Smiths Lake & Harrington Trip

["Mark Sanders" <>]

For those interested, I have just finished writing up a trip report for 
Smiths Lake and Harrington area that was embarked on last week. Highlights 
include Beach Stone-curlew, Little Tern, Osprey and Rock Warlber. In total, 
134 Species of birds were observed, 7 Species of Reptiles, 8 Species of 
Frogs and 9 species of Butterfly. See the attachment for more Details!!!!

Cheers
Mark Sanders
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Foster Area

19^th - 23^th February 2000

 

Observers; Ali, Win Filewood and myself.

Sat Feb 19^th

Ali and myself decided to head up to Smiths Lake via Woy Woy, where we would hopefully get a Rock Warbler. We had planned to leave early, however circumstances determined that we would leave a lot later than originally planned. We FINALLY managed to get away at about 11am and drove straight to Woy Woy along the freeway. The first place, Pearl Beach, did not result in anything of interest. Determined to find some so that Ali could add them to here life list I drove to several "likely looking spots". It did not take long before we both had excellent looks at a pair hopping around on the rocks within several metres.

By this stage it was quite late and we were both hungry, so we had lunch at Umina Beach where we saw a Common Australian Crow butterfly and then quickly headed straight to Smiths Lake without stopping. The main reason for our rush was to meet up with the Frog and Tadpole Study group (FATs) who were staying at the station and looking at the frog species in the area. On our arival at 5pm, they had Eastern Dwarf Tree Frogs and Red-backed Toadlets in small cages/boxes that they had caught the night before.

That night Al and I headed out with FATs to Wallangat State Forest to several well known frog sites. On the roads to the forest, a small Diamond Python and an average-sized Small-eyed Snake were captured. The night was quite disappointing, a lack of rain, full moon and very windy conditions accumulated to result in only a handful of species found. Species that we did find included Whirring Tree Frog, Bleating Tree Frog, Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog and Perons Tree Frog.

 

Sun Feb 20^th

Getting up early was a struggle after spending the previous night spotlighting, but we still managed to get away by 6:20am to head for Harrington where we were to meet up with Brian and Heather Hole to head out to the Little Tern Rookery and Beach Thick-knee nesting area. We arived at the agreed time of 8am and headout out on the boat. Along the way, we saw Ospreys nesting, Little Egret, Mangrove Heron, Royal Spoonbill and Striped Honeyeater. Reaching the sandflats around the nesting area, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Pied Oystercatcher, Greenshank, Golden Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Common Tern and Little Tern were added to the days list. Only a few young Little Terns were seen being feed by the adults, most had already left the colony.

After erecting a sign and replacing the fox baits, we boated further along the sand spit to where the Beach Stone-curlew were nesting. A hide not far away allowed us to have great looks at the birds and with the favourable weather conditions we decided that a quick look at the single egg was permissable. This pair of Stone-curlew is the furthest south known nesting pair, and in six nesting attempts they have never been successful. Lets hope that this will be they year!

Boating back up the river, we took a small detour up the Cattai Creek to see what we could find. This resulted in Southern Emu-wrens, Azure Kingfishers, White-breasted Sea-eagle and a Hobby.

Thoroughly satisfied with the days birding, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Smiths Lake spotting White-throated Needle-tails and a Blue-tongued Lizard along the way.

Spotlighting that night around the field station we stumbled across an Owlet Nightjar no further than 2 metres away from the track. We also heard a White-throated Nightjar but did not see it. Other fauna found included Black-bellied Swamp Snake, Bleating Tree Frog, Freycinet's Frog, Brown Striped Frog, Haswells Froglet was heard but not seen, a Bush Rat and a Common Brushtail Possum.

 

Mon 21^st - Wed 23^rd Feb

These three days were spent collecting data on the wrens in the area which include Southern Emu-wrens, Variegated Fairy-wrens, and Superb Blue Wrens as well as White-browed Scrubwrens. This involves colour banding individuals and then following them collecting data on feeding behaviour and their home ranges. Needless to say, other birds are observed during the exercise and highlights were Brown Goshawk, Peregrine Falcon, Wonga Pigeon (unusual Habitat - wet heathland), Pheasant Coucal, Tawny Frogmouth, Tawny Grassbird, Little Lorikeet a very early ariving Spangled Drongo and a pair of nesting Azure Kingfishers.

As well as the birds, additional mammals - Red-necked Wallabies, Brown Antechinus; reptiles - Land Mullet, Jacky Lizard; and butterflies - Orchid Butterfly, Sword Grass Brown, Wanderer, Dingy Ringlet, Dingy Ring, Small Grass Blue, Tailed Emperor, Evening Brown, Common Jazabeel and Blue Triagle were seen from previous days.

 

Wed 23^rd Feb

Afer banding and observing during the morning Ali and I packed up and headed for home. On the way we deviated to Seal Rocks to add some birds to our list. Unfortunately the birdwatching was not great but we did managed to see Swamp Harrier, Bar-shouldered Dove, Black-faced Monarch, Large-billed Scrubwren, Brown Warlber and Dusky Woodswallow. Two very large Lace Monitors crossed the road as we were observing.

