Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 23 Jan 2011.

Sat 22 Jan	Sooty Owl, Logrunner, Pilotbird, E. Bristlebird Bellawongarah/Bundewallah NSW Heard a Sooty Owl call 4 times from 10:15pm. Saw a large bird fly across the sky from the house around that time so think it was possibly the Sooty as the call then came from across the other side. The Logrunners and Pilotbirds are very vocal most days here and seen on occasion. While walking in the known area for E. Bristlebirds on our property, I heard two birds calling late afternoon. Carla Jackett
	Spotted Quail-Thrush Blue Gum Swamp, Winmalee Female Spotted Quail-thrush seen on left path 50m from first fork. Possible Chestnut-rumped Heathwren nearby (flew across track). Owlet-nightjar heard. Joshua Bergmark, Henry Coleman & Max Breckenridge
	Grey Currawong Penrose (10km south of Bundanoon) 2 birds flew over Penrose Rd near the Penrose Public School mid-morning - my first record for the Southern Highlands. Lorne Johnson
Fri 21 Jan	Ground Cuckoo-Shrike Nelson Rd, Warburn A pair of Ground Cuckoo-Shrike were observed and photographed perching in a roadside tree on Neslon Rd, c.2km north of Warburn, nr. Griffith. Dan Williams and Darren Lyons
	Freckled Duck Swamps to the north of Wanganella, Deniliquin district Five Freckled Ducks (a pair, two males and a single female). Two of the males were in full breeding plumage and one in partial breeding plumage. Also seen were eight Blue-billed Ducks, some in pairs and some displaying, and 80 pairs of Whiskered Terns nesting with Hoary-headed Grebes. Philip Maher
	Australian Little Bittern, Australasian Bittern, Leaden Flycatcher Gulpa Creek Reed Beds, nr Mathoura (Deniliquin) Australian Little Bittern: one calling in front of the hide, another maybe heard. Australasian Bittern: heard booming to the left of the hide. A female Leaden Flycatcher was also seen nearby at Picnic Point. Michael Ramsey
Thu 20 Jan	Beach Stone-curlew Dowadee Island Port Stephens On Dowadee Island, a mangrove island in Port Stephens, near Soldiers Point, a group pf 5 people investigated a report of seeing Beach Stone-curlews, and found a pair of birds. This is the furthest south in NSW that a pair of Beach Stone-culrews have been reported, as up until now the most southerly breeding pair have been the pair at Old Bar, in Farquar Inlet on the Manning Estuary. The information was reported on Hunter Birding. Elsewhere in central and southern coastal NSW there have been reports of single Beach Stone-culrews but not pairs. Alan Morris
	White-throated Needletail Beechwood to Wauchope Over 250 were seen, mostly below 100 m at 8.30 am. Ian Kerr
	Freckled Duck Wanganella swamps, Deniliquin district One female Freckled Duck at the Wanganella swamps, the first one for about ten years (as opposed to the more suitable swamps to the north of Wanganella where there have been several of late). Also, two Australasian Bitterns, a Baillon's Crake, a Blue-billed Duck and a Brown Quail. Philip Maher
Tue 18 Jan	Australasian Bittern, Wandering Whistling-Ducks Wanganella swamps, Deniliquin district One Australasian Bittern, three Wandering Whistling-Ducks (a pair and a single), four Blue-billed Ducks (a pair and two males), two Musk Ducks (single sightings), many Hardheads with ducklings seen at the Wanganella swamps. Philip Maher
Mon 17 Jan	Ground Cuckoo-shrike Tamworth airport Allan Richardson reports seeing an adult GCS feeding a dependant bird on the access road to Tamworth airport, not far from the terminal building. Allan Richardson per Mick Roderick
	Bush Stone-curlew Double Bay Shopping Centre, Sydney Today a Bush Stone-curlew was found searching for a friend in a reflective window in the Double Bay Shpping Centre. It was caught by hand, taken to WIRES where a carer, Joan Dawes, knowing about the Central Coast BSC Study Project, contacted Alan Morris & Catherine Price to see what should be done. It was decided to relocate the bird to the Central Coast, where this evening it was banded and colour-banded and released at the Saratoga wetlands. Here there is a lonely BSC who lost his partner two years ago and in recent years most of the local chicks have turned out to be males and he is looking for a mate. We hope that this bird is a female! Catherine Price & Alan Morris
