New Holland Honeyeater, Browns Road

Eucalyptus flowers

A few weeks ago I visited a locality known as Brown's Road. This is about a twenty minute drive from my home in Murray Bridge, South Australia.  The area is a mixture of mallee (eucalyptus) woodland and native pine, with an understory of smaller shrubs and plants like acacias (wattles). A good part of this reserve has been planted, not exclusively with local native plants but with some introduced plant species from other parts of Australia. In recent years this has become a popular birding spot with South Australian birders.

On this occasion the birding was very slow and I only saw and heard a handful of birds. Granted, I did not walk too far into the forest because of my aching back. Although I had my camera at the ready, the only bird I managed a photo of was the New Holland Honeyeater shown below.

Other birds seen or heard include:

• White-browed Babblers - seen skulking in the bushes
• Galahs - flying overhead
• White-winged Chough - heard in the distance, and seen on roadside as we drove off
• Red Wattlebird - they wouldn't perch long enough for a photo
• Peaceful Dove - heard nearby
• Grey Fantail - it wouldn't sit still for a photo
• Yellow Thornbill - flitting around in a bush but wouldn't come out to pose
• Silvereye - a small flock flew overhead calling
• Grey Shrike-thrush - heard calling in the distance
• Adelaide Rosella - about four flew quickly through the trees
• Crested Pigeon - several seen perched on the farm fence opposite the reserve
• Weebills - feeding high in the tree canopies

You can see photos of some of these birds by using the "Search" facility in the top right hand corner of each page on this site.

You can also seen photos of all these species and many more on my other site Trevor's Birding.  That site also has many more articles about Australian birds.

New Holland Honeyeater

Browns Road near Murray Bridge, South Australia

Acacia (wattle) in flower at Browns Road, South Australia