Lake Cargelligo – Round Hill trip highlights

Hello, Had great success in Lake Cargelligo – Round Hill area during the weekend with Peter & Penny Madvig, Chris Dwyer and Markku Nurminen including the following species: -Southern Scrub-robin 1 -Chestnut-backed Quail-thrush 2 -Shy Heathwren 1 singing its heart out -Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo 3+1 (poor views and heard one more, too) -Crested Bellbirds; several seen and heard (Whoey Tank) -Bar-shouldered Dove 1 (Whoey Tank) -Mulga Parrot 1 -Emu 1 huge male (10km W of Condobolin along Lachlan Valley Way) -Banded Lapwing 1 (Sewage Works) -Glossy Ibis 2+6 (Sewage Works) -Australian Shelducks (several at Sewage Works) -White-fronted Chat 3 (in Chat Alley) -Splendid Fairy-wrens (next to the railroad, close to Nombinnie) -White-winged Fairy-wrens (Chat Alley, Sewage Works) -White-browed and Masked Woodswallows (flyby of a few dozen at Whoey Tank) -Inland and Chestnut-rumped Thornbills (e.g. at Whoey Tank) -Pied Honeyeater 1 (heard and briefly seen at the old Wheat Paddock) -White-fronted Honeyeater 2-3 (Whoey Tank) -Honeyeater activity was quite poor without masses or even large flocks -At Whoey Tank we photographed interesting bird footprints, which I will send tonight on Facebook for an opinion what they might be; like Emu tracks, but the length is only 4-6 cm (of course Malleefowl crossed our minds, but something doesn’t seem to fit) -a lot of wildflowers (including Emu bush etc.); some areas between the grids were largely white-yellow-purple because of them -etc. etc. All in all, we got 106 species on Saturday alone! As icing on top, we found a group of 23 Magpie Geese in Lake Forbes on Sunday, just before the railroad crossing (lots of photos, one on Facebook in NSW & ACT Birders group). A local woman said they had been there for 3 weeks now with max. number being 30. Still haven’t had the chance to check the trip total for the weekend and all of my stay, but I’ll let you know as soon as I get it done. Thank you to all for your help so far! I feel priviliged to be able to enjoy the nature and wildlife of Australia as much as I have so far. Next weekend we will be heading for the pelagic off Kiama. It will be interesting to see what happens there. And on Sunday I will be heading back to Finland, but through Barren Grounds and Budderoo once more for Markku to have a chance for their specialities as well. Cheers, -Harry