Treecreepers deep in The 100 Acres

I have visited this reserve in the Melbourne suburb of Park Orchards on a few occasions now. On each visit I have enjoyed getting lost in the myriad of marked and unmarked trails! Imaginatively called "The 100 Acres" the reserve is sometimes described as containing "preserved bushland". The educational signage points out that the area had been developed for farming and orchards in the 1800s. Bob Padula provides a little of the reserve's history in his bushwalking blog here.

On this day White-throated treecreeper caught my eye (well actually my ear in the first instance, the incessant piping making its presence very obvious). I followed it to this tree where it spent a good two minutes picking some sort of nutrition from this .... is it a fungus? The bird appeared to be extracting insects from this thing apparently growing from a flaw in the tree some 3 metres above the ground.

White-throated treecreeper (26 June 2013)
Whatever this growth was, it's underside had endured quite a bit of earlier pecking!

Whenever I get a chance to photograph treecreepers I do love enlarging the view of those amazing claws. Not great pictures here but do have a look!

White-throated treecrepeer Cormobates leucophaea with a snack

Superb fairy-wren eclipse male (female below)

Grey shrike-thrush

Golden whistler (female)

I reckon this map only represents half of the trails that you come across. Conversely a few that are marked here are actually quite overgrown. This does all result in a feeling of exploration and isolation in suburbia! 

There is quite a nice collection of birds to be seen here. Being near my home, The 100 Acres provides my closest reliable vantage point for some of these species! The Eremaea species list also provides a good description of the habitat(s):

"Significant bushland remnant, contains five communities of native plants which include stringy bark/box peppermint open forest on the ridges and southern slopes; red box open forest on exposed northern slopes in the eastern section; candlebark open forest on lower north-west slopes and on north-east and south-east slopes; manna gum/swamp gum in gullies and aquatic communities scattered on stream lines. Located in the suburb of Park Orchards in the north-east of Melbourne. Melway Map 35 F9. 24-hour public access. Criss-crossed with walking tracks."

Other links:

• There's been a bit of a local newspaper debate (read "whinge") about the prohibition of off-lead dogs in the reserve.
• Manningham Council's 2010 Draft Management Plan for The 100 Acres includes references to weed control, planting of native vegetation, dog walking restrictions etc. On page 103 there is a bird list.

Bird on!

Yellingbo in the fog

Grey shrike-thrush

Most of the planets aligned for spending an hour at the usually productive Yellingbo recently. The weather was dry but the outside temperature dropped to 4 degrees Celsius as I drove towards Yellingbo in fog (Planet Fog)!

The locale known as Yellingbo includes some linear reserves of bushland which form Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve. It is my understanding that the reserve is the main focus of an effort to conserve an endangered sub-species of Yellow-tufted honeyeater known as Helmeted honeyeater. The reserve is out of bounds except for guided walks. My observations are from the roadside from which I've enjoyed many good sightings in recent years.

Both the camera and my cold fingers didn't want to work normally and no decent photographs resulted!

 I did find it interesting to observe:

1.  The behaviour of a few Grey shrikethrush and some Superb fairywrens. Presumably hunting, they would jump out onto the road after cars had passed.
2. A White throated tree-creeper being tailed by an Eastern yellow robin. I am sure I have seen this pairing before.

 

Every honeyeater turned into a Bell miner (there was an impressively large colony).

Bird on!



"What's up?" at Ben Bennett Reserve, Caloundra

This Mistletoebird was checking out potential prey not predators

On Saturday 18th May I made my third visit to the Ben Bennett bushland reserve in Caloundra. Each of these visits has been in May. Once again I had a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours and could easily have spent longer. Today's visit was dominated by the smaller birds of the subtropics.

Striated pardalote

Grey fantail

Gray fantail

Varied triller

Spangled drongo

Of the Family Pachycephlaidae the Golden whistler presented a better photo opportunity than Grey shrike-thrush and Rufous whistler (below)

Eastern yellow robin kept popping up demonstrating all those classic robin poses!

Red-browed finch

There were some of the palest Brown thornbill I have seen

The place was alive with honeyeaters. Most that caught my eye turned into Noisy miner, Little wattlebird, Brown honeyeater or Lewins honeyeater but there was the odd special surprise ...

Brown honeyeater

Brown honeyeater

Lewin's honeyeater

The last "tick" added to the day's list was Scarlet honeyeater, photographed as my lift arrived! 

From only 15 lists contributed to date I notice that the Eremaea species list for Ben Bennett is up to a respectable 68 species. The Eremaea page also provides an excellent description of the site and describes how secluded and relaxing the place feels.

Best we don't tell anyone!

Lowland rainforest section, Ben Bennett Bushland Reserve

Wet heath abuts Melaleuca woodland, Ben Bennett

Bird on!

Birds of the Bungles

Driving to and from the Bungle Bungles from our accommodation close to the highway was a big day out - not a day that lent itself to birding (how can this be true?)!

However I did enjoy a walk the following morning (12 August 2012) exploring along the Spring Creek. This is a tributary of the Ord River. Caravan park, creek and river are all a part of the Mabel Downs cattle station.

You can see pictures, stories and a short video from the family adventures at the Bungles at these posts from the family blog!

• Purnululu National Park
• Bungles video
• Tom's helicopter narrative and photos

But on to the birds ....
It was a great morning for slaking your thirst at Spring Creek!

One of the grubbiest Sulphur-crested cockatoos I have come across!

Peaceful dove

Long-tailed finch drinking and ... well .... reflecting!

Budgerigar

I remember being frustrated and elated at the same time as the small flock of budgies arrived. Elated that they had appeared in the first place and deigned it reasonable to have a drink adjacent to my "perch"! Frustrated that I knew it was not possible to get any closer or make any attempt to improve my position without seeing them off!

In these cropped views I do like the "descending angel" pose of the bird at left!

In my limited experience (about 2 weeks!) I have found that budgies can be hard to photograph! They are small fast and in numbers that bewilder - all characteristics that help them elude predators. Even in dead trees they camouflage well!

Spot the budgie - I just counted 33 in this picture!

If Long-tailed finch sit on a branch they tend to stand out!

Long-tailed finch

The rear view is included because it demonstrates the feature that gives them their common name!

This was another location that seemed to cope with a large number of honeyeater species. Black-chinned honeyeater seen below was a lifer for me. The north and western Australian race laetior is also known as Golden-backed honeyeater - these colours demonstrated in the peculiar pose at right.

Yellow-tinted honeyeater. This back-lit photo was a small spot metering triumph for this photographer - not least because as the swaying branch moved I was being blinded by a direct view of the sun!

Please also meet some other locals seen that morning including Olive-backed oriole, Grey shrike-thrush, Little friarbird and Whistling kite. You can see the complete Eremaea list here.

Bird on!