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Hi Everyone,
Comments about an increased number of
White-necked Herons being seen in the Sydney-Central Coast-Newcastle area
because of the effect of the drought in inland NSW , are spot on! Here on the
Central Coast, White-necked Herons, which normally are only seen on 6-8
occasions per year, can be found at any wetland, often in small groups. Birds
can also be found in wet paddocks, playing fields, drains and some small coastal
saline lagoons. It is certainly the highest number of birds on the Coast since
the Central Coast Birding NSW Group began collecting records in
1988.
From Thursday-Saturday 4-6 July, I
made a quick trip to Coonabarabran, Baradine & the Warrumbungles National
Park, in relation to planning a trip for the Birding NSW members to travel the
"Baradine Bird Routes" in August 2002. I could not get over how dry and cold it
was, and how few birds there were in the bushland. There was almost a complete
absence of honeyeaters, the usually common Spiny-cheeked, Yellow-faced, Striped,
Blue-faced and Fuscous Honeyeaters and Noisy & Little Friarbirds and
Red-wattlebirds were all missing! White-plumed, White-eared & Yellow-tufted
Honeyeaters were the only ones seen and then only in small numbers! While
Yellow-faced & Fuscous Honeyeaters, Red Wattlebirds & Noisy Friarbirds
may well have come to the coast following the flowering of the coastal gums and
banksias (there are certainly plenty of them here!), where the Spiny-cheeked,
Striped & Little Friarbirds have gone to is any ones guess?
Some good birds seen during the three
days were 3 Ground Cuckoo-shrikes near Twerridgerie Ck, west of Baradine on
5/6/02 and 21 (15 in the one flock) Turquoise Parrots near the Woolshed,
in Warrumbungles NP on 6/6/02. Seperate to these sightings, David Johnson has
had Grey Goshawk in Baradine 1-5/6/02, Shirley Grey has had several sightings of
Azure Kingfishgers on the Castlereagh Rriver in Coonabarabran (normally they do
not occur here); 5 Rainbow Lorikeets were seen in Coonbarabran on 28/6/02 by
Bill Hatfield, rarely reported in this area; Scott Filmer saw 6 Swift Parrots at
Camp Pincham, Warrumbungles NP on 15/6/02; while Grey Falcons were reported at
Willie by Ray Jones, on the Warren-Carinda Rd during June.
Swift Parrots still can be readily
found in Lake Macquarie & Wyong Shires, and are still around my house in
Murray St Bateau Bay in large numbers, now 8 weeks since they were first seen!
There has been a recent sighting of 70+ Regent Honeyeaters in area to the
south-east of Morissett by Allan Richardson. It would appear to be a night time
roost as only a few birds are present in the day, first seen on 1/7/2002 and
still there today. Small numbers of Regent Honeyeaters are still being seen at a
number of sites around the southern shores of Lake Macquarie particularly close
to Morisset and possibly may be these birds going to roost.
Other interesting sightings on the
Central Coast include a Peregrine Falcon sitting on powerlines at Mingara
Estate, Tumbi Umbi seen by me on 3/7/02 and an Osprey with a fish at Woy Woy Bay
on 6/7/02 seen by Robert Payne.
Alan Morris
Central Coast Group, Birding
NSW
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