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INTRODUCTION This Was the Third and Final Leg in a Month-Long Trip To

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INTRODUCTION This Was the Third and Final Leg in a Month-Long Trip To INTRODUCTION This was the third and final leg in a month-long trip to the South Pacific & Australia with my wife, Louise; visiting New Caledonia (1 week) and Fiji (2 weeks), before spending a week taking things slightly easier in the Blue Mountains, east of Sydney on our way home. This report covers the Australian leg; reports of our other two destinations can be found at www.cloudbirders.com. Since we were passing through Australia on our way back from Fiji, this, our fifth visit, was an opportunity to try for the New South Wales endemic, Rockwarbler, and a handful of south eastern Australian birds we hadn’t seen before whilst spending time walking trails and enjoying the stunning scenery. ITINERARY Sept 7th 2018 Arrive Sydney (Fiji Airways, 1830-2125). Overnight Holiday Inn Sydney Airport. Sept 8th 2018 Birding Centennial Park, Sydney. Drive to Blue Mountains National Park. Visit Wentworth Falls. Overnight La Maison Boutique Hotel, Katoomba (http://www.lamaison.com.au/). Nothing fancy, rather over-priced like everywhere in Australia these days. Sept 9th 2018 Echo Point, Katoomba. Kings Tableland Air Tower, Wentworth Falls. Afternoon walking from Govett’s Leap to Barrow Lookout, Blackheath. Overnight La Maison Boutique Hotel. Sept 10th 2018 Bedford Road Track, Woodford. Yarramundi area. Overnight La Maison Boutique Hotel. Sept 11th 2018 All day at Capertee Valley. Overnight La Maison Boutique Hotel. Sept 12th 2018 Blue Gum Swamp, Winmalee. Bellbird Lookout, Kurrajong Heights. Euroka Clearing. Overnight La Maison Boutique Hotel. Sept 13th 2018 North Lawson Swamp. Wentworth Falls. Flight Sydney-Dubai (Emirates, 1605-0015) WEATHER Our first day in Sydney was cool and overcast, but by the time we reached the Blue Mountains, the cloud base had descended, and the rest of our first day was dark, cold and damp. The rest of the week was blessed with blue skies and midday temperatures reaching the mid-20s, though cold in the early morning. GETTING AROUND We hired a Hyundai i30 from Hertz and this was more than able to get us down most of the tracks we ended up exploring, though it lacked sufficient ground clearance to negotiate the rocky entrance to the Bedford Road Track and we ended up parking and walking. (This actually worked in our favour as we picked up our target, Pilotbird, much sooner than hoped!) Navigation was easy with a free GPS app on my phone, preloaded with a map of NSW before we left home. We used Sygic (https://www.sygic.com/gps-navigation), which allows unlimited map downloads and doesn’t require data, merely the phone’s GPS connection. MAIN SITES VISITED 1. SYDNEY – CENTENNIAL PARK We made a short visit to this fantastic city park to look for the regular roosting Powerful Owls. After failing to find them in the area they’d been frequenting for weeks, we were fortunate to meet a park employee who monitors the owls regularly. He took us to their new roost spot (ironically almost right above our parked car!) where we had great views of 2 adults and a juvenile. The park also held a reasonable selection of commoner Australian parkland birds including Long-billed Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Black Swan and Fairy Martin. Checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48359630 2. BLUE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK a. WENTWORTH FALLS As we approached the Blue Mountains and climbed onto the top of the escarpment, we found ourselves in very low cloud and a fine drizzle that did not lend itself to finding birds or enjoying great views of the falls. The view (what we could see of it) was still pretty special and we picked up some decent birds despite the gloom, including Satin Bowerbird, Crimson Rosella, White-throated Treecreeper, Eastern Yellow Robin, Pied Currawong and Eastern Whipbird. We returned on our last morning on the way to the airport and enjoyed much better weather and another chance to sample some of the fare in The Conservation Hut, the falls’ visitor centre cum café. Here we added Superb Lyrebird, Spotted Pardalote and Eastern Spinebill, the last two whilst enjoying coffee and carrot cake on the verandah. Checklists: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48359592 & S48468628. b. KATOOMBA - ECHO POINT The following morning dawned to clear & cloudless skies – a far cry from the dismal gloom of the previous day – and the spectacular sunrise made the cliffs glow an amazing orange. A walk along the clifftop trail past the Three Sisters towards Leura was not unsurprisingly quiet given the cold wind, but we had great views of Satin Bowerbird, White-browed Scrubwren, Brown Thornbill and Red Wattlebird, plus a party of Spotted Pardalotes. Disappointingly, no sign of the hoped-for Rockwarbler. Checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48376653 c. KINGS TABLELAND Located south of