North NSW
Hi VB, (that's a kind of beer where we are now!) hope yor travel plans are coming together. Don't get envious get even
We'd forgotten how wonderful living in a van is and waking up with a different scene around us every morning. Round here this has generally meant rather tame
Kookaburras, Crimson Rosellas and
Aussie Magpies etc. keeping a very close eye on our breakfasts. There have also been plenty of interesting mammals lately, at least 4 species of kangaroo type things, and even some whales fairly close to shore at Coff's Harbour.
Before leaving Sydney a
Musk Duck in Centennial Park was a surprise, and we had great views of a feral flock of
Long-billed Corellas. Our first park up outside Sydney was at Myall Lakes where
Rufous Whistler, Crested Shrike-Tit, and
Whistling Kite were added to the trip list.
We then headed north quite quickly to the Coff's Harbour area where I was particularly keen on finding
Relict Raven as it would probably be the only time we will be in this bird's range on this trip. We parked up near Dorrigo Rainforest National Park with an amazing panoramic view. We connected with several rainforest species,
Australian Brush-Turkey, Large-billed and
Yellow-throated Scrub-wrens, Brown Cuckoo-Dove and
Brown Gerygone, all being common. We also saw
Noisy Pitta, Bassian Thrush, and
Wonga Pigeon along the short trail from the visitor centre. Searching for the Raven however was unsuccessful between here and the town of Coff's Harbour. All the corvids we managed to identify were
Torresian Crows, which were quite confusing at first as they had quite a wide vocal range and were shorter tailed and larger billed proportionately when compared to the
Australian Ravens that we had been used to seeing in Sydney. At the harbour we also saw our first
Sooty Oystercatchers of the trip and a
Brush Cuckoo was perhaps unusual for the time of year (or perhaps not?). We had our first very close views here of the amazing
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. Eventually though we had to leave the area having been gripped off by the dastardly and evil Mr Bowley
.
Our next stop was an overnight at Broadwater National Park where the symbol of the local council turned out to be a picture of a
Ground Parrot. We just had to give it a go and park up here. No luck again with these but goodies included
Blue-faced Honeyeater en route,
Rainbow Bee-eater, Scarlet Honeyeaters and a
Swamp Harrier.
We then pressed on to Nimbin where we are at the moment, staying with pal from Bristol, Johnny Lightning, in a lovely self build house in the forested hills. Birds on the nearby Mount Nardi have included
Olive-backed Oriole, Pale Yellow Robin, Topknot Pigeon, Green Catbird and
Logrunner.
914 Musk Duck
915 Whistling Kite
916 Crested Shrike-Tit
917 Rufous Whistler
918 Australian Brush-Turkey
919 Brown Gerygone
920 Australian Hobby
921 Brown Cuckoo-Dove
922 Yellow-throated Scrub-Wren
923 Bassian Thrush
924 Noisy Pitta
925 Large-billed Scrub-Wren
926 Wonga Pigeon
927 Brown Honeyeater
928 Australian Pipit
929 Brush Cuckoo
930 Torresian Crow
931 Sooty Oystercatcher
932 Blue-faced Honeyeater
933 Swamp Harrier
934 Rainbow Bee-eater
935 Bar-shouldered Dove
936 Olive-backed Oriole
937 Pale Yellow Robin
938 Topknot Pigeon
939 Green Catbird
940 Logrunner
