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"FOLLOW THAT BIRD (ASIT)" TRIP
TO OLD BAR, HARRINGTON, CROWDY HEAD, KENDAL AND COMBOYNE PLATEAU 14-18 MARCH
2003
Nine people were part of the "Follow
That Bird (ASIT)" trip to the Mid-North Coast of NSW to take advantage of the
cooler conditions that prevail at this time of the year and all the recent rain
that has fallen on that part of the Coast. Seasonal conditions are great in that
Region at present with all the wetlands full and with rain and showers occurring
most nights of our stay but remaining fine during the day. This meant that the
five day trip enjoyed excellent weather conditions.
The first stop was at the Hunter
Region Botanical Gardens at Heatherbrae where both Musk and
Little Lorikeets were seen in large numbers feeding in the
flowering Blackbutts. The first major stop was the sandspit at Old Bar. where
previously on 8/3/02 when with my son Drew, we counted 16 Double-banded
Plover and 26 Red-capped Plover on the Spit at high
tide. This time it was low tide and there were no plovers on the sandspit, but
at Farquhar Inlet entrance there were 300+ Common Terns, 160+
Little Terns, 6 Gull-billed Tern, and
good views were obtained of an Arctic Jaeger
attacking the terns at the entrance to the Inlet, while inside on the
sand flats were 4 Sanderlings, 30+ Eastern
Curlews, 40+ Pacific Golden Plovers, 40+
Bar-tailed Godwit and 30+ Eastern Curlews. An
immature Brahminy Kite patrolled the sand flats and a pair of
Beach Stone-curlews, near the same? piece of dead timber
(mentioned by Dick Jenkyn on 15/3/03), gave great views. Most participants had
not seen this or the Sanderlings before. A Forest Raven and
Torresian Crows were present during lunch in the picnic
area.
We stayed the next two nights at the
Crowdy Bay Motel and birded on 15/3/03 around Harrington and while on 16/3/03 we
birded Crowdy Head. At Harrington we spent about 2 hours on the breakwall where
we saw 11 Double-banded Plovers on Manning Point along with 5 Golden Plovers, 29
Pied Oystercatchers, 3 Sooty Oystercatchers, 4
Caspian Terns one of which was feeding a juvenile, 16
Red-capped Plovers, Gull-billed & Common Terns, Godwits & Eastern
Curlews. On the Harrington side we found Striated Heron, 4
Grey-tailed Tattlers, Whistling Kites and 2
Whimbrels. Regent Bowerbirds were seen in the
Rainforest Reserve along with a lone Brown Cuckoo-Dove, but not
much else. 12 Black-winged Stilts were seen with a
White-necked Heron, on a wetland as you come into Harrington,
while over a 1000 Straw-necked Ibis would have been along the
Manning River flats.
Early morning walks around Crowdy
Head, particularly around the small fishing boat harbour turned up plenty of
gulls and terns. Around the returning commercial fishing boats were up to 10
Arctic Jaegers each morning while on 16/3/03 there 3
Pomerine Jaegers, one which had the full tail with the twisted
tail-feathers. Both Wedge-tailed & Short-tailed
Shearwaters followed the boats to the harbour entrance and 2 Brahminy
Kites patrolled for fish scraps. Visits to Diamond Head & Indian Head
produced the usual heathland birds but also at Indian Head was a pair of
Striped Honeyeaters with 2 dependent young. An unexpected bird
frequenting the bottlebrush and Grevillias in the garden of the motel was a lone
Yellow-throated Miner. This bird is way out of its usual range
and was seen over two days in the same location and all features were noted.
There are no Noisy Miners at Crowdy Head.
Two days were spent on the Comboyne
Plateau visiting such places at Ellenborough Falls, Boorganna Nature Reserve,
the rainforest around The Hideway at Comboyne (where we stayed), with trips to
the Longford Tramway & Swan Crossing in Keewong SF. Highlights here included
7 Log-runners & 2 Spectacled Flycatchers
in Boorganna NR, 100's of Topknot Pigeons, Brown
Cuckoo-Doves and at least 40 White-headed Pigeons
feeding on various fruiting trees. Great views of Bar-shouldered
Doves, a lone Pale Yellow Robin near the Longworth
Tramway together with 60+ Topknot Pigeons & a Brush Turkey,
2A+J Wedge-tailed Eagle near Comboyne, a juvenile Koel
Cuckoo feeding with Bowerbirds and Figbirds in a fruiting tree near the
"Hideaway", and Rose Robin, Crested Shrike-tit
and Red-browed Tree-creeper in Keewong SF. During our sojourn
into Kendal we spotted a Square-tailed Kite,
Yellow-rumped Thornbills, & a Nankeen Night-Heron, while
White-throated Needletails were seen at Swans
Crossing.
Our return home on 18/3/03 was
highlighted by seeing a Grey Goshawk &
Sitellas at Bobin, Regent Bowerbirds and a
Sparrowhawk at Wingham Brush NR, and an Osprey
at Karuah. Our last bird for the trip was a Yellow-billed
Spoonbill in a small farm dam near Bushells Ridge. Altogether 149
species were seen over the five days and all participants except myself saw a
number of new species each. Great birding was had by all.
Alan
Morris
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