Greetings,
Whilst driving home from Gloucester
Tops on Sunday I realised that in
the short period of the last 7 days, I had seen some
great birds. Not by travelling on
a far off tour or bird trip to a remote location, but
simply just around the relatively local
area.
Bird (1) Tahiti Petrel - On the Wollongong Pelagic
last Saturday. This bird, which is renowned
for its far off views actually came close to the boat
and sat on the water for a while, giving
everyone on board a great look. On the way back we
got a good look and birds (3) and (4, which
were Streaked Shearwater and White-necked Petrel. The
Brown Noddies and Sooty Terns made
this a great trip.
After the Pelagic I decided not to drive straight home
to Newcastle, but rather spend some time
at Barren Grounds. It is only half an hour from the
harbour and being summer its light till 8pm. After a
brief stop at KFC we were at Barren Grounds and with
chips, cokes and burgers in hand we set off
for a walk. Within seconds of leaving the car park we
saw bird No.(4) Eastern Bristlebird. During the
time we were there we must have seen twenty birds and
along with a few honeyeaters, Southern Emu Wren
and plenty of Beautiful Firetail it was a couple of
hours well spent.
Bird no.(5) Yellow Wagtail. I had been to Ash Island
to find it twice without success. It was only when I
walked
the last 200m that I was able to sneak up on it.
After a while it took off and flew about 500m away
near the railway
line. The following day I dropped in at Cedar Hill
Drive and located bird No.(6) Wood Sandpiper. There
were
two birds present, about 100m south of the main road
between the two ponds. They were feeding with a
couple
of Dotterels and were hard to see without a scope.
Bird No.(7) Rufous Scrub-bird, was found on Saturday
morning at Gloucester Tops. I took the short
Antarctic Beech
walk and about half way around is a small cascade on
the left. Just after the cascade the track starts to
climb
slightly, there is a corner here. I stuck my head
around the corner and could see 40m up
the track. Just near the top is a large tree with
tunnels under the roots and right next to this tree
the RSBird was standing
in the middle of the track. I watched for a minute or
so and when I attempted to sneak towards it, it took
off under the roots
and into the ferns etc never to be seen again.
Richard Baxter
Newcastle
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