Alysse's Travel and Birding Adventures: Onkaparinga River National Park

Thursday, 16 May 2019

Hardy's Scrub, Onkaparinga River National Park (Fleurieu Birding)

Today I took advantage of a morning off and headed to Hardy's Scrub in the Onkaparinga River National Park. I had been to this part of the National Park a couple of times before - the last time was two years ago - and I wanted to revisit it. I drove out through Clarendon, and parked at Gate 19 on Chapel Hill Road. I arrived at 8:30am and stayed for nearly 2 hours. I got a few nice little bush bird species, most of which were too quick or too obscured by vegetation for a photo, but here are a few I did managed to photograph.

Golden Whistler, Hardy's Scrub

Hardy's Scrub

Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Hardy's Scrub

Hardy's Scrub

Crescent Honeyeater, Hardy's Scrub

While I was away in the South East I decided that I would like to dedicate more time to exploring and birding on the Fleurieu Peninsula, and this morning's outing was my first effort towards this. I don't have any specific goals, just to have a good time and hopefully see some great birds and get some photos :-)

Hardy's Scrub Hike Bird Species List:

1. Galah

2. Adelaide Rosella

3. Red-rumped Parrot

4. Musk Lorikeet

5. Rainbow Lorikeet

6. Superb Fairywren

7. Eastern Spinebill

8. Yellow-faced Honeyeater

9. Red Wattlebird

10. Crescent Honeyeater

11. New Holland Honeyeater

12. Striated Pardalote

13. White-browed Scrubwren

14. Brown Thornbill

15. White-browed Babbler

16. Australian Magpie

17. Grey Currawong

18. Grey Shrikethrush

19. Golden Whistler

20. Grey Fantail

21. Little Raven

22. Silvereye

Tuesday, 25 July 2017

Onkaparinga River National Park - July 2017

This morning I went for a long walk in the Onkaparinga River National Park. It was a bit cold, and quite overcast, but luckily for me it didn't rain! The Sundews car park was closed for upgrades (including a new toilet and picnic area according to the website!), so I parked at the next gate and did the Echidna Hike including the extra bit to the waterfall lookout, and the Nature Hike. I hadn't done the Echidna Hike before, so that was a new one for me, and it was really nice. Usually I do the Gorge Trail, but I decided to take it easy today as that one is quite steep!

I had a nice encounter with a Spotted Pardalote, which was collecting material for her nest, and saw her partner nearby. I saw lots of New Holland Honeyeaters, Red Wattlebirds and Little Ravens, as well as Galahs, Adelaide Rosellas, Rainbow Lorikeets, Spinebills, Brown and Striated Thornbills, Crescent and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and a single Mistletoebird. Near the "waterfall" (which was a small trickle) I saw Fan-tailed Cuckoos and Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoos, both of which I don't see very often, and the HBC was my first one for the year, so I'm now on 160 species in SA for the year. I also saw a pair of kangaroos (usually I see a lot more kangaroos in this park) and 2 koalas (which I never usually see in this park!).