Sandy Creek Walk

The mornings are getting colder now and I am sure it won't be long before we see frost on the ground. There are still a couple of rabbits around near the patch of Sweet Pittosporum. These ones appear reasonably healthy. It is very different to the rabbit population of the last few years where I sometimes counted over 100 rabbits on my walks. I am not sure whether the reduction is due to the

new K5 virus or the rogue virus that released naturally. While I hate to see rabbits suffering, their numbers were making a big impact on the environment and something needed to be done before they ate everything.

I am not sure whether the reduction in rabbit numbers has affected the raptors.

The little birds like this male Superb Fairywren appear to remain out of sight until the sun warms the place up a bit. It is surprising though that they don't mind getting down in the grass and becoming thoroughly wet once they get active. Obviously the feeding must be good.

There were a couple of surprises yesterday. I came across four Blue-faced Honeyeaters cowering among the canopy branches of a eucalypt near the Girls Dormitory end of the track. They were surrounded by a cacophony of Noisy Miners protesting their presence. At first I thought they must have had a raptor hidden in there. Unfortunately I did not get any good photos of the event.

The other surprise was an immature Olive-backed Oriole sitting high in among the casurinas. Most of the Orioles have flown north at this time of the year but this one has obviously decided to stay around. Alan Morris has commented that some Orioles always stay around the Central Coast area right through the winter. Carmel had reported earlier that she had seen a "stripy" bird and when I showed her this she thought it was the same one.

There were quite a few Cattle Egrets among the cows in the big paddock. They are often present when the cows are there. they are very wary birds and I have found it difficult to get close to them by stealth. The track follows the fence along the eastern and northern side of the paddock and as I walk, the egrets move to the opposite end. Nice to see them fly but I wish that would fly just a little bit closer to me.

There have been quite a few Little Wattlebirds around lately. they are quite active and spend a lot of time chasing one another. They even ignore the Bell Miners who resent their presence, as usual. I think that a fair bit of activity is courtship related.

I usually ignore the Noise Miners because they are always present and are a distraction when looking for less obvious birds. The number of times I have followed a movement among the branches only to discover another noisy minder, serve as a reminder that birding required a lot of patience. I could not resist photographing this one though. In full sum with the hint of green in his wing patches, It is almost a handsome bird.