250) Where Song Began

Southern Emu-wren

The Emu-wrens are Dirk's new nemesis bird for photographing.  They live in rare, specialised habitat (heathlands), they are tiny and hard to find, and they are speedy about ducking for cover and disappearing before you can even raise your camera.  Notice his tail that he is holding perpendicular up from his back (they do this when excited); it is filamentous like an emu, and twice his body length (it extends out of this picture).  Out of 15 cm-worth of So Emu-wren, 5 cm is bird and 10 cm is of tail!

Superb Lyrebird

Lyrebirds have the most divergent DNA of any bird in the World, indicating their evolutionary distance from all other birds.  We have just learned from Tim Low's new book 'Where Song Began,' that along with Australian scrub-birds, they are the 'sisters' of all the other songbirds in the World!  The conclusion is that birdsong began in Australia, and radiated outward.  This is something northern hemisphere ornithologists have had difficulty coming to grips with (after all, birds could not have originated in a place as backward as OZ!), though it was first revealed by American geneticist Charles Sibley.

White-bellied Sea Eagle

This juvenile Sea-Eagle was cruising over the crashing waves along the shore of Royal National Park.  Affectionately known locally as 'Nasho' or 'The Royal,' Royal is the World's second national park.  We're attempting to locate a house to live in close to here; it is about 12 km from where we're currently staying.




























Wombat

Mammal-spotting at 80 km/hour, this wombat was nosing about in a paddock, visible below the highway we were travelling on late in the arvo (afternoon).  His characteristic blocky form elicited an excited 'STOP!! WOMBAT!!'.  We are thrilled to see him, because he is our first sighting of a live wombat in the 'wild.'  We have seen a number of roadkill wombats, mostly in Tasmania.  A Tassie local suggested that, like the Tassie devils (who are quickly approaching extinction due to facial tumour disease), the number of roadkill sightings indicates animals that are 'doing ok' (a sentiment we don't agree with).

Fitzroy Falls

Another pretty local attraction, this waterfall is 81 m high. This park is where we saw our lovely lyrebird scratching about in the duff in the late afternoon light of the forest.

    

249) Our Locals

Chestnut-rumped Heathwren

Just south of our current abode in Sydney is Royal National Park - an expanse of forest and heath, some good trails an the site of many trail-running events! It also boasts some hard to find species such as the tiny (and fast) heathwren.

New Holland Honeyeater

Not everything is rare - I counted 9,987 of these guys (exactly!). It had been raining for a week so on this sunny day the bugs were out and the honeyeaters were happily feeding

Tawny-crowned Honeyeater

Royal is one of the best locales to find Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters. They have a beautiful morning song and their call is quite distinctive - it was the best key to locating them among the far more common New Hollands.

There is a pair of Kestrals at a lookout - one local told me to look out for them to be nesting on the cliffs soon.

Rock Warbler

Another park regular is the Rock Warbler - a ground dweller, they happily cling to cliff faces snapping up bugs.