NEWCASTLE AREA - SATURDAY 28TH FEBRUARY 1998
Last Saturday, while birding about the Newcastle Area with other birders,
some of the highlights were:
a) Ruff - was lucky again to catch up with this rarity. The bird was
seen again with Sharp-tailed Sandpipers but was harder to see when it was
amongst the Salt marsh despite its taller size. Since this bird is back
at Ash Island when it was seen on the 8th February probably for the first
time during this season, this shows that there is often a movement of
waders (and other birds) between nearby Wetlands. It was interesting to
note that most of the Sharp-tailed Sandpipers seen at Kooragang Island
last weekend went with the Ruff to Ash Island, proving a close
association of the Ruff with these other waders.
b) Double-banded Plovers - there were two birds seen at the large pond on
Kooragang Island. One was probably a juvenile bird and the other was an
adult bird in fully non-breeding plumage. The birds were feeding with
other shorebirds including Red-capped Plovers; Red-necked Stints;
Sharp-tailed, Curlew and Marsh Sandpipers; aswell as Greenshanks.
c) Yellow Wagtail - there was still one of my favourite birds (in full
breeding plumage) present on Ash Island. It was feeding on the road with
Richards Pipits and White-fronted Chats.
d) White-winged Black Terns and other Terns - Seven White-winged Black
Terns were present at the regular spot in Newcastle Harbour, and were
seen perched on the Rocks with Common and Crested Terns aswell as Silver
Gulls and Ruddy Turnstones. Most of these were acquiring breeding
plumage. One showed black underwing linings, another had black blotches
on its breast and some had red legs. One juvenile Bird seen had a
blackish mantle and dark edges to the wing. We also noticed a Common Tern
with complete red legs (but black bill) amongst the 70 plus perched and
preening on the rocks. The bird was identical to the other Common Terns
with the same head pattern and wings (the wings were not translucent
enough when it took off in flight to be an Arctic. This was most likely
the European race of the Common Tern.
e) Artic Jaegers (Skuas) - 2 were seen within a few hundred metres from
Nobbys head amongst Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (the later were also seen
quite close to the rocks).
Edwin Vella
|
