Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 20 Nov 2011.

Sun 20 Nov	Great Shearwater, Black Petrel Pelagic off Port Stephens Single Great Shearwater that visited the boat for most of our 3 hours at the shelf. Also 3 Black Petrels (all around the boat at the same time), a single Gould's Petrel, 2 Sooty Terns, an unseasonal Brown Skua and a host of other birds on a great day at sea. Mick and Steve Roderick, Allan Richardson and 10 other observers
Sat 19 Nov	Paradise Riflebirds, Spectacled Monarchs , Noisy Pitta Chichester State Forest, Dungog (approx. 50 km NW of Newcastle CBD) We were lucky to find 2 to 3 Paradise Riflebirds including an immature male giving out it's explosive "yaass" call. Also seen were a pair of Spectacled and many Black-faced Monarchs, 2 Green Catbirds, Satin Bowerbirds and we also heard a Noisy Pitta calling from a deep gully. This is the closest place to Sydney were you can find Riflebirds which is only 2.5 hours drive away from Sydney. Edwin Vella and Tony Dawe
	Brolga West Ballina, between Teven Road turnoff and Emigrants Creek. Two birds observed flying from the south to the wetlands / former grazing paddocks to the north of the highway. David Charley
	Beach Stone-curlew Lake Cathie, NSW 7.30 am, a single bird close to the bridge on the eastern side, flew west under the bridge when disturbed by people walking dogs. Ian Colley
	Latham's Snipe Lenaghan's Wetland Latham's Snipe (8) In shade under shrub, next to an over turned rowboat, across rd from main pond. Jenny Stiles
	Black Bittern, Square-tailed Kite, Cicadabird, Speckled Warbler, White-throated Needletail Mitchell Park Our day got off to a good start when a female/juvenile Black Bittern was seen at Mitchell Park, a Square-tailed Kite provided the raptorial highlight before we left. Later we saw a male Cicadabird at Cattai National Park and a short visit to Longneck Lagoon gave us a Speckled Warbler. No Painted Snipe but a lone WTNT was the highlight at Pitt Town Bottoms Road. Mark Fuller and CBOC members
	Brush Cuckoo Garigal National Park, East Killara Brush Cuckoo Heard calling for over an hour from 11:00am. The first time I have heard this species in this part of Sydney. Kurtis Lindsay
Fri 18 Nov	Blue-billed Duck, Hoary-headed Grebe Tuggerah STW, off Ibis St Tuggerah near Wyong The female Blue-billed Duck was located again this morning amongst about 400 Grey Teal and 60 Hardheads roosting on the STW. Also present were 7 Hoary-headed Grebes, many Australian Grebes, 9 Black-fronted Dotterels, 6 Royal Spoonbills, Reedwarblers etc. Alan Morris, Carole & John Carpenter
	Australasian Bittern Boyters lane, Jersyvile 2 Bitterns seen, 3 heard. Swamp 1km on right down Boyters Lane. Also Spotless Crake, Black-necked Stork, King Quail, Stubble Quail, White-winged Triller and Red-backed Fairy-wren Tim Faulkner
	Powerful Owl Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney On holiday from UK and now in Sydney. Saw a Powerful Owl roosting in large tree in the Botanic Gardens. A lifer for me. Also male Superb Fairy Wren. Steve Hearn
	Glossy-black Cockatoo Hat Head 12 Glossy-black, 5 Forest Ravens, 2 Osprey at Hat head. Also Spotted Crake and nesting Bee-eaters on the rd into Hat Head Tim Faulkner
Thu 17 Nov	Eastern Koel, Rose Robin and others Hyams Beach On holiday from UK - stayed for 2 nights in Hyams Beach, Jervis Bay. Woke up both mornings to the sound of the Eastern Koel and fortunately saw one. Also saw a Rose Robin at The Grotto, Fitzroy Falls on 16th Nov. Also saw lots of other birds there including a Fan tailed Cuckoo, Rufous Fantail and male Superb Lyrebird. On 15th Nov, saw a family party of Variegated Fairy Wrens near Cave Beach, Booderee NP - notable as nice photos obtained (attached). Steve Hearn (UK)
	White-winged Triller Bent Street, Wingham Single male calling from top of tree in main street, Wingham Tim Morris
Wed 16 Nov	Spotted Quail-thrush Wheeny Reserve , Cattai 2 males and a female Spotted Quail-thrush obseved at reserve, one male singing. keith Brandwood
	Painted Snipe Pitt Town Bottoms Rd At 5 p.m.as I drove slowly past the pond on the golf course side of the road a female Painted Snipe rose and flew ahead. I could not locate the snipe earlier in the day, nor could 3 other parties I met, so I was very lucky. There was a sole Glossy Ibis on the same pond earlier in the day, and 2 or 3 Red-kneed Dotterels in the pond opposite. Ted Nixon
	Rufous Songlark, Magpie Geese Casino STW's surrounds At least 2, possibly 3 singing Rufous Songlarks (heard and sighted) in paddocks near the STW's. Uncommon at this site. Also 15 Magpie Geese in swamp along Queensland Road. Highest count I have recorded at this site. June Harris
	Black-tailed Native-hen & Latham's Snipe McPherson Rd Swamp, Tuggerah During a 30 minute visit during the middle of the day, and on a dull overcast day, the Black-tailed Native-hen was seen again in its usual place in a water meadow, the first time since 6/11/11 and a Latham's Snipe was flushed from the Crake drain but no Crakes sighted. Cisticolas, Tawny & Little Grassbirds heard and seen. Alan Morris
	Little Bittern Boyters Lane, Jersyville Female flushed from reeds to the left of the bird hide. Also present White-winged Trillers, mangrove gerygone, sharpies, marsh sandpiper, osprey Tim Faulkner
