I arrived at my holiday accommodation in South Gippsland two days ago. Now, we set out for our first big birding trip: Tarra-Bulga National Park.
We drove up the Tarra Valley Road, a beautiful scenic drive through lush wet forests filled with Tree Ferns and towering Mountain Ash Trees. The beautiful Tarra River, meandered alongside the single-lane road. We crossed over a bridge and pulled over to a rest area. The river flowed past us and a mossy rock face loomed on the other side of the bank. A Gang-gang Cockatoo screeched overhead and came to perch in a tree, showing his pink head. A magpie warbled, and a Golden Whistler echoed it’s song through the forest as mist floated through the tall trees. As we moved back to the car a White-throated Treecreeper called.
Check out the eBird checklist for Tarra Valley Road Rest Point.
As we continued up Tarra Valley Road, through retreats and cottages, I spotted a Slender Tree Fern! These tall and skinny ferns are much rarer then your normal rough tree fern, and are found in temperate rainforest like Tarra-Bulga National Park. There are even some back home, in the Dandenong Ranges!
Now in the Tarra-Bulga National Park, our next stop was a lookout, looking over a gushing waterfall. Due to recent rain, some trees where dragging in the water, suggesting there was more water than normal.
We arrived at our destination and the start of our planned hike, the Tarra-Bulga National Park Visitor Centre. This is where most of the walks begin from in the national park, including the famous Corrigan’s suspension bridge, spanning over a fern gully.
Before I go any further, I’ve got to mention my bird target. When I read up about Tarra-Bulga National Park birding it is said to be a great spot Pilotbirds, a small brown wet forest bird that I have never seen. The visitor centre picnic area is said to be one of the best spots. So, after we munched on our lunch in the carpark, I went into the visitor centre, picked up a map and prepared to set off on our walk, in search of a Pilotbird.
Read part two, coming soon, to hear about our 5km hike around the Tarra-Bulga National Park and over the Corrigan’s Suspension Bridge in search of Pilotbirds.