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Hi all
A much cooler and more pleasant day for birding in
the Hunter today. Plenty of Whistling-ducks around with young including a pair
of Plumed Whistling-ducks with 3 young at Lenaghans Drive, opposite Pambalong
Nature Reserve, near the end of the freeway from Sydney. I believe this is the
first breeding record for the Hunter area, certainly in recent times. Also there
were 4 pairs of Wandering Whistling-ducks with 10,5,5 and 3 ducklings, I think,
hard to keep count!
Also present still at Lenaghans Drive were the pair
of Black-necked Storks previously reported on the weekend.
At Shortland Wetland Centre I saw another 3 pairs
of Wandering Whistling-ducks with young. One pair had 12, perhaps they were
minding some for other pairs!, one pair had 6 and another 5 ducklings.
Altogether around 46 young Wandering Whistling-ducks .
Waders were fairly thin on the ground at Stockton
and Ash Island again. Not a single Sharpie today! No sign of the Buff-breasted
Sandpiper though the water levels were very high when I was there. Still around
250 Red-necked Avocets on the pond on the other side of the railway
line .
Cheers
Dick Jenkin
DUNGOG NSW
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