Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 19 Jun 2011.

Sun 19 Jun	Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo Centennial Park, Sydney 65+ Yelllow-tailed Blacks feeding in pine trees close to Kensington Ponds this morning including several juveniles Eric Finley
	Glossy Black Cockatoos Towlers Bay Track off West Head Rd 2 Glossies feeding quietly in Allocasuarina litoralis beside the little reservior approx 100 m in from West Head Rd. There is a service trail to the left about 100 m in on the track. walk along this trail to the little dam and you will see lots of chewings on the ground and that is where to look up. Trudy Robinson
	Southern Emu-wren, Tawny Grassbird Botany Bay National Park - Cape Solander Male Southern Emu-wren seen well, and a few others heard. A single Tawny Grassbird came within 4m of me (shame it wasn't a heathwren!) These two sightings were at the start of the pipe near the white tower/storage tank. Joshua Bergmark
	Pacific Baza King Creek, Wauchope A Pacific Baza foraging around trees in the garden this morning. Clive Meadows
Sat 18 Jun	Brown Cuckoo-Dove Leacock Regional Park, Casula NSW One bird seen in a section of the park that has a dense stand of woody weed plants – African Olive (Olea africanus) and Privet (Ligustrum spp.) that are currently in fruit. Michael Paul
	Square-tailed Kite Ourimbah Campus, University of Newcastle, Ourimbah Immature Square-tailed Kite observed soaring above uni campus. Alerted by Noisy Miners. Square -tailed Kite is now being reported regularly from Central Coast Allan Benson
	Swift Parrot Joshua Porter Reserve, Chain Valley Bay 2 Swift Parrots seen early afternoon Pat Thorn
	Regent Honeyeater Morisset 12 Regent Honeyeaters observed this morning spread over three sites, 4, 6 and 2 birds respectively, although all sites within 400 m of each other. Noisy Friarbirds largely absent from the site with 6 RH's and Little Lorikeets, Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, Scarlet Honeyeaters, and Fuscous Honeyeaters in attendance. This is now the fourth week the birds have been using this area since they were first observed on the 21 May. Birds still using Swamp Mahogany exclusively and blossom levels are still abundant. Allan Richardson
	Salvin's Albatross Sydney Heads A juvenile Salvin's Albatross (virtually identical plumage to Paul Bruty's bird on Monday) came up to the Halicat (during afternoon whale-watching cruise) about 3 km off North Head, 1.30 pm. Also 2 Brown Skua, 2 Fluttering Shearwater, 5 Shy, 1 Yellow-nosed, 20 Black-browed (mix of Cambell's and nominate) albatrosses, 1 Southern Giant Petrel and 2 Giant Petrel sp.; 5 Humback Whales and a Hammerhead Shark. David James
Fri 17 Jun	Collared Sparrowhawk, Little Eagle, Grey Fantail Lake Conobolas, Orange Some intersing sightings at this location included Collared Sparrowhawk (1), Little Eagle (1) & Grey Fantail (2) Neville Schrader
	Swift Parrots and Square-tailed Kite Britannia Ave Watanaobbie A flock of 60+ Swift Parrots, feeding on lerps, was seen over the two days 16-17/6 in Spotted Gums and Ironbark Trees at Watanobbie, a suburb north of Wyong, and a location where Swifties were present in 2009. The Swifties and Noisy Miners were continually harassed on both days by a Square-tailed Kite, and later on Friday afternoon an injured Swiftie was taken into care. It is not know what caused the injuries. Diana Hogan
	Collared Sparrowhawk Lake Canobolas, Orange Neville Schrader
	Little Eagle Lake Candoblas, Orange Dark phase Little Eagle making little headway against strong winds. Neville Schrader
	Pacific Gull Lighthouse Beach, Ballina Two immature Pacific Gulls seen on Lighthouse Beach at Ballina this morning. Joyce & John Crouch per Steve McBride
Thu 16 Jun	Plumed Whistling Duck and Common Myna Goorianawa Station, Bugaldie I vsited Goorianawa Station about 2 pm where there were 230 Plumed Whistling Duck, 4 Banded Lapwing, 100 Wood Duck, a few Black Duck and then 8 Common Mynas flew over. First Common Mynas seen in the Baradine/Pilliga District! David Johnston
