Bird Group Excursion: Moorabool River Reserve (Golden Plains)
North of Batesford, along the Moorabool River, Golden Plains Shire has recently created a reserve on what was private farmland to conserve the riparian vegetation, birds, and other wildlife. Removal of weed trees and revegetation is underway. Perridak Ngubiyt, or “Freshwater home of the Platypus” is the proposed, yet to be ratified, name.
Birdlife includes waterbirds, woodland birds, and some grassland birds. Birds of note are a lone Brown Treecreeper, Tree Sparrows, a family of Eastern Yellow Robin, and some summer migrants such as Sacred Kingfisher, Rufous Songlark and White-winged Trillers might turn up. We expect to see 50 to 60 species. We plan to focus on bird calls and call ID and include some quiet listening periods.
We will also keep a lookout for a resident Koala and maybe a Rakali or Platypus in the river. Dale Smithyman from the Golden Plans Shire will hopefully join us.
The route is 4.5 km mainly along flat grassy ground, with a few dry/damp watercourse crossings. We’ll be taking 2 loops from the cars, with a break for a snack in the middle, so you can choose to do just one loop and then sit with a river view near where the cars are parked. If numbers are high, we will split into two groups and take the loops in turn.
We plan to finish by noon
Meet: 8:15 am for a 8:30 start. The access track entrance is near 11 Vigneron Ave in the Riverdance Estate. Access to the estate is from Riverdance Rd that runs north from the Midland Highway just west of Batesford. Depending on how wet the ground is we will drive in to a grassy area to park, otherwise we’ll park on the roadside.
Toilets: None. Closest are 5 mins drive to either United Petroleum westwards towards Ballarat or 5 mins to Batesford Roadhouse eastwards towards Geelong.
Bring: Morning tea/snacks/drinks. Most paths are grassed which can be long, so wear waterproof footwear if it’s been raining. Clothing to suit the weather, sunscreen and insect repellent, binoculars, camera. Mobile phone coverage is good.
Visitors are welcome.
Featured image: Photo by Graham Possingham, Eastern Shrike-tit Falcunculus frontatus, Moorabool River Reserve (Golden Plains), ML632250283
