Early this morning,
David
Mitford, Stuart Pickering and myself easily
found the immature male ORANGE CHAT at Malabar between the 2 flag poles of the Rifle
range. The Chat was particularly fond of the short grassy area east of the
southern most flag pole and close to the vague track running between the rifle
range and the sea. We watched the Orange Chat for well over an hour trying to
take photographs as it foraged on the ground for most of the time and occasional
perched in the higher bushes. We could see well the black flecking on its chin
as shown on Murray
Lords recent photo of
it.
Also seen in this area were at least
3 Brown Quail scurrying about in the open between bushes and both a Peregrine
Falcon and Australian Kestrel.
David, Stuart and I paid a brief
visit to the nearby East Lakes Golf Course where we saw 6 Sharp-tailed
Sandpipers, 3 Latham Snipe (all staying still out in the open. They are usually
very easy to observe at East
Lakes),
Black-fronted Dotterels with a chick, 3 Darter and a few Red-rumped Parrots. I also heard a Greenfinch calling (this
being one of few localities where they are resident in
Sydney).
As I headed back home later this
morning, I made a quick dash in and out of
Penrhyn
Rd in Port Botany and saw nothing much
apart from 2 Kelp Gulls (a sub-adult and juv.) and 8
Bar-tailed Godwits. Public Holidays or weekends are generally not ideal times to
visit this area when there is the usual high level of boat
activity.
Edwin
Vella
