Swifties in the Hunter!

["steve roderick" <>]

Hey all,

 

  Exciting times in the hunter valley at the moment in terms of Swift Parrots. In the last couple of weeks I have personally found many pockets of Swifts around the Cessnock/Kurri Kurri region. 21/5, 9 birds in Pelton S.F., 24/5, 25 birds in Werekata N.P. near Abermain, 7  & 10 on repeat visits, 7/6, 63 birds at Pelton S.F., I visited this location again on 8/6 and walked a 300m line moving 20-30ms either side and counted 84 Swifts. They were still there this morning. A bonus on Wednesday were 3 Regent Honeyeaters at the same location.

 All these birds are using flowering Spotted Gum at some time, but they are also lerping in Spotted Gum, Broad leaved Ironbark and Grey Box (E. Mollucana). Little Lorys are constant companions along with a variable swag of other honeyeaters and insectivorous birds. The birding is extremely busy around these areas at the moment. Spotted Gum is flowering heavily and has not done so since 2000 where we also had large numbers of Swifts and Regents. The lack of any reports from Swamp Mahogany and the heavy flowering Spotted Gum, tells me this will be the upper Hunters year. Regents will come but most likely a bit later.

  While out in the field many species are around withmany Painted Button Quail seen, 4 groups in and hour totalling 8 birds with a group of 4. These guys are everywhere I go,other good birds are Black-chinned Honeyeaters, Spotted Quail-Thrush, Speckled Warblers, Sitellas, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Rose Robins and many more. A great sighting was 1 possibly 2 Turquoise Parrots at Quarrabolong, a great eastern record for the Hunter.

 Anyway I'll be out some time this weekend, I'll keep you infromed, hopefully with more Regents. If anyone does get out and sees Swifts in the Hunter could you let me know for HBOC records and so I know the whereabouts in my own area.

 

Steve Roderick

HBOC Swift Parrot/Regent Honeyeater Coordinatoor

Go the Brewers!

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