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Hello Pintail Twitchers,
I finally made the trek to Grafton in search of the Northern Pintail on
Tuesday 15th August.
Unfortunately it had literally flown, being pursued by a White-bellied
Sea-Eagle I am told, never to be seen again.
I arrived in Grafton about mid-day and went straight to the Cowans Ponds.
I spent the rest of the afternoon there in the company of several other
visitors but without luck.
It seems that the bird has really 'flown the coop'.
My sadness was relieved slightly on reading the visitors book and noting
that some 'high-flyers' had also had the same luck as me.
After spending the night in a cheap local motel I returned to the ponds
very early in the morning and spent a few more hours hoping for a sighting but
to no avail.
Another local couple dropped in and commiserated with me.
Of course they had seen the bird some time before!
Nice people though.
Even though the pintail has probably gone for ever, Cowan Ponds is still an
interesting and worthwhile place to visit if you are in the area.
There is a substantial bird-hide and some decent old hollow dead trees
where there seemed to be some nesting activity by parrots and possibly Wood
Ducks.
There has been an extensive tree-planting project and this should be very
productive in a few years.
Even so, for a relatively small area there is a good number of bird species
to be seen apart from the occasional pintail.
Below is a list I made from the pond and the short pathway in from the road
to the bird hide.
Black Swan (nesting)
Wood Duck
Chestnut Teal
Grey Teal
Hardhead
Pacific Black Duck
Australasian Grebe
Darter
Little Black Cormorant
Little Pied Cormorant
Great Egret
White Faced Heron
Australian White Ibis
Brown Goshawk
Nankeen Kestrel
Dusky Moorhen
Purple Swamphen
Comb-crested Jacana
Black-winged Stilt
Masked Lapwing
Crested Pigeon
White-headed Pigeon
Galah
Rainbow Lorikeet
King Parrot
Eastern Rosella
Forest Kingfisher
Red-backed Fairy-wren
Superb Blue Fairy-wren
Striated Pardalote
Noisy Miner
Brown Honeyeater
Grey Shrike-thrush
Grey Fantail
Willie Wagtail
Figbird
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Pied Butcherbird
Australian Raven
Welcome Swallow
Tree Martin
Richard's Pipit
Magpie-lark
Laughing Kookaburra
Common Starling
Total 45
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