BEAUTIFUL

The Beautiful Firetail was at exactly the same spot, feeding on exactly the same she-oak, at exactly the same time in the morning, today. I wonder if there are others. LJ, July 8 2012.

137

I parked the Hyundai Getz at Bonnie View at 10:30am, intending to meander up to Wishing Well in search of Crescent Honeyeaters, which I haven't been able to spot over the last few months, although I've heard their distinct, clipped calls many times since last December. The first thing I saw after stepping out of the car was a Beautiful Firetail feeding on the tiny cones of an uprooted casuarina directly behind the wooden 'Bonnie View' sign. This casuarina was uprooted/moved to make way for steps the NPWS have just put in (I'm not sure the steps are really needed here). I was stunned to see the Firetail; these birds aren't easy to find, especially as they are nomadic outside the breeding season (ie. now). I had superb views of it. The olive-bronze-grey of its plumage stood out more this time than on other occasions I've spent time with them. I've been birding at Bonnie View so many times and never heard/seen BFs before. Bonnie View is the 3rd location in the Southern Highlands I have for BFs. They're also on the Budderoo Plateau and at that iconic birding spot Barren Grounds Nature Reserve, where the Illawarra meets the Highlands... And I had fleeting views of the Crescent Honeyeater (male and female) at Wishing Well. The male was calling. According to my Pizzey and Knight and Morecombe guides, CHs are supposed to be in lowlands during Winter. What's going on here? LJ, July 5 2012.

136

And a White-naped Honeyeater, zipping about in a loud mixed feeding flock of Crescent, New Holland, Yellow-faced and White-eared Honeyeaters (in the dry sclerophyll habitat at Wishing Well in Morton) late morning, became bird 136 for my Bundy list. Nice one. LJ, July 4 2012.

A PLATYPUS

I saw my first 'Bundanoon' platypus at 8:45 this morning, when it was 4 degrees, still and overcast. I'm still jumping up and down! LJ, July 4 2012

WINTERFEST'S BIRDING FOR BEGINNERS OUTING, SUNDAY JULY 1

Simon Robinson, Bunday local and ornithologist, asked me to lead a 'birding for beginners' outing yesterday, from 8:30am, which was good of him. Over twenty people turned up. We walked around Ferndale Reserve and environs, then drove on to Morton NP, investigating Gambells Rest and Erith Coal Mine's creek area. Soft rain, real rain, sun, wind, breeze, coolth, cold and warmth accompanied us - typical messed up winter weather. The birds were more active when the sun laughed and joked around. Nothing particularly noteworthy turned up species-wise. Locating a Yellow-throated Scrubwren's nest down at ECM was cool - the birders seemed fascinated. It was tremendous meeting people various and offering opinions on bird guides, where to go birding, the differences between ravens etc. A couple of kids were there. One of the kids was determined to see an Eastern Yellow Robin. She was stoked when Morton handed her a couple. Ah, seeing children seeing particular birds for the first time - thrilling. The first Eastern Yellow Robin I saw was dead, stuck to the front of a coach, bound for Mt Seaview in northern NSW! I was on a school trip. It was 1986. I was in Year 9. I'm glad this girl saw her robin whizzing about and perching on the sides of trees. LJ, July 2 2012.

JUNE

Not a lot to report of late... The mornings are algid enough to have you thinking of yourself and not getting ill. There's been the odd frost - one feels as if one is treading on Rice Bubbles... The other morning there was a waning crescent moon in the rising sun's sky - gorgeous... I went for a lengthy jaunt (Gambells Rest - Fairy Bower Falls - The Amphitheatre - Mark Morton Lookout - Gambells Rest) about ten days ago. The walk was demanding in certain sections as there were fallen trees (courtesy of recent high winds) and sodden paths of fallen fern fronds. Happened across a male Superb Lyrebird flapping his wings, shimmering and in full song. I didn't get to see the breeding display though. Something I'm looking forward to witnessing... For a few minutes I found complete silence in-between The Amphitheatre and MML. Not a bird calling. No wind disturbing the canopy. It was surprising, spooky even. Real silence, intense silence, is so, so rare, so, so necessary... A fox has been around home. I heard it uttering its wheeze-yap out in the bleeding pitch on two nights. Its calls to the moon, Morton and man, had my Cocker Spaniel crying back... I crushed a Funnel-web at the backdoor recently. The second I've seen: the other was during July, 2011... Last Sunday, just before dusk, my boy and I searched in vain for the Little Bittern that is seen irregularly about the dams and swampy bits of Peter Lach-Newinsky's grand property. Such a phantom-thing. I've only seen one once, years ago, at Eastlakes Golf Course in Sydney. It is rarely seen, most probably overlooked. The bird could well be a lot more plentiful than people believe. At the end of the day, how many birders are really putting in hrs searching for them? LJ, June 21 2012.

TO MORTON, WITH LOVE

I usually steer away from politics on this blog site. Not today. No way. I'm completely unimpressed by Barry O'Farrell's call to let recreational shooters into NSW national parks, nature reserves and state conservation areas (notice the words reserves and conservation there). Potentially, Morton National Park is one of them. It's on the list. OUR Morton National Park. The Morton that is our backbone, our lungs, even our identity. The Morton with its immortal gullies, mentioned so often in Bundanoon's literature. Who's going to police these shooters when they're prowling through Morton NP? Who can guarantee rare or endangered wildlife in Morton isn't harmed? Who can be sure bushwalkers, picnicking families etc aren't harmed? How will I know when it is safe to enter Morton to go birding? How can visitors to the park know they're safe? This is a bloody joke. I'm sure the hunters will bring pig dogs with them. Who's going to stop one of these dogs attacking vulnerable species like Superb Lyrebirds and Black Wallabies? There better be a bloody huge sign at the entrance to Gambells Rest telling all of us that shooting is happening. This better be thought through, monitored, dealt with sensibly, by those 'in charge'. Our NPWS rangers are up in arms about this. Not surprisingly. Thanks, Backwoods Barry, for returning us to the Dark Ages. LJ, June 5 2012 PS - 'Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself.' James A. Froude.