Today we went on a walk, organised by Birds Australia and led by Marilyn Hewish, to the Long Forest Nature Conservation Reserve. The Long Forest is the only patch of Mallee vegetation that can be found close to Melbourne and as Marilyn said 'its like a complete Mallee habitat in miniature' and contains birds which aren't found in other habitats near to Melbourne.
One of the highlights of the day was discovering a Spotted Pardalote entering a nesting tunnel in the small escarpment overlooking the Coimadai Creek. Striated Pardalotes were also present, one was displaying territorial wing flicking and also looked as if it may have a nesting tunnel.
The forest was surprisingly quiet in some areas but near the Coimadai Creek it was full of honeyeaters, here we saw White-naped, Yellow-tufted, White-eared and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters. Later we saw a Wedged-tailed Eagle soaring over the treetops. Other interesting birds for the day were Brown and White-throated Treecreepers, a pair of Whistling Kites, White-winged Choughs, Buff-rumped Thornbills, Scarlet Robin, Weebill, Grey Currawong a Fan-tailed Cuckoo was heard calling. Marilyn showed us a place where Speckled Warblers and Chestnut-rumped Heathwrens can be seen but not today.
We saw 35 species for the day in the Long Forest and 21 species in the nearby Merrimu Picnic ground.
Old House Track
