bpscicada's Identifications

In the genus Telopea because it is a Waratah, a large shrub with a large brightly colour inflorescence.

In the family Proteaceae because it has tough, leathery leaves and its flowers are in a complex inflorescence with adnate structures.

I have identified it as Telopea speciosissima because it is a tall, erect shrub with dark green, toothed leaves. Additionally, the large crimson flowerhead, surrounded by leafy bracts matches the description in Robinson. The area also matches known habitats and distributions.

Several times I heard the very distinctive raucous, penetrating “awk, awk, awk” calls of this bird. The only relevant segment is in the first 3 seconds of this recording where the call is repeated 3 times at 1 second intervals. Ignore the remaining portion, which is the call of a Little Wattlebird.