ambiance. Took the easy route out after inspecting damage to the car, the big thump had squashed a mud flap and a bit of under car panel damage, but nothing vital, phew! An old site at Winifred Curtis Reserve Scamander was a pleasant walk out to the point and back for 29sp. Another old site at Lagoons Beach and camp had some Eastern Spinebills feeding young. Lilla Villa bridge Bicheno has no access to the river on a busy road, dumb spot for me to put the old site in, 7sp. Richardson’s Beach Freycinet NP was beautiful but bird poor. We then walked up to Wineglass Bay lookout along with a horde of other people for the spectacular view. At the top was a very tame Bennet’s Wallaby with joey, unfortunately it was begging for food and some tourists gave it some, one child even patted it, not good, and the trouble is that the super cute joey is learning the bad habits. Drove around to Dolphin Sands Rd end at Bagot point which is listed as a campsite but there was nothing here, we were able to prop ourselves on a grassy rise right next to the water, there was a sign stating that camping is discouraged, but not banned, strange.

30/11 208km

Found some Hooded Plovers on my morning round to end with 33sp and headed south to Mayfield Bay CP camp for 9sp, then we were on our way to Triabuna when Bev noticed that she was missing one of her pairs of glasses, we were only a few kilometers down the road, so we turned back and eventually found them on the grass, so very lucky there. We still got into Triabuna in good time to catch the ferry over to Maria Island cost $90 for both of us with parks pass and $33 each for bike hire. The first ferry isn’t until 9.00 so if you want to explore the island a bike is the only way. We headed down the coast way and I eventually heard a 40 Spotted Pardalote calling at French’s Farm coastal route 1, but I only got a brief glimpse of it as it flew off. I wanted to have a look at the narrow neck of land but it’s a very sandy track past French’s Farm and Bev couldn’t cope with it so she turned back, I struggled on for a few kilometers until I was exhausted, found a few birds and did a survey at Shoal Bay whilst I ate my lunch, I had a better look at a 40 Spotted Pardalote here. Bev had had a flat tyre and was walking back, but because I had knackered myself I wasn’t traveling much faster, so I caught up with her only a few kilometers from Darlington, and found that she’d fallen off the bike with the flat tyre, skinned herself and had lost a waterbottle, she wasn’t having a good day! When I got back to Darlington I got the bike guy to go help her. She got back in time for the 15.30 ferry back to Triabuna, we did my survey spot at Triabuna port then bought some very nice fish and chips at the fish van near the visitor centre, then drove down to Nelson’s Ck Buckland for Dusky Robin and Tasmanian Thornbill, we went down Break-me-neck hill and Bust-me-gall hill on our way to Forsteque Bay camp Tasman NP arriving at 20.10 and were soon in bed.

1/12 226km

We slept in till 7.30 after the big day yesterday. There was some light rain overnight, and in the morning there was fog over the bay. We drove over to Lime bay CP camp, it’s a nice spot, but not great birding. Had a look at the Coal Reserve main shaft where the convicts were sent down to mine coal, there’s not much left now, but I got a Black-headed Honeyeater in the good forest, there were some Cherry Pines with fruit on that were quite sweet. Back over to Tasman Arch Tasman NP which is a spectacular plunge to the sea below and the lookout was even better with a look down the east facing cliffs. There was a Dusky Robin here. Back through Doo Town with all the houses having a doo theme to the name, some quite clever. A short hop to Tessellated Pavement where there were some Purple Rock Crabs but not many birds. It started to rain as we headed for Richmond town south so we had to have lunch in the car. I was going to do some old sites around the airport but it wasn’t worth it in the now heavy rain, so we drove through Hobart only making a few navigational mistakes through the city as we headed for Gordon Foreshore Reserve. We put up the awning on the camper in the rain, and got soaked doing it, but we can now have a window open and I had somewhere dry to sit whilst I watched the procession of coastal birds including Gannets and Black-faced Cormorants, with the now expected Sooty and Pied Oystercatchers, a pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins came by too. It was down to 13 degrees as we went to bed, but it feels colder.

2/12 107km

It was 11 degrees when we got up, but the rain had stopped, didn’t add many birds and were soon off. Filled up the tank at Middleton at 139.9cpl which is as cheap as it gets here and got on the 9.am ferry to Bruny Island, cost of $33 for the vehicle. We stopped at the Bruny Island Cheese company and got some raw milk cheese, lemon curd and peanut butter for $40, tasty things don’t come cheap! Had a look at the honey place but didn’t buy anything. Stopped at the The Neck Bruny Island and had to wait for a passing shower before we climbed up to the lookout where it was blowing a gale, there was good evidence of Little Penguin activity around many burrows on the lower sands, but a dead shearwater on the road was sad to see. Next stop was Lunawanna cemetery for 16sp in the cold drizzle. Had lunch at Cloudy Bay Bruny Island, but it was still blowing a gale from the south, so no little bush birds were active at all. There was a long distance run from the top of the island to the Cape Bruny Island Lighthouse happening today, so it wasn’t a good day to be on the main road south, we had a look at the lighthouse with its panoramic view of the rugged cliffs with volcanic pillars, again few birds, just lots of red skin from the cold runners who finished their run here. Stopped at 14.35 in Jetty Beach camp South Bruny NP, on a nice day this would be a wonderful place to be, as it was despite the still icy wind I managed to get birds such as Olive Whistler, Beautiful Firetail and Strong-billed Honeyeater before dark. Both here and at Cloudy Bay cars are allowed onto the beach, ostensibly they are allowed on only to put their boat in the water, I saw three vehicles on Cloudy bay beach none were loading or unloading boats, do you really think that people, particularly beach drivers are going to respect a pretty please don’t drive on the beach sign? Get real. Here also there was plenty of recent activity of vehicles along the beach, I don’t get that in a National Park, I just don’t get the thinking that driving on the beach isn’t destroying habitat, the parks people must know that, so why do they allow it? When are we going to get serious about habitat protection?

3/12 187km

It started to rain during the night, it was still raining at 8.00 when certain necessities made it an imperative to get out of bed, it rained as we packed up, it rained as we drove up to the ferry, it rained as we crossed back to the mainland of Tasmania, it rained as we went over the top to Nichols Rivulet which was now a raging torrent, there were lots of impromptu waterfalls and rivers across the road. It rained as we picked up supplies in Geeveston, and it rained as we pitched camp at Bolton camp Cockle Bay South West NP, at the most southerly point one can drive to in Australia. It was 17.00 before the rain finally let up. It had gone from 9 degrees when we got up to 11 degrees and back down to 9 degrees in Cockle bay, even with four layers on I wasn’t warm. The camp here is on the edge of good habitat, but along the road the habitat is mostly degraded by housing, as a result of the poor weather and disappointing habitat the only bird of interest were some Crescent Honeyeaters.

Possibly Lissanthe Strigosa

4/12 408km

Up early with no rain, didn’t add many birds, took a photo at the whale at the end of the road and headed north. To Geeveston then west to Arve River picnic, a lovely spot by the river with a short walk through the rainforest and back, at the carpark was a pair of Scrubtits, got good views, Bev got a hitch-hiker that inched onto her hand as we drove off, a leech, it was flicked out the window. Airwalk camp Tahune was a disappointment as it cost $29pp do get in, so we just wandered around the camp, you get one free night’s camp if you buy a pass, but I still don’t think it’s good value. Through Sandfly and down to Howden Rd Stinkpot Bay for 17sp, then a series of old sites around Hobart, Constitution Dock, Powerline Rosny Park, Area 4, 7 Mile Beach, JH compond Hobart airport, which added Eastern Rosella and Musk Lorikeet to the trip list, then TNT Hobart, River Derwent at Broadwater had 400 Coot and a Black Swan cygnet so small it couldn’t feed for itself yet and was delicately being fed by a parent. JH Brighton had a pair of Skylarks, just around the corner from the site the Shell servo had diesel at the card only pumps at $1.33.9cpl, so we put $40 in then headed upstream on the Derwent river to Derwent river Boyer for 18sp. It was then the long drive into the mountains to Ted’s Beach camp Lake Pedder, to arrive just before the sun went down, a quick dinner and bed, but not before taking a few shots of the sunset over the lake.

