Dear Bird Listers,
My Top Ten is heavily influenced by where I live on Sydney’s northern beaches. Perhaps some of you may find it useful if you visit the area. The top eight are all in NSW.
1. Warriewood Wetland, including Irrawong Reserve. Has a great variety of habitats which make for good all year round birding.
2. Long Reef. A long, thin peninsula, which protrudes beyond the general Sydney coastline, includes a tidal flat. Good for migratory waders, and for sea birds after storms.
3. Capertee Valley. An enclave into the western Blue Mountains with permanent water, where both western and eastern NSW birds can be found, also famous for regent honeyeater.
4. Round Hill Nature Reserve. Mallee and savannah country in the centre of NSW, and good for birds of those habitats; reliable for Gilbert’s whistler in season; red-lored whistler, malleefowl are possible, ground cuckoo-shrike nearby.
5. Chiltern Trail, Ku-ring-gai Chase NP. This trail is the best bet in a park where birding tends to be indifferent; good for 10 species of honeyeater in one morning when eucalypts are in flower (at least three periods a year).
6. Blue Gum Forest, Winmalee, in Blue Mountains NP. Situated in the lower mountains, has permanent water. One of the better locations in the park, year-round. Pilotbird, rockwarbler and red-browed treecreeper all possible.
7. Pallaibo Trail, Kosciuszko NP. Located in woodland, runs from Thredbo River up to Sawpit Creek. A variety of birds in summer and autumn.
8. Binya State Forest. Has mallee and mixed cypress-eucalypt woodland. Reliable for painted honeyeater in season.
9. Kilcowera Station, south west Queensland. Has a variety of habitats which lead to a variety of birdlife. For me, it’s a preferred alternative to Bowra.
10. Lawn Hill, north west Queensland. An oasis for people and birds.
Honorable mentions to Innamincka (Coopers Creek), Hunter River estuary, and Yellow Waters (Kakadu).
Some sites, which have disappointed me include Gluepot (birds hard to find, hides built overlooking waterholes that have long since dried up; records suggest that several key bird species have been hard to find for most of last 5 or 6 years), Newhaven (all their birds can be found closer to Alice Springs on better roads), Fivebough Swamp (Leeton – little variety and mostly hard to see), and Barren Grounds NR (famous for ground parrot, but difficult to find and see; eastern bristlebird a good chance, but other species generally thin on the ground).
Next month, I am spending 10 days in south west WA. If I do get to see the famous skulkers and the other WA endemics, I may well have to modify this list. Have yet to visit Kingfisher Park at Julatten and am very keen to go there, too.
Happy Birding and Many Ticks,
Carl Weber
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