I have been listening to the song of a
Golden Whistler for the last ten minutes and I finally locate the glorious little bird balanced precariously on a thin branch. A closer look through the telephoto lens reveals a bug in its beak. Perhaps it has a nest nearby and it is feeding young chicks.
Golden Whistler with insect in its beak
The trail head at the entrance to
Horsnell Gully Conservation Park is just off Norton Summit Road: a fifteen minute drive from Adelaide's CBD. Several hikes start here and there are numerous interpretive displays. They detail the natural history as well as local history relating to both early settlers and indigenous people.
THe Coachhouse (built circa 1860)
Poplars near the beginning of the Waterfall Trail
I follow the 'Main Valley and Waterfall' track for about a kilometre but the weather has been wet and it becomes a little too slippery for balancing and taking photographs. Even in dry weather this would be quite a challenging hike. However, the diversity of both plants and wildlife, most noticeably birds, make it worthwhile.
Koala at rest
Koala stretching to feed
Koala climbing
Quite close to the trail head, there are some huge gum trees where I spy several koalas in the uppermost branches. Koalas are usually inactive in the daylight hours but today they display a number of
behaviours from snoozing in the fork of two branches to climbing and stretching for food.
Eastern Water Skink near the creek, one of many reptile species found in the park
Time has caught up with me and I need to meet friends at the nearby Norton Summit Hotel where the food is good and the views across the bushland to the city are wonderful. However, I have only scratched the surface of this intriguing little park which I know has a wide variety of native species and I will definitely return to explore more of it and the neighbouring Giles CP in the near future.
