Late last year, when I went there, there were no Magpie Geese, does anyone
know when they came back?
-Nathan
On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 11:38 AM, Tom and Mandy Wilson <
> wrote:
> Hi all
> I had some work to do in Maitland yesterday morning, and rather than spend
> my afternoon on the F3, I decided to take a bit of time out to visit a few
> sites in Newcastle. I did not include Ash Island on my plan, as I think
> that it is still closed to the general public?
>
> First stop, as I was in Maitland, was Walka Water Works, which I'd never
> visited before. Fairly quiet there - a big flock of Yellow Rumped
> Thornbills greeted me at the entrance and there were many Red Rumped Parrots
> and Eastern Rosellas about. On the water, the Great Crested Grebes had had
> a reasonable breeding season, as many of the birds on the water (about 20
> all up) still bore remains of the stripy heads of their juvenile plumage,
> notably about the head. There was a single Hardhead on the water too - the
> first one I have seen in eastern NSW this year.
>
> Next stop, as it was high tide, was Stockton Sandspit. The spit area
> itself held lots of Eastern Curlew and Bar Tailed Godwits - several
> colouring up. There were 12 Caspian terns there too, 2 Pied Oystercatchers
> and several Red Capped Plovers in the samphire. There were also some Red
> Necked Stints on the water line, which periodically flew up, circled round
> and came back to the sand. I could see big mobs of birds over on the dykes
> on the far side of the river, and fortuitously a Sea Eagle came along a
> flushed a load off, many of which came streaming across to the sandspit.
> Included in this movement were 2 Black Tailed Godwits and a Whimbrel.
> There were still plenty of birds on the far side - would love to know if
> anybody has used a boat to check them out recently. Certainly looked like
> there were Greenshanks (very white and slender when the flew post-eagle) and
> some shorter looking brown birds next to the Curlews and Godwits - Knot?
> Anything smaller than that was not distinguishable at that distance.
>
> Finally, I called in at the Shortlands Wetland Centre in Sandgate and
> wandered around. The egret rookery is in full swing and off limits, but
> there were plenty of all 4 egrets to be seen around the place, as well as
> lots of Royal Spoonbills and a single Yellow Billed Spoonbill. The
> Moorhens, Coots and Swamphens have also had a good season, with many chicks
> in varying stages of growth and plumage - often causing temporary burst of
> excitement as small grey birds emerged from reed beds, only to be identified
> as baby gallinules, not crakes! I did see a single Buff banded Rail in the
> muddy pond next to the Ribbon Pond. Near the egret tower there was a single
> Striped Honeyeater and a single Spangled Drongo between the Brambles Pond
> and the canoe trail.There were also 6 White Breasted Woodswallow flying over
> the area and a family(?) of 6 Whistling Kites too. I encountered a female
> Sparrowhawk at the kill (looked like an Indian Myna - good girl), a Tawny
> Grassbird in one of the reed beds and several families of Olive-backed
> Orioles and Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrikes feeding big youngsters. The feral(?)
> Magpie Geese here seem to have multiplied since my last visit in 2009 and
> had several brown coloured youngsters with them. There was a Swamp Harrier
> and a couple of Sea-Eagles seen over head and as I left a Peregrine put in
> an appearance.
>
> The big excitement here was nearly getting locked in - after timing my
> return for just after 4:30, I was told "you're lucky - we close at 4" - I
> pointed out that the sign just by the entrance door to the visitor centre
> reads "Weekdays 10am-5pm" so I would not have been impressed if I had been
> forced to scale the gates. After that near incarceration, it was off home
> to Sydney
> Cheers
> Tom Wilson
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