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Hi Birders,
The arrival and spread of the Cattle Egret into
Australia is well recorded and HANZAB has the details. Briefly there was an
original release of 18 birds from India to near Derby in 1933, thought to have
failed. First recorded in NT at Oenpellie in 1948 in such large numbers
that it was thought unlikely that they could have originated from the birds
released in 1933. There were scattered sightings in the Pilbara Region
1949-1978, and breeding in the Wyndham-Kununurra Region only proved in 1980.
However the first pair nested at Gilletts Ridge near Grafton (NSW) in 1954 and
the first nesting in Qld at Long Pockets near Brisbane in 1963. They have done
well since then although the furthest south regular breeding colony in NSW is
still Shortland Wetland Centre at Sandgate, Newcastle although a colony at
Toronto (Lake Macquarie) has existed on and off in recent years and nesting was
attempted and failed further south at the Tuggerah STW near Tuggerah Lakes in
1991. Small numbers breed irregularly in the Macquarie Marshes in NW NSW most
years in association with other Egret rookeries.
Alan Morris
NSWFOC Records Officer
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