osprey breeding west of Sydney?

[Andrew Taylor <>]

Good Friday we kayaked Wallacia -> Penrith. In the sandstone gorge
above Norton's Basin where the Nepean river is narrow pools separated
by shallow rapids  I was  surprised to see an osprey because not only
isn't this the habitat you associate with osprey in Australia, but I
thought Osprey records away from saltwater in NSW were very unusual.

But searching Ereamea produced a number of records from the last 2 years
from further down the Nepean where its wide open flat water and one from
Warragamba Dam - not many kilometres from my sighting.

I didn't have binoculars but I took the osprey to be a juvenile.
Interestingly there is a mention on Eremea of an osprey  nest in May 2011
on the lower reaches of the Grose River  - seemingly a highly unlikely
location, but there are sightings both up&down the Nepean from there.

Andrew