Following up from a post by Martyn Stewart on the aftermath of the Black Saturday fires Nicole and I made a trip up to visit the area along the Acheron Way.

The first stop was shortly after dawn was at the Acheron Gap. The area is Cool Temperate Rainforest (see midway down this page on the Victorian Rainforest Alliance website for pics of the Acheron and Cement Creek areas) and was untouched by the fires.

The mics were placed under a dripping tree -- another field craft lesson -- so there is a quite a bit of "water drops on ground atmospherics". Very prominent in the recording is a Superb Lyrebird calling from the top of a tall tree. I'm not sure if the bird was alarm calling due to my presence nearby or if this is a normal part of their repertoire?

Update: According to Vicki Powys the lyrebird was VERY alarmed by my presence. Ooops!

Recording at the Acheron Gap

Recording Gear: Tascam HDP2 (Oade Super Mod), AT3032 in a parallel boundary array

Conditions: Approximately 12C, Misty, damp

We visited 100 Acres Park in Park Orchards today in an attempt to see the Scarlet Honeyeaters recently reported on Birdline. We parked near the entrance on Arundel Road. As soon as I got out of the car I saw some movement in a large Callistemon tree in the front garden of the house bordering the park. As I looked through the binoculars I saw the bright red head of the Scarlet Honeyeater feeding on a Callistemon Flower, a grey female bird was nearby.

Wattle Track

100 acres park is a significant bushland remnant and contains five communities of native plants which include stringy bark/box peppermint open forest on the ridges and southern slopes; red box open forest on exposed northern slopes in the eastern section; candlebark open forest on lower north-west slopes and on north-east and south-east slopes; manna gum/swamp gum in gullies and aquatic communities scattered on stream lines.

After having a good look at the honeyeaters we headed through some large pine trees into the park, Eastern Spinebill, Red-Browed Finch and Brown Thornbill flew out from the bordering garden. We took Wattle Track and headed down into a gully in the centre of the park. The park was in good condition and was alive with birds. We seemed to be surrounded by Golden and Rufous Whistlers as they called from all directions, a Crested Shrike-Tit was quietly feeding, Yellow-faced and White-naped Honeyeaters zipped around in the tree tops. Other birds in the area were a pair of White-winged Trillers, Eastern Yellow Robin and White-Browed Treecreeper. A Scarlet Robin was heard calling at the intersection with High Track, later we were able to find a female of this species. As we walked Australian White-Ibis, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Galahs and Crimson Rosella flew overhead. Several times we came across Scarlet Honeyeaters as they moved through the tree tops.

We walked back towards the car along ridge track and came across the site where the an old homestead had been, there were fewer birds along here. Back towards Arundel Road we heard an Olive-Backed Oriole calling and found a colony of Bell Miner along the border of the park in this area.

An amazing patch of bush teeming with birds. Check out our 100 Acres trip list.

This is one of the first recordings I made. This was madeusing an Audio Technica AT897 shotgun mic and Sony Minidisc recorder on a BOCA bird survey of the Yellingbo Reserve, east of Melbourne.