Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 9 Jan 2011.

Sun 9 Jan	White-throated Nightjar Berowra Heights A single White-throated Nightjar was seen by spotlight and several were heard along the Turner Road Fire Trail. A Sugar Glider was also seen at close range. Ivan Chapman
Sat 8 Jan	Lesser Sand Plover Long Reef Marine Reserve (Sydney) The Lesser Sand Plover that was reported by Robert Griffith on the 6/1 was seen again late yesterday afternoon with some Red-necked Stints, Turnstones and Pacific Golden Plovers. Mark Young
	Possible Square-tailed Kite Kuring-gai Chase NP Sphinx site a poor view through foliage of large raptor just above tree tops - fingered wings and long-ish square cut tail. Overcast - no markings seen. A few high pitch rasping calls. I note a Berowra sighting of S-t Kite - perhaps I saw the same bird. Harry Roberts
	Fairy Tern, Lesser Sand Plover Boat Harbour, Kurnell. Amongst 20-odd little terns and at least 30 common terns on high tide at Boat Harbour was a breeding fairy tern. Also a lesser sand-plover and red knot amongst 30+ Pacific golden plovers, along with the usual red-necked stints, ruddy turnstones, sooty oystercatchers and kelp gulls. Bruce Roubin
Fri 7 Jan	Speckled Warbler Tia Falls, Walcha A Speckled Warbler, Scarlet Robin, Spotted Quail Thrush and Peregrine Falcon were highlights at Tia Falls over the last two days. Tim Morris
	Sulphur Crested Cockatoo - pink Mathoura, Forest Creek Walk along Gulpa Creek I nearly ignored this screeching Cockatoo then turned and looked up to be astounded by it's pink colouring. Kerryn Ryan
	Stubble Quail, Brown Quail Back lanes, between Richmond and Windsor. A number of paddocks had lots of calling Stubble Quail and a few Brown Quail yesterday. It may be a good time to look for Red-chested, Red-backed, King etc., out here at the moment? Alan McBride
	pomarine jaeger 5km off Lion Island- Hawksburry River 5 pomarine jaegers,10 fluttering shearwater, lots of wedge tailed shearwater, 2 short tailed shearwater were seen wile fishing. (pomarine and fluttering all seen before 10am.) Brad Gabriel
	Buller's Shearwater and Long-tailed Jaeger Mistral Point, Maroubra A close in Buller's Shearwater was the bird of the day, whilst a small flock of 4 Long-tailed Jaegers were also flying south. 27 Pomarine Jaegers were also counted today along with about 20 Short-tailed Shearwaters, 50 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and 3 Gannets. A pod of B-N-Dolphins were showing off their newly arrived offspring, great to see. David Mitford
	Pacific Baza Pymble - NSW - Metropolitan Sydney Heard and seen in tall eucalypts at my house. Single bird feeding high in the canopy. Flew off after a while. Have seen them in previous years down at Avondale Golf club, (nearby) but not regularly. Did not get a photograph. Margaret Hall
Thu 6 Jan	Osprey Lake Wyangan Griffith NSW David Webb
	Azure Kingfisher south of Deniliquin Astoundingly, an Azure Kingfisher was seen out on the plains in box woodland, about 5 km away from the Gulpa Creek — the nearest water course. It was in a table drain filled with water, about 100 m in length, in which there were some standing black box Eucalyptus largiflorens. Philip Maher
	Red-chested Buttonquail North of Wanganella area, Deniliquin district Three Red-chested Buttonquail were recorded on the plains north of Wanganella in a diverse native grassland in an area that had recently been flooded. About ten Stubble Quail were also seen in that area. Around eight Little Buttonquail were seen in an adjacent area of drier Austrostipa-dominated grassland. Philip Maher
	Lesser Sand Plover Long Reef A Lesser Sand Plover on the reef late in the afternoon (low tide), associating with 6 Pacific Golden Plovers - at first resting on the furthermost point of the reef and then moving to the southeastern side to feed. Also a pair of Grey-tailed Tattlers, 5 Ruddy Turnstones and many Red-necked Stints. Offshore were Wedgetailed and Short-tailed Shearwaters with a few Fluttering, a couple of Sooties and a pair of Arctic Jaegers. Robert Griffin
	Tawny Grassbird Warwick Farm - opposite Racecourse (near sewerage treatment plant) Tawny Grassbird sighted that appeared to be feeding young at a nest - as the bird repeatedly kept returning with insect food to the same small patch of grassland. The bird was quite wary of my presence and kept a reasonable distance from me - but I managed to secure a few photographs. Michael Paul
	Tree Martin Sydney (Darling Harbour) Several birds were flying around outside The Maritime Museum late morning; there aren't many trees there! Lorne Johnson