 

5/12 253km

The morning dawned partly cloudy but calm, so calm it was almost glassy on the lake, just a hint of a breeze was enough to dampen the effect. I only ended up with 10sp here so it’s not great birding, but it’s certainly a nice setting. On our way out I spotted a Superb Lyrebird and did a survey in the saddle Lake Pedder Rd, then went to Edgar dam camp Lake Pedder, it’s a nicer and bigger camp but still only got the 10sp, though in 20mins this time. We then pumped up the canoe and went for a paddle on the calm waters for ½hr or so, dried and deflated the canoe, then headed down to Russell Falls Mt Field NP for lunch and a stroll along the river to the falls which were still mighty after all the rain recently. An old site at Derwent River at Lawrenny had 11sp, we then went in to Hamilton common in the hope of having a shower and doing some washing, we were in luck, they had just installed a washing machine that did nearly all our washing for the trip so far for $4, and we had a hot shower for $1 for each 3min as a coin in the slot method. I got my shower done for $1 so I suspect it lasts more than 3min. On the survey there were 3 Common Starling nests in the shower block alone, and in regard to the campground, it costs $5 per night per vehicle, but the flat area had been partially inundated during the recent rains, so camper beware! An old site at Wayatinah Lagoon had 17 Strong-billed Honeyeaters, but there was no access to the water. Then dove to Brady’s lake Lyell Hwy to camp at 17.30, strung out a line to dry the washing, had dinner and then relaxed in the rapidly cooling evening.

 Mountain Needlewood I think

6/12 208km

It was 4 degrees at sunrise with steam coming off the still lake, very ethereal. Added a few birds then headed North a short distance to Bronte lagoon Nth and got some Strong-billed Honeyeaters. An old site at Coates Ck Derwent Bridge had Black-headed Honeyeater. The unmarked track down to Lake King William camp wasn’t easy to find, but once down there we got 12sp. Lake St Claire camp had more Strong-billed Honeyeaters, Bev picked up another leech, but this one found her leg before she spotted it, we applied salt to get it off, she bled for a while. We then back tracked to Serpentine Ck Bronte for 11sp, on to Liawenee Moor by the Great Lake for only 2sp. Then down to Shannon Lagoon Miena which had a Striated Fieldwren. Tod’s Corner T junction Barren Tier was lunch in amongst the old dead trees. Small lakes Wyliesmarsh was awash with water and had some Black Ducks, I surprised one accidentally and it flew into the fence in its panic, but it got through and landed on the water with a lot of quacking. Pumphouse Bay camp Arthur’s Lake only had 7sp, there was a lot of damage here during the recent weather event as all the rain that we got lower down fell as snow here bringing down trees and destroying people’s annexes on their caravans, there was still a bit of snow on the ground. An old spot at Jonah Bay Road had 8sp, here there was evidence of Sugar Gliders feeding on the trunks of trees, with lots of horizontal lines of teeth marks. We then had trouble finding a place to camp, the first option at Lagoon of Islands was closed off to vehicles, the second site along the west edge of lake Sorell was closed with a locked gate, we ended at Dago Point camp Lake Sorell at 16.10, there was an enigmatic sign noting that Lake Sorell was closed, we didn’t need the water so we went to the campground, there was no one else there, was the campground closed too? We camped anyway, later some other people came by and told us that the lake was closed because European Carp had got into it, the lake was sure muddy, but I don’t see why the lake should be closed, you’d think they’d want people out there catching the Carp I’d have thought, anyway the result of having no fishermen around means a quieter camp, maybe if we introduced Carp into all the lakes here, they’d all be closed and there’d be no fishermen at all in the area! Okay dumb thinking.

Genus Epacris

7/12 297km

Added no birds in the morning so ended with 13sp which is poor for an overnight survey, we have yet to detect a single night-bird for the trip. We back tracked to the Lyell Hwy then down the hill to Blackburn Ck, then down Hunterson Tk to Hunterson Rivulet Sonning Hill, I suspect in time this track will be blocked off by the local inhabitants, which will be a pity, because it’s a nice little spot by the river under the hill, marred though by a quarry. We stopped at another old spot 16km N of Bothwell which was open farmland and got 8 open country sp. We went down to Langdon Ck and got Hoary-headed Grebe on the dam, on the way back we picked up fuel in Bothwell at $1.34.9cpl then headed out to the main highway and headed north. Oatlands sewage ponds had 14sp with Hardhead, then we went and had lunch at Lake Dulverton Oatlands and got Purple Swamphen. 2km S of Tunbridge had three introduced bird species and a Brown Falcon which I’m hoping is slowly munching its way through them. 20km east of Campbell Town had lots of Noisy Miners. Near Poatina power lines had a single Silvereye and a stunning little Enamelled Spider. We used the back roads to get to Lower Liffey reserve camp and set up just as it started to rain, though we ended up with only a few light showers, I had 14 sp by dark with Tasmanian Thornbill. Next door to the reserve is a Trust For Nature property. There is a gate there to stop people driving up the hill, some idiot has taken exception to this and it looks like he’s tied a chain to the gate and tried to pull it out, concrete foundation and all, he’s given up and I suspect walked up to the map of the walk in the reserve and given it two hacks with a hatchet, either that or there have been two morons in the area, I’ll say what I’ve said before, there are too many destructive people out there in an all too destructive species. Until we can collectively educate ourselves out of our propensity for selfishness and learn to care for each other and this planet I don’t hold any hope for our species.

Enamelled Spider

Tea Tree sp

8/12 219km

There was a heavy burst of rain as we went to bed, and then it stopped, by morning the sky was clear and it was 5 degrees. Added a few sp then headed up the hill to Liffey Falls, it was still a decent walk down to the falls from the upper carpark, but the walk is worth it, through good forest with both Tasmanian Thornbill and Scrubtit towards the bottom. I decided to take the easy way around the bitumen to Bracknell Riverside camp for 8sp, then over to South Esk River at Perth where there was an interesting mix of colours in a group of Mallard crosses, they had some very cute little chicks. West along the main highway to Meander River Westbury, a pleasant little park for lunch, in Perth we got some English pork pies from the Sausage Shop butcher for lunch, the pastry was good but the filling was disappointing with not enough flavour from what I remember in England, only 6 out of 10. Further along the highway to Deloraine lake in town. Then up to Devil’s Gullet CP, out the Lake MacKenzie Road, unfortunately they’ve had a big fire through here, looks like last year, devastating the area. The Lookout though is well worth the drive out. Despite the devastation there were some Tree Martins and a lone female Flame Robin calling forlornly, also an Ocellated Cool Skink had survived the fire. Around to Parangana lake camp for the night, arriving at 16.25 and had 16sp before dark with some Black-headed Honeyeaters and a very human tolerant Black Currawong around the camp, as usual from us, it left disappointed, I’m sure it gave us 0 out of 10. Also found a MacLeay’s Swallowtail butterfly, they are common here, a beautiful lime green.

9/12 190km

There was very light rain overnight, and it persisted into the morning, so I didn’t add much on my brief morning walk. At Lake Gairdner camp Moina, the weather was still inclement, but the birds were active here with Dusky Robin. Kentish Park camp Lake Barrington would be a nice camp spot, but the habitat is poor, despite that there were 14sp with Scarlet Robin. We found Nowhere Else (yes it’s a true locality, you can google it) and couldn’t resist doing a survey there, there was a road leading to the treatment plant, but it was locked so surveyed the road leading up to the plant. Spellman’s Reserve would have been nice, but there were campers here with loud music, vulgar people. I found a Tasmanian Tree-skink on the rocks by the river. Alma Reserve camp Forth River had an Olive Whistler. At Leven Canyon we did the circuit walk, down the Fern Walk then up the 697 steps to the lookout and back, both were good lookouts but the easier walk to the upper lookout would suffice. The birds were inactive, with only a few birds calling. We found that the Gunns Plains caves no longer allowed camping, neither did the JR Lee memorial park, but found Bannon’s camp Leven River on the road down to Ulverton and stopped at 16.00, the showers had cleared but it was still a cool cloudy day with a strong southerly blasting down the river and swirling around the campsite. Yesterday we got some Italian sausages from the Sausage Shop in Perth and had them for dinner tonight, they were okay but again the filling had little taste though had at least had meat rather than bread filling, at $14 a kilo it’s another 6 out of 10.

