Murray Lord asks: 1. I read a trip report of a birding tour that claimed to have seen Tasmanian Thornbills at the Peter Murrell Reserve. It seems to me to be unlikely. Are there any records of "Tasmanians" there. As both tour leaders are aquaintances of mine I would love to tell them that they don't know what they were looking at! Mind you, I have always found them hard to tell apart.
2. I periodically get asked to suggest spots to see Tasmanian endemics around Hobart. Can anyone suggest any back up spots for Scrubtit? I always send people to Fern Tree Glade, but when I was there recently I didn't find one. Of course there are plenty of spots further West, but I wondered if there are other sites around the mountain.
We've once seen Tasmanians at the Botanical Gardens, though admittedly, we generally find them in wetter forests, except on King Island where they're (almost)the only Tornbill (Browns VERY rare), and we have also seen Tas's in drier forest at Douglas Apsley NP on the East Coast.
ReplyDeleteWe have seen Scrubtits just a little way along the pipeline track at Neika, going towards Wellington Falls (patch of damp forest there). I expect they'd be along the pipeline track near the aqueducts at Ferntree, as well.
It might not be close enough to Hobart, but I have seen scrubtits on Bruny Is, on the Mavista Rainforest Walk.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting that John and Shirley saw Tasmanians at Douglas Apsley, because I was just there over the weekend and spent ages trying to ID the Thornbills I was seeing. I reluctantly decided they were Browns, due to the cream-coloured underside and streaked throat. I have yet to see a Tasmanian Thornbill, or should I say I have yet to ID one! There are a few sites around the mountain I will try soon.
Mona
The ones we saw at Douglas Apsley were over 12 months ago! We were also there las week, and were mostly spending time wiht friends, so didn't have much time to do any serious birding. We did hear thornbills, but I THINK they were Browns, though hard to tell just from calls. I hope a Tas T'bill gives you a really good look, soon, Mona.
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