Cocoparra

We arrived at Cocoparra in the afternoon and drove to the Woolshed Flats camping ground. Initially we were unimpressed by the degraded conditions of the camp ground but as we'd just spent a week at Gundabooka National Park I think we were a bit spoilt. However, soon after setting up the tent by the dry creek things improved, we noticed a pair of Jacky Winter with a nest just above our tent, our presence didn't seem to bother them too much as they foraged for insects around our campsite. Other birds also appeared Dusky Woodswallows, Mallee Ringneck, Mulga Parrots, Varied Sitella and White-browed Babblers noisily foraging around the creek bed. In the distance a Western Gerygone and Rufous Whistler were calling.

Around 4pm we went for a walk in the bush near to the camp ground and saw many thornbills, a few honeyeaters and what looked like a single female Black Honeyeater. In the open woodland area near to the fire management track we saw many birds foraging on or near the ground, including Crimson Chat, Brown Treecreeper, Rufous Songlark, around 12 White-winged Trillers, Southern Whiteface and Yellow Robin. Back at the campsite Peaceful Doves were cooing from the trees. A Black-eared Cuckoo made an appearance calling from the top of a dead tree until it was chased off by another bird.

The next day birds were still active around the campsite we could hear a Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo calling with the Back-eared Cuckoo calling for comparison in the background. A Restless Flycatcher was actively hunting repeatedly making his scissor grinding call.

After packing up the campsite we headed for Binya State Forest to look for a Turquoise Parrot. We had heard Wattle Dam was a good site to see this bird. We found Wattle Dam just off Wattle Track, the site was being patrolled by a large group of Choughs which called to alert all of the birds in the area of our presence with their loud descending calls. We spent about 30 minutes looking and noticed a few Red-Rumped Parrots but could not find any Turquoise, on the way back to the car a couple of parrots flew into a thicket of Cypress, while I was looking intently into the bushes Paul saw a lovely Turquoise Parrot perched in the tree in the sunshine. Initially we thought it to be female until the wind blew its wing covets and revealed a brilliant patch of red. After a few minutes the parrot obligingly faced the other way to show us his backside then after a few more minutes made a series of short calls then flew off making longer flight calls so that we could hear the difference.

Falcon Falls

After this we headed up to Spring Hill Picnic area for a walk up to Falcon Falls. This is a very pretty walk up to what would be a small waterfall near the top of the rocky cliffs if not dry, many small birds were seen on the way including Silvereye. There was still a small amount of water near the top of the cliff, some Peaceful Doves and White-browed Babblers were seen nearby. After a short while we saw a lovely Peregrine Falcon sitting on a tree near the top of the cliffs, we could hear loud calls coming from with a crevice nearby, the falcon took of and flew into the crevice where we assumed there was a nest with chick.

In our short stay we saw an impressive number of birds however there did appear to be a lack of honeyeaters, many plants were flowering however not the honeyeater attracting species. A longer stay with visits to more sites would most likely reveal many more species. This is a very scenic park really worth visiting.

The Murrumbidgee Field Nats have some helpful notes on Cocoparra and Binya included in the Bird Routes of Griffth .

Cocoparra Trip List

Map of Cocoparra

Yenda Supermarket: A good place to buy supplies. They make a good foccaica and also sell affogatto here.