On to the wetlands in the Tullymorgan area picking up those elusive
White-winged Choughs on the way and a nearby immature White-bellied Sea-Eagle
soaring overhead. A Wonga Pigeon was at its expected location and then four
adult Brolgas were first heard and then seen on a property near the Clarence
Broadwater. An adult and three nestling Black-necked Storks were on the nest
in that area and an Azure Kingfisher was observed partly obscured by creek side
vegetation. They can be difficult to find on a Twitch in our area even though
we have a few possible locations for them. A stop at some eucalypt forest
produced a Jacky Winter and then three raptors were seen firstly by Russell.
One was an adult Pacific Baza (you beauty!!!) and the other two were
Wedge-tailed Eagles (which had been listed the day before). The Pacific Baza
had eluded us on a number of Twitchathons, one year being seen 20 minutes
before the start time but not in the ensuing 24 hours so we were very happy to
tick this beautiful raptor species. We did see one in 2011 though. Glossy
Ibis were at the wetland where I had seen them the previous Thursday and
although already recorded the sight of over 200 Whiskered Terns at this
location was very impressive. A wetland at Lawrence produced the first
Red-kneed Dotterels seen in the Valley since the big wet inland and Pink-eared
Ducks were present and had ducklings in tow. A pair of Yellow-billed
Spoonbills was present amongst the hundreds of Royal Spoonbills and Australian
White Ibis. A group of seven Yellow-billed Spoonbills was later seen on
Woodford Island and nearby a Pallid Cuckoo flew over the road. The cuckoo was
our first for the season and made species number 201 at 1239 pm. The ‘chuk
chuck’ call of the Cicadabird was heard at Tyndale and Gary wondered if
Russell and I were delusional until it did its more typical cicada-like call.
Russell spotted a kingfisher on the top of a dead tree and said that it looked
like a Forest Kingfisher. We had checked out a number of kingfishers during
the day hoping to tick off the Forest but they had all been Sacred Kingfishers.
This one however was a Forest Kingfisher - great. A stop at Glenugie State
Forest with its wonderful Large-leaved Spotted Gums and Grey Box trees produced
the Fuscous Honeyeater, Brown Treecreeper and an adult female Brown Goshawk
sitting on a nest. The Brown Falcon that I had seen at a wetland near Coutts
Crossing a few days earlier was still present and made bird number 209. The
location where we usually get Weebill and Speckled Warbler produced only a few
species that we had already tallied as these two species were absent. No new
birds were added during the last 30 minutes at this site so our final total was
209, putting us in fourth place out of 17 teams. Where were the Yellow-tailed
Black-Cockatoos, the three Bronze-Cuckoos, Varied and White-winged Trillers,
Collared Sparrowhawk, Weebill and Speckled Warbler and all of those other
certainties that we missed? Oh of course it was Twitchathon weekend and the
birds knew it! A flock of 30+ Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos flew over South
Grafton on Monday and an adult male Collared Sparrowhawk was perched in a
eucalypt in our backyard on the same day. Anyway it is no good dwelling on
those birds that we missed as we really enjoyed those that we saw or heard
including the following threatened species: Coastal Emu, Black-necked Stork,
Eastern Osprey, Brolga, Sanderling, Comb-crested Jacana, Bush Stone-curlew,
Australian Pied Oystercatcher, Sooty Oystercatcher, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater
Sand Plover, Little Tern, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Glossy Black-Cockatoo, Little
Lorikeet, Ground Parrot, Masked Owl, Rufous Scrub-bird, Brown Treecreeper,
Grey-crowned Babbler, White-eared Monarch and Paradise Riflebird as well as
four threatened mammals – the Parma Wallaby, Long-nosed Potoroo, Rufous Bettong
and Humpback Whale.
Greg Clancy
Head Stalker
Black-necked Stalkers Twitchathon team
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