Inland birds in the east

["Dion Hobcroft" <>]

MASKED WOODSWALLOW IN RNP

On 2.10.00 at the Royal National Park Visitor Centre at approx 1430 hours
with visiting Madagascan birder Jose Bronfman, I spotted two woodswallows
spiralling over the carpark. I remarked to Jose-check these Dusky
Woodswallows when it became obvious they had pale grey upperparts, white
underparts and black and blackish throats and were in fact a pair of Masked
Woodswallows-my first in Sydney since 1982. They could not be heard
calling.We watched them in flight for about a minute giving reasonable
views. It sort of gave me a shock because I certainly did not expect
anything like this.  They quickly disappeared into the upper atmosphere and
were not relocated. We may be in for a coastal influx of these and other
semi arid zone nomads as dry conditions prevail throughout central NSW.

Good birding

Dion