The early birders met at the Yabba Creek crossing leading to Stirlings Crossing. The main target bird White-bellied Sea-Eagle which had been sighted doing some fishing only a few days earlier.The cold misty morning produced no joy with the Sea Eagle sighting.
The group moved onto the ever reliable birding area near the causeway crossing. Ideal habitat with eucalptus open forest and moist forest growing along the creeks and gullies with lantana thickets and under story growth. A special watch for the Crested Shrike-tit and Paradise Riflebird was in our minds as both of these special birds have been reported at this site.
The harsh grating and rasping call was heard, with a female Riflebird being spotted. The Crested Shrike-tit was not heard or sighted.
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| New Holland Honeyeater |
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| Pale-yellow Robin |
Very large numbers of Dusky Woodswallows were grouping on any dead branches and swooping on their flight paths then returning to their perch.These fellows have been around in larger than normal numbers this winter, may be the severe winter south have sent them further north!
New Holland Honeyeaters were around in numbers greater than normal, busy collecting nesting material from the wild cotton balls. Keeping the Honeyeaters company were Spotted Pardalote in considerable numbers, collecting soft bark from the Melaleuca.. They appeared to be collecting lining material for their nesting chamber.
The group listed 55 bird species for the morning.My bird spotting was complete when a Regent Bowerbird flew low through the trees, what a lovely sight of yellow and black.
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| Yellow-faced Honeyeater |
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| Spotted Pardalote |
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| Dendrobium ---- Dockrillia teretifolia (thin pencil orchid) |
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| White-headed Pigeon |
A trip to Stirlings Crossing is not complete with-out a walk along the creek and viewing the large number of epiphytics growing on the trees. The staghorns and elkhorns and birdsnest ferns were looking very healthy. A thin Pencil Orchid was spotted in flower, their leaves thin like pencil. The very large fig trees on the moist creek banks were without fruit, consequently the pigeon and dove count were low for this trip.
Yabba Creek was running strong, also its tributaries were still holding water. The wet forest areas looked very fresh. What a lovely day in the bush.
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| Dusky Woodswallows |
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| Red-backed Fairy-wren (F) |
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| Red-browed Finch |
