Our first stop on a seven-week winter trip
to outback NSW was Chiltern in Victoria to spend two days in the Chiltern - Mt
Pilot National Park. This park covers mainly box - ironbark woodland habitat
and when the box or ironbark are in flower this attracts large numbers of
honeyeaters including the endangered Regent Honeyeater. As part of a recovery
program captive bred Regent Honeyeaters have been released in the Chiltern - Mt
Pilot NP.
While there were some ironbark in flower and plenty of honeyeaters about - and two recent reports of Regent
Honeyeaters in the park, finding a Regent during our two days in the park would
be a little like finding a needle in a hay stack and so it proved – no Regents
found. We did see White-plumed, Fuscous, Yellow-tufted, White-naped and
Black-chinned Honeyeaters plus Eastern Spinebill, Red Wattlebird (large
numbers) and Little Friarbird. Many other bird species were found with some
highlights including Crested Shrike-tit, Olive-backed Oriole, White-browed
Babbler, Varied Sittella and good numbers of Robins including Rose, Red-capped,
Scarlet and Flame, but no endangered Hooded Robins.
The following photos were taken over the two
days and include some shots of a very cute Yellow-footed Antechinus found mid morning
foraging on the forest floor (this is the only antechinus species likely to be
found out during the day). Many of the shots show a low sun angle even though
they were not taken early or late in the day – winter is here and the shortest
day is not far away!
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Ironbark and White Box are the dominant eucalypt species in the Chiltern - Mt Pilot National Park. |
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The very common and widespread White-plumed Honeyeater. Achieving photos of the very active honeyeaters foraging high in the ironbark canopies was close to impossible. This bird stopped briefly on a low perch in a patch of sun. |
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A Red-capped Robin hunting ground dwelling prey as most robins do from low perches - the stump and light made for an attractive composition. |
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The male Red-capped Robin from above - it flew down towards me to grab a food item from the ground - note the long shadow cast by the bird even though it is nearly 10am. |
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It was a pleasant surprise to find this nocturnal Yellow-footed Antechinus out and about mid morning. It seemed to enjoy the winter sun. |
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Playing "hide and seek" as I move in for a closer shot. |
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Soon after this shot I lost track of this cute little animal. |
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Varied Sittellas specialise in gleaning food from the bark of tree trunks and tend to operate above the level where the unrelated Treecreepers finish their ascent of tree trunks. |
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Caught in the act - the white object is a dropping. |
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Prizing off a piece of bark - a tasty grub was hiding under the bark. |
Nice stuff John, looking forward to lots more!
ReplyDeleteThanks Duncan. Hope to publish posts for most of the National Parks we plan on visiting in outback NSW so stay tuned.
DeleteCheers, Avithera
This park is on my bucket list. Nice photos. Have a great trip.
ReplyDeleteWe're heading up through the red centre in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping to get cracking with my blogging again..
Thanks Boobook. Chiltern - Mt Pilot highly recommended. Have a great trip yourself and I look forward to seeing your posts.
DeleteCheers, Avithera