Pulletop June 2009

A mid winter visit when the road was dry enough!

2009 is finally shaping up to be wetter than the previous few years. Rain at the beginning of June was the best seen for months and we thought that it may be difficult to get into Pulletop Nature Reserve.

We were able to get in easily via Heaths Rd and took the adventurous track north and then east to get back to the RAnkins Springs Rd to get out. The Birds of the Bush people are looking at getting the Carrathool Shire to grade Pulletop Road before the spring bird fair so that visitors can get out there. Maybe we will be lucky enough for them to do this in the next few weeks.

We were greeted with silence when we arrived at the nature reserve. That was not a good sign for a birdwatching expedition. But it did not dampen our enthusiasm. We had plenty of time and we managed a walk all the way to the stand of Bimble Box in the south west corner. The north west corner shows signs of fire damage and the forest debris made navigating a little difficult.

Our bird list was small (see below), in the end, but high on quality - made more so by the sighting of Ground Cuckoo Shrikes in the paddock to the north.

There was plenty of evidence that there will be some good spring flowers this year. The leaf stage of many orchids were evident at the base of mature mallee. And there were plenty of quandongs with developing fruit.

Pulletop can be a dispiriting place to visit at times. It is an excellent example of local mallee, but suffers from being too small and too isolated for there to be any spectacular reactions to it. But I don't mind that. I like the mallee, I like the quiet and I like imagining that I can get lost in the reserve! (I can't get lost, because it is square and easy to find a fence to walk out along.)

The Bird List for Pulletop Nature Reserve June 2009

Black Kite
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Brown Falcon
Common Bronzewing
Galah
Cockatiel
Eastern Ringneck
Bluebonnet
Ground Cuckoo-shrike
Restless Flycatcher
Red-capped Robin
Grey Shrike-Thrush
Variegated Fairywren
Chestnut-rumped Thornbill
Weebill
Southern Whiteface
White-eared Honeyeater
Magpie-lark
Australasian Magpie
Australian Raven

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