10/12 38km

Didn’t add much in the morning, and left at 7.35 for the short drive into Leven River Ulverstone, which is at the mouth of the river, it’s mainly parkland with a thin line of remnant vegetation along the beach and river. Here there is a clear sign stating that dogs must be on a leash, I was surprised to find that about 50% of them were on a leash, most unusual, the other 50% were the usual arrogant dog walkers that think that the law doesn’t include them, and had no regard for the little wildlife left on the beach. There was a farmers market nearby that Bev got a few things at, then we drove to Penguin along the pretty shoreline road. We got a few supplies here, had a shower at Penguin caravan park at $2.50 each and did some washing, then drove the short distance out to Preservation bay camp Penguin to hang out the washing in the stiff westerly breeze and sunshine. As part of our supplies we got a cherry slice from the bakery at $3.30, it looked good with lots of glace cherries in it, but the taste was all sugar, it was so sweet I couldn’t even taste the cherries, and after only half a slice I was sugared out, disappointing. I spent the afternoon dozing and counting the parade of Silver Gulls as they all were heading west to a convention somewhere along the coast. After dinner we had a gooseberry crumble slice also bought at the bakery today, it was at least fruity not too sugary, though Bev didn’t like the crumble.

11/12 79km

in the morning pre-dawn we heard some Little Penguins calling, they and a lone Pied Oystercatcher were all I added to the list, and we headed off at 8.15. We went to Island Campers to have a look at their product as an eventual replacement for our current camper, which is still hanging in there. An old site at truck pull in 2km W of Penguin should only be accessed heading east as there is no pull in west-bound and I had to cross the busy road to get a look at the lake which had a Swamp Harrier. Bev did a major shop in Burnie, then we went to Cooee Point Burnie for lunch, it’s an old industrial site, and looks awful, there was a young Red-capped Doterrel hanging around the edge of a puddle in the road, desperation. Further west to Sisters Beach where we found that the supposed camp spot by the beach is now no longer usable, we were lucky to have someone pull in next to us who said they’d come from Boat Harbour just around the corner, and there were campers there, so we went down to the beach and found an isolated spot with some shade along the crowded road. It didn’t last with some noisy young ones turning up with their awful music, thankfully not blaring their music out, but just loud enough to be mildly intrusive, I suppose that’s the best we could hope for. The beach is a stunning blue in a beautiful quiet little bay, hence its popularity.

12/12 182km

The young boys were not very considerate last night and maintained their just above acceptable levels of noise well into the night, making for a poor sleep, ended with 24sp and headed off at 7.40 to Circular Head Stanley where there was a Peregrine Falcon around the cliff. The town was still asleep at 9.00 so we drove to Smithton for Bev to do some things in town, then out to Montagu Park camp Stony Point for 15sp, down the back dirt road to Green Point camp Marrawah and down the coast to the Edge of the World (you can google that one too) which is at the end of the Arthur river, there weren’t many birds here but you could see the amount of water that sometimes comes down the river with huge logs piled up well above the usual waterline. A small track that probably shouldn’t be done in a normal car led past the camp to Nelson River Sundown Point, it’s much nicer here than the allowed campsite but there’s no camping with a sign saying that the water is poisoned, not sure why, but it may have something to do with the recent fire they’ve had through here, we got White-fronted Chat for only the second time this trip, also some Hooded Plovers. We made camp at Stinking Beach camp, it has a lot of dead kelp on it, which does make it smell, but I’ve smelt worse beaches, the dead kelp I suspect added a bit of food to the beach as there were 47 Ruddy Turnstones, 3 Hooded Plovers and the now expected Pied Oystercatchers. At $6 per head for no facilities it’s not a good camp, I’m also disappointed to find that there is driving on the beach allowed here at this time of year, and they are driving right where any Hooded Plover nest would be, too little consideration for our wildlife again.

13/12 99km

Once I got up, I went down to the beach and got a pair of Fairy Terns trawling the coastline, we then took the dirt road through the heathlands with jutting mountains, stopping at side of Mt Bolton N of Corinna arriving in Corinna late in the morning, we found our site to park for the term of our employment here  which should last until April, and relaxed for the afternoon.

14/12

We had our complimentary trip down the river to Pieman Heads in the Arcadia II a beautiful old river boat made out of Huon Pine. The trip is a bit like a train journey where you watch the scenery slowly roll by, it being 100% forest with occasionally steep grades into the river, near the mouth of the river the boat stops at a jetty and a walk to the ocean and its invigorating winds is well worth the effort, negotiating the logs piled up on the beach from past floods, it’s then back onboard for the trip back upstream.

18/12 85km

We crossed the Pieman river on the Fatman barge after getting a log that was caught on the cables off. First stop was Reece Dam boat ramp, then on along the Pieman road with long distance views over to Cradle Mt. Stopped at Serpentine ridge Pieman Rd then into Tullah where Bev got some food at the new general store, then the short drive up to Lake Mackintosh camp and camped by the lake shore at 11.15, and relaxed in the shade on a hot day. In the late afternoon we pumped up the canoe and went for a paddle upwind then floated back to camp downwind, very relaxing.

19/12 98km

As we went to bed last night it looked like the lake was going to be a mill pond in the morning, but it wasn’t to be, with a few showers and some wind coming in early. Added a few birds in the better habitat away from the water, and headed off. Stopped at Rosebery for a major shop, then went to the Mountain View burger bar in the main street, I had their Mountain Burger which was suitably messy with a few chips 8.5 out of 10, then we spent a lot of time using their free wi-fi, very nice couple here with some nice handicrafts from Nepal as a sideline. We left at 16.00 not having done everything we wanted on the net, and headed back through a band of rain to Corinna.

21/12 95km

We had an unwelcome visitor in our camper last night. The door to the camper has two zips down either side, the bottom is just a flap, that we try to fold so that it keeps the mozzies out, which it usually does, what it doesn’t keep out so we found is a Tasmanian Brush-tailed Possum, the one we have to contend with is human tolerant, and for the second time it got into the camper last night, forcing its way through the flap, it then wakes us up and proceeds to bounce around the camper because it can’t easily get out, I have to open up a zip and escort it out, last night it made off with my soap, maybe it’s partner had caught it swearing and told it to go and wash its mouth out. Once dawn broke I went for a stroll along the river as I’d heard a Tawny Frogmouth and a Boobook Owl calling last night whilst evicting the possum, finished the survey at 9.10 with 16sp and headed off north, the first stop was tailings dam N of Savage River, then did the walk down to Philosopher Falls, the falls are nothing special, but the walk down through the forest is well worth the effort, there is also an old water race hewn out of the rock with pick and shovel. We went to Waratah and found that there is free wi-fi available, so sat in the car for 25min, when it cuts out. We then went into the post office to use their free computers for a few hours, we left there late in the arvo and headed down to Hellyer Gorge Hellyer River to camp, getting some Bassian Thrushes, which don’t seem to be as common as I expected given the amount of habitat for them here.

22/12 184km

We had some showers come in overnight, and persisted all day, so I did all the surveys in the intervals without getting wet. We left Hellyer Gorge at 8.45 with 17sp, no night birds which was disappointing, and headed to Murchison Hwy Parrawe in a treeless forest, as it had been clear-felled on both sides of the road, I thought I might get no birds here, but ended up with 5sp with 5 Flame Robins, including a juvenile being fed, the east had only just been cut down, but the west was an older clear-fell so there were some ferns etc, and this is where the birds were mostly. An old site at Southwell River had 7sp. We then went back to Lake Mackintosh camp where we’d been only a few days ago for lunch and added Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike to the site list, then back along to Serpentine ridge Pieman Rd where Bev got a pair of Blue-winged Parrots, probably taking water from some pools in an old quarry at the site. At Reece Dam boat ramp we added Wood Duck to the site list. We then went back to Corinna and set up camp for a longer stint of work.

28/12 118km

It was 9.30 before we got away from Corinna, and headed up the Arthur river road stopping at the side of Mt Bolton N of Corinna for a repeat survey just below the cloud line, we had a few sprinkles of rain on the way north, but it cleared to be a pleasant day. We stopped at Julius River camp for lunch, beside the small stream with a nice walk beside it. Not far away is Lake Chisholm sinkhole, a short walk through magnificent tall Brown-topped Stringybarks to the lake, where we saw a Platypus in the middle of the afternoon. Back to Julius River camp at 15.20 for the night, and relaxed by the pleasant stream, the birds were not easy to see today, the closest I got to getting a good photograph of a bird was of an Olive Whistler at the camp, I was just about to take the shot when the battery went dead, sometimes you just can’t win.

Tasmanian Darner

29/12 199km

We had a few showers overnight, and it was still grey in the morning, I didn’t add much on my morning walk. Went back Arthur river then around to Trowutta Arch, along the short walk through once again the eerie beauty of the Beech Myrtle forest. The arch is unusual, and has a deep still pool below it, well worth the walk in. We then went to Smithton to do shopping and for Bev to do some more of her responsible serving of alcohol on line course, which is taking longer then she thought. We went to Duck River Smithton for lunch where I got 29 Latham Snipes loafing on a grassy spit, there were probably more that I couldn’t see. We left at 16.30 and stopped at the side of Mt Bolton site, this time in cool afternoon sunshine, with good views over the button-grass plains. It was 20.00 when we got back to Corinna, and a late dinner.

