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GOOD BIRDING ON THE CENTRAL COAST NSW 20-21 SEPTEMBER
2003
On Saturday 20 September 2003, Follow
That Bird Tours (formerly ASIT), organised a trip to the Central Coast. First
stop was at the garden of John and Carole Carpenter, at Murrumbung HSD Mardi,
near Tuggerah. The house is set in a Spotted Gum/Ironbark forest, and coming to
the Carpenter's bird feeder each day are up to 19 Brown Cuckoo-Doves, 8 Wonga
Pigeons and plenty of King Parrots. Tawny Frogmouths roost near the house,
White-winged Choughs nest in the garden as do a pair of Pacific Bazas and a pair
of Sparrowhawks. Traffic to the bird feeder this morning was a bit slow because
the Sparrowhawks made a few passes so scattering the birds and the Bazas did not
show!
The group moved off to Wadalba Hill,
where local ground orchid and bush expert Boris Branwhite joined us. Wadalba
Hill contains a Spotted Gum/Ironbark woodland with some lovely old trees with
many hollows and has a fairly open grassy understorey.There were plenty of Sun
Orchids to see waiting for the day to get a bit sunnier before they open
completely while in places Caladenia alba seem to carpet the ground. In
one particular spot a pair of White-throated Gerygones were found constructing a
nest in a sapling and nearby a pair of Grey Fantails were putting the last
minute touches to their nest. At this spot a late Spangled Drongo kept swooping
for insects, a male Leaden Flycatcher fed near both nesting species (this is the
first return spring record this year for the Central Coast), and Yellow Robins,
Rufous Whistlers & Yellow-faced Honeyeaters were busy feeding. About 150 m
away we came across another feeding association of both Superb and Variegated
Fairy-wrens feeding and fighting in the understorey while in the trees were
feeding a mixed flock of White-naped, Brown-headed & Yellow-faced
Honeyaters, Sitellas, Rufous Whistlers, Silvereyes and Black-faced
Cuckoo-shrikes. Olive-backed Orioles were calling and a Brown Goshawk circled
overhead. Boris also showed us nesting Eastern Rosellas, Sulphur-crested
Cockatoos and Wood Ducks.
At Toukley Bridge at Gorokan, on the
shores of Budgewoi Lake we were entertained while having lunch by a flock of
about 100 Little Corellas coming down to drink and feed on the lawns, both
Hoary-headed & Little Grebes feeding with Black Swans in the seagrass beds,
Darters and 4 species of Cormorants on the Lake with many Pelicans. In the
afternoon we stopped off at Lions Park, Chittaway on the shores of Tuggerah
Lake, near the Chittaway Creek outlet onto the Lake. Here were roosting and
feeding Sharp-tailed and Curlew Sandpipers, Bar-tailed Godwits, Greenshanks
& Red Knots, and a few Black-winged Stilts & Caspain Terns. Two days
before at this site there were 43 Caspian Terns and 23 Whiskered Terns
roosting with the waders, in addition to a Sacred Kingfisher, a Buff-banded Rail
and Red-necked Stints. Striped Honeyeaters were nesting in the vicinty and
hundreds of Black Swans and a few Little and Great Egrets can be seen here.
Earlier we had checked out the Tuggerah STW and there were still 6 Pinkears
among the hundreds of Grey Teal, Hardheads & Coots.
While we were all enjoying these
birds Robert Quinan was doing a seawatch at nearby Soldeirs Pt Norah Head, where
he saw Great Skua, Huttons, Fluttering & Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, 23
White-fronted Terns and a lone and very early Little Tern, in addition to Sooty
Oystercatchers, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Ruddy Turnstones & Pacicfic Golden
Plovers etc
Elsewhere on the Central Coast the
Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoos have returned, one of the 8 pairs of Bush
Stone-curlews that live around Brisbane Water have commenced to nest, and Masked
and Powerful Owls have seen seen recently. With a birdlist of 350 species, for
the two local government areas of Gosford & Wyong, it can be truthfully said
that there is good birding on the Central Coast.
Alan
Morris
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