	Double-banded Plover & Lesser Sand Plover Toowoon Bay Reefs (Central Coast) & Stockton Sandspi (Hunter)t At the Toowoon Bay reefs this morning, in big seas, the waders were all roosting on the Blue Bay rocks, and amongst the 19 Pacific Golden Plovers, 63 Red-necked Stints and 3 Grey-tailed Tattlers there was a .Double-banded Plover, the first for the season. Meanwhile a Lesser Sand Plover was seen at Stockton sandpsit, however the Wandering Tattler could not be found at Soldiers Pt, and the White-winged Black Tern at Newcastle Baths, most probably because of the big seas.. Alan Morris & Allan Benson
Sun 16 Jan	Pied Heron Macquarie Marshes, NW NSW A group of 8 Pied Herons are reported to be nesting on private property in the Macquarie Marshes, adjacent to the Macquarie Marshes NR. This is the second occasion that these birds have nested in NSW and in the Macquarie Marshes, the previous occasion was in Jan-Feb 2001 when 21 pairs nested on two properties. Alan Morris
	Red-whiskered Bulbul, Channel-billed Cuckoo Paddington, Sydney Saw a Bulbul on an overhead wire at Five Ways, Paddington. Not seen one in the area for over 10 years. Also a party of 3 CBC's have been feeding and making a racket most days in the afternoon in a big fig in the grounds of the Scottish Hospital. Pizzey notes "Reclaimed juveniles are sometimes seen with pairs of adults". Chris Gregory
	Plumed Whistling Duck Lake Bathurst 15-17 Plumed Whistling Ducks were seen by the edge of The Morass, a freshwater lake a kilometre east of Lake Bathurst (saltwater). Lake Bathurst is 40km south of Goulburn. Also seen were a good number of White-fronted Chats, Little Ravens; and Stubble Quail were heard calling in the surrounding grass plains. Ashwin Rudder
	Sooty Owl Bundanoon (Morton National Park) As the night was still and warm (20 degrees) and cloudless, I went down to Morton NP a little before 9pm in case of hearing a Sooty Owl. In the valley below Bonnie View, five minutes after I parked the car, a Sooty let loose its falling bomb call. This call came again 8 minutes later, followed by an extended shrill trilling, then there was silence for some time. It's been about a year since I last recorded a Sooty Owl in Bundanoon. An Australian Owlet-nightjar and a Southern Boobook were also heard in the vicinity of Bonnie View. On the way out of the NP, at Gambells Rest, a Tawny Frogmouth flew down onto the road before me to snatch something and fly off. Not bad for forty-five minutes of night birding. Lorne Johnson
	Nankeen Kestrel 105 Coopers Shoot Road , Bryon Bay Flew over the edge of the escarpment on private property First time I have seen one here. David Krippner
Sat 15 Jan	White-throated Needletail Cowan About 20 White-throated Needletails observed hawking over Cowan at about 5:30pm Paul Burcher
Fri 14 Jan	Little Bittern, Australasian Bittern, Buff-banded Rail, Magpie Goose Campbell's Swamp, Griffith One Little Bittern observed, but could hear two calling, and one Aussie Bittern observed on the eastern side of the swamp. Buff-banded Rail observed close to the hide. A pair of Magpie Goose are also using the swamp as a roost site. David Parker
Wed 12 Jan	Tawny Grassbird Dangars Lagoon, Uralla Very few birds in Dangars Lagoon, highlight was a single Australian Shoveller, while a Tawny Grassbird also popped up. Tim Morris
Tue 11 Jan	Diamond Firetail Uralla Single Diamond Firetail flew off from the side of the road (Thunderbolts Way) 5km south west of Uralla. Tim Morris
	Channel-bBilled Cuckoo Moree SIngle Channel-billed Cuckoo at Moree, unusual to be so far west. The local CBC's in Port Macquarie appear to have started to disappear for the year. Tim 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.

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