158

A Little Grassbird, calling from the densely vegetated periphery of the large dam by Shangri La Road yesterday afternoon, now brings my ever-expanding Bundanoon bird list to 158. This secretive, drab-coloured bird makes a distinct, drawn out, three-note whistle, alerting the keen birder to its presence. A marshy area by a string of ponds in East Bowral is the only other place I've found this species in the Southern Highlands. So, the question remains - can I make it to 200 species? Absolutely. You bet. Of course. Here's a list of 40 birds that may well appear one day: Painted Snipe, Banded Lapwing, Red-kneed Dotterel, Australian Shelduck, Freckled Duck, Plumed Whistling-duck, Wandering Whistling-duck, Little Bittern, Brown Bittern, Black Bittern, Australian Pelican, Australian Spotted Crake, Baillon's Crake, Spotless Crake, Lewin's Rail, Brown Quail, Stubble Quail, King Quail, Red-chested Button-quail (apparently one was seen fleetingly in a garden on Church St several years ago), Pacific Baza, Swamp Harrier, Spotted Harrier, Black Falcon (my mate Marty thought he saw one a week back flying high over his place; we've both seen one recently at Moss Vale), Black Kite, Whistling Kite, Barking Owl, White-throated Nightjar, Emerald Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Common Bronzewing, Brush Bronzewing, Topknot Pigeon, Musk Lorikeet, Red-rumped Parrot, Pallid Cuckoo, Spotted Quail-thrush, White-winged Triller, Painted Honeyeater, Rufous Songlark and White-winged Chough. Fingers crossed. LJ, 13.10.13.