We had arrived at Hay and first went to our accomodation – a cabin Valerie had booked at the Hay Caravan Park. The park was a short walk to the Murrumbidgee River, and we made frequent visits to see the trees and look for birdlife.
Here are some of the birds we saw on our first afternoon in Hay –
Galahs and Red-rumped Parrots –
White-plumed Honeyeaters
Little Wattlebird
Yellow Rosella
And some of the River Red Gums in the Murrumbidgee River –
On the next day, – 16 September, Valerie had organised a plane flight in a light aircraft. That was at 4pm so we had plenty of time to visit some of the area. We headed into Hay and met up with Brian and Faye, and then set off along the road towards Maude. Maude is a small town near the junction of the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee Rivers. On the way we saw plenty of birds.
Straw-necked Ibis
Black Kite
Brown Songlark
And some photos showing the landscape. Hay is one of the flattest places in Australia, and there are no rocks. After a lot of recent rain, the area was very green and moist. There were lots of flowers.
We did turn off and went along to road to the Darcoola section of Kalyarr National Park, but the road was a bit too muddy.
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Spotted Harrier (juvenile)
Fairy Martins
Black Kite
Straw-necked Ibis
Billy Buttons
Pied Butcherbird
Emu
Black Kite
we were now at Maude, and there we saw a lot of birds near the weir.
Pink-eared Ducks
Nankeen Night Herons
Grey Shrike-thrush
Pelican
Nankeen Night Heron
White-plumed Honeyeater
Black Kite
Nankeen Night Herons
White-necked Heron
Black Kite
On the way back to Hay, we stopped off at Hay Weir.
Whistling Kite
Purple-backed Fairy-wren
White-winged Chough
Straw-necked Ibis
Whistling Kite
Sacred Kingfisher
Yellow-billed Spoonbill
This had been a very good start to our trip. Now we were heading to the airport for our flight.