	White-throated Needletails Bundeena Drive, Royal National Park Four birds seen hawking over and near Bundeena Drive, within the Royal National Park, west of the Maianbar turnoff, at around midday today. There may have been other birds but I didnt have a chance to stop to bird watch the site. Deryk Engel
	Varied Sittella Boomerang Golf Course four birds observed foraging within a eucalypt sapling Deryk Engel
Wed 5 Jan	Great Crested Grebe Wonga Wetlands, West Albury Pair of grebes on the 3rd major lagoon, accompanied by 4 stripy chicks. Numerous Musk Ducks, (1 male seen displaying) due to high water levels. NOTE: Parts of the wetlands are currently off limits due to flooded walkways. Max Breckenridge
	Yellow-throated Scrubwren Bodalla State Forest Single bird (male) recorded in rainforest along Spring Creek trail in Bodalla SF, near Narooma on NSW South Coast. Marnix Zwankhuizen
	Wood Sandpiper Hexham Swamp, Newcastle, NSW 2 Wood Sandpipers and 10 Latham's Snipe observed on Wednesday morning. Both Sandpipers were feeding in the shallow pond at the end of the left hand track. Darryl Luck
	Comb-crested Jacana Kings Creek Rd Swamp, Wauchope A pair of Jacanas with 3 chicks were seen at this Swamp by Graeme Catt and Lindi Frost. While Jacanas are fairly regular at the site there are few breeding records Graeme Catt & Lindi Frost per Alan Morris
	White-throated Needletail Pacific Hwy, Port Macquarie 100+ birds whirling over the Pacific Hway just above trees, south of the Hastings River bridge. Clive Meadows & Louise Earnshaw
	Powerful Owl Devlins Creek, Pennant Hills Park A Powerful Owl very obligingly perched right on eye level across from, and close to, the track along Devlins Creek. Further down into Lane Cove National Park sightings went to the other extreme (size-wise) with Brown Gerygone plus all the usuals in-between (Superb Blue and Variegated Wrens; Yellow-faced, White-cheeked and Lewin's Honeyeaters, Golden Whistler, Whipbirds, etc) Robert Griffin
Tue 4 Jan	Australasian Bittern, Australian Little Bittern, Intermediate Egret, Great Crested Grebe Gulpa Creek Reed Beds Mathoura Following up some bittern sightings at this site I managed to hear at least 2 Australian Little Bittern from the birdhide. Two Australasian Bittern were also seen flying over the reeds beds, while another two were heard. A few Intermediate Egrets here as well and breeding Great Crested Grebes with chicks. This place is exceptional for birds at present with Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants, Great Egrets, Nankeen Night Herons, ibis and Royal Spoonbill all common and breeding. Michael Ramsey
	Ostrich Barham-Moama Road Following up recent sightings of Ostriches at this site, I found 4 birds just opposite the entrance to the Toroga Station. There appeared to be a male, female and two younger birds. The birds were very flighty and took off as soon as I opened the car door. I searched up and down the road in the area but couldn't find any more birds. Michael Ramsey
	Baillon's Crake, Variegated Fairy-wren Thule Creek (west of Barham) Stopped by some flooded lingum wetlands just out of Barham where I found a party of Variegated Fairy-wrens and a Baillon's Crake calling. Michael Ramsey
	Square-tailed Kite Western Sydney Parklands, Quakers Hill Saw an adult Square-tailed Kite being harassed by a Brown Goshawk this afternoon. It also appears that the young Brown Goshawks have now succesfully fledged from their nest at Quakers Hill. I last checked the nest before Christmas when the young were moulting into their juv. plumage and one was perched just outside the nest. Edwin Vella
	Striated Heron Taren Point Shorebird Reserve One bird observed at low tide sheltering at the edge of a line of mangroves. Deryk Engel
	Sooty Shearwater Mistral Point, Maroubra Four Sooty Shearwaters were observed gliding over the ocean off Mistral Point Maroubra today around mid-day. Deryk Engel
Mon 3 Jan	Grey Goshawk Lloyd Pl., Otford White morph of Grey Goshawk in lower branches of very tall eucalypts, around 6.30pm in Lloyd Pl., Otford (just beyond southern end of Royal NP). Bruce Roubin
	Gang-gang Cockatoo Cecil Hoskins Nature Reserve, Moss Vale 1 male & 1 female (2). Anthony Katon
Fri 31 Dec	Wedge-tailed Eagle, Dusky Woodswallow Royal National Park Wedge-tailed Eagle: one observed being mobbed by two Dusky Woodswallows at the interesection of Bundeena Drive and Maianbar Road.. Deryk Engel
Wed 29 Dec	Great Knot Woodlands Road beach, Taren Point A Great Knot, along with several Bar-tailed Godwits and a couple of Eastern Curlews at Woodlands Road beach, just on low tide, and, further east around the bay, several Grey-tailed Tattlers. Robert Griffin

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