Today, David Mitford and I
visited again the Hunter Estuary in Newcastle area (approx 170km north
of Sydney CBD) with the hope to repeat the successes of our previous visits.
However it ended up a day where we were asking ourselves, ?where are all the
waders?? as there were far few waders than should be expected at the
Stockton mudflats and high tide
roost for this time of year. Though we counted at least 220 Eastern Curlews in
the Stockton roosting area, upon the falling tide all we could see in addition
to the Eastern Curlews, were a hundred or so Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Whimbrel, 16
Terek and a lone Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and 10 Pied Oystercatchers. Also with
these waders were a few Terns including 2 Caspian and a Gull-billed Tern. The
tides were supposed to be very high in the morning reaching to at least 1.8
metres.
At
Ash
Island early in the morning, we were
unable to relocate the Buff-breasted Sandpiper but were able to find again the
Yellow Wagtail feeding inside the mangrove fringed creek as the previous
weekend. We had some good views of an adult bird in almost full breeding plumage
of the race simillima (the usual race we see at
Ash
Island). It was spending some time
with several White-fronted Chats catching insects while walking on the fallen
logs and from the saltmarsh growing inside the creek. Other birds seen on Ash
Island included a small covey of 3 Brown Quail, 5 Whistling Kites, 8
Double-banded Plovers, 25 plus Red-capped Plovers (the female is still sitting
on its eggs close to where the Buff-breasted Sandpiper was hanging about last
week. A few are also nesting close to Wagtail
Way, therefore be careful where you tread), 20 or so
Red-necked Stint, a few Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, 2 Eastern Curlew and 4
Greenshank.
On our way back home driving down
the Sydney-Newcastle (F3) Expressway, we spotted a pair of Black-necked Stork
beside Lenaghan Drive at
Lenaghan. We drove to where they were and found both adult male and female
Storks very close to the road, initially resting on the ground and then in
hunting mode, with the male showing how easy it was to catch a nice sized eel
from a waterhole. A nice way to end the day.
Edwin Vella
