All the Robins of Campbell Park

After Jerrabomberra and the Botanic Gardens, we had time to visit one more birding destination in Canberra before leaving for Queensland. There were lots of options (you could spend a year birding there and not get to all the good spots), but we ultimately decided to visit Campbell Park at the foot of Mount Ainslie, the highest point in Canberra. It was partly because it was easily accessible by public transportation and we were poor birders with no car, and partly because it had Speckled Warbler, an uncommon and near-threatened Australian endemic that's rather hard to find elsewhere. In general I tried to make this as little of a "listing" bird trip as possible, since I had very limited time and resources, but if the opportunity is there to see a difficult bird... I might as well. 

Our first visit to the park was in a late afternoon, and ended up being shorter than expected, mostly because the sun in Australia sets so damn early in the wintertime (no, I am not looking forward to the coming winter in the US). The bus dropped us off in front of a large office building, which turned out to be the headquarters of the Australian Defense Forces. We had to walk a while through a maze of parking lots, hoping that two foreigners with cameras and binoculars didn't look to suspicious, before we finally found the actual trailhead (follow the GPS coordinates provided here). 

The first animals we saw weren't birds, but Eastern Grey Kangaroos. Lots of kangaroos. Hundreds of kangaroos. Apparently the fields around Campbell Park are home to a huge population, and it's the best place in the ACT to see kangaroos, though we'd seen them in Jerrabomberra and the Botanic Gardens. 

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Most of the kangaroos were rather slim and cute, except for this absolute unit:

With the way it was looking at us, we decided to take pics quickly and then give it a wide berth.

At the trailhead there were mostly only the common birds like Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Crimson Rosellas, Welcome Swallows, and Superb Fairywrens. 

Welcome Swallows

Female Superb Fairywren

Another highlight was seeing a Wedge-tailed Eagle, the largest raptor in Australia, buzzing low over the fields and chasing around the kangaroos. Kangaroos seem like too large of prey for even a large eagle, but apparently they've been known to take down even full grown males- the 'roos certainly seemed nervous about it. The local population could probably take the thinning of its ranks anyway...

Wedge-tailed Eagle chasing kangaroos

We attempted some birding in the forested part of the park, following the directions I'd read in other trip reports, but there wasn't all that much to be seen- perhaps because it was near sunset, and bloody cold to boot. We only got one proper mixed flock of small birds, including Weebill, Brown Thornbill, Buff-rumped Thornbill, Spotted Pardalote, and my lifers of Grey Shrike-thrush, White-eared Honeyeater, and a beautiful male Scarlet Robin. Frustratingly, the Speckled Warbler was nowhere to be seen.

Weebill

Grey Shrikethrush 

Scarlet Robin

After a bit, it was getting darker and colder, so we made moves towards the exit. We stopped by the field, and as I was wasting time trying to find some LBJs that turned out to be nothing terribly interesting Nikki spotted the Wedge-tailed Eagle perched in a tree near us. It may be no Philippine Eagle, but it's still a properly majestic raptor.

Wedge-tailed Eagle

In addition to the impressive eagle, the sunset was absolutely gorgeous. I love living in the tropics, but there's something special about late evenings closer to the poles- the crisp fall air, the golden light, and overall feel of it makes it just a little bit magical. I'd forgotten what that felt like, so it was good to get a reminder.

Sunset with a soaring eagle.

Nikki and sunset- not a bad combination.

Unfortunately, despite the great sunset and cool wildlife, I didn't see a number of things I'd been hoping to see at the park, especially the darn Speckled Warbler. Since Nikki had something to do the next morning, I decided to return for sunrise and try a proper morning birding session. As it turned out, morning really is the best time to do Campbell Park, as the birding was fantastic, despite the early wake-up and cold weather.

The morning started with a sunrise-lit Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Eastern Rosella. In the woods, some of the first birds I saw were a lovely pair of Scarlet Robins, which gave me some incredibly close views, and a trio of Common Bronzewing, a ground-dwelling dove.

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

Eastern Rosella 

I think this is an immature male Scarlet Robin- seems like it has too much red on it to be a female.

Male Scarlet Robin

Common Bronzewing

Further along the forest trail, I happened upon a huge mixed flock of small birds, mostly Buff-rumped Thornbill, Grey Shrikethrush, Brown Thornbill, Weebill, and Spotted Pardalote. My favorite was a Varied Sittella, a strange nuthatch-like bird that's actually more closely related to whistlers and crows.

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Varied Sittella

Alas, while there were some Superb Fairywrens and Yellow-rumped Thornbills hopping around on the ground, none of them had the decency to turn into Speckled Warblers. I continued on, coming across a number of other small birds, none of which were what I was looking for. One nice surprise was a Rose Robin, an uncommon winter bird for Canberra, though unfortunately it wasn't a male in their spectacular Bright plumage, but rather a female showing only a tinge of pink on her breast.

A not-very-rosy Rose Robin

By that time it was after my self-imposed end time, so I started to make my way back to the bus stop, dejected at having missed out on one of my few proper targets for Australia. But all was not lost! I came across another small flock of birds on the ground, which after some inspection in my binoculars turned out to be Speckled Warblers! They were moving around the ground incredibly quickly and shyer than most other Australian birds, so I never got decent pictures, but I was happy to have finally seen them.

If you look closely you can see the Speckled Warbler!

Above in the trees were some other good birds, including a female Australian Golden Whistler, an Eastern Rosella, a pair of Red-rumped Parrots, and another beautiful Common Bronzewing. 

Australian Golden Whistler

Eastern Rosella

Common Bronzewing

Red-rumped Parrot

I got distracted once more on the way out by another flock of birds, including more thornbills, a very friendly pair of fantails in the form of a Grey Fantail and a Willie Wagtail, and even some surprise bonus lifers in the form of three honeyeaters: Brown-headed Honeyeater, White-eared Honeyeater, and White-eared Honeyeater (as well as some Noisy Miners, though those are less exciting).

Grey Fantail

Willie Wagtail

Yellow-rumped Thornbill

Brown-headed Honeyeater

Noisy Miner

In the fields, there was a huge flock of about 60 Galah, showing how they became an agricultural nuisance in Australia

Galah

A final surprise on the way out was a beautiful male Flame Robin, the fourth and last of the likely winter robins in the ACT.

Flame Robin

I left Campbell Park rather impressed with it as a birding site, as well as impressed with birding in Canberra. What it may lack in beaches and rainforests, it makes up for in some great-quality bushland and lots of cool wildlife. I missed out on a couple of target mammals (I will forever be jealous of Nikki's Spiny Echidna sighting) and some birds I'd have liked to see, but at least it gives me something to try for on my next visit.