Check my birding map for specific location.
Greetings from the future. I am actually heading north in New South Wales to the Queensland border as I write this. My blog has fallen by the wayside of late as I have been writing for 2 American birding blogs and best of all getting paid. I believe I am officially now a 'digital nomad'. I have been really enjoying writing about birds and using my photographs. You can find the blogs here:
Anyway, I am sitting in the van in a National Park with no internet so I cannot write for the blogs, which gives me an opportunity to catch up here. Back to Victoria ...
After leaving Benalla on a wonderful house sit, I headed east to Chiltern National Park, which is renowned for being one of the best birding spots in the country. Unfortunately it was stinking hot. The temperature gauge just gives you a guide to how hot it will be. How you actually feel on any given day is also affected by the breeze, humidity and other things I can't pinpoint. It was high 30s but felt hotter. There was no relief in the forest and my feet swelled up in complaint. It was very unpleasant.
The Chiltern forest itself was beautiful and I headed for a camping spot on the banks of the Reedy Creek initially. I was a bit ambitious about where I could park and immediately got bogged. Not to worry. The great thing about being in the Outback or rural Australia is that there might not be much traffic but you can be guaranteed that the next vehicle along the road will be a ute with gear. So, I put on my hat, got a water bottle and started walking. 20 minutes later I was being heaved out of the sand. It was not a gentle experience but I was very grateful to the family who helped me.
Once I found a safer place to stay, I sat next to the creek. I am used to hot weather in Australia and in the Outback in particular but it was very disconcerting in the forest. Everything was crackly and paper dry. I sat and did think that a squeaky fart might light the place up.
The next morning I headed to Honeyeater Picnic Area close to the actual town of Chiltern. It was still blisteringly hot and dry and it was not comfortable at all. However, there was a dam there and lots of birds around. As I wandered around the dam, a family of Australian Grebe were alternately diving for food and squabbling. They were lovely to watch.
Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae)
A Leaden Flycatcher hawked for food in the bush and a Sacred Kingfisher sat and watched.
Leaden Flycatcher (Myiagra rubecula)
Sacred Kingfisher (Todiramphus sanctus)
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