birding-aus

Birding in NE NSW

To: "'Crispin Marsh'" <>, "'birding-aus'" <>
Subject: Birding in NE NSW
From: "Edwin Vella" <>
Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 20:33:30 +1100
You sure you mean Large-billed Scrubwren and not Gerygone. These 2 names
often get mixed up.

-----Original Message-----
From: 
 On Behalf Of Crispin
Marsh
Sent: Wednesday, 4 January 2006 11:45 AM
To: birding-aus
Subject: Birding in NE NSW

Apologies for the last blank message - I guess messages in Excel format
do not appear. I will try again



Dear Birders,

The north east corner of New South Wales is a wonderful place to bird by
virtue of the diverse range of habitats found within a relatively short
distance. Staying for 5 days at our avocado farm just outside Ballina I
was able to spend each morning out in a different environment.

 

The first morning it was the rainforest around Terania Creek north of
Lismore seeing both of the local bowerbirds, green catbird, and other
forest dwellers. The next morning was the mangroves, sandbars and
beaches at the mouth of the Richmond river looking for mangrove gerygone
and mangrove honeyeater. I didn't see either there but did see a variety
of waders, rainbow bee-eaters and raptors. The third was spent in the
littoral rainforest adjacent Iluka where I was fortunate to have
wonderful views of a rose crowned fruit dove perched in the upper
branches of an old dead tree. I had been hearing them for a time before
this wonderfully colourful bird flew into sight. In the nearby mangroves
I found a mangrove gerygone and a striped honeyeater tending chicks in
its elegant basket like nest suspended from three thin branchlets of a
mangrove. Then a morning at flat rock beach viewing the terns and rock
platform waders. Another morning was spent visiting a number of
freshwater lakes inland near Lismore. The lake at McMahon's road, Tatham
was a knock out with a host of herons, ibis, sandpipers, ducks, grebes
and the like. For a change of pace I went out one evening to the Uralba
Nature Reserve just west of Ballina with a spotlight and a sooty owl
tape. The tape had been playing not more than 20 seconds before the
ghost like shape of a sooty owl swept into a nearby tree observed mainly
from the eyeshine reflected from my head torch. Judicious use of the
spotlight (and no tape) gave prolonged views. Time prevented me from
exploring any of the heathland or swamp habitats that are also closely
accessible or to take a dingy to explore the mudflats around the
Richmond river more fully. 

 

The farm itself has a substantial number of large tallowwood trees
planted as windbreaks. I had an uplifting new year experience when
walking through the farm on New Years Day. 10 whistling kites launched
themselves out of the tallowwoods, soaring and wheeling over the farm. 

 

Peter Marsh

 

Birds seen in the 5 days were:-

 

Bee-eater, Rainbow              

Black-Cockatoo, Yellow-tailed   

Bowerbird, Regent               

Bowerbird, Satin                

Brush-turkey, Australian        

Butcherbird, Grey               

Butcherbird, Pied               

Catbird, Green                  

Cockatoo, Sulphur-crested       

Coot, Eurasian                  

Cormorant, Great                

Cormorant, Little Black         

Cormorant, Little Pied          

Cormorant, Pied                 

Coucal, Pheasant                

Crow, Torresian                 

Cuckoo-Dove, Brown              

Cuckoo-shrike, Black-faced      

Currawong, Pied                 

Darter                          

Dollarbird                      

Dotterel, Black-fronted         

Drongo, Spangled                

Duck, Australian Wood           

Duck, Pacific Black             

Duck, Pink-eared                

Egret, Cattle                

Egret, Great                 

Egret, Intermediate          

Egret, Little                

Emu                          

Fairy-wren, Superb           

Fantail, Grey                

Fantail, Rufous              

Figbird                      

Finch, Red-browed            

Flycatcher, Satin            

Frogmouth, Tawny             

Fruit-Dove, Rose-crowned     

Fruit-Dove, Wompoo           

Galah                        

Gerygone, Large-billed       

Gerygone, Mangrove           

Gibberbird                   

Godwit, Bar-tailed           

Grassbird, Tawny             

Greenshank, Common           

Gull, Silver                 

Hardhead                     

Heron, White-faced           

Hobby, Australian            

Honeyeater, Blue-faced             

Honeyeater, Lewin's                

Honeyeater, Striped                

Honeyeater, White-cheeked          

Ibis, Australian White             

Ibis, Straw-necked                 

Jacana, Comb-crested               

Kestrel, Nankeen                   

King-Parrot, Australian            

Kingfisher, Sacred                 

Kite, Black-shouldered             

Kite, Brahminy                     

Kite, Whistling                    

Koel, Common                       

Kookaburra, Laughing               

Lapwing, Masked                    

Logrunner                          

Lorikeet, Rainbow                  

Magpie, Australian                 

Magpie-lark                        

Martin, Fairy                      

Miner, Noisy                       

Monarch, Spectacled                

Moorhen, Dusky                     

Myna, Common                       

Oriole, Olive-backed               

Osprey                             

Owl, Sooty                         

Oystercatcher, Pied                

Oystercatcher, Sooty               

Pelican, Australian                 

Pigeon, Crested                     

Pigeon, White-headed                

Pigeon, Wonga                       

Plover, Double-banded               

Plover, Pacific Golden              

Quail, Brown                     

Raven, Australian                

Robin, Eastern Yellow            

Robin, Pale-yellow               

Rosella, Crimson                 

Rosella, Eastern                 

Sanderling                       

Sandpiper, Common                

Sandpiper, Curlew                

Sandpiper, Marsh                 

Sandpiper, Pectoral              

Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed          

Sandpiper, Terek                 

Scrubwren, Large-billed          

Scrubwren, White-browed          

Sea-Eagle, White-bellied         

Shrike-thrush, Little            

Silvereye                        

Snipe, Latham's                  

Spoonbill, Royal                 

Starling, Common                 

Stilt, Black-winged              

Swallow, Welcome                 

Swallow, White-backed            

Swamphen, Purple                 

Swan, Black                      

Tattler, Grey-tailed          

Teal, Chestnut                

Teal, Grey                    

Tern, Common                  

Tern, Crested                 

Tern, Little                  

Thornbill, Brown              

Thrush, Russet-tailed         

Turnstone, Ruddy              

Turtle-Dove, Spotted          

Wagtail, Willie               

Wattlebird, Little            

Whipbird, Eastern             

Whistler, Golden              

Whistler, Rufous              

Whistling-Duck, Plumed        

Woodswallow, White-breasted   
--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
'unsubscribe birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 

--------------------------------------------
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message:
'unsubscribe birding-aus' (no quotes, no Subject line)
to 

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU