Leader: Jack Airey
As part of the Spring 2024 SEANA weekend away, guests were offered a full day excursion to the Cathedral Range, north of Marysville. The excursion, which was based at the Cook’s Mill Campground, consisted of a morning walk traversing the Friends Nature Walk, a lunch break, and then a shorter afternoon walk through an area that was previously a pine plantation, having been cleared, providing clear views of the range.
Saturday
A chilly morning to start, produced picturesque blue skies for our group of 16 on today’s excursion. After a briefing at the meeting point, we headed off on the Friends Nature Walk. Birds were quite active and we quickly identified the primary honeyeater for the day – the Yellow-faced Honeyeater. Olive-backed Oriole was heard calling for most of the walk, and we managed to see 5-6 Satin Bowerbirds near the end of the trail. While walking along the section that runs close to Storm Creek, we encountered a Tiger Snake sunning itself on the track, which thankfully quickly moved on after its initial surprise as we rounded the corner. We also saw a large deer crashing through the undergrowth and crossing the creek. With the sunny conditions, the cicadas were deafening at times, making it hard to hear each other, let alone the birds.
After lunch, we headed north of the campground along a vehicle management track, getting great views of the range and several peaks, including the North and South Jawbones. We only saw a few birds on this walk, but we managed to see an Australian Kestrel, and hear a Grey Butcherbird. Our total bird count for the day was 28 species.
Sunday
While the morning wasn’t as cool as the day before, the sky was heavily overcast to start, and the group of 12 participants even had a few drops of rain while on the Friends Nature Walk. We saw many of the same birds along the trail, but also added Sacred Kingfisher, White-naped and Brown-headed Honeyeater, a pair of Brown Goshawks, and the highlights of a Tawny Frogmouth (great spotting Peter!) and a Crested Shrike-tit. We also found the same group of Satin Bowerbirds towards the end of the walk. One reprieve of the weather was the noticeable lack of cicadas calling.
The afternoon walk gave the same great views of the range and its distinctive rock formations for the group, and also added some unexpected birds to our list – Pacific Black Duck and Great Cormorant – both flying overhead. We also spotted presumably the same Australian Kestrel, perched on the same tree as the day before. Despite the gloomier weather, birds were more abundant and we recorded 37 species for the day, only missing Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike from Saturday’s excursion. The two orchids recorded were Chiloglottis valida (Common Bird Orchid) and Microtis sp., neither of which had open flowers.
Cathedral Range Bird List – Sunday 27 October 2024
Leader: Jack Airey
Facilitators: Alison & Peter Rogers
12 SEANA members
| Grey Shrike-thrush | Kookaburra | Grey Fantail | Sulphur-crested Cockatoo |
| Striated Pardalote | Spotted Pardalote | Little Raven | Yellow-faced Honeyeater |
| Red Wattlebird | King Parrot | Golden Whistler | White-throated Treecreeper |
| Satin Bowerbird | Eastern Yellow Robin | Sacred Kingfisher | White-browed Scrub-wren |
| Whipbird (h) | Superb Fairy-wren | Crested Shrike-tit | Brown-headed Honeyeater |
| Pied Currawong | Tawny Frogmouth | Brown Thornbill | White-naped Honeyeater |
| Brown Goshawk | Striated Thornbill | Fantail Cuckoo | Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo |
| Long-billed Corella | Pacific Black Duck | Magpie | Grey Butcherbird |
| Crimson Rosella | Gang Gang Cockatoo | Nankeen Kestrel | Great Cormorant |
| 36 birds | |||
ABN 23 918 778 150
Incorporation No A0044963D