8/1 352km

We set off from Corinna at 8.30, went through Zeehan and took the direct route to Queenstown. Stopped at Henty River, through Queenstown and stopped at the Queenstown lookout, the area is still damaged from the pyrite method of mining all those years ago, but it is slowly recovering, there was even a Crescent Honeyeater using the habitat. We had a few showers in the high country and it was definitely cold at Coates Ck Derwent Bridge. We had lunch at Lake King William camp, then down to Hobart, we took the scenic route over the hill to Collinsville and into the city. We spent the late afternoon looking around the city, then went to the Salamanca fresh food market to buy fruit and vegies, we had dinner at the Brick Factory restaurant I had the hamburger and chips, which at $15 was better value than most and was quite tasty 9 out of 10. Did the supermarket shopping not far away at the Sandy Bay Coles then went to the Cascade gardens Hobart to camp in the carpark, the toilets were closed because of recent vandalism, an unfortunately appropriate response.

 Pink Mountain Berry

9/1

Up at dawn, and had a quick walk around the gardens, then in to Jackson Volkswagen to get the car looked at. At the start of the last trip it hadn’t started properly after a few days stopped, they spent a few hours looking at it but couldn’t find anything wrong, and didn’t charge us, which was a surprise, I spent the time on their free wi-fi doing downloads on the computer and the Hema HX1 Navigator, which still isn’t working as it should, though a lot better than the other one. We then got a pair of trousers each at Vinnies for $6ea, filled up the gas bottle at the Elgas depot for $25, we were going to fill up with fuel at the Shell servo near my JH Brighton site, but they’d put the prices up, so I did a survey and we drove along the Derwent river to Hamilton Common for lunch then the long drive to Zeehan, we arrived there too late to drive down to Corinna in time to catch the last ferry, so we camped at Zeehan Lake, a pleasant little spot a few kilometres further down the track of the caravan park. There were Black-headed Honeyeaters feeding young off nest and we heard a Tasmanian Boobook Owl before we went to sleep, a bird that has been given full species recognition.

13/1

We were across on the ferry at 8.30 and went to Zeehan, Bev did some shopping then we went down to Zeehan Lake for lunch then spent the afternoon relaxing and doing internet stuff. Then it was back to Corinna, being Bev’s birthday we went to the restaurant for dinner where I had an excellent steak, with salad and chips for $36, Bev had the plum pork for $28, which she also enjoyed, then a piece of blueberry cheesecake for $9.50. We both left with contented bellies.

20/1 73km

It was a 9.00 crossing of the ferry then we took the Granville Harbour Rd and stopped not far down and got Blue-winged Parrot, Striated Field-wren and Beautiful Firetail, then on down to the settlement and turned right to find Granville Harbour camp, there is no beach here just rugged storm swept rocks. Back up to Zeehan where Bev spent 1½hrs shopping, then down to Zeehan Lake for the night.

Yellow-striped Hunter

Cup Ringtail

21/1

Up late and had a look at the Spray tunnel, which is a narrow gauge railway tunnel with some glow worms about midway through in the roof. We went down to Trial Harbour camp which is also to the west of the settlement and spent the rest of the morning exploring the rocks, lunch then back to Corinna.

Eastern Pygmyfly

 

 

 

26/1 93km

Most of the the day was spent at work mostly operating the ‘Fatman’ barge across the Pieman river, knocked off at 16.00 and we were soon heading for tailings dam N of Savage river, for not many birds, then Murchison Hwy Parrawe for 5sp in the destroyed woodland, but one of the species was Blue-winged Parrot, at least 5 of them, then down to Hellyer Gorge Hellyer River arriving there at 19.30 where we had a salad dinner and bed soon after dark. There were some people in a camper across the road playing their music a bit too loudly, at least it was my kind of music, and I managed to hear a Tasmanian Boobook Owl above their noise, and they didn’t go on too long after dark.

27/1 167km

Ended the survey with 15sp plus a robin I couldn’t identify, and headed to Burnie. I had found a spot on my back that looks suspiciously like a squema cell cancer, We tried a medical centre in Somerset, but they weren’t open at 9.30, so we went to the North West Regional hospital, where they told me there would be a long wait as I wasn’t urgent, at 12.30 they told me to go away and gave me the address of a medical centre in Burnie. The doctor there confirmed that it looked suspicious, but of course couldn’t do anything about it, so I had to make an appointment with the skin clinic downstairs at 3pm on Monday, so I rang up Corinna to tell them I wasn’t coming to work on Monday, and why. We then went to Cooee Point Burnie for a late lunch, did some shopping at the farmers market, and the Tassie fresh market, both of which are worth finding along the coast road. We headed east along the coast doing truck pull in 2km W of Penguin, which had some ripe but still quite sour blackberries, Preservation Bay camp Penguin, where I saw a camper toss a plastic bag of rubbish into the long grass, I told him that we Australians don’t do that sort of thing, he told me he was Australian and I told him that he should know better, and to think about what he’s doing… please! I don’t think he retrieved the rubbish, some people aren’t capable of thinking. Leven river Ulverstone had Galahs and Rainbow Lorrikeets, neither of which seem to have a wide range in Tas. E Davenport beach had 27 Ruddy Turnstones, that look like they were preparing to head off across the strait. Moreland beach E of Davenport was overcrowded with people, many driving on the east beach, the west beach was where another group of 30 Ruddy Turnstones had gathered for their crossing of the the strait, here we had some more salad for dinner, then we went to watch Start Wars the Last Jedi which ran from 20.15 to 23.15, a good movie, I’d rate it 8 out of 10. We drove to Henry Somerset park to camp, arriving at midnight.

28/1 102km

The birds were being very coy this morning and I saw very few of the 14sp I detected, there were however lots of Klug’s Xenica butterflies, which are hard to photograph as the are easily disturbed from their perch on or near the ground, and usually fold their wings once they land. We headed south to Kentish Park camp Lake Barrington, then Nowhere Else, west to Alma reserve camp Forth river, Spellman’s reserve had Pink Robin and Beautiful Firetail, and we stopped at Leven Canyon at 12.50, the day carpark was full, but up the hill we found a quiet spot at the back and relaxed the afternoon away, getting 16sp by dark.

29/1 197km

In light drizzle I added only Brush Bronzewing and Green Rosella, and we headed down to Bannon’s camp Leven River in some showers then into Burnie. We parked at the small shopping centre with Spotlight and Harvey Norman in it and walked the footbridge over the railway and into town (there is no place to park for free in the town), I went to the skin place to see if I could get an earlier appointment, and try and get some info, but the receptionist told me no on an earlier appointment, and refused to talk to me about anything, most unhelpful, so we wandered around the town looking at shops. We found a place selling Black Wolf bags with both wheels and back straps, that was miss-marked at a $30 discount to it’s normal price, Bev ummed and ahhed for ages, finally thinking it could be worth buying for our up-coming trip to Europe and buying it. By then it was nearly time for my appointment, so we bought some peanut butter at the health food shop that crushes fresh peanuts for $3.80 for 500gm, and went to Banjo’s bakery to get 3 small sausage rolls each for $10 and a loaf of bread. At the skin place they took a look at my lesion and told me it was only a basal cell carcinoma, and thus not urgent to take out, that’s a relief! We spent some time on the internet, then headed back to Corinna, getting there just on dark for a late dinner.

2/2 103km

I spent most of my day again on the Fatman barge across the Pieman river, finishing at 16.00. We booked ourselves on the West Coast Wilderness railway tomorrow and headed off at 17.00 to camp at Ocean Beach Strahan at 20.00. There is no camping in the carpark anymore so we drove down the sandy track and found a flat spot just before it heads onto the beach to camp. As the dusk settled upon us the Short-tailed Shearwaters could be seen gathering off-shore, and soon they were zooming low over us, as they sought out their burrows in the sand dunes all along the coast here, I estimated 800 passed by us with some stopping near us, one I found on the track, but my camera refused to focus on it, and it soon waddled ungainly off into the tall grasses, occasionally one could hear their calls above the sounds of the waves on the wide beach.

