Just spent the last 3 days at Copeland (in the Hunter Region and about 3
hours north of Sydney) with members of the NSW Field Ornithologist and
Cumberland Bird Observers Clubs. It was raining on an off throughout the weekend
but fortunately held off at times, particularly in the late afternoon and
evenings. There were also plenty experiences with leaches and ticks in the area.
As a group we recorded about 100 species and some highlights included
- Australian Hobby chasing Welcome Swallows
- Painted Button-quail
- 9 species of Pigeon and Dove (including great eye-level views of several
Wompoo Fruit-doves and Topknot Pigeons feeding together on figs
and other rainforest fruits. A pair of Topknot pigeons were also observed
courting with bowing of head and fanning of crest aswell as giving its un-pigeon
like screeching call.)
- Masked Owl (one good brief view while spotlighting and heard over
the campsite)
- Sooty Owls (a few heard calling and one over the campsite)
- Rufous-phase Tawny Frogmouth (a beautiful rufous-coloured individual
with rather orange eyes compared to the yellow-eyes of the grey morph)
- Noisy Pittas (commonly heard in the rainforest surrounding the
campsite and at Copeland SF, during the day and at night. One was briefly seen
flying around in circles through the canopy of the rainforest)
- Russet-tailed Thrushes ( a few seen and at one heard calling at the
same time as a Bassian Thrush at the Sate Forest. The Russet-tailed gave its
two-syllable "thee-thou" while the latter sang like a Blackbird )
- Black-faced and Spectacled Monarchs
- Satin and Leaden Flycatchers about the campsite
- Logrunners (several seen or heard at Copeland SF)
- Scarlet Honeyeaters (abundant in the area)
- Green Catbirds
- Regent Bowerbird (always brilliant to see this very stunning
species)
Besides the nocturnal birds mentioned above, other birds and mammals
seen/heard while spotlighting included several Boobooks, many Owlet Nightjars,
Greater Gliders, Common Brush-tailed and Ring-tailed Possums.
On our way back to Sydney, myself and John deHeume made a brief, but
productive stop at Seaham (about 20 km north of Newcastle) and saw 3 Pacific
Bazas doing their spectacular courtship displays (with high soaring, wings
held in a high V, a few flutters and acrobatics in mid air), Swamp Harrier,
Brown Falcon, some Hardheads, many Lorikeets
(Rainbow, Scaley-breasted and Little), Grey-crowned Babblers all
over the place (some causing a bit of nuisance to the Cattle Egrets nesting in
paperbarks at Seaham swamp Nature Reserve), Brown-headed Honeyeaters and
with Scarlet Honeyeaters again abundant (the later giving excellent views
as they fed in the lower branches of a flowering Eucalypt and with one
female/immature male appearing to give some sort of display like a leaf falling
to the ground), Tawny Grassbirds and White-breasted
Woodswallows. I would highly recommend anyone passing through Seaham to pay
a visit to the Nature Reserve in the middle of the town as many Ironbarks and
other Eucalypts are in flower and could produce Regent Honeyeaters with the
abundant nectar supply.
Edwin
