Join us for another walk at the Nature Refuge Hawkesbury Road focussing on bird calls. Because the weather is likely to be hot, the walk will be over a relatively short distance, and mainly in shaded forest. The Primley Street section is gallery forest which has turned up a wide range of wet forest and rainforest species over the years, Early morning bird activity is usually high in this section. The last few hundred meters of Primley Street itself has more open remnant woodland on the south side, where some different species occur. Apart from listening for bird calls, there should be some interesting sightings.
If you would like to check some bird calls on your birding apps before the walk (Dave Stewart’s ‘Australian Bird Calls’ is excellent), here is a list of some of the birds we are most likely to hear. This list excludes very common species, but we would be unlucky not to see some other less common species too.
Wonga Pigeon, Pheasant Coucal, Shining Bronze Cuckoo, White-throated Treecreeper, White-browed and Large-billed Scrubwren, Brown Thornbill, Striated Pardalote, White-throated Honeyeater, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Sahul Cicadabird, Varied Triller, Olive-backed Oriole, Spangled Drongo, Australian Rufous Fantail, Leaden Flycatcher, White-eared Monarch, Black-faced Monarch, Eastern Yellow Robin
There is a chance of Oriental Cuckoo, as February is peak month for this species. It has been regularly reported here.
We will meet at 6.30am, as birds are most vocal early in the morning.
How to get there: If you are coming from the Brisbane direction, follow Moggill Road then turn right into Mount Crosby Road in Anstead, and after a few hundred metres, turn right into Boyle Road, then after a few hundred metres, turn left into O’Brien Road. After approximately one kilometre, turn left into Primley Street and drive to the end of the road. You can park on the grass verges there. If you are coming from the Ipswich direction, follow Mount Crosby Road and turn left into Boyle Road shortly before you reach Moggill Road, and follow the directions as above.
There are no toilet facilities at this site. There are toilets at Anstead Bushland Reserve, Hawkesbury Road in Anstead, about four kilometres from Primley Street. Bring a sun hat, sun screen, water, and morning tea, as well as insect repellent, as this, of course, a season with high activity of biting critters.