3/2 76km

We rose early in time to catch the train, we got there at 7.50, and the train left a bit after 8.30, two carriages, one with food supplied, ours had some crackers and cheese and a hot drink, but cost $185ea (though mine cost less with a seniors discount), $50 less than the other carriage. The commentator was a cheerful friendly lady, who didn’t drone on and on, but occasionally would break the reverie of the scenery with some snippets of usually entertaining information. We had several stops including Dubbil Barril on the way out to Queenstown where we had a stroll around and found Steve’s famous curried scallop pie shop, so we ate our lunch and bought a pie to share for dinner and put it in the lunch box. We had a look at the strangely coloured Queen river, still running orange from the tailings leeching into it and rendering it a dead river, though there is a claim that some bacteria are now to be found in it. On the way back the first stop was to learn how to pan for gold at the site of where it was first found here. Bev found her planted bit of gold on her second attempt and was heard to shout “Eureka”! Three others found their gold nugget. At one of the stations we asked if Bev could blow the whistle to bring everyone back to the train, they obliged, some others got to drive the train. We arrived back at 17.30, a long day, Bev thoroughly enjoyed it giving it 10 out of 10. We drove down to Trial Harbour arriving at 19.10 and had a late dinner, Steve’s curried Scallop pie didn’t disappoint with about 10 scallops in it, I got the better half with 6.

4/2 94km

The tide was in in the morning with a Pied and a Sooty Oystercatcher roosting on the rock shelf in the light drizzle. On the way out I spotted a Beautiful Firetail, as we headed for Zeehan to do our shopping, then out to Zeehan Lake where I had a good look at a Southern Emu-wren, and another Beautiful Firetail. Down to Granville Harbour Rd, in the strong wind the birds were secretive, but I glimpsed a Striated Fieldwren and heard 2 Beautiful Firetails talking to each other. On down to Granville Harbour camp for lunch and couldn’t find a firetail here to get a clean sweep of them. On the way in we saw a new sign regarding littering that made us laugh, but then I saw the state of the main camping clearing and understood their frustration at the lack of responsibility of too many campers. I suspect if people don’t heed the sign they’ll ban camping here, and who could blame them? Who wants to have rubbish strewn all over their neighbourhood? It was then back to Corinna, where I have to deal with all the rubbish that campers leave behind, thankfully mainly small stuff like cigarette butts, I don’t get the thinking that cigarette butts aren’t rubbish, but people still terf their butts on the ground wherever they go anywhere in the world.

9/2

Yesterday I did the Savage River run to pick up food supplies for Corinna, I was heading back just south of Savage River when I spotted a parrot by the side of the road, my first thought was a Green Rosella, but then as I went by it serenely preening itself I realized it was a Ground Parrot, out in the open at 10am admittedly on a cloudy day, but I had no camera and no gps to mark the spot, so I kept going. I had intended to head to Queenstown today but our stove has become unusable, with a gas leak at the hose connection, so we decided to go to Burnie, this gave me the chance to find the spot where I’d seen the Ground Parrot, but we knew with very little chance of finding it again, sure enough, although it looked good habitat at Savage River S 2 we couldn’t find it, we did get Beautiful Firetail and Strong-billed Honeyeater. The tailings dam N of Savage River had an obliging Striated Field-wren, who perched perfectly posed on a seed-head for me. We had lunch at Philosipher’s Falls where I got a lone Scrubtit. We got a three burner Coleman stove for $99 and a diffuser to cook crumpets etc. for $20 at Tuff Wear, the place where we got the suitcase last time, so they’ve done alright out of us so far. We got some more peanut butter from Nature’s Way health food store, it was excellent stuff as it’s just peanuts, no added anything including that most horrible of ingredients, sugar, what the hell is sugar doing in peanut butter? Bev did some shopping then we had a look at the Makers Museum, did my site at Cooee Point Burnie, then went to Wynyard Airport to do an old site that was missed last time we were here because the waypoint flag wasn’t visible on my Hema HX1, they’ve had another complaint from me regarding this problem and some other functional issues which make it a poor buy. We did some internet stuff then drove out to the ever crowded Boat Harbour Beach camp for a late dinner.

10/2 166km

We hung around Boat Harbour beach area until 1pm. At one stage there were about 60 Silver Gulls loafing on the beach, occasionally being harassed by some energetic young child, when a Crested Tern flew by calling, it had a large fish in it’s beak, and it buzzed the gulls, then headed out into the bay again, calling it seemed to me “Look what I got! You can’t catch me!” Two of the gulls took off in pursuit, but soon gave up, it then buzzed a rock with some Crested Terns on it, still calling, though none of them took the bait, it then went around a headland and disappeared, still with the fish dangling from its beak, it was certainly boasting about the fish it had caught, I suspect it was to try and attract a female from the terns on the rock but the gulls on the beach? Perhaps it had thought there might be a tern on the beach, or was it really taunting the gulls? After lunch we went over to Sister’s Beach then did one of my long short cuts through Flowerdale, and Calder to get back to the main road south, it was a very winding twisting hilly road through farmland, not long after we left the coast we started getting showers. We got to Hellyer Gorge at 16.20, and in light rain I only got 6sp, up at Murchison Highway Parrawe there was still light rain, but in the destroyed forest I got 7sp with Striated Fieldwren. Yesterday after doing the survey south of Savage River, I realized that I wasn’t in the right spot, so we decided to stop at the right spot where I had seen the Ground Parrot at Savage River S 1 and wait until dark to see if we could detect one. In a break in the showers Bev cooked dinner and we waited until dark, but the weather steadily got worse, with some heavy showers coming through, we got soaked, though for the heaviest shower we took refuge in the car. As it got dark I knew that it was a futile wait as the wind came whistling up the valley and the rain kept falling, eventually I gave up and we headed off at 21.00. We had a consolation prize of a brief look at a Tasmanian Devil as it loped off the road ahead of us, my first sighting. It was a late arrival back in Corinna.

19/2 101km

Up 6.00, breaky then met my 2 participants on my bird tour, it was a cold, misty, calm dawn, and the river looked fantastic with the mirrored hillsides, as we headed out along the Whyte river walk though it soon became evident that the birds were not active, there aren’t a lot of birds here anyway but there should have been more than we were seeing, we got poor views of Tasmanian Scrubwren, Tasmanian Thornbill and Golden Whistler. The Whyte River which some people were seeing Platypus in was Plantypusless and birdless, the walk back was not much more fruitful, it wasn’t until we got back to Corinna that I found 4 Pink Robins, that they were happy to see, but still a poor tour. For the rest of the day I did my usual work mostly working the barge back and forth across the river, I calculated that by the time I leave here I’ll have crossed the river more than 1000 times. We usually have sandwiches for lunch but we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the restaurant, I had the beefburger and chips which at $18 is expensive, but was tasty and was enough food for lunch, Bev had the pie of the day and chips which is $9, they make their own pies here which are excellent, so probably better value than the beefburger. We left Corinna at 17.00, not far up the hill a quail was seen on the side of the road at Corinna Rd 1, at first glance it looked like a Brown Quail, but it was quickly evident that it was a California Quail, a Brush Bronzewing was the only other bird. We stopped briefly in Zeehan to check emails, then went to Henty River which was quiet with only 4sp, The Queenstown lookout had a Green Rosella as well as the Crescent Honeyeater found last time. We stopped at Lake Burbury west camp at 18.55, the birds were inactive, we had dinner and bed.

20/2 330km

It was a cold night, but the sun in the morning over the lake looked great, Marble Bluff to the north had cloud streaming from it looking like a mini Mt Everest. Ended the survey with 14sp and a few blackberries, from the side of the old road. It’s a reminder that although these lakes look beautiful, they aren’t natural and so a huge amount of damage has been done in altering the landscape here to create ostensibly clean power, as usual the environmental cost isn’t taken in to consideration. On our way up a slow hill up to the highlands we passed a snow white bird on the side of the road feeding on road kill, it was a white phase Grey (Variable) Goshawk, it was reluctant to leave the food, so we stopped, as soon as I got my camera out it started to try and fly off with the remains, but they were clearly too heavy, and it only succeeded on dragging it across the road, so after I took my shot and it had reluctantly flown off I tossed the carcass into the bushes, so it could come back and feed more safely. It’s the first time I’ve seen a Goshawk on road kill, the trouble is that most motorist don’t slow down, and so unless they learn to vacate the carcass early, like corvids and Black Kites do on the mainland, they all too easily become road kill themselves, particularly the larger ones like Wedge-tailed Eagles. Across the highlands, Coates Ck Derwent Bridge had 6sp, Lake King William camp had 10sp with Black-headed Honeyeater. Lake St Clair camp was back to 6sp. Bronte lagoon was even quieter with 5sp, though there were lots of butterflies scooting about, mainly Klug’s Xenicas. Brady’s Lake Lyell Hwy only had a single Pipit. Wayantina lagoon was busy with lots of honeyeaters in the euacalypts with Black-headed Honeyeater and Satin Flycatcher. We then made a dash for Bruny Island with a quick stop in New Norfolk to pick up some food at the supermarket. We made the 16.00 ferry with only 4 other cars and got to The Neck camp Bruny Island at 18.50, it was jam packed with campers, but we managed to find a little niche for ourselves, went for a walk on the beach and found a dead Little Penguin, it didn’t look malnourished, but couldn’t see any obvious reason for its demise. There were some tracks from Tasmanian Devils on the beach too. Had tea and did internet stuff til late. I noted on my rounds that not many cars were sporting camping permits and fewer still had the required day pass, any enforcement of compliance would have made a mint.

