I have spent the last four days at Lyons Dryandra Woodland
Village. This is situated in the heart of the woodland and has several trails
taking you through the various habitat types. This area is the largest
vegetation in the wheatbelt and supports a host of birds and mammals. There is
no WiFi on site which allows any explorer to completely immerse themselves in
their surroundings and forget about the outside word for a while.
I made several visits to the Old Dam which is a small pond near
the entrance to the village and walked the trails in this area. The small dam
was alive with parrots mostly Ringnecks with the odd female Red Capped and
Western Rosella thrown in.
The first evening was productive there with some Yellow
Plumed Honeyeaters going crazy at a hole in the branch of a tree. This could
mean the possibility of an owl or a snake in or near the hole. I stuck around
first getting some pictures of the Honeyeater and amongst the commotion a Southern
Boobook Owl emerged from the hole and flew up into an adjacent tree.
A Rufous Treecreeper joined the protest from a fallen tree
trunk. I think I was the only one that was pleased to see the Southern Boobook
who quite frankly took no notice of the crazed Honeyeaters. I had to wait until
the sun dropped behind the trees to get shots and during this time a group of
dark cockatoos with cheek patches flew low squawking over the trees.
As dusk fell I returned to the accommodation area and began
searching for the Bush Stone-Curlews. This was a family party that had already
lost two of the three chicks. I bumped into John who said the group was at the
front of his house. I crept round to the front of the house and saw the family
emerge from behind a bush.
There is a large open field in front of the main
accommodation which hosted grazing Kangaroos and Wallabies. The surrounding
woodland also holds good numbers. These mammals fascinate me as they “boing”
around the woodland stopping to look at the human intruder. I think this
individual was a defensive end with eyes firmly on the quarterback “42-25-34 hut
hut!!”
At the end of my first morning walk I disturbed a Numbat
that was digging away on the path some thirty meters ahead of me. The small ant
eater froze looked at the elephant on the path and then scarpered. Wow that was
a fast exit considering its small legs!
Dusky Swallow were also regular in the woodland in areas of
decaying eucalyptus trees.
The Congelin Dam was slightly larger than the Old Dam but
both are an important source of water for the local wildlife. The dam held Western
Wattlebird and parrots that all jostled for position at the water’s edge during
a morning thirst quenching session.
Carnaby’s Cockatoo finally gave themselves up to the
paparazzi in the Village and at this dam. The arrival was always extremely
noisy but the group soon settled down high in the trees bordering the dam.
A pair of Collared Sarrowhawk was present at this dam along
with many Honeyeaters and other passerines.
Western Spinebill were seen at both dams and this male seemed curious at my presence. Perhaps it was ticking me off its list!
The WA Endemics tally is looking
healthy with all six Dryandra species added to my tally! My next stop will be
in Albany where the going could get tricky with Noisy Scrub Bird on the agenda!
Not sure where the line (below) has come from!!
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