Kookaburras woke us bright and early next morning but were soon followed by a dawn chorus that had me vowing to make a determined effort to learn more bird calls. I recognised the distinctive Crested Shrike-Tit, and the Grey Shrike-Thrush, Rufous Whistler and Pied Currawong. Lots of thornbills and fairywrens, and three King Parrots flew into the top of a nearby dead tree. We had tea and breakfast bars, and waited for the sun to rise.
Headed out on a walk around the reserve there were Brown Treecreepers on every trunk, and a pair of Hooded Robin where we were told to expect them. Little Lorikeet usually stay high up in the canopy, but a group perched on a dead tree in the early morning light.
A pair of Rufous Whistlers were trying to ignore the begging of their almost full-grown young. The young birds seemed to have no fear of photographers, or perhaps they were trying all possible sources of a fee meal.
White-Throated Gerygone and Fuscous Honeyeaters, White-plumed Honeyeaters and a young Brown Songlark were hunting for insects. Ann directed us to a tree in which both Diamond Firetails and Striated Pardalotes were feeding young, and we sat on a log and watched for some time, taking way too many photos given that the size of the birds and their distance from the ground limited any chance of a ‘crippling’ image.
A Wedge-Tailed Eagle flew high overhead, carrying a large branch. For early autumn there were a large number of birds nesting or raising young. Dusky Wood-swallows were hawking over a patch of open grass, and White-backed Swallows circled above. Back at camp a Grey Shrike-Thrush had found a spider, and an Eastern Yellow Robin looked on.