                           Enamelled Spider

 

21/2 243km

Ended the survey with 26sp with more Black-headed Honeyaters, walked back down the track, crossed over the road and had a look at the bay, which with the low tide had 17 Pied Oystercatchers, no migratory waders though. Lunawanna cemetery had 11sp. Jetty Beach camp was disappointing with only 7sp with Bassian Thrush and Dusky Robin. Cape Bruny Lighthouse had mainly aerial feeders like Tree Martins and Dusky Woodswallows. Over to Cloudy Bay for lunch but few birds. We took the short-cut over the hills along Coolangatta Rd through the forest and found some Pink Robins. We did the Grass Point walk to where there is an small island off an island off an island off an island Continent, there were 46 Black-faced Cormorants and 48 Crested Terns with the gulls. We stopped at the berry farm for blueberry almond slice with cream and coulis for $6.50, nice. Just made the Bruny Island Chocolate factory and got the rich dark chocolate fudge off cut pack for $7, Bev got some hazelnut fudge off cut some Persian chocolate and a mystery fudge for $3, so we’re well loaded up with chocolate for our next stint of work, they also sell cute toys, books and a range of other items including some mild wholegrain mustard which we got. We made the 17.00 ferry, got some meat at Snug butchery, which has a great selection of meats, and vegies from Meredith’s store just south of Margate, then drove out to Hamilton Common to camp at 19.40. We got some Scallop pies from the Snug butchery, they were okay but not as good as the ones from Queenstown.

22/2 270km

We did a bit of cleaning out of the camper waiting for Clyde House to open, it’s one of the original staging inns in Tasmania and an arts and crafts gallery now, Bev had a wander through it and said that the items in there were reasonably priced compared to some places. We left there at 10.45 and drove through to Laughing Jack Lagoon along the C602 a nice drive through the forest on dirt roads. On arrival we found a Platypus feeding near the dam wall on a bright sunny day in the middle of the day, that’s the second time we’ve found them in middle of day feeding in Tasmania. We had lunch then through to Queenstown lookout where I found what I presume to be the same Crescent Honeyeater as the last two surveys, Did some shopping at the Queenstown IGA, which wasn’t much better than the one in Zeehan, then on down to Corinna arriving at 18.30.

4/3 31km

I did my normal 9-5 shift at Corinna, mainly on the barge again. I had 3 instances of stupidity today, the first was a couple with a dog when it clearly states that no dogs are allowed in the national park, he had it out running around loose with no lead, when I asked if he knew that this was a national park and that dogs weren’t allowed he said yes, so he obviously didn’t care, and I suggest there’s not enough policing of this rule to make people think twice before they bring their dogs into national parks, the second was a lady who I spotted admiring a Huon Pine up close, and to my astonishment she then snapped off a small branch and started walking away with it, when I told her that that was illegal she said she knew, I told her that if everyone did that, we’d end up with no Huon Pines, again she obviously didn’t care. The last incident was when I signaled for a driver to come around a group of motorcyclists who wanted to travel on the barge in a group, but I already had a car on the barge and there wasn’t enough room for them too, I saw the driver give a cursory look behind, but then reversed into the front of the car directly behind him. We left Corinna at 17.30 and went to Granville Harbour camp to enjoy the rugged rocky seaside.

5/3 105km

We had a few showers overnight and they persisted into the morning, we packed up just before a larger one hit, and headed off with 28sp, so one of the better survey spots as far as number of species go. Stopped at my spot on Granville Harbour Rd but there was only 2sp here. We went to Zeehan Lake where I got Purple Swamphen for the first time at this site, we did some internet stuff, then went to Henty River for lunch but only got 3sp. On to Queenstown to do some shopping and out to Lake Burbury south boat ramp by 16.15 to camp. The water level is low, and the birds were being difficult, I tried and failed to get good photos of Forest Raven, Crescent Honeyeater and even the Masked Lawpings weren’t interested in having their photo taken. With the lake being low there were some muddy grassy flats and I was surprised to find a pair of Latham’s Snipe. It was after dinner while we were clearing up and putting things away at just before 19.00 that we got the biggest surprise when a Spotted-tailed Quoll came by the car, it was clearly used to humans, and it hung around the car for ½hr or so giving great views. Bev went off and found a young Tasmanian Devil, so it was an exciting ½hr.

6/3 137km

It was a slow rising this morning so it wasn’t until 10.25 that we headed off with 17sp for the site. We headed south getting a glimpse of Darwin crater in the hills above the road. We stopped at Nora river Franklin Gordon NP where next to the road was a great old specimen of a King Billy Pine, but only 4sp in the beautiful forest with the tea coloured water flowing down the river. Back through Queenstown for Bev to do the shopping then we had lunch at Henty River again and got the same 3 birds two in exactly the same spot as yesterday. It was 15.50 when we got to Corinna Rd 1 and all seemed very quiet, but 4sp eventually made an appearance, before the short hop back to Corinna.

12/3 34km

Most of the day was spent on the barge again today, one of the problems we are having with it is that when the river is low the ramps, particularly the south bank one won’t go high enough to get over the bank, over my time here we’ve tried a number of things, and today’s attempt was two blocks of ex-railway sleeper lashed to the lifting arm as a spacer between it and the ramp, I think they’re the best square lashings I’ve done since I was a boy scout 40 odd years ago. We left Corinna after dinner on a cold showery day and headed up the West Coast Explorer and stopped at my site on side of Mt Bolton, arriving at 20.00 where it was 11°C and were soon asleep.

13/2 117km

I had looks at Olive Whistler and Grey Shrike-thrush, but neither wanted to be photographed, so in the still cold showers we headed up to Stinking beach camp where there were a few Ruddy Turnstones, the first Brown Quail on a survey and a Wedge-tailed Eagle. We had lunch at Nelson river Sundown point, I got stuck in the sand just at the end of the rough track, but putting it into 4wd was enough to extricate myself, I got another covey of Brown Quail here and a few more Ruddy Turnstones. The Edge of the world only had Silver Gulls and a Brown Falcon trying to look like a kestrel in the stiff on shore wind. After some discussion we decided to stop early at Green point camp Marrawah at 13.55. They don’t allow driving on the beach here, and hey presto! Lots of birds on the beach, it may be coincidence, but I don’t think so, there were 87 Crested Terns, 7 Sooty Oystercatchers, 62 masked Lapwings, 48 Ruddy Turnstones, and a pair of Hooded Plovers plus the gulls. The showers were nearly all gone, but the cold southerly persisted into the evening.

Swamp Bluet

14/3 134km

Over night we had a little visitor, a week or so ago we had a rat chew its way through the fly wire in the door to get into the camper, it ate some bread and took off. We searched the camper but found no evidence that it was living in the camper. I had spotted some droppings on the tray of the vehicle, but hadn’t thought much of it. With the fly wire torn we have been keeping the door closed at night to keep the mozzies out, the rat, and a persistent Brush-tailed Possum who has pushed its way through the flywire door that is unsealed at the bottom to get into the camper. Last night we had no mozzies so left the door open, this gave entry to the rat which it seems has been hiding under the camper above the tray. So we had a big clean out and still had no evidence of the rat living in the camper, though found more droppings, our food remains untouched. So we had a late getaway at 10.00 after adding a few more species to the list. We drove up to Montagu park camp Stony Point for 12sp then in to Smithton to do shopping and internet stuff. It was 15.00 by the time we’d finished and went down to Duck River Smithton for a late lunch, then on to Circular head Stanley where the Silver Gulls were still breeding and I found a very confiding Green Rosella. Last time we were too early for the shops to be open, this time at 16.00 it was too late with many of the shops already closed. We stopped at our favourite beach in Tasmania, Boat Harbour beach camp, it was still crowded, but we weren’t quite as jam packed as last time on a beautiful calm mostly sunny afternoon, which as usual as soon as the sun went down very quickly became chilly, and so out came the coat and beanie again as the sky turned all pastelly shades of mauve and pink, beautiful.

