PIGEON HOUSE MOUNTAIN
In our infinite wisdom we decided
to climb Pigeon Mountain – named by Captain Cook in 1770 because it does really
look like a “pigeon coop with a rounded roof”. However to get to top you have an 800 meter steep climb. Also to get to the start of
the climb you have to drive 20Km over dirt tracks steep in places and well
rutted, fine if you have a 4*4 but not in a saloon hire car. Lucky for us we
saw a small flock of Glossy-black Cockatoos along the way and not much else.
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| Glossy Black-Cockatoo - you can just make out a brown head and yellow neck patch |
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| Glossy Black-Cockatoo showing the extent of res in the tail |
The walk begins steeply through a
forest, after a kilometre it gets steeper and you have to scramble over
boulders before you reach a plateau. Along this flat walk there are many flowering
shrubs and a few more birds.
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| Blossom on the plateau |
Then there is another 1km steep climb through more
forest before you reach the final dozen set of metal ladders which take you to
the top. Lucky for me I had my binoculars with me because I was able to stop
and gasp for breath whilst pretending to bird watch. Whilst doing this I found
a Brown Treecreeper, Brown Thornbill, Crimson Rosella and a Grey Shrike-Thrush
(harmonica).
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| one of the 12 sets of steps at the top of Pigeon Mountain |
But the best was yet to come, we
finally reaches the foot of the metal ladders, we climbed 3 sets then they got
very steep and one set has no handles, this freaked Dawn our and she went back
down to the lower steps to wait for me. I continued to the top had marvellous
views for miles around and just as I was about to climb back down I saw a
little birdie flit amongst the rocks. I knew what it was straight away, the endemic
to NSW, ROCKWARBLER. Not only did I see it well but I got off a few shots with
Dawn’s new camera, ha! Fantastic, a bird I really wanted to see and well worth 2
hours of steep climbing to see.
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| The endemic to NSW - Rockwarbler |
You can guess what we did for the rest of the day, after
getting home at 2pm eating a late lunch, yes we just flaked out.
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| some views from the top |
Bird sightings from the terrace during the afternoon
included good views of a Square-tailed Kite that flew over at least 3 times.
Just booked a table a Rick Stein’s restaurant nearby, ouch
that’s going to hurt my deep pockets!
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