Spent the weekend at Tathra (not birdwatching).
Did walk from Tathra wharf up the old Snowy Mountains hwy to Tathra headland
on Sunday afternoon, from where had several close views of both adult and
young Wandering Albatross, close enough to see the heavy pink bill without
my binoculars handy.
Paul
From:
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Bermagui (South Coast) - 18-19 Feb
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 09:52:03 +1100
We spent this weekend in Bermagui which gave me the opportunity to explore
the area. Long Swamp is drying up again with little water left and hardly
any birdlife, while Bermagui Lagoon is full of water. On Saturday along
the Bermagui River Conservation Area I found a Striated Heron, an Osprey,
a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagles and a Whistling Kite. The Sea-Eagles
were perched 100 metres from the Osprey providing an opportunity to
compare the 2 species closely. In Bermgui Harbour there were 2 Eastern
Curlew and some 70 Bar-tailed Godwits. With the cooler weather the massive
Smooth Stingrays seemed to have vacated the harbour and estuary leaving
the much smaller, but still dangerous, Brown Stingarees (5 counted in one
area). My dad stepped on one while wading Bithry Inlet in Mimosa Rocks NP
this week leaving a bleeding wound, although the pain had subsided after
an hour or so.
Barragoot Lake contained well over 500 Black Swans, surely the largest
congregation along this section of coastline, while Wallaga Lake came
close with over 300. There was also a single Intermediate Egret (with
breeding plumes) among the Pied Oystercatchers and Royal Spoonbills.
On Sunday we walked a beautiful stretch of beach from Goalen Head to Bunga
Head (newly declared section of Mimosa Rocks NP) under an overcast sky. No
less than 6 Sea-Eagles present, 2 mature birds perched high up the cliffs
at Bunga. Nearby were 6 Sooty Oystercatchers and a dark morph Eastern Reef
Egret (There was also a single bird present at Cuttagee Lake). A pair of
Jacky Winters kept us company in the car park.
Late on Sunday at Bingie we had great views of an adult Spotted Harrier in
the low vegetation behind Bingie Beach (Eurobodalla NP). The Eurobodalla
NHS annual report states this species is a rare vagrant. On the drive home
we stopped at Cabbage Tree Creek, this spot is literally metres from the
the noise and traffic of the Kings Highway and yet we saw Black-faced
Monarchs, a pair of Large-billed Scrubwrens up super close in a clearing
and nearby Brown Gerygones and Pilotbirds were calling.
All up we saw 9 species of raptor over the weekend. Surely Bermagui is as
far south as Ospreys are seen these days?
Cheers
Marnix
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