On 12 November Irene Denton posted another interesting report on the birds
of prey seen on an Emu Tours' Birds of the Outback trip, and inspired me
to tell you about the BOPs seen last week (10-17 November) on a trip from
Canberra to Iluka on the north coast of NSW.
18 members of the Canberra Ornithologists Group (COG) joined Richard
Jordan on an Emu Tours' COG goes to Iluka trip. I kept the BOP Watch
records which have now been sent to the RAOU Co-ordinator. We travelled
along the Hume Highway, through the western and northern outskirts of
Sydney and on the Pacific Highway to Urunga. There we turned inland, up
the escarpment to Dorrigo. We stayed two nights in Dorrigo and spend one
day exploring the area. From Dorrigo we drove north, following the course
of the Nymboida River to Grafton. Iluka is about 80 km north of Grafton
on the northern bank of the Clarence River estuary. It is at the end of a
narrow peninsula with the Pacific Ocean on one side and the Clarence and
Esk Rivers on the other. It backs onto the Bundjalung National Park. We
spent four days exploring the various habitats around Iluka, returning the
Canberra on the Pacific Highway through Newcastle.
We travelled for 8 days and saw the following birds of prey -
3 Swamp Harrier
1 Brown Goshawk
1 Collared Sparrowhawk
3 Little Eagle
3 White-bellied Sea-eagle
14 Brahminy Kite
17 Whistling Kite
1 Black Kite
15 Black-shouldered Kite
9 Nankeen Kestrel
8 Osprey
The Black Kite was seen near Maclean where cane was being burnt. Ospreys
were nesting and had dependant young. We saw several nests built on top
of power poles. Some of the poles in Evans Head and Yamba had been put up
by the Electricity Commission escpecially for the ospreys. They were
built with a one metre square platform on top and several perches below.
We were a bit surprised not to see any Wedge-tailed Eagles on our travels
and disappointed not to see a Pacific Baza around Iluka.
Usually I BOP Watch while driving alone or with one other person, so it
was great to have all those extra pirs of eyes spotting and identifying
the raptors.
Cheers, Irene.
Rosemary Bell
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