Wentworth Falls, the large expanse of open heathland was very quiet mid-morning except for a Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, one of my main targets for the area. Sadly, still no sign of Rockwarbler and I began to think that this NSW endemic might prove trickier than anticipated. The Casuarina trees around the abandoned hospital were similarly quiet and failed to deliver the Glossy-black Cockatoos that are supposedly regular in the area. A stunning Satin Bowerbird was our first male after a run of female-plumaged birds, whilst Buff-rumped & Striated Thornbills were new additions to the trip list. Checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48384021 d. BLACKHEATH – GOVETT’S LEAP LOOKOUT TO BARROW LOOKOUT Apart from yet another angle on the breath-taking views of the plateau, late afternoon at Govett’s Leap Lookout had relatively little of avian interest, apart from the by-now usual suspects, no doubt not helped by the lowering sun casting the area in cold shadow. Walking southwards along the cliff trail, as we approached Barrow Lookout, just before the stepping stones across the narrow stream, a quiet warble caught my attention and a short burst of playback brought a Rockwarbler bursting into view. It was soon joined by another and the pair proceeded to hop round our feet, quite literally, for at least 15 minutes; amazingly tame and surprisingly distinctive – much more attractive than the field guides suggest. Mission accomplished, returning back to Evans Lookout via the same path, a group of feeding honeyeaters comprised several New Holland Honeyeaters and a single White-naped Honeyeater. Checklists: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48384008 & S48383999. e. WOODFORD – BEDFORD ROAD TRACK Although we managed to find the track without any issues, our saloon car was unable to navigate the short patch of rather rough ground at the entrance gate at -33.749652, 150.486283 where we parked and walked. The open heathland was fairly quiet, with only the by-now usual suspects recorded (Red Wattlebird, Yellow- faced and New Holland Honeyeaters, Spotted Pardalote), but on entering the more forested section of the track closer to Murphy’s Glen we heard our target, Pilotbird, calling behind us. Having retraced our steps, a short burst of playback brought a bird straight out beside the track and, over the course of the following 20 minutes, proceeded to forage surprisingly openly (though usually just out of camera range), eventually joined by its partner in full view on the track! Checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48410733 f. YARRAMUNDI AREA On our first visit to the area, we heard strange noises as we drove along – our first experience of the deafening cacophony of a Bell Miner colony – and pulling over into a side road (Riverside Drive, Hawkesbury) soon gave us excellent views of this long-awaited lifer. Not only do they sound amazing (in small doses…) but they look pretty cool too. Also here was a Pacific Baza that launched occasional attacks to try and pick off any unsuspecting Miner. Yarramundi Reserve (-33.613243, 150.698328) was a small, pleasant area popular with local dog-walkers, yet we racked up a decent haul of birds despite it being 2pm in the afternoon. The pools offered a good selection of waterbirds, with both Little Pied & Little Black Cormorants, Black Swan, Australasian Grebe, Dusky Moorhen & Azure Kingfisher. The surrounding bushland added yet more Bell Miners, plus Eastern Rosella, Superb Fairywren, Eastern Spinebill & Lewin’s Honeyeater. A couple of Olive-backed Orioles and Varied Sitellas were pleasing finds, along with Rufous Whistler, Grey Shrikethrush and Red-browed Finch. Checklists: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48410752 & S48410867 g. WINMALEE - BLUE GUM SWAMP This was one of our favourite sites, although we failed to have a sniff of the main species we’d gone there for – Spotted Quail-thrush. Our first visit, a return walk along Shaws Ridge, was a little too late in the morning for optimum activity, with a couple of Rose Robins the highlight. However, a return early-morning visit a couple of days later allowed us to complete the full trail circuit before it got too warm and we were well-rewarded. The higher elevation ridge walk was again slightly disappointing, but the cooler, damp swampy trail yielded Pilotbird, a brief look at a Superb Lyrebird, Australian King Parrot, Gang-gang Cockatoo and a pair of Glossy- black Cockatoos that fed silently fairly low beside the trail. We were also treated to amazingly protracted views of a pair of Eastern Whipbirds duetting, watching them flutter their wings & tails as they built up their amazing call to its crescendo. Checklists: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S48410791 & S48452158 h. KURRAJONG AREA We paid a short visit to Bellbird Lookout (- 33.537657, 150.633169), a small local nature reserve on a steep slope and would probably benefit from a bit more time and effort than we gave it.
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