"I bought myself a liarbird..." As planned, we took the train out to the Blue Dandenong hills today with a mind to go hiking.

It was about an hour ride out to the Belgrave station in the hills. Portents were good as we saw a number of species directly from the train station -- three galahs (which are known for riding on children's merry-go-rounds and sliding down slides), a few cockatoos, and, sitting right on a station lamp post, a kookaburra.

After a thigh-burning tramp up a hill on surface roads, we met up with the trail (Avard Track?) and hiked in. The forest itself was quite stunning; lush ferns down low and eucalypts towering very high. They are rather like thinner sequoias.

First spotted were a dozen more kookaburras. As we got deeper in, we were passed over by a flock of at least a hundred squawking cockatoos. Then, there were scores of crimson rosellas, like we first spotted one of yesterday.

We hiked up and down a bit, and finally met up with a trail closed to bikes because it was a "Sensitive Lyerbird Habitat". We had seen lyerbirds on Life Of Birds -- they are quite amazing. They are probably the best mimics in the bird kingdom; as part of their mating display, they have been known to imitate chain saws, car alarms, dogs, and camera shutters. It would be bird geek heaven to spot one, so we charged in.

We didn't have high hopes, but after a half kilometer or so, we started to hear strange, loud calls from the low brush. We wandered carefully off the trail but the noise moved away. So we moved on, and minute later Marjorie stopped and said, "There's one!" And it was. He crossed the path right in front of us, then disappeared into the ferns as Marjorie gave chase. Very cool!