John & Shirley Tongue write: On Thursday we went exploring, to find THE waterhole in the Red Gate section of the Meehan Range Recreation Area. There were LOTS of species around (positively identified 21 species by sight or call in a couple of hours), but it was the middle of the day, so many things were staying away from the waterhole. Hence, I include a shot of the pool itself, but don't have any shots of birds there. A bit of a bonus was the feed of blackberries we had near the entrance to the walking track! One thing that did strike us was the number of Yellow-rumped Thornbills around. We saw lots last week, too, out to the East of Sorell. Maybe it's just the time of year, or maybe the areas we've been in, but we haven't really noticed so many before. Of course, they're not going to sit still to be photographed! Anyway the waterhole would cetainly be worth a re-visit closer to dawn or dusk.[I can confirm, John, that this is IT. I was there earlier on Thursday, but I think the cooler weather affected bird numbers. I think you will find that at this time of year, almost any water will attract birds. I know that wheel ruts with water in, will often attract birds from 'miles' around in dry or sandy areas.]
2 comments:
Alan,
Thanks for sharing your "domain" with us - both the waterhole, and the Blog! We have been to this area on numerous occasions, always finding it good for birding, too, but we've always walked up the track on the other side of the "creek" to where the waterhole is, so we'd always missed it until yesterday. We alsmost missed it then, too, as we were just about to turn back, thinking you might have meant a different area in Meehan Range. We're glad we didn't, and shall now ad the waterhole to our sorties in this area.
I'm not sure whether to suggest visitors form an orderly queue, make reservations or sell tickets! Went there again this AM--great morning! Our list for here, including overflying species is over 70.
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