Had a terrific time in the Hawkesbury for a good part of today, on a
cool-warm Spring day (a strong southerly change had passed through earlier).
Quite a number of places were covered (producing a tally of 137 species)
including:
MITCHELL PARK, CATTAI
Here was quieter than usual though I had great looks of a male Cicadabird
and most of the usual species (Yellow-tufted and White-naped Honeyeaters, Common
Bronzewing, a Channel-billed Cuckoo etc).
PITT TOWN LAGOON
This was the best location for the day and it?s amazing how many more
birds have moved to this lagoon since the last weekend. I was thrilled to sort
out more than 600 (six hundred) Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (many juv. birds amongst
them) with 6 Pacific Golden Plovers, one Red-necked Stint, 6 Marsh Sandpipers,
70 plus Pied Stilts and 4 Baillon?s Crakes. The usual Wood Sandpiper may have
now moved to another lagoon in the Hawkesbury, probably Bushell?s Lagoon, as
Pitt Town Lagoon is drying up and becoming less suitable for this species.
Despite the large numbers of Sharpies, unfortunately could not produce any
Pectoral?s or Long-toed Stints (maybe Keith will!). There were also 75 Whiskered
Terns with most of these seen
roosting with 2 White-winged Black Terns. I was able to compare the flight of
both species with the White-winged having much shallower wing beats on more
rounded wings (it is also a much smaller Tern than the Whiskered). A pair of
magnificent adult White-bellied Sea-eagles were calling (honking) on two fence
posts (and I managed to get probably as close as you could get to them without
causing them to fly off). In the long grass on the northern end of the lagoon
was a flock of atleast 75 Chestnut-breasted Mannikins and a Tawny Grassbird
briefly called from some reeds. A Brown Songlark was also seen calling in its
display flight near the western side of the lagoon. As I was too busy looking at
the waders, I did not really take much notice of all the (hundreds!)
Woodswallows (White-browed/Masked) flying about the houses north of the
lagoon.
SCHEYVILLE
NATIONAL PARK
A half hour walk through Scheyville NP in the middle of the day produced
2 Nankeen Night Herons along Longneck Creek and a good variety of woodland birds
? Speckled Warbler, Peaceful Doves, Crested Shrike-tit, a male White-winged
Triller (snatching hairy caterpillars from the leaves of a eucalypt), a Jacky
Winter (pouring outs its beautiful song), Varied Sitellas, many Rufous Whistlers
and White-throated Gerygones, Weebills, a pair of both Sacred Kingfishers and
Leaden Flycatchers, Fuscous Honeyeaters and Dusky Woodswallows.
CUPITTS LANE,
RICHMOND
The paddock on the western side of Cupitts
Lane adjacent to Cornwallis
Rd produced 6 Horsfield?s Bronze-cuckoos, a Rufous
Songlark, atleast one Singing
Busklark,10 Zebra Finches and another 60 plus Chestnut-breasted Mannikins. Heard
also here, both Striped and Spotted Marsh Frogs (Limnodynastes peronii and
tasmaniensis).
BUSH?S LAGOON,
RICHMOND
Here there were 2 Yellow-billed Spoonbills, a Glossy Ibis (its colours
showing very well in the sun), 11 Australian Grebes, 30 plus Hardhead, 3 Pacific
Golden Plovers, 10 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and a Brown Songlark calling nearby.
There were a few recent young Black Swans in this lagoon.
BUSHELLS LAGOON
Here produced another load of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (70 plus), 12
Pink-eared Ducks (most of these in pairs), 2 Darters, 2 Yellow-billed Spoonbills
and an Australian Crake.
FREEMANS REACH
Along the corner of Blacktown
and Kurmond Rds, there were 50 plus White-browed and atleast 5 Masked
Woodswallows making a lot of chatter as they perched in a eucalypt. Also a
Peregrine Falcon swooped fairly low, but I did not see it chase any of the
birds.
WILBERFORCE
In the lagoon near the end of Pitt Town Ferry Rd, saw 2 Black-tailed
Native Hens (which have been there for over a month now and these 2 were feeding
well out in the open with some Wood Ducks), 2 Hoary-headed Grebes, 10 Hardheads,
12 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (altogether saw about 700 of these for the day in the
Hawkesbury), 16 Red-kneed Dotterels (including a recently fledged chick), 6
Black-fronted Dotterels and 15 White-winged Choughs further up and beside the
road.
The Hawkesbury is always rich in birds and with the
daylight saving, it is always possible to see and hear a 150 bird species in a
day.
Edwin Vella
