Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 5 Dec 2010.

Sun 5 Dec	Australian Shelduck Moss Vale (livestock sale yards dam area off Berrima Rd.) Highlights of Southern Highboca/Southern Highlands Birdwatchers' bird count this morning were: 5 Australian Shelducks, a Swamp Harrier, 5 Australian Pipits, 2 Skylarks, a Peregrine Falcon, Clamorous Reed-warbler and a lone female Australasian Shoveler. Lorne Johnson
	Scarlet Honeyeater Cecil Hoskins Nature Reserve, Moss Vale Highlights of the Southern Highlands Birdwatchers' outing this morning were: a male Scarlet Honeyeater, a Rufous Fantail and 4 White-necked Herons. Lorne Johnson
Sat 4 Dec	Grey Goshawk, Dollarbird, White-throated Warbler Mitchell Park, Cattai NP Arrived at Mitchell Park this afternoon to find a male and female Grey Goshawk circling the grassed area at the bottom of the main hill. A White-throated Warbler was heard calling, and a Dollarbird was seen in the distance. Three pigeon species (Brown Cuckoo Dove, Wonga Pigeon and Common Bornzewing) all seen within 10 minutes of each other. David and Ashwin Rudder
	Osprey, Double-barred Finch Nepean Weir, Penrith I was amazed to find an Osprey at Nepean Weir around 1pm today. This is quite far inland for such a coastal bird. A White-bellied Sea Eagle was also seen, with other highlights being Azure Kingfisher, 2-3 Fan-tailed Cuckoos, Satin Bowerbird, and a pair of Double-barred Finches. David and Ashwin Rudder
	Topknot Pigeon, Green Catbird Royal National Park (Lady Carrington Drive) At the south end of Lady Carrington drive, a half-hour stop produced a pair (or possibly 3) of Topknot Pigeons, a Green Catbird being harassed by Black-faced Monarchs, a Rufous Fantail, a Yellow-throated Scrubwren and many Brown Gerygones, along with the more common Pied Currawong and Crimson Rosella. David and Ashwin Rudder
	Grey Goshawk, Azure Kingfisher Royal National Park (Wattle Flat) A visit to Wattle Flat this morning yielded an array of birds, the highlights being a single Grey Goshawk, and a pair of Azure Kingfishers. Other nice birds present were 3 Black-faced Monarchs, a Lewin's Honeyeater, Sacred Kingfisher, breeding Chesnut Teal, Eastern Yellow Robin and a Dollarbird. David and Ashwin Rudder
Fri 3 Dec	Sooty Tern Long Reef Marine Reserve (Sydney) A single bird was seen flying south over the reef late yesterday afternoon. Mark Young
	Little Corellas Ulladulla Mixed flock of Little Corellas and Long-Billed Corellas seen at Warden Head, app 40 strong, with Long-billd Corellas being 5% of total. Some looked like hybrids. Its difficult to count the total number of these birds as they are seen all over the Ulladulla coast area and whether its the same flock its hard to say. The number of these birds are are growing year by year and seem to be pushing out the Galahs which aren't as common as they were along with the S C Cockatoos. Bob Rusk
Thu 2 Dec	Long-tailed Cuckoo Lord Howe Is A Long-tailed Cuckoo was brought in dead after a window collision at a residence on Lord Howe Island 2-12-2010. Hank Bower, Manager Environment/World Heritage.(Moderator's Note: This is a very interesting record, the 6th in fact, and last report was in February 1989. AKM) Per Hank Bower
Tue 30 Nov	Noisy Pitta Koppin Yarrat Road, Comboyne Highlights near Comboyne included Noisy Pitta, Southern Logrunners, Bassian Thrush and Grey Goshawk. Tim Morris
	Wandering Whistling-Duck Port Macquarie T.Ponds A pair of Whistling-Ducks and a young duckling was seen while I was sampling for work. They have not been seen by me there this year, but have obviously been there for at least a few weeks undetected! Matt Hinze
