Details of the Central Coast Group, Birding NSW's outing on 30/6/07
Cams Wharf & Swansea 20 June 2007 Leaders: Don & Val Moon.
On a cold wintry morning 11 hearty birders met at Cam’s Wharf where the
westerly wind was blowing forcefully across Lake Macquarie, so we decided to
explore the bushland away from the water! Much to our surprise we saw a good
variety of birds here near the old cottage that included King Parrot, Yellow
Robin, Golden Whistler, Spotted Pardalote, Red Wattlebird, Rainbow, 6+
Little & 20+ Musk Lorikeets, Scarlet, Lewin’s & Yellow-faced Honeyeaters,
Eastern Spinebill and flying overhead were 4 Sea-eagles (2A & 2 Imm), a
total of 26 species for this area. We had our morning tea here out of the
wind before moving on to the next spot at South Swansea.
Our next stop was Galgabba Point, Swansea which is always a good site. We
saw Red & Little Wattlebirds, many Noisy Friarbirds, Bellminers,
White-cheeked & Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, a few White-naped Honeyeaters,
Eastern Spinebill, Golden Whistler, Grey-shrike Thrush, Mistletoebird,
Yellow & Rose Robins, Grey Fantail, a Fan-tailed Cuckoo, Great Egret, Pied &
Little Pied Cormorant, many Rainbow and Musk Lorikeets. Flying overhead was
a Black Falcon and a Peregrine together with an adult Sea-eagle. – 41
species here! The Black Falcon, a arare vagrant in this area, appeared to
be keeping out of the way of the Peregrine!
We moved to Coon Island to have lunch and then we walked to the viewing
platform located along Swansea Channel and here we saw Bar-tailed Godwit,
Pied, Little Pied & Little Black Cormorants, Crested & Caspian Terns, Black
Swan, Great & Little Egret, Pelican, 2 Darter, 1 Pied Oystercatcher &
Nankeen Kestrel and 2+ White-faced Herons. Our final stop was up on the
Swansea headlands looking out across the ocean to Bird Island. Here we could
see Ruddy Turnstones and Double-banded Plovers, a Great Cormorant & a
Grey-tailed Tattler on the rocky reefs. Flying over the sea was a
Australasian Gannet and 2 albatrosses, identified by Robert Quinan as a Shy
and a Yellow-nosed Albatross.
We were fascinated to see a Sea-Eagle pursuing a large white bird near the
Island. After some time the pursued bird escaped and flew back to shore
where we able to identify it as a Royal Spoonbill (a lucky escape!). The
final highlight was seeing 4 Humpback Whales swimming past between the many
coal cargo boats anchored offshore, waiting their time to enter Newcastle
Harbour. A good day was had irrespective of the cold weather, with a total
of 75 different species having being seen (Don & Val Moon).
Alan Morris
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www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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