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G'day Birders
Reporting in after an excellent day of birding
along Lady Carrington Drive - Royal National Park.
Of particular interest was a Swamp Harrier, which
took what I think was a Eurasian Coot straight off the Hacking River. It all
happened so quickly that I couldn't make a clear ID on the victim, which was
scooped up in an instant. This rather spectacular event occurred directly
opposite Gibraltar. The excellent start (not according to the coot) to
my raptor day continued with a couple of sightings of Brown Goshawks of
varying ages and, very excitingly, excellent views of a beautiful adult
light-morph Little Eagle, right at the 4km mark from the start of the trail
(regulars will know the palm gallery). The bird remained for some time, circling
the valley at a height of perhaps 200 metres and calling in accord
with their habit.
There have been very few recorded sightings of
this species in the Royal National Park. In recent years; I spotted one over
Lady C Drive almost two years ago and then a nesting pair around 18 months ago,
just prior to my departure to Broome. Bruce Roubin kept an eye on the nest
(which is still in the treetop) in my absence and reported that the pair failed
to raise any young. I've not heard or read of any sightings since. Regulars in
the area, or enthusiasts from afar, may like to keep an eye out for this
very beautiful raptor calling and soaring majestically over the river
valley.
Diversity and abundance was quite
good today. Here's the list:
Great Cormorant
Pacific Black Duck
Australian Wood Duck
Purple Swamphen
Eurasian Coot
Dusky Moorhen
Little Eagle
Brown Goshawk
Swamp Harrier
Brown Cuckoo Dove
Wonga Pigeon
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Rainbow Lorikeet
Crimson Rosella
King Parrot
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Laughing Kookaburra
Sacred Kingfisher
Azure Kingfisher
Dollarbird
Superb Lyrebird
Varied Sitella (heaps - couple of
times)
White-throated Treecreeper
Variegated Fairy-wren
Superb Fairy-wren
White-browed Scrubwren
Yellow-throated Scrubwren
Brown Thornbill
Striated Thornbill
Brown Gerigone
Red Wattlebird
Lewins Honeyeater
Yellow-faced Honeyeater (1 summer
lover)
Noisy Friarbird
Eastern Spinebill
Eastern Whipbird
Eastern Yellow Robin
Crested Shrike-tit
Golden Whistler
Grey Fantail
Black-faced Monarch
Olive-backed Oriole
Green Catbird
Satin Bowerbird
Grey Butcherbird
Australian Magpie
Pied Currawong
Red-browed Finch
Mistletoebird
55 species
Regulars for this time of year which were
missed:
Topknot Pigeon
Satin Flycatcher
Leaden Flycatcher
Pilotbird
Rockwarbler (amazingly!! - put down to hot day
and 8:30am start)
Large-billed Scrubwren (amazingly!!)
Grey Shrike-thrush
Rufous Fantail
Australasian Grebe
Cicada Bird
Spotted Pardalote
Ricki Coughlan
Sydney, Australia
_______________________________________________________________________
"In my hand I held the most remarkable of all
living things, a creature of astounding abilities that elude our understanding,
of extraordinary, even bizarre senses, of stamina and endurance far supassing
anything else in the animal world. I held that truly awesome enigma, a bird." -
Fisher
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