Travelling past Newcastle during low tide, we called into Stockton Bridge for some wader action...and got none. Only Eastern Curlews, Whimbrels, Bar-tailed Godwits and Pied Stilts were seen. So we headed for home, adding a few more species to our bird list to bring it to the total of 134.

 

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Total number of bird species seen for the trip were 134.

Little Grebe	Pelican	Darter	Pied Cormorant
Little Pied Cormorant	Black Cormorant	Little Black Cormorant	White-faced Heron
Cattle Egret	Large Egret	Little Egret	Intermediate Egret
Mangrove Heron	Sacred Ibis	Straw-necked Ibis	Royal Spoonbill
Black Swan	Black Duck	Chestnut Teal	Wood Duck
Musk Duck	OspreyN	Black-shouldered Kite	Whistling Kite
Brown Goshawk	White-breasted Sea-eagel	Wedge-tailed Eagle	Swamp Harrier
Peregrine Falcon	Australian Hobby	Stubble Quail	Dusky Moorhen
Swamphen	Coot	Beach Thick-knee*N	Pied Oystercatcher
Masked Lapwing	Goldern Plover	Pied Stilt	Eastern Curlew
Whimbrel	Greenshank	Bar-tailed Godwit	Silver Gull
Common Tern	Little TernN	Crested Tern	Domestic Pigeon
Spotted Turtle-dove	Bar-shouldered Dove	Crested Pigeon	Wonga Pigeon
Yellow-tailed Black-cockatoo	Galah	Sulphur-creasted Cockatoo	Rainbow Lorikeet
Scaly-breasted Lorikeet	Little Lorikeet	Eastern Rosella	Pheasant Coucal
Koel	Tawny Frogmouth	Owlet Nightjar	White-throated Nightjar
White-throated Needle-tail	Azure KingfisherN	Kookaburra	Sacred Kingfisher
Rainbow Bea-eater	Dollarbird	Pipit	Welcome Swallow
Fairy MartinN	Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike	Red-whiskered Bulbul	Eastern Yellow Robin
Creasted Shrike-tit	Goldern Whistler	Rufous Whistler	Grey Thrush
Leaden Flycatcher	Black-faced Monarch	Grey Fantail	Rufous Fantail
Willie Wagtail	Eastern Whipbird	Tawny Grassbird	Goldern-headed Cisticola
Superb Blue Wren	Varigated Wren	Southern Emu-wren	Rock Warbler
Large-billed Scrubwren	White-browed Scrubwren	Brown Thornbill	Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Yellow Thornbill	Striated Thornbill	Brown Warbler	White-throated Warbler
Sittella	White-throated Treecreeper	Red Wattlebird	Little Wattlebird
Striped Honeyeater	Noisy Friarbird	Noisy Miner	Lewin's Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater	Brown-headed Honeyeater	White-naped Honeyeater	White-cheeked Honeyeater
Eastern Spinebill	Scarlet Honeyeter	White-fronted Chat	Mistletoebird
Spotted Pardalote	Silvereye	Red-browed Finch	House Sparrow
Starling	Indian Myna	Figbird	Olive-backed Oriole
Spangled Drongo	Magpie Lark	White-breasted Woodswallow	Dusky Woodswallow
Grey Butcherbird	Pied Butcherbird	Magpie	Pied Currawong
Australian Raven	Forest Raven
		Total =	134

* = Newies
N = nesting

Native mammal seen.

Brown Antechinus (Antechinus stuartii)

Common Brush-tailed Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)

Red-necked Wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus)

Bush Rat (Rattus fuscipes)

Reptile and Frog species List

Jacky Lizard (Amphibolurus muricatus)	Lace Monitor (Varanus varius)	Land Mullet (Egernia major)	Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard (Tiliqua scincoides)
Diamond Python (Morelia spilota)	Black-bellied Snake (Hemiaspis signata)	Eastern Small-eyed Snake (Rhinoplocephalus nigrescens)	Common Eastern Froglet (Crinia signifera)
Brown Striped Frog (Limnodynastes peronii	Haswell's Frog (Paracrinia haswelli)	Red-backed Toadlet (Pseudophryne cariacea)	Bleating Tree Frog (Litoria dentata)
Eastern Dwarf Tree Frog (Litoria fallax)	Freycinet's Frog (Litoria Freycineti)	Peron's Tree Frog (Litoria peronii)

Butterfly species List
Butterfly identification can be difficult for small browns, whites and blues without catching the individual in question. This requires a large net which is cumbersome and was not taken for the journey, hence only obvious species were identified and does not reflect the actual species diversity.

Blue triangle (Graphium sarpedon)	Orchid Butterfly (Papilio aegeus)	Common Jazebel (Delias nigrina)	Wanderer (Danaus plexippus)
Common Australian Crow (Euphloea core)	Sword Grass Brown (Tisiphone abeona)	Tailed Emporer (Polyura pyrrhus)	Evening Brown (Melantitis leda)
Dingy Ringlet (Hypocysta pseudirius)