Birdguides - Capertee Valley
The Capertee Valley is a beautiful spot for birdwatching about 3 hours west of Sydney. The valley can only be reached by car; drive west from Sydney on the Great Western Highway, turn north on Highway 86 towards Mudgee. At Capertee, turn right on the tourist drive which leads to Glen Davis and Glen Alice. There is a camping ground with water and hot showers at Glen Davis. Self-contained farmhouse accommodation is available at some of the properties in the area. Capertee or Rylstone are the nearest towns with petrol and other supplies.
The entire length of the tourist road from Capertee to Glen Alice is good for birdwatching. The best way to bird the road is to stop when the habitat looks good and have a look around. Observe private property boundaries; many landowners do not appreciate trespassers.
Places to look:
Gardens of Stone National Park: Pull off on the many gravel turnouts for forest birds, including honeyeaters, Red-browed Treecreepers, Weebills, lyrebirds.
Airlie dam: There is a turnoff to a small open area and pond on the left after Gardens of Stone which is marked with red flags. When it is hot and dry the pond attracts Buff-rumped, Yellow-rumped and Yellow Thornbills and various other birds.
Nine-mile Hill: About 10 km from Capertee there is a steep hill which is the best place to see Regent Honeyeaters. Check in flowering ironbark trees for them.
Creeks: After the hill there are several creeks worth stopping at. All may have finches, including Diamond Firetails, Double-barred, Red-browed, Zebra and Plum-headed Finches. Plum-headed Finches are often seen at a creek crossing just after the Goolooinboin cattle property.
Woodland: Areas of eucalypt and casurina trees are home to forest birds such as Crested Shrike-tits, treecreepers, cuckoos, thornbills and honeyeaters: White-plumed, Fuscous, White-naped, Black-chinned, and Striped Honeyeaters. In the casurinas there may be Glossy Black-cockatoos.
Farmland: Check open grassy fields for finches, Red-capped, Hooded and Scarlet Robins, Jacky winters, Rufous Songlarks, Brown Treecreepers, Babblers, Brown Falcons, and Red-rumped and Turquoise Parrots.
Glen Davis: There is birdwatching information available at the Glen Davis Museum. The campground at the end of the road is good for Speckled Warblers, Barking Owl, Fuscous, Yellow-tufted and Black-chinned honeyeaters. For the more adventurous, the 22 km return walking track over the ridge to Newnes through Wollemi National Park starts just behind Glen Davis itself. Ask at the museum for a map.
Glen Alice: In the area around the church and cemetery at Glen Alice there are often bee-eaters and babblers. also check the forest area behind the community hall. When the trees are in flower, they attract honeyeaters and Little Lorikeets.
Bird List
- Brown Quail
- Painted Button-quail
- Black Duck
- Grey Teal
- Wood Duck
- Black-shouldered Kite
- Whistling Kite
- Square-tailed Kite
- Wedge-tailed Eagle
- Little Eagle
- Brown Goshawk
- Brown Falcon
- Peregrine Falcon
- Nankeen Kestrel
- Common Bronzewing
- Peaceful Dove
- Glossy-black Cockatoo
- Gang-gang Cockatoo
- Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
- Galah
- Musk Lorikeet
- Little Lorikeet
- Swift Parrot (winter)
- King Parrot
- Crimson Rosella
- Eastern Rosella
- Red-rumped Parrot
- Turquoise Parrot
- Pallid Cuckoo
- Fan-tailed Cuckoo
- Shining-bronze Cuckoo
- Southern Boobook
- Barking Owl
- Tawny Frogmouth
- Owlet Nightjar
- Laughing Kookaburra
- Sacred Kingfisher
- Dollarbird
- Rainbow Bee-eater
- Superb Lyrebird
- Varied Sittella
- Red-browed Treecreeper
- White-throated Treecreeper
- Brown Treecreeper
- Variegated Fairy-wren
- Superb Fairy-wren
- Spotted Pardalote
- Striated Pardalote
- White-browed Scrubwren
- Speckled Warbler
- Weebill
- White-throated Gerygone
- Brown Thornbill
- Buff-rumped Thornbill
- Yellow Thornbill
- Yellow-rumped Thornbill
- Striated Thornbill
- Southern Whiteface
- Red Wattlebird
- Noisy Friarbird
- Regent Honeyeater
- Noisy Miner
- Yellow-faced Honeyeater
- Yellow-tufted Honeyeater
- White-eared Honeyeater
- White-plumed Honeyeater
- Fuscous Honeyeater
- White-naped Honeyeater
- Black-chinned Honeyeater
- Brown-headed Honeyeater
- New Holland Honeyeater
- Eastern Spinebill
- Striped Honeyeater
- Eastern Whipbird
- White-browed Babbler
- Rose Robin
- Scarlet Robin
- Red-capped Robin
- Flame Robin
- Hooded Robin
- Jacky Winter
- Eastern Yellow Robin
- Crested Shrike-tit
- Grey Shrike-thrush
- Golden Whistler
- Rufous Whistler
- Grey Fantail
- Willie Wagtail
- Leaden Flycatcher
- Restless Flycatcher
- Magpie Lark
- Olive-backed Oriole
- Satin Bowerbird
- Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
- White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike
- Dusky Woodswallow
- Pied Butcherbird
- Grey Butcherbird
- Pied Currawong
- Australian Raven
- White-winged Chough
- Welcome Swallow
- White-backed Swallow
- Tree Martin
- Rufous Songlark
- Brown Songlark
- Double-barred Finch
- Zebra Finch
- Plum-headed Finch
- Red-browed Finch
- Diamond Firetail
- Silvereye
- Mistletoebird
You can also get species lists for Wollemi National Park and Gardens of Stone National Park.