	Red-billed Tropicbird Update Lord Howe Island. Hank Bower just told me that the bird is still there. My photo was taken on 19 November (see attached). The 'nest' is atop a 180 m precipice and was previously accessed by a rather precarious 20 m scramble, dislodging rocks enroute, from a formed walking track above. For safety reasons this has now been closed so observing the bird in its niche is not now allowed. But the bird can still be seen from a viewing point above as it moves from the cavity to the edge of the ledge and then in flight soaring with Red-tailed Tropicbirds over the cliffs below. That is unless the cloud level drops to envelop the mountains as it did the day I was there! For me this did have one advantage however as the surrounding cloud dispelled the vertigo I experienced in clearer air with the potential fall visible as I climbed to the nest! Mike Carter per Tim Dolby
Mon 29 Nov	Pied Oystercatcher Balmain An unexpected surprize of a Pied Oystercatcher at Ballast Point, Balmain during my walk this afternoon. It flew off towards the head of Mort Bay and then returned, heading past Symonds Point towards Goat Island. Robert Griffin
Sun 28 Nov	Logrunner, Noisy Pitta Barrington Tops A pair Australian Logrunners and a Noisy Pitta were the highlights of a stroll along Sharpes Creek Track (leads off Gloster Tops River camping area) on Sunday. Garry Deering
	Latham's Snipe Castlereagh I accidentally flushed a Latham's Snipe while walking my dogs Sunday morning and observing two adult and one immature Black-fronted Dotterels on a roadside pond. Ákos Lumnitzer
	Apostlebird, White-winged Chough, Pacific Baza Nurragingy Reserve Doonside Apostlebirds and choughs had a very good breeding season this year. On Sunday they brought their fledgelings to the picknic tables near the Centre (Their nests are located near the Ibis picknic area). The Reserve Apostlebird family consists now of 6 birds (3 adults and 3 juvs) and the Chough family - 7 birds (5 adults and 2 juvs). I also saw one Pacific Baza (eating Red-browed Finch) in the Reserve. Ted Wnorowski
	White-throated Needletail Cowan Approx 50 White-throated Needletails hawking above valley around 1pm. My first for season too. Paul Burcher
Sat 27 Nov	Russet-tailed Thrush, Bassian Thrush, Crested Shrike-tit, Leaden Flycatcher. Copeland SCA, 10km west of Barrington township Considerable bird activity late afternoon, on abandoned gold-mine walkways. John Weigel
	Black Bittern et al Cattai National Park Just prior to nightfall a Black Bittern was calling repeatedly along Cattai Creek. Once darkness fell, a female Powerful Owl began calling on the north side of creek and persisted for about one hour at intervals of 10 seconds or so. Then I heard two White-throated Nightjars; one of which repeatedly called and responded to my own imitation to its call. The responsive one was quite close and I will go back soon to check the roost site. Also, Australian Owlet-nightjars were active as were a pair of Tawny Frogmouths with two immature birds hungry and begging constantly. At 21:00 a Southern Boobook began to call for 15 minutes. Ákos Lumnitzer
Thu 25 Nov	White-chinned Petrel Evans Head Beach One freshly dead White-chinned Petrel showing just a small patch of white under the chin, was beachcast at Evans Head Beach. The specimen was taken to the Seabird Rescue Group and identified by Bob Moffat. Photographs confirm the identification. (Moderators Note; Another was beachcast at the same place in 2008, another at Flat Rock Ballina 26/2/2000 and another recently at Byron Bay.AKM) Bob Moffat per Alan Morris

Birdline NSW is sponsored by Birding NSW, Birds Australia - Southern NSW & ACT and Cumberland Bird Observers Club and co-ordinated and hosted by Eremaea Birds.

===============================

To unsubscribe from this mailing list, 
send the message:
unsubscribe 
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 

http://birding-aus.org
===============================