We drove down on a Friday after work as the sun set, leaving the last hour of the drive in darkness on a winding dirt road. I was behind the wheel, nervously bumping along in the night, trying to avoid any kangaroos and wombats that might be hopping or ambling along the road. We saw both, and fortunately made it to the camp site with a collision-free, albeit dusty, car.
Me in a cave. We were close to the top of the cave here, so you can see some natural light coming in.
Kangaroos lounging in the shade beside a ranger's house.
Australian Magpie getting cocky as he tried to steal food from noisy miners.
Kookaburra - looks like a juvenile. This one didn't make any calls but we woke up to quite a racket one morning.
The feathered cast consisted of the usual suspects - magpies, noisy miners, kookaburras - as well as some standouts: a Gang Gang Cockatoo, Australian King Parrots, a pair of masked lapwings, a very tame satin bowerbird, and a few superb lyrebirds with their extraordinary plumes.
This female satin bowerbird made friends with us as we drank an afternoon beer.
This Gang Gang cockatoo was really old and fat - a campground local no doubt.
Top: A male Australian King Parrot plays in the trees with his mate. Bottom: 2 female king parrots look for good things to eat in the mud.
This superb lyrebird is dangerously close to a goanna - who was dangerously close to our tent! Don't worry, goannas aren't dangerous to humans... but they do have bad eyesight and will try to climb up you. They also won't eat an adult lyrebird - but they do steal lyrebird eggs.
Pair of masked lapwings - quite far from a water source.
All in all it was a very enjoyable trip, and Wombeyan Caves turned out to be a great spot for summer birding!
No comments:
Post a Comment