Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 24 Jul 2011.

Sat 23 Jul	Regent Honeyeater Sub-station vicinity Morisset One RH sighted and another bird heard. Large numbers of White-naped / Yellow-faced Honeyeaters / Noisy Friarbirds with Rainbow and Little Lorikeets also present. Family group of 4 Varied Sittella flew through. An abundance of blossom still present and a number of trees still holding bud. Allan Richardson
	Slender-billed Prion and Fairy Prion Mistral Point, Maroubra Hundreds of Prions returning south in the slightly drier and lighter winds, most were too distant to call, but some would come in close, of these, maybe 20 Fairy Prions and one Slender-billed Prion were identified. Southern Giant Petrel, Great-winged Petrel, 500 + Fluttering Shearwater and three species of Albatross were also seen. David Mitford
	Antarctic Prion (2), Great-winged Petrel (1), Hutton's Shearwater (4) Kurnell (about 20 km south of Sydney CBD) This morning I did a 3.5 hour sea watch from the whale watch shelter at Kurnell in fairly wet and moderate SW windy conditions. My highlight were good views of 2 Antarctic Prions amongst hundreds of Fairy and possibly other Prions quite close to shore. The dark semi-collar of the Antarctic Prions was certainly diagnostic when seen with the Fairy Prions in the same field of view. Also seen were at least 60 Black-browed and 10 Shy Albatross, a Giant Petrel, one Great-winged Petrel, at least 4 Hutton's amongst 6,000 plus Fluttering Shearwaters and at least 7 White-fronted Terns. Silver Gulls were quite scarce. I also heard a Fairy Penguin and saw a Green Turtle (the later floating on the surface and keeping its head up above the water). No whales were seen to the dissapointment of whale watchers who were with me. Edwin Vella
Fri 22 Jul	White-headed Petrel Mistral Point Battling into the strong wind, the White-headed Petrel was the highlight today, also 2 great-winged Petrels, stacks of Prions (sp) and a couple of Brown Skuas. David Mitford
Wed 20 Jul	Bassian Thrush Harrington (rainforest) Had good views of a Bassian Thrush in the Harrington RF. It is the first time that I have found this species there. Otherwise, the place was rather quiet Alan Stuart
	Caspian Tern Mill Stream, Botany Bay A pair of Caspian Terns resting at the mouth of the Mill Stream along with a dozen or so Silver Gulls and around 10 Black-winged Stilts during stormy weather. The stilts have been roosting here for a few weeks in spite of people running dogs along the sand, but the Caspians are an uncommon sighting on this part of the beach. Nigel Coghlan
	Salvin's Albatross, white morph Southern Giant Petrel and Cape Petrel Mistral point, Maroubra Great conditions today produced these highlights : 1 Salvin's Albatross, 2 Southern Giant Petrels (1 white morph), 1 Cape Petrel, 12 Great-winged Petrel, 25 Fairy Prions and countless Prions not seen well enough to ID. Weather this morning was very tough, I suspect the next few days will be just as good...... David Mitford, Ray Gobbe and Robert Griffin
Tue 19 Jul	Beach & Bush Stone-curlews Manning Estuary There was a group of 3 Beach Stone-curlews (pair plus an advanced young, begging a lot) at Mudbishops Point near Old Bar. They were hanging out just inside the boundary of the Little Tern colony. By the way, 5 Little Terns were back. Also, there are 2 Bush Stone-curlews standing together at a site near Harrington. This species apparently has been absent from the Manning Valley for a long time, with the exception of a couple of brief sightings of birds that perhaps were just passing by. Maybe they are beginning to stage a recovery? I have been asked not to give the precise location for the pair. Alan Stuart
	Australian Painted Snipe Wanganella area, Deniliquin district About twenty Australian Painted Snipe recorded on a drying out lignum and nitre goosefoot swamp and at another location one male snipe recorded feeding in the table drain at night.; all in the Wanganella area. Also an adult female Plains-wanderer in good plumage spotlighted. Philip Maher
	Green Pygmy-goose pair, and male mallard Smith's Lake, Emerald Beach, NSW I first reported these birds, seen on an outing of Coffs Coast Bird Observers, on 28.5.11. Doing a reccy today for Nambucca Valley Birdwatchers outing on 21.7.11 the birds were seen again. Recent rain has increased the depth of the lake and there are few floating lily pads and, hence, just one or two jacanas. Ian McInnes
Mon 18 Jul	Powerful Owl, Tawny Frogmouths Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens Pointed out for us early afternoon by very helpful chap who works in RBG office. Owl in tree in which we understand it's been seen before (near Gov Hse) and Frogmouths in a palm-type(?) tree on the slope below. Jill Rossiter & Sue Casson
Sun 17 Jul	Inland Dotterel Hay-Balranald Rd (Sturt Hwy) just before the green "115 B" km-marker 1 bird on the side of the road during light rain Peter Waanders
	Powerful Owl 16 Plant Street, Balgowlah At approximately 9:15 pm - a Powerful Owl landed on the large gum tree next to our top floor. A majestic creature, close to 60-5 cm in height, and clearly a Powerful Owl identified by his markings - distinctive barring. The Powerful Owl - look healthy and alert - surveying the ground below ( approx. 10 Metres) where no doubt with a house renovation two door away - rodents would be present. It was a fantastic sight, and the third such appearance this 2011 year. We suggest there have been two owls who have visited our gum tree - as one is clearly larger than he/she who graced us with their presence last night. Ruth Speck Regards Ruth Speck
	White-headed Pigeon Burns Road, Turramurra 2 birds seen on electircal wires on busy Burns Road at 10.30am as I was driving past. Charles Hunter
	Regent Honeyeater Morisset Sub-station site Regent Honeyeater (6) Glen Pacey
Sun 19 Jun	Menura novaehollandiae, Superb Lyrebird Bicentennial Reserve Willoughby, nsw 2068 Female bird. Photos taken are quite blurry so not included. No other previous sightings in last ? decades. This bird was observed in the branches of some small trees in a planted area near the oval. It was being harassed by around 12 Noisy Miners. It ran and partly flew away from the Noisy Minors until they were all out of sight. Half an hour later it was seen again high in the tree canopy near Willoughby Rd. Elizabeth Helen Powell

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.

===============================

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 

http://birding-aus.org
===============================