	Glossy Black Cockatoo Congo Rd, Congo Sth Coast NSW Repeated sightings of an adult (female?) and juvenile glossy black cockatoos nesting on private property at 341 Congo Rd, Congo, NSW. Juvenile is active but doesnt fly far from nest. My understanding is that Glossy Blacks are rare in this area. I am reporting this on behalf of the property owners. Megan Griffith on behalf of Catherine and Ian Taylor
Wed 15 Jun	Caspian Tern Town Beach, Port Macquarie A pair of Caspian Terns were present at Town Beach along with 12 Sooty Oystercatchers sheltering from the atrocious conditions. Tim Morris
	Slender-billed Prion, Cape Petrel and Great-winged Petrel Mistral Point, Maroubra Good views of a Slender-billed Prion, 2 Cape Petrels, 4 Great-winged Petrels, 6 Northern Giant Petrels, Fairy Prions and very large numbers of Black-browed Albatross (100). Also about a dozen Shy (type) Albatross, 10 Yellow-nosed Albatross, 2 Brown Skuas, 4 White-fronted Terns were seen. David Mitford
Tue 14 Jun	White-headed Petrel, Pacific Gull Mistral Point, Maroubra Had a 2 hour sea-watch in some pretty strong on-shore and rainy conditions before work this morning, and will be back again tomorrow. 1x White-headed Petrel heading south, 2x Great-winged Petrel, and 1x juvenile Pacific Gull were the highlights among ~50 (Fairy) Prion, and at least 10-15 Black-browed Albatross, all close in. Pacific Gull was hovering above the cave on the south side of point. 3x adult and juvenile Kelp Gull seen at La Perouse shortly after confirmed my initial thought of the bird at Maroubra as being a Pacific Gull - it's bill was huge. Winds made scope useless, and waves and spray made sure of that. Before it got belted by sea-spray, it was apparent that there were many mollymawk type albatross out too far to ID - could've been BB/YN/Shy etc. I'll be cleaning my camera lens for a while yet as well. Troy Mutton
	White-fronted Tern Burrill Lake Entrance Sth Coast Two White-fronted Terns were seen at the entrance of Burrill Lake late yesterday. Returned today to confirm them. First seen here for a couple of years. Chris Shinton, Bob Rusk
Mon 13 Jun	Osprey Burrill Lake, South Coast Not sure how common an occurence it is but whilst visiting the area we saw an Osprey hunting over the lake mid-afternoon. We then went on to the telecomms tower in Ulladulla to look at the nest site but there were no signs of any Osprey. (Moderators Note: It is unusual but single birds have been seen there in recent times-AKM) Martin & Penny Potter
	Black-browed, Yellow-nosed & Shy Albatrosses and Reef Egret Norah Head During a two and half hour sea watch 08.30-1200 hrs off Norah Head, 42 Black-browed Albatross, 4 Yellow-nosed Albatross and 3 Shy Albatross were identified close in wth many more mollymawk types seen further out, as well as 3 Giant Petrel sp,, 46 Australian Gannets & 22 Fluttering Shearwaters. At nearby Soldiers Point, a Reef Egret flew into feed on the rocks. Great views of Humpback Whales, maybe 22 seen passing north with a group of 3 continuously breaching over 10 minute period. Tim Faulkner and Alan Morris
	Pacific Gull Tacking Point, Port Macquarie An immature Pacific Gull was blown past Tacking Point at great speed. A White-fronted Tern was present out the front of the lighthhouse and one Yellow-nosed Albatross also came close in. Tim Morris
	Scarlet Honeyeater Jensen Rd, Wyong Found In flowering trees with lots of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters (Moderator's note: It is usual to have large numbers of Scarlet Honeyeaters on the Central Coast in autumn and winter when there is significant flowering of Swamp Mahogany and Broad-leafed Paperbarks as there is at present. AKM) Greg McKeough
	Salvin's Albatross (Shy Albatross) The Gap After a prolonged period of onshore winds this Salvin's blew in close to the Gap (within 200 meters of my front door!). Thanks Lindsay, Martin and Nick for confirming ID. More pics here... Paul Bruty
