Today, met up with David Mitford, Murray Lord, Rod Gardner and Chris
Dwyer (from Orange) and we all had a fantastic
few hours in Sydney?s hot spot of
the moment, The East Lakes Golf Course.
We had great views of a very obliging female Little Bittern on the
south-eastern end of the largest pond and beside the causeway. Both a male and a
female Little Bittern have been seen in this clump of reeds over the past 2
weeks. The female Little Bittern walked and hunted over the lily pads beside
these reeds as it caught several Mosquito fish (gambushia sp.). Also in the
nearby reeds was a Spotless Crake and a Great Egret. This same large pond also
had several Darter, 140 plus Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (220 were seen at these
lakes today in total), a Common Sandpiper, 2 Pink-eared Ducks, Hardheads (a few
of the total 58 seen), 7 Little Terns fishing over this fresh water pond and
over common water birds. A Peregrine Falcon also made itself a menace to these
water birds.
The Yellow Wagtail was seen briefly as it flew and called over the pond
it was originally found (just south of the large pond with the Bittern
above).
There are still both a male and female Feckled Duck present, but both
were in separate ponds on either side of Wentworth
Ave. On the pond north of
Wentworth Ave, we also saw a
juv. Double-banded Plover (many more are expected to arrive around the nearby
Botany Bay during this month).
Finally there were still atleast 24 Latham?s Snipe present at
Eastlakes.
A great half day of birding indeed.
Edwin Vella
