Hi all
I had a day out at some southern Sydney sites on 11 November with my Dad,
looking to fill some holes in his Australian list - as this is his 4th trip
to Sydney, he's knocked off most of the "easy" birds and it's starting to
get a bit tricky, so we visited some heathland sites, as well as a diversion
to Penrhyn Road, Botany.
South Maroubra - Little Grassbird, Rufous Songlark, Little Cuckoo Shrike,
busy Fairy Martin colony in one of the drain pipes. No sign or sound of
rails or quails.
Penrhyn Road (just after high tide, so most birds roosting still) - 3 Black
Tailed Godwits in among the Bar Taileds (My Dad is an experienced N
hemisphere observer and has wintering Black Taileds at home, so we were
pretty confident on that one despite them being uncommon in the Sydney
area), 1 Red Knot, 30 Red Necked Stints, 2 very lively Red Capped Dotterels,
Sharp Tailed Sandpipers and at least 12 Golden Plover roosting on the sand
bank at the Eastern end - they were actually up the sand slope, not at the
water line.
Curra Moors Track, Royal NP - 2 Tawny Crowned HEs (the only target bird on
that day's list that we actually saw), Horsfields Bronze Cuckoo (hopping
along the ground like a sparrow!), Brush Bronzewing, possible Southern Emu
Wren, large flock (50+) Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos. No sign of any
Heathwrens or quail. Saw a large feral cat just after the track "splits" on
the branch that heads to Wattamolla.
South end of Lady Carrington Drive (about 2km up from the gate past Palona
Brook) - flock of about 30 Topknot Pigeons, several Lyrebirds (no
Pilotbirds), several active Rufous Fantails displaying well, all 3
scrubwrens within about 15 metres, Cicadabird (calling, not seen) and as it
was a day for unusual sightings of cuckoos, a Fan Tailed Cuckoo also
operating at ground level. I'd never seen a cuckoo on the ground before, so
to see tow in one day was surprising - the Horsfields was very comfortable
on the ground, spending several minutes hopping along the track.)
A warning - we met another birder there whose car had been broken in and (we
assume) anything of value left in the car likely removed.
Cheers
Tom Wilson
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