Stone Cottages

Black-chinned Honeyeater (Wilpinjong)

Painted Honeyeater (Wilpinjong)

Diamond Firetail (Baerami)

Not great images, but my first sightings of these birds with a camera in hand. I spent the weekend at the Goulburn River Stone Cottages with some fellow birdos. While there were plenty of birds just outside the cottage door, it was also a perfect base to explore some of the great birding areas in the Mudgee region - the visitor information centre in Mudgee provides a useful Bird Routes pamphlet.

Some of the notable spots are Munghorn Gap with over 160 species recorded including the endangered regent honeyeater; the Drip, home to the origma or rock warbler; the White Box Camp in Goulburn River National Park for painted honeyeaters; and Stony Creek for diamond firetails. We found great birds all along the Wollar Road with a group of seven wedge-tailed eagles roosting on the edge of mine tailings, a variety of honeyeaters along the creek beds, musk lorikeets feeding on flowering gums, and rufous whistlers calling from every vantage point. The area is also home to the only wild emus in the Sydney basin.