Yesterday, I lead a group of about 20 keen birdos to various places in the
Hawkesbury area (west of Sydney). A summary of where we visited and some of the
associated birds include:
MCGRATHS HILL - (Just prior to the official start of the outing) -
Australian (Spotted) Crake (great view of one bird moving between
lagoons), 4 Yellow-billed Spoonbill and 4 Latham’s
Snipe
PUGHES LAGOON - Hoary-headed Grebe and 2 Azure
Kingfishers.
PITT-TOWN - SCHEYVILLE - a Red-capped/Scarlet Robin on
someone’s property (I only saw the back of it and therefore could not know
for sure. It is most likely a Red-capped as they have been seen only a few
metres up the road in Scheyville NP and the Scarlet is normally a winter bird
but I have seen 2 males Scarlet Robins at Castlereagh NR just a few kilometres
south in December), several Scarlet Honeyeaters (common in various places
in Sydney at the moment), Brush Cuckoos, Jacky Winters,
Speckled Warblers, both Weebill and Dusky Woodswallow
nesting, and White-winged Trillers.
GLENORIE (I have apparently formally called this area Maraylya but
should be Glenorie. Sorry!) - 4 Pacific Bazas (3 adults and the one juv.
bird were seen. They respond well and can be enticed closer with imitations to
their "ee-chew" call. Could one of the adults be the 1997 juv bird and
be assisting the new 1998 juv? Does anybody know?), a pair of Cicadabirds
(a male was seen calling in the canopy of a dead Eucalypt), a group of 4 or more
White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes (These were all the Black-faced morph - just
like a normal Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike but smaller and their distinctive calls.
I would not be surprised if many birdo’s have miss-identified these as the
BFCS!!!! But this is the morph I frequently encounter).
LONGNECK LAGOON - Brush Cuckoo, Latham’s Snipe
and unusually Satin Bowerbird in quite open country.
MITCHELL PARK - a pair of Glossy Black-cockatoos feeding on
Casuarinas, a pair of Powerful Owls, Golden Bronze-cuckoo and
Azure Kingfisher.
Another magic day in the Hawkesbury
Edwin