15/3 128km

Added a few more species on my morning round and we were off at 9.30 heading east to Wynyard airport for 7sp, we picked up fresh fruit and vegies at Young’s on the west side of Burnie then did Cooee Point Burnie for 9sp. I’ve done 3 surveys here now, this time I changed my route a bit and found some miniature concrete bunkers, many had little tracks leading to and from them, many had small feathers, they were of course made for Little Penguins and they were being used. I followed the line of them and saw the different iterations of them over time, in an older one that wasn’t very deep I could see 2 Little Penguins, the newer ones were better built so that I couldn’t see into them. Just down the road is Blythe Heads, it’s an old site, and thanks to the useless software of my Hema HX1 both of the other times we passed by here the flag had been inactive, so I had missed it, this time for some reason the flag stayed on and I was able to resurvey it. To their credit I complained to Hema and they are sending out another (the third one) to replace it, hopefully they’ve addressed all of the problems I’m having with the unit. On to truck pull in 2km west of Penguin which had a Wedge-tailed Eagle that was attacked by both a Forest Raven and a Magpie, then a Swamp Harrier made a brief appearance, and finally at the end of the survey a White-bellied Sea Eagle came by, it was hard to identify as it was a juvenile getting its adult plumage, so looked very strange, it wasn’t until it came overhead and I could see the short tail that clinched it as a WBSE. Lunch was taken at Preservation bay camp Penguin which had Galah, then Leven river Ulverstone which had 250 Silver Gulls loafing on the beach, and a Little Pied Cormorant by the putrid pond that needs a good flush out. From there we headed inland to Alma Reserve camp Forth River for 11sp and via Wilmot the birth place of Coles Supermarkets for an ice cream to Lake Gairdner Moina arriving at 16.50 in the late afternoon sunshine, which all too soon disappeared behind the hills leaving cold cold air, so once again I was soon in to beanie and jacket, and hands in pockets to keep them warm.

16/3 165km

Predictably it was a cold start to the day with dull low clouds that promised rain, on my morning round I got all the robins, Pink, Scarlet, Flame and Dusky. We then drove up to Cradle Mountain, and sure enough it started to rain, we had to catch the shuttle-bus up, thankfully it’s free so we decided to take it. Of course there was no view, but the walk around Dove Lake in the drizzle was well worth it, as the plant-life was interesting, there weren’t many birds, but I did get a Scrubtit. I took a photo for the #Cradle365 site, then got the shuttle back. We had a late lunch sitting in the car as it was now windy as well as cold and drizzly, then we went to Tullah to pick up some milk and bread, then down to Serpentine ridge Pieman Rd where in a brief respite between showers the Crescent Honeyaters were all singing, at least 30 of them, quite a sound. From there it was back to Corinna.

The world needs greenies

The world needs greenies

To act as a conscience

To defend what little is left of the wilderness

To defend the defenceless

To stop the human perpetrated extinctions

To counter the red-necks

To counter unsustainable development

To counter political expediency

To counter short term profits

To stop the rampant destruction

To stop the endless pillaging

To start turning this ship around

This world needs more greenies

Whether the rest of you like it or not

 

6/4

My first job this morning was to stomp on the head of a rat that had its foot caught in one of our rat traps, but of course was still alive, I hate the species, they don’t belong here, but I also hate causing pain and suffering to any living species, it was a pathetic squeal as the poor animal died under my foot. The rest of the day was more equitable as I reverted to my usual barge operations. At 15.45 it was time to call it quits and start our last pack up, but it was nearly dark by the time we got away after a few teary goodbyes. It was only a short drive up to Savage River S 1 to the site where I’d spotted the Ground Parrot, the weather was definitely more benign than last time, but apart from a calling Tasmanian Boobook Owl and a bat that flew around and around my head for minutes, there was no life evident in the hills.

7/4

After my morning round we did a small backtrack to Savage River S 2, then on to tailings dam north of Savage River, and thus to Philosipher Falls, the walk down through the forest did result in some interesting fungi, but most weren’t very colourful. We went to the vegie co-op in west Burnie to get some food, then had lunch at Cooee Point Burnie, all the Little Penguin burrows were empty this time. Then in to Burnie. On Wednesday our last day off had coincided with the day off of adventurer Sarah Marquis who was staying at Corinna, we sat and talked for most of the morning, she’s definitely the person that I’ve connected with the best in all my time here, anyway she had a bag that needed to be dropped off in Burnie, so we did that for her to save her having to go back to Corinna to retrieve it. We picked up some fuel at the United servo at the top end of town at $1.39.9cpl which is the cheapest at the moment in the area. Then we headed along the coast stopping at Blythe Heads and then skipped all the other sites as it was getting late and headed for Davenport, we wandered around town for a while then had dinner at Turkish Delight having the supreme pizza without the jalapenos, at $14 for the large pizza it was only okay and not quite enough to fill the two of us. We then drove the short distance to Moreland beach E of Davenport to camp, I parked a bit too close to the roosting birds on the point and when I popped the top of the camper they all took fright, I don’t like doing that.

8/4

At about 2am there was a loud rumbling as one of the locals came hooning down to the beach, he did a few burnouts, went for a hoon out along the beach, no doubt scattering all the birds roosting there and then headed off.

Zero

People pursuing pointless amusements

Contribution to the betterment of society

Zero

Work play eat sleep

Is that all there is?

Work play eat sleep

Drifting

Work play eat sleep

Sum total of achievements

Zero

Up with the sun, thankfully all the birds had come back to the point including some Ruddy Turnstones all in their smart breeding plumage. There was a nervous moment when I started the car, but our jinx seems to have finished, the car started and we got to the ferry in good time and soon were on our way back to the mainland. This time on the crossing there were a few albatross, I saw Shy and Black-browed a few times and one possible Royal/Wandering couldn’t make out which. We had lunch at the restaurant which is a plate for $24, there was a good selection of good tasting food, some people of course took full advantage and had their plates heaped high. When we disembarked we met up with Stuart and Jenny as it’s the only chance to meet them for a while and had dinner at a local fish and chip shop in Bay St, I had my usual hamburger for $9 which was okay. It was then the easy drive down the freeway to Ocean Grove for our first night in a comfy bed in months. We now have 10 days to prepare for our European trip.

This would be the last trip for the reliable VW Amarok and now mostly destroyed Trailblaizer camper, I’m a bit nostalgic about the Amarok it’s been a good car, but I’m happy to see the back of the camper, it’s a good concept poorly built and Trailbalzers after service help was poor.

Bird list for the trip, it includes a trip to Narbethong that isn’t noted in the blog. % is of the 246 surveys done. B is for breeding

