Thursday, October 20, 2016

Pengilly Scrub- after the bushfire

Pengilly Scrub is a small reserve to the north of Adelaide. It was almost totally burned out in the Pinery bushfire in November 2015. Over seven days the Pinery bushfire burned over 65,000 Hectares (210,000 Acres). Adelaide has had exceptional rainfall this winter so I decided to go and see how Pengilly was recovering after the fire.

The understory was growing well, and there were signs of the gum trees sprouting new leaves, but many of the larger trees were down.

There were plenty of birds though, and two Western Grey Kangaroos.

The most common bird by far was the Rainbow Bee-eater, a summer visitor to South Australia. I found a favoured perch and this chap was happy to keep returning until I had enough photos.




There were also plenty of Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters, Red-rumped Parrots, and, of course, Willy Wagtails.


 

I did notice that there were very few small birds, no finches or thornbills, and only a single pair of Dusky Woodswallows.

The only raptor was a distant Brown Falcon.

I'll try to get back there in a few weeks time to see how things are going.