MEG Conservation Co-operative
The MEG group consists of people who are passionate about the Grampians-Gariwerd environment and its plant and animal life. We share a remote, wooded property with an old house that has been carefully kept over the years. The house has no electricity, but for the comfort of members, there is an open fire, a wood-fired stove and a wood-chip water heater. In recent years the property has suffered from both flood and wildfire, but with hard work from dedicated members, the house is as good as it has ever been... or better.
Early August 2015
When we arrived for this visit there were signs of recent rain, and the regrowth from the 2014 fire had continued well since our April visit. It rained on most days during our one week's stay, but it did not stop us going out. One morning there was frost after a clear night, but cloud soon appeared and it rained a little later. Wildflowers were abundant in nearby areas of the Grampians. A family of White-browed Babblers was active on the property. They have built numerous roosting nests in bare, burnt shrubs. The post-fire habitat seems to be ideal for them. Other birds were using the bare, burnt branches as perches for preening or viewpoints for sit-and-wait foraging. Some eucalypts near the house were in flower, providing food for the ever-present New Holland Honeyeaters. Several times a Whistling Kite flew overhead, generally pursued by calling ravens.
We recorded a total of 44 bird species at the property or within a short walk beside the river to the north or into the forest to the south. Here they are in order of Christidis and Boles 2008:
We recorded a total of 44 bird species at the property or within a short walk beside the river to the north or into the forest to the south. Here they are in order of Christidis and Boles 2008:
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Emu
Australian Wood Duck Crested Pigeon Little Pied Cormorant Whistling Kite Masked Lapwing Galah Long-billed Corella Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Rainbow Lorikeet Crimson Rosella Eastern Rosella Red-rumped Parrot Fan-tailed Cuckoo |
Laughing Kookaburra
White-throated Treecreeper Brown Treecreeper Superb Fairy-wren White-browed Scrubwren Yellow-rumped Thornbill Buff-rumped Thornbill Brown Thornbill Spotted Pardalote White-plumed Honeyeater Noisy Miner Red Wattlebird New Holland Honeyeater White-browed Babbler Varied Sittella |
Golden Whistler
Grey Shrike-thrush Australian Magpie Pied Currawong Grey Fantail Willie Wagtail Australian Raven Restless Flycatcher Magpie-lark White-winged Chough Jacky Winter Scarlet Robin Silvereye Welcome Swallow Red-browed Finch |
MEG house from the nearby river. The only obvious sign of the 2014 fires from this view is the burnt trunk in the right foreground.
Female Superb Fairy-wren.
Male Superb Fairy-wren in breeding plumage.
Varied Sittella in the middle of foraging.
New Holland Honeyeater under a flowering eucalypt where it had been feeding earlier.
Silvereyes perched close together in a bare, burnt bush.
White-browed Babbler on the way to feather its nest. I wonder if it is for one of the many roosting nests or if there is a breeding nest as well. The feathers look like they once belonged to a Galah.
A visit to the property from 7 to 11 April 2015
This was our first visit for some time. We were worried about what we might find, knowing the area had been badly burnt by wildfire in the summer of 2014. We had heard from other members that the house had not been burnt, but there were many signs of the fire about the property. We were impressed to see much regrowth on many of the fire-damaged plants and incredible numbers of young wattle trees of different species. Birds were numerous; we recorded 37 identifiable species as well as a Corella species on the property or within a short walk of it. I noted in the MEG-house visitors' book that I would list them here, so here they are (in order of Chrisitidis and Boles 2008):
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Emu
Australian Wood Duck Crested Pigeon Whistling Kite Galah Corella species (Little or Long-billed) Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Crimson Rosella Red-rumped Parrot Laughing Kookaburra White-throated Treecreeper Superb Fairy-wren |
Striated Thornbill
Yellow-rumped Thornbill Brown Thornbill Spotted Pardalote White-plumed Honeyeater Noisy Miner Red Wattlebird New Holland Honeyeater White-browed Babbler Golden Whistler Grey Shrike-thrush Dusky Woodswallow Australian Magpie |
Pied Currawong
Grey Currawong Grey Fantail Willie Wagtail Australian Raven Magpie-lark White-winged Chough Jacky Winter Scarlet Robin Eastern Yellow Robin Welcome Swallow Red-browed Finch Diamond Firetail |
Superb Fairy-wren
Willie Wagtail on burnt stump
Female Scarlet Robin
Red-browed Finches amongst the bracken