	Glossy Ibis Narrabri Lake, Narrabri West (2390) Together with many other breeding aquatic birds (including 4 Magpie Geese and the first sighting of a pair of Little Egrets in a colony dominated by Cattle Egrets, Intermediate Egrets, Great Egrets and Australian White Ibises) a solitary Glossy Ibis was observed at O'Brien's Creek, i.e. the inlet of Narrabri Lake. Seen at the other end of the lake only once before, 4 years ago. Michael Dahlem
	White-throated Needletail Kurri Kurri 40-50 White-throated Needletails at 11.45 am Ian Benson
Tue 15 Nov	square-tailed kite Hornsby Heights Photo from last weeks sighting at Hornsby Heights on 15/11/11 Tony Dawe
	Australian Painted Snipe Newey Reservoir - Cobar Australian Painted Snipe (male) was seen on the walking track, that goes around the reservoir body of water...was seen at 7:30am, and in the same spot an hour later.... Sorry for the late posting :( Kirri Hardy
	King Quail Boyters Lane, Jerseyville Pair heard calling then flushed late afternoon! Also present nearby were Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Common Greenshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Tawny and Little grassbirds, Stubble Quail, Brahminy Ktes and a pair of Osprey nesting. Tim Faulkner
	Channel-billed Cuckoo & Square-tailed Kite Hornsby Heights observed 3 Channel-billed Cuckoos in one tree.Also Square-tailed Kite. Tony Dawe
	Buff-banded Rail Lake Illawarra South A bit of a surprise when I was over checking out the waders and was interrupted with a Buff-banded Rail coming out of the sand dunes at Lake Illawarra South adjacent the Lake Entrance going towards Windang Island. Charles Dove
Mon 14 Nov	Buff-banded Rail 20 Woodfield Ave, Bundeena, Royal National Park, NSW Had quite a start when I saw a Buff-banded Rail in my backyard this morning. The bird hung around for around 2 hours preening itself, foraging and calling. It stayed long enough so my colleague could also see it. Guess it pays to take the moderators advise and stay at home :-). Deryk Engel and Stephen Bloomfield
Sun 13 Nov	Black Falcon Macquarie Marshes One bird seen along Gibson Way. Steve Edwards, Richard Jenkins, David Stuart
	Painted Snipe Macquarie Marshes A grand total of 57 Painted Snipe observed on private property 'The Mole', Willi, located on the western side of the Macquarie Marshes The photo was taken by Richard Jenkins and shows about 30 of the 57, this was the largest of three groups. (Moderator's Note: I know of no previous example of that many Painted Snipe seen in the one place. HANZAB says they occur in pairs or small parties, with no figures given for larger groupings. Alan Morris) Steve Edwards, Richard Jenkins, David Stuart
	Variegated Fairy-wren, White winged Triller Mulgoa Male Variegated Fairy- wren and male White winged Triller sitghted on my property Peter Harvey
	White-throated Needletail Lyndale Ave Port Macquarie Sth 50+ White-throated Needletails hawking over Lyndale Ave, Port Macquarie (about 1 km SW of Flynns Beach) following the storm on the afternoon of 12/11/11 and then again today, throughout the morning. Alan Morris
	Comb-crested Jacana Lenaghan Swamp (off Leneghan Dr - 20 km SW of Newcastle CBD) At Lenaghan Swamp early this morning we had one Comb-crested Jacana and a bout a dozen or so Latham's Snipe. There was also 5 cuckoo species here (Brush, Fan-tailed, Horsfield's and Shining Bronze, Channel-billed plus a Pheasant Coucal. Edwin Vella, Tony and Stephanie Dawe
	White-throated Needletails Port Macquarie 30+ hawking very low over Flynn's Beach area 9am after the storm late yesterday afternoon on 12/11/11 Ian Kerr
Sat 12 Nov	Painted Button-quail Deep Creek Reserve, Narrabeen Painted Button-quail (2) Two painted button-quails seen running in undergrowth and across track on west side of creek near sewer pipe at about 1:30pm. With Moderator help, identified as painted button-quail. See video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkPUcgNlpO4 The one in the video is female, don't know about the other Also a couple of stills from the video: www.nataliewood.biz/photos/birds/image5s.jpg www.nataliewood.biz/photos/birds/image11s.jpg Natalie Wood
	Cook's Petrel, Buller's Shearwater Sydney Pelagic Distant views of Buller's Shearwater and Cook's Petrel were the avian highlights of the regular Sydney pelagic trip. An even bigger highlight, although not avian, was the sighting of two (or possibly three) Sei whales and a pod of 25 Short-finned Pilot Whales. The Sei Whales were the second new whale species from the Halicat in the space of eight days.Follow this link for some great shots http://www.adarman.com/Pelagics Roger McGovern and all on the Halicat
	Australian Shelduck Hooka Point, Lake Illawarra near Berkeley N.S.W. 11 Australian Shelducks seen at the Point Neil & Judith RUSSILL
	Little Pied Cormorant (Breeding colony) Mount Annan Botanic Gardens, Campbelltown Small breeding colony on the vegetated island of Lake Fitzpatrick at Mount Annan Botanic Gardens, Campbelltown NSW. Counted 13 nests in Casuarina trees with a least 6 nests with downy young – a number of other nests had an adult sitting on them and a few other nests appeared unoccupied. Michael Paul
Thu 10 Nov	Red-necked Avocet Avenue Beach, Kioloa, NSW An Avocet having a seaside holiday? Robin Teding van Berkhout
Mon 7 Nov	Fork-tailed Swifts Hawks Nest Approx 30 birds working low over the main street and golf course area of Hawks Nest approx 9:30am. Quite low down and moving in all directions, so assumed to be feeding. Tom Wilson

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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