A week of walks: Episode 1 - Cuumbeun Nature Reserve

Somehow I have been appointed to provide guidance of one sort or another for three field trips this week. (I had originally thought it was four, but the fourth one turned out to be a form of rain insurance and wasn't required.)    I tend to regard the consequent set of posts as a serial rather than a mini-series, mainly because I loathe the term 'mini' - apart from when followed by 'Cooper S'.

The first of these walks  took place on 3 April in Cuumbeun Nature Reserve.  The walk was sponsored by Queanbeyan Land Care and covered an area on the top of the Eastern Escarpment.

The roll-up was good - about a dozen people from various groups and of various areas and levels of expertise.  My role was primarily as a birding specialist.

Quite a few forbs and shrubs were flowering.  Brachyscome rigidula was expected as was the first stirrings of Grevillea lanigera.  The only one of these I photographed was Styphelia triflora. 

After a fair bit of searching I came across a colony of Diplodium decurvum, the giant greenhood that seems to be turning up everywhere at the moment.  I did have some snaps of a related species in the Kowen post but here it is!

Birds were neither numerous not particularly diverse for some reason.  I ended up writing down 15 species, mostly very common.  The highlight began with hearing and then seeing a White-eared Honeyeater giving an alarm call.  It seemed to be hanging about just outside a clump of dense vegetation.  This led me to wonder if there was a raptor lurking therein.  On peering with my bins I found this:

Or, rather, these as there is a second Southern Boobook, which has done a slightly better job of concealing itself, on the left hand side of the image.