Outing Report, Woondum NP Sat. 29th May

 A later but nonetheless chilly start to Saturday's field outing greeted 21 members and visitors(5) at the southern entrance of Woodnum NP west of Cooran. This was the first ever visit by our group to this NP (which straddles the boundary between the Noosa and Gympie local authority areas) and is generally believed to be an under-birded area. So it was ripe for exploration by the 18 participants who'd never previously visited. We took a track which ran roughly parallel to the southern boundary, starting in dry eucalyptus.woodland which gradually descended to mixed rainforest gullies with quite tall Flooded Gum. We utilized Steve and Carol Popple's local knowledge of the park with them leading from the front whilst the nominated leader lead from behind.

        Many of the birds choose to present themselves high in the canopy, making identification and photography an often lengthy and neck-straining exercise. But persistence was rewarded with some excellent views of perched Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, and for a lucky few a single Eastern Spinebill and male Mistletoebird feeding in the same mistletoe clump. Four pigeon species were recorded with the only raptors a pair of overflying Grey Goshawk. The most abundant species recorded (more heard than seen) were Bell Miner (20), with Dusky ,Scarlet, Lewin's, White-throated, White-naped ,Yellow-faced and Noisy Friarbird completing the honeyeaters. Parrots were well represented with both Rainbow and Scaly-breasred Lorikeets, Galah, King Parrot, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Pale-headed Rosella seen or heard.Only one species of cuckoo was heard, Shining Bronze, and surprisingly only a single Eastern Yellow Robin was seen. Eastern Whipbirds called from the undergrowth whilst Beown Gerygone and Brown Thornbill favoured the upper canopy..

      Towards the end of the walk, the lagging group spent some time inspecting the trunk of a large eucalyptus tree on which were numerous scratch marks. Discussion favoured Lace Monitor but Koala was also a possibility for some of the marks as Steve and I had seen one close-by this tree a year ago.

      A pleasant morning tea was taken back at the cars where bird call revealed 43 species had been recorded on the walk. This NP is well worth considering for spring and summer visits when the birds will be more active.

Russ Lamb