My first serious birding endeavour during a recent family holiday in Tasmania was to spend an hour or so at Peter Murrell Reserve near Hobart. It has been lauded as a reliable place to see the endangered Forty-spotted pardalote but numbers are apparently dropping off. I was really just interested in getting into some Tasmanian habitat and seeing any of the locals.
I was quickly rewarded with good views of Tasmanian native hen and identified Yellow wattlebird, Black-headed honeyeater, Yellow-throated honeyeater and Green rosella. All of these were new for me.
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| Tasmanian Native Hen are everywhere (well, in Tasmania) |
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| Yellow-throated honeyeater, Peter Murrell Reserve, Kingston |
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| Green rosella |
It is nice to meet some friends from home such as this Little wattlebird and then finding myself amongst (under) a good-sized group of pardalote. At the time I was only able to identify another mainland friend in Spotted pardalote.
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| Spotted pardalote, Peter Murrel Reserve, Tasmania |
I considered that I had not come across any "Forty-spots" although I was hearing unfamiliar calls and having brief views of many unidentified pardalotes (ie not obviously Spotted pardalote). It was only when enhancing some heavily silhouetted canopy spots at home two weeks later that I came across this ....
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| Forty-spotted pardalote, Peter Murrell Reserve, Tasmania, 14 April 2014 |
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| Peter Murrell Reserve, Kingston (near Hobart) |
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| View from Mt Wellington showing the Tinderbox Peninsula which contains the Peter Murrell Reserve and another "forty-spot" stronghold Bruny Island. A significant percentage (I'm guessing 90%) of this bird's remaining range is seen in this photo! |
Bird on!
