Today, myself and Steven Edwards had quite a productive day birding in the
Newcastle Area (150 km north of Sydney) with the 2 main highlights of the day
being some Freckled Ducks and a Yellow Wagtail. Places visited are
as follows:
ASH ISLAND (about 15km west of the city of Newcastle - Lots of
waterbirds present, especially in the wetland north of the railway line which I
only had found out after Trevor Quested mentioned to me last weekend, where he
had seen some Freckled Ducks (great work Trevor). Here we saw a bonanza of
waterbirds - 5 Freckled Ducks
(only one male bird had red at the base of the bill, the others were either
females or non-breeding males), 4 Pink-eared Ducks, 15 plus Wandering
Whistling-ducks, 10 plus Australasian Shoveler, a Musk Duck, a
Hoary-headed Grebe in breeding plumage, hundreds of Chestnut and Grey
Teal, 4 Marsh Sandpiper, Greenshanks, aswell as Pied stilts and
Australian Pelican in their hundreds. Also at Ash Island were 7 species of
raptor - White-bellied Sea-eagle (a pair honking like a goose on a
telegraph pole with one of the adults feeding something clasped in its talons.
Another immature Sea-Eagle was also seen flying above the 2 adults), an Immature
Brown Goshawk (seen flying very low over weed growth and perched on a low
bush), a juv. Marsh Harrier, Whistling Kites, 2-3
Black-shouldered Kites, 1 Australian Hobby and 1-2
Australian Kestrel.
Around the wetland, south of the railway line, we saw 3 Double-banded
plovers (juv./non-breeding birds), some White-fronted Chats (with
some fledged young) and a stunning Yellow
Wagtail in breeding plumage (of the race simillima). The
Yellow Wagtail was seen about the same spot along the main cause way, were 7
were present 2 years ago. Ash Island may prove in time to be a regular locality
for them for NSW. Here we also bumped into John Duranti and Dean Portelli
(arriving after some hard work in helping band 300 Goulds Petrel chicks on
Cabbage Tree Island, a little further north - well done guy's) and sighted the
Yellow Wagtail just before we bumped into it.
STOCKTON - Here we were disappointed (just as my last visit to this
area), to see few waders close at hand. However we did see a Mangrove
Heron, a Rufous Night Heron (flying from the mangroves), 4 Pied
Oystercatcher, and 5-6 Mangrove Gerygones with one or 2 young birds
with yellow eye rings and singing away with their melodious calls. Amongst a
flock of about 30 Pacific Golden Plovers were 2 birds in full or almost
full breeding plumage, all dressed up for Eastern Siberia
On the edge of Newcastle heads, were thousands of Wedge-tailed
Shearwaters, either on the water or circling about with a few Terns and
Silver Gulls. A dark-phase Arctic Jaeger harassing some Silver gulls near
a small fishing boat was also great to see. Inside the harbour were over a
hundred Common Tern, and atleast 10-15 (possibly more) White-winged
Black Terns, either roosting on the rocks with Crested Terns
and Silver Gulls, fishing in the middle of the harbour, or heading out to sea.
Some of the White-winged Black Terns were acquiring their stunning breeding
plumage with mottled black on the belly, black underwing linings, darker back
and white shoulders. In about 2 weeks time, some will be in full breeding dress.
On our way back to Sydney, we stopped briefly at Seaham Nature Reserve, were
a few Cattle Egrets still had young in the nest. The majority of the Cattle
Egrets present there a few months ago, however have already disappeared. We were
disappointed to find Tarro Swamp (with lots of waterbirds present a month ago -
refer to my previous report) all dried up and abandoned by the water birds.
Edwin Vella
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