West Wyalong birding weekend

These are not Robertson birds. They are birds photographed on a trip with registered Bird Banders to Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve, just a few kilometres south-west from West Wyalong.

My excuse for this indulgence (going bush for the weekend and blogging about these birds), is that I grew up with Mark Clayton, a Regional Organiser for the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme who trained as a Bird Bander with my father, Steve Wilson. So there is an element of a sentimental journey in this trip for me. Mark went on to work at CSIRO, and has since retired and still bands birds as a volunteer, and helps train other banders. For me, it is a fascinating thought that I knew Mark as a fourteen year old schoolboy, and he is still banding birds in his retirement. As the French say "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose".

I also met up with Neville Schrader OAM, a very experienced naturalist and long-standing Bird Bander himself. Neville's wife Shaydeen was also helping out. I also met up again with Anthony Overs, a senior Bird Bander and fellow Blogger, who I had met previously at Charcoal Tank. With other banders Jen, Kim and Carole and Stewart, and his son Duncan, it was a very pleasant weekend.

There are so many photos, I shall simply name the birds, with little discussion.

Hotlinks take you to other websites with more information about each species.
The image files are all relatively small (to facilitate fast loading)
But you can enlarge the images by clicking on them, to see the finer details.

Inland Thornbill - note the reddish eye and throat markings (like Brown Thornbill)

Eastern Yellow Robin

Brown-headed Honeyeater - note the difference in markings.

A Southern Boobook Owl stayed well and truly out of reach.

Head of Chestnut-rumped Thornbill. Note the pale eye and scalloped head markings

Tail view of  Chestnut-rumped Thornbill

Silvereye

Juvenile Golden Whistler (note the rufous plumage)

Grey Fantail - a dark coloured specimen displaying its tail

Horsefield's Bronze-Cuckoo

Diagnostic markings on tail of Horsefield's Bronze-Cuckoo

Double-barred Finch

Yellow (Little) Thornbill - note the fine markings around the eye

Plain olive coloured tail of Yellow Thornbill. Note the short tail.

Painted Button-quail - head and chest. Probably a male bird.

Foot of Painted Button-quail

Red-capped Robin - male

Red-capped Robin - female

Rufous Whistler - male

Rufous Whistler - female

Spotted Pardalote - male

Striated Pardalote - broad wing striped form (6 white lines on wing)

Variegated Fairy-wren = male just reverting to breeding plumage

White-eared Honeyeater - adult with grey head

White-eared Honeyeater - immature bird with green head cap, and yellow gape mark.

White-plumed Honeyeater - head and eye markings

White-plumed Honeyeater note the diagnostic mark on its neck.

White-throated Treecreeper - male (no orange spot on throat)

White-throated Treecreeper - female (note orange spot below eye)

Huge hind toe of White-throated Treecreeper. No wonder they can climb trees so well.

Yellow-rumped Thornbill