• Cape Barren Goose Cereopsis novaehollandiae 1 (0.41%)
• Black Swan Cygnus atratus 20 (8.13%) (B)
• Australian Shelduck Tadorna tadornoides 2 (0.81%)
• Hardhead Aythya australis 5 (2.03%)
• Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa 32 (13.01%) (B)
• Northern Mallard Anas platyrhynchos 2 (0.81%)
• Grey Teal Anas gracilis 9 (3.66%)
• Chestnut Teal Anas castanea 14 (5.69%)
• Musk Duck Biziura lobata 2 (0.81%)
• Australian Wood Duck Chenonetta jubata 14 (5.69%) (B)
• California Quail Callipepla californica 1 (0.41%)
• Brown Quail Synoicus ypsilophora 3 (1.22%)
• Australasian Grebe Tachybaptus novaehollandiae 4 (1.63%) (B)
• Hoary-headed Grebe Poliocephalus poliocephalus 8 (3.25%)
• Rock Dove Columba livia 4 (1.63%)
• Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis 5 (2.03%)
• Common Bronzewing Phaps chalcoptera 1 (0.41%)
• Brush Bronzewing Phaps elegans 20 (8.13%)
• Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo Chalcites basalis 6 (2.44%)
• Fan-tailed Cuckoo Cacomantis flabelliformis 35 (14.23%)
• Pallid Cuckoo Heteroscenes pallidus 12 (4.88%)
• Tawny Frogmouth Podargus strigoides 2 (0.81%)
• Purple Swamphen Porphyrio porphyrio 4 (1.63%) (B)
• Dusky Moorhen Gallinula tenebrosa 1 (0.41%) (B)
• Tasmanian Native-hen Tribonyx mortierii 9 (3.66%) (B)
• Eurasian Coot Fulica atra 6 (2.44%)
• Australian Pied Oystercatcher Haematopus longirostris 31 (12.60%) (B)
• Sooty Oystercatcher Haematopus fuliginosus 22 (8.94%)
• Black-winged Stilt Himantopus leucocephalus 1 (0.41%)
• Red-capped Plover Charadrius ruficapillus 3 (1.22%)
• Hooded Plover Thinornis cucullatus 6 (2.44%)
• Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles 61 (24.80%)
• Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres 7 (2.85%)
• Red-necked Stint Calidris ruficollis 1 (0.41%)
• Latham’s Snipe Gallinago hardwickii 2 (0.81%)
• Silver Gull Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae 76 (30.89%) (B)
• Pacific Gull Larus pacificus 47 (19.11%)
• Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus 16 (6.50%)
• Fairy Tern Sternula nereis 2 (0.81%)
• Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia 4 (1.63%)
• Crested Tern Thalasseus bergii 17 (6.91%)
• Little Penguin Eudyptula minor 2 (0.81%)
• Short-tailed Shearwater Ardenna tenuirostris 1 (0.41%)
• Australian Pelican Pelecanus conspicillatus 5 (2.03%)
• Great Egret Ardea alba 2 (0.81%)
• White-faced Heron Egretta novaehollandiae 29 (11.79%)
• Australian White Ibis Threskiornis moluccus 1 (0.41%)
• Straw-necked Ibis Threskiornis spinicollis 1 (0.41%)
• Australasian Gannet Morus serrator 11 (4.47%)
• Little Pied Cormorant Microcarbo melanoleucos 17 (6.91%)
• Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 22 (8.94%)
• Little Black Cormorant Phalacrocorax sulcirostris 10 (4.07%)
• Black-faced Cormorant Phalacrocorax fuscescens 17 (6.91%)
• Pied Cormorant Phalacrocorax varius 1 (0.41%)
• Wedge-tailed Eagle Aquila audax 5 (2.03%)
• Swamp Harrier Circus approximans 6 (2.44%)
• Grey Goshawk Accipiter novaehollandiae 1 (0.41%)
• Brown Goshawk Accipiter fasciatus 1 (0.41%)
• White-bellied Sea-Eagle Haliaeetus leucogaster 5 (2.03%)
• Masked Owl Tyto novaehollandiae 2 (0.81%)
• Tasmanian Boobook Ninox leucopsis 10 (4.07%)
• Sacred Kingfisher Todiramphus sanctus 1 (0.41%)
• Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae 41 (16.67%)
• Brown Falcon Falco berigora 4 (1.63%)
• Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus 2 (0.81%)
• Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo Zanda funereus 41 (16.67%) (B)
• Galah Eolophus roseicapilla 5 (2.03%)
• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Cacatua galerita 11 (4.47%)
• Australian King-Parrot Alisterus scapularis 1 (0.41%)
• Green Rosella Platycercus caledonicus 98 (39.84%)
• Crimson Rosella Platycercus elegans 2 (0.81%)
• Eastern Rosella Platycercus eximius 1 (0.41%)
• Ground Parrot Pezoporus wallicus 1 (0.41%)
• Blue-winged Parrot Neophema chrysostoma 5 (2.03%)
• Musk Lorikeet Glossopsitta concinna 2 (0.81%)
• Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus moluccanus 7 (2.85%)
• Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae 1 (0.41%)
• Satin Bowerbird Ptilonorhynchus violaceus 1 (0.41%)
• White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea 2 (0.81%)
• Superb Fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus 138 (56.10%) (B)
• Southern Emu-wren Stipiturus malachurus 2 (0.81%)
• Crescent Honeyeater Phylidonyris pyrrhopterus 47 (19.11%)
• New Holland Honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae 41 (16.67%) (B)
• Yellow-throated Honeyeater Nesoptilotis flavicollis 65 (26.42%) (B)
• Strong-billed Honeyeater Melithreptus validirostris 5 (2.03%) (B)
• Black-headed Honeyeater Melithreptus affinis 7 (2.85%)
• Eastern Spinebill Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris 14 (5.69%) (B)
• White-fronted Chat Epthianura albifrons 5 (2.03%)
• Little Wattlebird Anthochaera chrysoptera 23 (9.35%)
• Red Wattlebird Anthochaera carunculata 9 (3.66%)
• Yellow Wattlebird Anthochaera paradoxa 36 (14.63%)
• White-plumed Honeyeater Ptilotula penicillata 7 (2.85%)
• Yellow-faced Honeyeater Caligavis chrysops 3 (1.22%)
• Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala 6 (2.44%)
• Spotted Pardalote Pardalotus punctatus 6 (2.44%)
• Forty-spotted Pardalote Pardalotus quadragintus 2 (0.81%)
• Striated Pardalote Pardalotus striatus 50 (20.33%)
• Striated Fieldwren Calamanthus fuliginosus 7 (2.85%)
• White-browed Scrubwren Sericornis frontalis 3 (1.22%)
• Tasmanian Scrubwren Sericornis humilis 61 (24.80%)
• Scrubtit Acanthornis magna 9 (3.66%) (B)
• Yellow-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza chrysorrhoa 3 (1.22%)
• Striated Thornbill Acanthiza lineata 1 (0.41%)
• Tasmanian Thornbill Acanthiza ewingii 35 (14.23%) (B)
• Brown Thornbill Acanthiza pusilla 70 (28.46%) (B)
• Buff-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza reguloides 1 (0.41%)
• Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike Coracina novaehollandiae 25 (10.16%) (B)
• Olive Whistler Pachycephala olivacea 17 (6.91%)
• Golden Whistler Pachycephala pectoralis 35 (14.23%)
• Grey Shrike-thrush Colluricincla harmonica 69 (28.05%)
• Eastern Whipbird Psophodes olivaceus 1 (0.41%)
• Black Currawong Strepera fuliginosa 57 (23.17%) (B)
• Pied Currawong Strepera graculina 1 (0.41%)
• Grey Currawong Strepera versicolor 13 (5.28%)
• Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen 21 (8.54%)
• Grey Butcherbird Cracticus torquatus 20 (8.13%)
• Dusky Woodswallow Artamus cyanopterus 5 (2.03%)
• Willie Wagtail Rhipidura leucophrys 3 (1.22%)
• Grey Fantail Rhipidura fuliginosa 114 (46.34%)
• Little Raven Corvus mellori 4 (1.63%)
• Forest Raven Corvus tasmanicus 112 (45.53%)
• Australian Raven Corvus coronoides 1 (0.41%)
• Satin Flycatcher Myiagra cyanoleuca 3 (1.22%)
• Magpie-lark Grallina cyanoleuca 4 (1.63%)
• Pink Robin Petroica rodinogaster 17 (6.91%)
• Flame Robin Petroica phoenicea 20 (8.13%) (B)
• Scarlet Robin Petroica multicolor 8 (3.25%)
• Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsaltria australis 2 (0.81%)
• Dusky Robin Melanodryas vittata 7 (2.85%) (B)
• Beautiful Firetail Stagonopleura bella 10 (4.07%)
• House Sparrow Passer domesticus 52 (21.14%) (B)
• Australasian Pipit Anthus novaeseelandiae 17 (6.91%)
• Common Greenfinch Chloris chloris 17 (6.91%)
• European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis 55 (22.36%) (B)
• Eurasian Skylark Alauda arvensis 10 (4.07%)
• Little Grassbird Poodytes gramineus 2 (0.81%)
• Australian Reed-Warbler Acrocephalus australis 1 (0.41%)
• Tree Martin Petrochelidon nigricans 18 (7.32%)
• Welcome Swallow Hirundo neoxena 115 (46.75%) (B)
• Silvereye Zosterops lateralis 109 (44.31%)
• Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris 56 (22.76%) (B)
• Common Myna Acridotheres tristis 6 (2.44%)
• Bassian Thrush Zoothera lunulata 5 (2.03%)
• Common Blackbird Turdus merula 83 (33.74%) (B)
• Muscovy Duck Cairina moschata 1 (0.41%)
• Black Duck-Mallard hybrid 2 (0.81%)
• Shy Albatross spp 1 (0.41%)
• Domestic Duck 2 (0.81%) (B)

If you would like to contribute the the well being of this world, our world, your world, an easy and effective way to do it is to join a quality environmental group. There are many spread across the world all plugging away trying to make the world a better place for wildlife. We belong to Birdlife Australia, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). You can donate your time and or money to these and many others knowing that the world will be a slightly better place because of your effort.

Some photos are available for sale at https://thebirdsites.picfair.com if you see a photo anywhere on the website that is not in the store and you’d like to buy, please let me know and I’ll add it. By buying my photos you’ll assist me in my conservation efforts.