Hi all
following Keith Brandwood's urgings and despite the unfriendly weather, I
paid a 2 hour visit to Pitt Town Lagoon this morning from 8:30-10:30am. It
was cold and blowy in the Sydney district today, although I did not get
rained on. Many of the birds had gathered on the lee shore or in the lee of
the islands, so made them hard to get to. Luckily, a group of shorebirds and
others had gathered on the windy (Pitt Town) shore and I was able to get
quite close (using reeds as cover) and have a good look. The flock was
mostly Sharp Tailed Sandpipers (about 150) but in with them was the Ruff,
which has been sighted several times now since 11 November (per postings
here and on eremaea). Several of the Sharpies showed more buffy tones and
one still had a very bright chestnut cap and almost full buff breast. On the
periphery of the group were the Wood Sandpiper (in the weeds) and Marsh
Sandpiper (on the shore). The shoreline mud also revealed 3 Baillons Crakes,
2 Spotted Crakes and 1 Spotless Crake, plus I saw 2 Baillons Crake from the
mound. I was hoping for a good view of the Spotless as I have only ever
seen them before when skulking in the reeds - sadly this one was true to
form and did not want to come out.
Other birds of interest were a Hobby (much consternation from the Sharpies
when it did a high-speed, low-level pass), a Swamp Harrier, 1 Peaceful Dive
(calling), 3 White Necked Herons, some Zebra Finch, about 20 Lathams Snipe,
Brown Quail (heard, not seen), Glossy Ibis; plenty of Pink Eared Duck, Aust
Shoveler and the 2 smaller grebes on the water. There were more waders on
the far corner of the lagoon from the entry point, but I didn't have the
time to check this bit out (I'd only been able to skive the morning off work
and had to get moving.)
However, I also stopped for a quick look at McGraths Hill Water Treatment
works, where there were 9 Bar Tailed Godwit amongst the more usual
collection of stilts and teal and 45 Masked Lapwing, all close together. 2
rather dark smaller waders were disturbed at one point and flew from cover
and over the road, so I did not get a good look, but my overall impression
was dark grey back, white belly.
Cheers
Tom Wilson
PS - I also filled in a form, as Keith urged us - I think the pen in the box
is about to die - I'd have left a spare from my bag but didn't have one with
me - must have been hijacked by my kids when I was on holiday last month.
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