	Pacific Baza Acacia Gardens (approx. 5km north of Blacktown CBD) From my backyard I observed a juv. Pacific Baza hunting for and catching phasmids. It was mobbed quite a fair bit by the local birds. Edwin Vella
	Powerful Owl Western Sydney Parklands, Glendenning (approx. 5km west of Blacktown CBD) One adult Powerful Owl was seen and photographed this morning roosting beside Eastern Creek at the above location. It was also seen by Mark Fuller about 2 days early who also reported one at nearby Plumpton not too long ago. Edwin Vella
	Glossy Ibis Belmore Swamp 70 Glossy Ibis feeding in the rising water with Straw-necked Ibis, two Black-winged Stilt and many Cattle Egrets on the shore. Ian Kerr
	Cattle Egret Bundaoon A Cattle Egret, seen in paddocks adjacent to Shangri-La Rd, brings my Bundanoon species list to 120 (check my blog for entire list), proving the town has 15% of Australia's bird species (if one considers the number of species on Australia's mainland and Tasmania - 799 - according to Birds Australia). I'm stoked. Cattle Egrets are rarely seen in the Southern Highlands - this is only my second in quite a few years of birding down here. Also seen: 2 Musk Ducks (a male was chasing a female with much wing flapping, then diving after her), 20+ European Goldfinches & 13 White-faced Herons. 2 Superb Lyrebirds were heard calling from nearby eucalypt woodland. On another note, I had a Weddge-tailed Eagle soaring over home on the 11th. Lorne Johnson
Sat 11 Jun	Large-billed Scrubwren Bundanoon (Morton National Park) Several Large-billed Scrubwrens seen on track to Glow Worm Glen, feeding close to ground and on ground. This is my third spot in Bundanoon for this species. A few Brown Gerygones also seen. Several Brown Gerygones also seen on track to Dimmocks Creek (many hovering before foliage in mid-storey). Also, 3 Superb Lyrebirds were heard in vicinity of Dimmocks Creek. Lorne Johnson
	Brown Quail Mount Annan Botanic Gardens, Campbelltown Eighteen Brown Quail observed near the small dam in the Conservation Woodland area of Mount Annan Botanic Gardens, Campbelltown NSW. Alan Leishman
	Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Capertee Valley (15km east of Capertee) In addition to our 6 (3 pais of Barking Owls), Tony and I also had a single Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater seen on private property about 15km east of Capertee. I have also seen a small group of these at Glen Alice a few years ago. Two pairs of Hooded Robins were also seen in the same tree as the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater. Edwin Vella and Tony Dawe
	Striated Fieldwren, Southern Emu-wren and Tawny-crowned Honeyeater Ben Boyd National Park, south of Eden Striated Fieldwren seen in the heath near Green Cape and then again south of Saltwater Creek. Lots of groups of Emu Wrens and quite a few Tawny Crowned Honeyeaters in the same areas. No Ground Parrots seen unfortunately. Kathy Walter and John Goldie
	Barking Owl Capertee Valley upgraded photo not so dark s the previous attempt. I arrived at Capertee Valley late Friday Night and saw 6 Barking Owls, managed to get quite a good few photos. Tony Dawe
Fri 10 Jun	Australian King-Parrot, Golden Whistler Forth Crossing near Orange (33 09 149'11 Cell) Some interesting wintering birds seen included Australian King-Parrot (30), Golden Whistler (3) & Grey Fantail (1) Neville Schrader
	Glossy Ibis x2 Double Banded Dotterels x16 Cattle Egrets x18 Norfolk Island, 2899 Glossy Ibis observed quietly feeding down Kingston near drainage area. Cattle Egrets in a number of sites, but near Dam at present. Double Bandeds in a variety of plumages roosting at Slaughter Bay @ high tide. All birds photographed. John & Sue O'Malley
Thu 26 May	Beach Stone-curlew Kerosene Inlet, letitia Spit, Fingal Head Single bird with Pied Oystercatchers seen by the Tweed Bird Observers, new site for this species. Elizabeth Allen

Birdline NSW is sponsored by Birding NSW, Birds Australia - Southern NSW & ACT and Cumberland Bird Observers Club and co-ordinated and hosted by Eremaea Birds.

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