252) A Quick Jaunt Down South

Flame Robin

I had a workshop in Canberra (Australia's capital - 3 .5 hrs south) and Nancy took the bus down to join me to explore some new terrain afterwards. We enjoyed the Rose Robins in Brisbane as we left, the Scarlet Robins in SE QLD and finally had some good sighting of the Flame Robin in one the great 'urban' birding areas just outside Canberra (a woodland right next to a large office park).

For comparison, here is  Scarlet Robin we saw in Buderoo National Park near Sydney  two days later. More black than grey and less red on the chest.

Superb Parr

Another major draw were the Superb Parrots that are doing very well in the green areas of the city. We had met  Canberra locals Tony and Cathy on a wildflower hike in N. Sydney and they graciously took us to the Olympic Training facility (parrots in the trees in the parking lot) and then to  a green belt in the 'burds where blooming trees were a draw for a heap of Superbs. Australia parrots are just amazing.....

White-winged Choughs

They also took us out to Mulligans flat - a predator-proofed (fenced) nature reserve N of town. It was pretty dry but we did did find this group of 8-10 White-winged Choughs fighting over who got to sit on the nest! They are communal nesting birds who share duties but it was quite a raucous ritual!

Southern Emu-wren

Back in Royal National Park I made another pilgrimage to Watamolla (a beach with good heath on the cliffs above) and got a slightly better photo of a Southern Emu-wren. This is one of Australia's smallest birds if you consider the tail is 2/3 its total length! They are quite shy and I am still on a mission to obtain a better photo.