Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 14 Aug 2011.

Sun 14 Aug	Painted Snipe Barling St Casino 4 Painted Snipe seen (from the road) today about midday resting on dried out water hyacinth on edge of swamp on the west side of the north end of Barling St, North Casino. Very difficult to see except when they stood up and preened. Also many other wetland birds including Glossy Ibis in this and nearby wetlands. Phil Gilmour and Carole Helman
	White-headed Pigeon Hillview Community Health Centre, Pacific Hwy, Turramurra One bird flew in and perched on bare tree beside roadway but was almost immediately sent off by a Pied Currawong. Sue Casson & Jill Rossiter
Sat 13 Aug	Swift Parrots Tuggerawong, Watanobbi & Chain Valley Bay South In the past few days Swift Parrots continue to be seen on the Central Coast. On 11/8/11 Greg Little saw 20 Swifties at Joshua Porter Res, Chain Valley Bay South; on 12/8/11 Deryk Engel et al saw 30+ at Cadonia Rd , where it joins Tuggerawong Drive, at the boundary of Wyongah suburb; while Diana Hogan on 13/8/11 saw 25+ at Britannia Drive Watanobbi. Futher north in Lake Macquare Shire, Hunter region, Allan Richardson saw 40+ at Eraring. Alan Morris, Diana Hogan, Deryk Engel
	Californian Quail Towradgi bushland Wollongong NSW Saw two unusual birds near Towradgi bush beach reserve, have lived in Wollongong over 60 years and know most birds, looked the birds up on the internet and am certain they were California Quail. I often walk past the area and have never seen them prior to this, wondering if they have been released or escaped from an aviary as they were easy to approach. John Chinnock
	Banded Lapwing Barton highway east of Yass Four birds seen on side of highway in the roadwork areas, between Yass and Murrambateman. Scott Ryan
	Terek Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Taren Point/Shell Point A visit to the Taren Point area (between the Taren Point shorebird reserve and Shell Point) this afternoon turned up a surprizing amount of waders. A Terek Sandpiper (non-breeding plumage) was the highlight, along with my first Sharp-tailed of the season (in breeding plumage). Both of these were with a flock of 18 Grey-tailed Tattlers (non-breeding plumage). There were also approx. 6 Eastern Curlew, 2 Whimbrels, 4 Bar-tailed Godwits (non-breeding plumage), at least 30 Pied Oystercatchers, a lone Sooty Oystercatcher, a Striated Heron and a Sacred Kingfisher. NB: Shell Point sightings from private property, no public access. Robert Griffin
	Intermediate Egret, Buff-banded Rail, Royal Spoonbill Savernake Road Wetland A good number of species seen at the wetland this morning with highlights being an Intermediate Egret, Buff-banded Rails and two Royal Spoonbills. Michael Ramsey
Fri 12 Aug	Wedge-tailed Shearwater Mistral Point, Maroubra First 'wedgie' of the season seen, today, also 1 Wandering Albatross, a few Prions (sp) , 1 Brown Skua, 3 Shy (type) Albatross and the usual suspects observed at "the best sea-watching location in the southern hemisphere" David mitford and Ray Gobbe
Wed 10 Aug	Australian Painted Snipe Barling St, Casino Australian Painted Snipe (4) in swamp at northern end of Barling St, Casino. Steven McBride
	Striated Pardalote, Flame Robin, Yellow-rumped thornbill, Little Eagle Snowy River Way, Jindabyne Single Striated Pardalote seen in a river gum. Also, 3 sightings of Flame Robin on fence along road, a group of about 12 Yellow-rumped thornbills feeding and very vocal, a single European Goldfinch. I was also alerted to a Little Eagle flying overhead by the alarm calls of magpies. Gavin Scott
Mon 8 Aug	Red-capped Plover Goran Lake, Spring Ridge, 30 km south of Gunnedah Next to various species of aquatic birds, 16 Red-capped Plovers have now appeared at Goran Lake, an ephemeral lake about 30 km south of Gunnedah (near Spring Ridge). Also seen (for the first time) were 3 Banded Lapwings which were forming a small group together with two Masked Lapwings. Due to lower water level, the recently arrived (see earlier reports) Red-necked Avocets have shifted, but hundreds are still present. The previously reported 1000+ (possibly 1500) Grey Teals have moved to the south shore of the lake. 100+ Australian Pelicans are also still there; they were observed rounding up fish. Michael Dahlem
Sun 7 Aug	White-eared Honeyeater Bundanoon 2 birds seen by swamp next to Ferndale Reserve. I was clapping, in case of flushing a rail or quail... out of the brush popped an inquisitive pair of WE Honeyeaters. I clapped a little more and they got closer and closer (anyone nearby would've though I was complete looney). Another new bird for my ever-expanding Bundanoon list. Lorne Johnson
	Black-necked Stork Pioneer Dairy Wetlands, Tuggerah (restricted Access) Late yesterday afternoon the female Black-necked Stork returned to the Dairy Swamp, Tuggerah, Presumably the samebird, now confirmed by photographic evidence, as also a female that was at Wamberal Lagoon on Friday 5/8/11 Vicki Barnes and Shane Blackmore, per Alan Morris
Sat 6 Aug	Beautiful Firetail Wises Track, Royal National Park On a glorious day with the bush in full bloom, watched a Beautiful Firetail in full breeding plumage gathering nesting material. Joan Dawes
Fri 5 Aug	Black-breasted Buzzard, Turquoise Parrot, Barking Owl, Nangar National Park, Near Forbes I spent two night camping in Nangar NP. I was welcome by Black-breasted Buzzard perching on a dead gum tree near a little farm dam located close to the park gate. It looked like a small wedge-tailed eagle (with very short tail). The bird was in the same spot two days later when I was leaving. Diamond Firetails, Speckled Warblers, Brown Treecreepers, Sothern Whitefaces were common. I found a pair of Turquoise Parrots investigating a hollow in the gum tree (Terarra Ck camping site). Other interesting birds:one Barking Owl (chased by Yellow Robins and Yellow-faced Honeyeater, one Spotted Quail-thrush and 7 Glossy Black Cockatoo flying over the gorge to their evening roosting site. They were plenty raptors including Peregrine Falcon nesting on the rock shelf. Ted Wnorowski
Thu 4 Aug	Rockwarbler Pearl Beach (cliff walk between Umina and Pearl Beach) 2 birds seen. Both very active, not shy, coming close. I have seen them at this location several times before. Charles Hunter
Mon 1 Aug	Prion wreck Caves and Bherwerre Beach, Jervis Bay NP The following prions were found beachwashed along the full length of Caves and Bherwerre Beaches: 7 Broad-billed Prions, 17 Salvin's Prions, 26 Antarctic Prions, 15 Slender-billed Prions, 89 Fairy Prions and 31 Prion spp (lacking heads). a total of 165 prions along approximately 8.5 km of shoreline. This prion wreck is likely to be associated with the massive prion wreck on the west coast beaches of the North Island of New Zealand. Few other birds were found but included 1 Common Diving-Petrel, 1 Little Shearwater and 10 Australasian Gannets. Martin Schulz

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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