The Wombat Forest, south-east of Daylesford, is home to a number of birds that are uncommon elsewhere in the Ballarat region.
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One of these is the rufous fantail.
Very attractive, and not shy, the rufous fantail is a regular summer visitor to the damper gullies of the forest.
With rusty-orange rump and upper tail, and a similar-coloured forehead, this bird is a favourite of many. Although restlessly active, like its relative the grey fantail, it often appears in view long enough to enable good observation.
First-time observers are enthralled at the bright rusty-orange fanned tail catching the sunlight through an opening in shady forest. Fortunately, the bird mostly stays within three or four metres of the ground, where viewing is easier.
It favours denser vegetation than the grey fantail, but the two are often seen close by and both feed on small flying insects.
As well as visiting the Wombat Forest each summer, the rufous fantail visits Slaty Creek near Creswick. There it also chooses the damper gullies and creeklines. It also occurs at Mt Cole.
Its voice is basically similar to that of the grey fantail, but the two can be distinguished by some listeners.
The rufous fantail spends the winter in northern Australia, perhaps extending into New Guinea.
On migration here, it sometimes turns up for a short time in unexpected places, such as suburban Ballarat, or open bushland. The same migration routes are thought to be used each year. In our district the expected arrival time is late October.
There are a dozen or more varieties of this bird in other parts of its range, which includes New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and parts of Indonesia.
Other special birds of the Wombat Forest include the red-browed treecreeper, rose robin, cicadabird, gang-gang cockatoo and crescent honeyeater.
These are always hoped-for when Ballarat bird watchers visit the area, but their discovery is usually more difficult than that of the rufous fantail.
BUSHFIRE BIRDS
With vast areas of forest burnt in eastern Victoria, it is unlikely birds will increase in the Ballarat district.
Most birds would have been killed in the fires, leaving few to move west.
Birds will gradually re-colonise the burnt forests, but suitable habitat for some of them will not return for many years. Before then, however, the altered, regrowing habitat will provide a suitable environment for a different range of bush birds, especially those that feed on the ground, such as robins.