Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 2 Jan 2011.

Sun 2 Jan	Wedge-tailed Eagle Narabang Way, Belrose Single dark bird seen circling over Belrose tip and drifted over the Bunnings/SupaCenta - approx 4pm Tom Wilson
Sat 1 Jan	Shining Bronze-Cuckoo, Crested Shrike-tit, Rufous Fantail Forest Path, Royal NP A Shining Bronze-cuckoo, a Crested Shrike-tit pair and Rufous Fantail pair were found on the Forest Path around 5.30pm Jan 1. Bruce Roubin
	Rufous Fantail Hornsby Quarry Two Rufous Fantails (one seen and the other calling), plus more than a dozen Dollarbirds, Brush Turkey chick, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, Variegated Fairy-wrens and an Olive-backed Oriole amongst more common species. Tony Keene
Fri 31 Dec	Grey P:lover, Hooded Plovers Racecourse Beach, Ulladulla On 26th Dec, we saw a Grey Plover on the reef and 2 Hooded Plovers at the northern end of the beach. On the 31st Dec, I saw again the Grey Plover together with 3 Hooded Plovers (2 adults and a juv.). A few Sooty Oystercatchers were also seen on both days and a White-bellied Sea Eagle flying over the reef on 26th Dec. Edwin Vella and Tony Dawe
	Gang-Gang Cockatoo, Common Bronzewing Bradleys Reserve, Kissing Point Rd, South Turramurra A pair of Gang-Gangs feeding in trees just at the entrance to the reserve at the very southern end of Kissing Point Road. The male bird (pictured) didn't seem in the best condition around the head, with missing feathers. Deeper in Lane Cove Valley, I saw an immature Collared Sparrowhawk, 1 Common Bronzewing, 4 Brown Cuckoo-Doves , 4 Sacred Kingfishers and 3 pairs of Leaden Flycatchers, along with many Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Rainbow Lorikeets and smaller bush birds. Tom Wilson
	Grey Goshawk Bundanoon (Morton National Park) Some great local birding between 7am and 9:30am with Tony and Jenny Stanton... One Grey Goshawk (a stunning white morph) seen fleetingly as it evaded angry Australian Magpies at Gambells Rest... a lone White-throated Needletail seen with several Tree Martins above Gambells too... 4 Yellow-throated Scrubwrens, 2 Brown Cuckoo-doves, 2 Rufous Fantails, 2 Black-faced Monarchs seen at Erith Coal Mine waterfall area... A Superb Lyrebird heard nearby. I've now seen 100 species in Bundanoon: pretty good for a few square kilometres. A terrific morning's birding to finish 2010. Lorne Johnson
Thu 30 Dec	Eastern Curlew Long Reef Marine Reserve A single bird was seen flying low over the reef heading south at around 8am. The bird was calling as it made a pass over the reef. Mark Young
	Grey Plover Mudbishop's Point A single bird on sand flats with Pacific Golden Plovers. Bird was seen foraging on the low tide on the morning of the 30th, 31st and after midday on the 31st of December. Appears to be site faithful. Mudbishop's Point is just north of Old Bar in the Manning River Estuary, the bird is using flats within the larger section of the inlet. There is some wading involved in accessing these flats. Allan Richardson
	Little Lorikeet Windsor Downs Nature Reserve (near Windsor) Good numbers of Little Lorikeets (>50) seen in Windsor Downs Nature Reserve in the area north west of Sanctuary Drive. Unusual for the Cumberland Plain in December? Also of note were at least three Painted Button-Quail. Roger McGovern
	White-cheeked Honeyeater Bermagui A single bird observed with many other honeyeaters in flowering shrubs next to the golf course at Bermagui. Wasn't expecting to see this species so far south (Moderator's note: Bermagui is about the southern limit of range in NSW) Simon Starr
Wed 29 Dec	Great Knot Wagonga Inlet, Narooma 2 Great Knots were seen feeding on the estuary with several Bar-tailed Godwits, Whimbrels, Eastern Curlews etc. Edwin Vella, Tony and Stephanie Dawe
	Ostrich Moama-Barham Road We were at Barham about 6:00 pm and proceeded directly to the locations specified in earlier postings for the Ostriches (Moama-Barham Road at 35 38.356S, 144 21.721E). We found 6 Ostriches in three locations over a 5 Km stretch of road. In all, three were adult males, one was female and there were two immatures. The next morning as we had to drive by the same road to head for Sydney we found five in two groups in the same area, some of which were likely to be the same birds. The birds have obviously been breeding and while they were on private land, they were not restricted by the fences. Allan Benson, Rob Benson, Alan Morris and John Riedy
	White-throated Needletail Cudal, 30 km west of Orange 7 birds hawking low over mature treelot and even between trees up drive at 7.45 pm. Lots of flying insects at ground level too. Rosemary Stapleton
Tue 28 Dec	Olive Whistlers, Topknot Pigeons Monga NP Saw 2 Topknot Pigeons, 2 (and heard other) Olive Whistlers, Rose and Flame Robins, a few Pilotbirds, Red-browed Treecreepers, Bassian Thrush, a family of 4 Grey Currawongs and many Crescent Honeyeaters were heard as well. Edwin Vella and Tony Dawe
Sun 26 Dec	Fairy Tern, Lesser Sand Plover (2) Lake Conjola Tony and i saw at least one Fairy Tern and a possible Little x Fairy hybrid nesting on the dunes with many Little Terns and Red-capped Plovers (the later 2 had young). Also Pied Oystercatchers nesting. Silver Gulls were seen trying to take eggs/chicks in the nesting area but vigorously defendend by the Little Terns. Two Lesser Sand Plovers also seen around the nesting area. Edwin Vella and Tony Dawe
	White-throated Needletails Tomago Sandbeds near Raymond Terrace Darryl Luck, Hunter area birder and Voulnteer Bushfire Brigade Firefighter, reported a flock of 300+ White-throated Needletails feeding above a bushfire that he was fighting at the Tomago Sandbeds on the afternoon of 26/12/10. This is the largest group so far reported in NSW this summer. Darryl Luck per Alan Morris
	Major Mitchell's Cockatoo Pretty Pine, Deniliquin district Eight to ten Major Mitchell's Cockatoos feeding in introduced pines at Pretty Pine, 17 km north of Deniliquin. This sighting probably marks the most southerly record in the Riverina and is the second record for this site in recent years. The recent drought has pushed this species south and east over the last decade. Brian Holden per. Philip Maher
Thu 23 Dec	Red-chested button quail Byrock Bird roosting at night on road west of Byrock. John Weigel
Mon 20 Dec	Chestnut quail thrush, shy heathwren, black-eared cuckoo Round Hill Reserve Unseasonably cool conditions during two day visit (19th and 20th Dec) on way north. In addition to above birds, saw white-eared honeyeaters, blue-faced honey eaters, striped honeyeaters, white-winged trillers, red-capped robins, hooded robins, seemingly localised (within 1 sq km) congregation of at least two hundred white-browed woodswallows with some masked woodswallows mixed in. Approx 80 species total. John Weigel

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.

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