This morning (19/2/06), Graham
Turner, Stuart Pickering, Peter Marsh, Lorand Szucs and I had a good time
“quailing” in our favourite paddock at the corner of Cornwallis Rd and Cuppits Lane in the Richmond Turf Farms (approx. 55 km NW
of Sydney CBD). Here we flushed at least 5 King Quail (4 males and a female), 4
Brown and 2 Stubble Quail, a female Red-chested
Button-quail and a Buff-banded Rail (the later we were almost on top of). The
smaller King Quail was the most numerous out of the 4 species that were flushed.
We could not find any Red-backed Button-quails on this occasion which were seen
by other birdos on previous weekends. Also flying
over was a Swamp Harrier, a Rainbow Bee-eater or two, a Darter, a flock of 50
Little Black Cormorants and about 40 White-throated Needletails
amongst the Welcome Swallows and Fairy Martins (the Needletails
were seen flying quite low at times). The Singing Bushlarks
were also showing well and a few young Golden-headed Cisticolas
were being fed by their parents.
Peter and I also briefly visited Bushell’s
Lagoon which is almost completely dried up. There were no ducks as a result but
lots of Masked Lapwings and 22 Pacific Golden Plovers on the dried up mud. The
lagoon just east of Bushell’s Lagoon had 61
Black-winged Stilts (which included some young birds).
Edwin Vella
