Hi Birdewrs,
On reading Edwin's report of his visit on Sunday to the Hunter Estuary it is
therefore of interest to record the experience of 8 of us who were part of a
two day Follow That Bird Tour to the Hunter Estuary.
On the Saturday our first stop was Pambalong Swamp, where the usual
waterbirds were found but there were good raptors, including 2 Wedge-tailed
Eagles, a Little Eagle, a Swamp Harrier & a Peregrine, and a Black Duck with
7 ducklings. A brief stop at Leneghans Flat Swamp found11 Glossy Ibis.
At Ash Island 1200-13530 hrs, plenty of Black-winged Stilts, Greenshanks, a
few Marsh and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, a single Black-tailed Godwit with the
Stilts, 2 Black-shouldered Kite, 2 Whistling Kites, 4 Sea-eagles & a
Kestrel. Alas once again, no Yellow Wagtails!
We visited Stockton Sandspit 1500-1630 hrs, with the tide already half out
and saw many waders, the highlights being 14 Gull-billed Terns, 4 Mongolian
(Lesser-sand) Plovers, 1 Double-banded Plover, 8-10 Terek Sandpipers, 5 Red
Knots and the Broad-billed Sandpiper was again found where it was seen two
weeks before. Most Avocets had already returned to the feeding areas with
only a few hundred left for us to see and Black-tailed Godwits were the
commonest large wader feeding there. At the Stockton wreck we saw 3
Grey-tailed Tattlers.
On the Sunday we did a boat cruise on Newcastle Harbour, proceeding first to
the Harbour entrance hoping to see some Jaegers, but again none present, but
there were aprox 800 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters sitting together on the water
surface, the water being very calm and still. We went through the flock and
they barely move away, amongst them was one lone Fleshy-footed Shearwater.
Some Common Terns, a Striated Heron and a few Darters were the only birds of
interest. We returned to the harbour making our way to the Kooragang Island
dykes where the waders roost at high tide. On passing the Stockton wreck we
saw 24 Golden Plover and 14 Grey-tailed Tattelrs roosting nearby but no
Common Sandpipers.
At the dykes we saw c 300 Black-tailed Godwits, c. 1000 Bar-tailed Godwits
many coming into breeding plumage, 206 Pacific Golden Plovers, 78
Greenshanks, 40+ Curlew Sandpipers, 4+ Marsh Sandpipers, 4 Sooty
Oystercatchers, 3 Pied Oystercatchers, a few Whimbrel, 300+ Eastern Curlew,
8 Red Knot, 5 Great Knot, a Striated Heron and a Whistling Kite delibertaely
and dramatically put all the waders to flight as it flew the length of the
Dykes!
We did a trip up Moschito Creek, Kooragang island and saw little except for
5 Sea-Eagles and 2 Whistling Kites, and on returning to the Dykes about an
hour later again saw 3A & 1 immature Sea-eagles in the air at once. Nothing
else special on the dykes this time apart from about 14 Caspian Terns.
A longer stop at Leneghans Flat Swamp on the return home enabled us to
count16 Glossy Ibis, 52 Shoveler, 6 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and 1 immature
Wandering Whistle-Duck amongst the many waterbirds present.
It is interesting to note the differnce between the birds we saw at the same
sites as Edwin visited!
Alan Morris
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