COG laps Hall

It was an interesting choice for how to get to Hall from Bunda St.  The main offering from Google Maps made no allowance for the efforts of the traffic management cartel to screw-up the roads so I ignored that and went via the GDE, which was surprisingly easy as leaving home at 0800 was peak hour (by Canberra standards).  The time estimate of 21 minutes was about right.
My usual alternate route is via William Hovell Dr which I rejected as the traffic management cartel have that quarantined at Coppins Crossing Rd.
Here is the route we followed for the walk.
23 members and guests gathered on Gladstone St in very windy weather for a stroll round the village.  Good numbers of birds were feeding on the oval: 28 Red-rumped Parrots; 9 Eastern Rosellas; 5 Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (which number was swamped by a flock of approximately 30 which overflew  - noisily).  2 Rainbow Lorikeets were seen in the flowering eucalypt outside the pub - which still had a fair amount of blossom.  Not a trace of anything resembling a Scaly-breasted Lorikeet!

 We headed off on Gladstone St for a look into some woodland, which was almost bird-free apart from a flock of 12 Superb Fairywrens.  Continuing around the village a tree full of mistletoe (Amyema sp.) ...
... was scanned but no birds.  Listable birds in this part of the outing included Pied Currawong, Noisy Miner ...
 ... and Common Myna.
Red Jungle Fowl (domestic form) were not regarded as listable, despite ranging freely on the roadside.

We extended the route up through some bush with much flowering Acacia
A. boormanii (introduced)
A. baileyana (considered by some as the most evil introduction, coming from about 100km NW)
 on the Northern side of the village.  A distant Wedge-tailed Eagle, hanging stationary into the gale, was the sole raptor for the day.  More notable birds seen in this area included Sulphur -crested Cockatoo poking out of a hollow;

...  Yellow Thornbill; Buff-rumped Thornbill (Carrying Nest material) and 2 Scarlet Robins (as both sexes, possibly a pair but not seen interacting).

To make it clear - I like the photos of the male so included 2.  I didn't see the female!  A White-throated Treecreeper broke ranks by staying on the visible face of a tree for long enough for a photo.
In fairness to native vegetation we saw some Acacia melanoxylon which I snapped, even though it was not yet in bloom.

 In total 35 species were recorded, which is not a bad haul in view of the weather. ​A full list is at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S59140122 Certainly the bush to the North of the village was the best area, being somewhat sheltered from the wind.

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