We arrived at Lithgo Sewage Farm at 14:00 and birded here until 14:30, as we arrived two fantastic
Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo flew high overhead. The number of
Pink-eared Duck was amazing, around 150-200 birds, I had always wanted to see this species and they didn’t disappoint with their barred plumages and odd Shoveler like bills with small membraneous flaps at the tip of the upper mandible specially adapted for dappling and filtering microscopic organisms. Other ducks here included
Australian Shoveler,
Hardhead,
Freckled Duck,
Maned Duck as well as numerous
Hoary-headed Grebe, a single
Black-fronted Dotteral and
Australian Reed Warbler plus our first
Eastern Grey Kangaroo, a female with a well-grown joey.
Eastern Grey Kangaroo - Lithgow Sewage Farm
Part of flock of Pink-eared Duck at Lithgow Sewage Ponds. Also in this image are Grey Teal, Australian Shoveler, Pacific Black Duck and Common Coot
We had lunch at the small town of Capertee and then drove into the
Capertee Valley stopping at a few sites en-route including Glen Alice (Site 10) but heading for the bridge on Genowland road (Site 11) but as we drove the sky blackened and the rain started and by the time we got to the bridge the rain was torrential, still we had managed to see
Zebra Finch,
Australasian Pipit, Red-rumped Parakeet, Galah,
Little Corella,
Crimson Rosella,
Fairy Swallow,
Striated Pardalote,
Eastern Yellow Robin and
Hooded Robin,
Brown Treecreeper and
White-winged Chough amongst others. We headed back with a few brief stops between showers en-route and stopped for food at Katoomba, massive plates of beef and seafood, we crashed at around 22:00 at the Bowen Inn Motel, Lithgow.
A useful bird trail guide to the Capertee Valley can be found
here and the sites referred to are those shown in the guide. This is a map of the site from the trail guide:
Red-necked Wallaby - Capertee Valley
Zebra Finch - Capertee Valley
Red-rumped Parakeet - Capertee Valley
Little Corella - Capertee Valley
White-winged Chough - Capertee Valley
Links to other days of the trip
