Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 5 Aug 2012.

Sun 5 Aug	Fairy Martins Cambridge Gardens I saw at least half a dozen Fairy Martins hawking insects; they were quite low. They were hunting in a mixed flock with about 50 Welcome Swallows. Ákos Lumnitzer
	White-necked Heron Centennial/Moore Parks A single bird flew from Centennial Park over Moore Park, sparking alarm calls from the resident Noisy Miners not familiar with this species. Quite rare in Sydney's east. Eric Finley
	Pacific Baza, Southern Boobook, Rufous Whistler Schofields (approx 10 km NW of Blacktown CBD) At Schofields, we had a Pacific Baza call back to me after I imitated its call while it perched, an Australian Hobby, 1-2 Brown Goshawks, a roosting Southern Boobook (we accidentally disturbed it from it original roost being quite low and beside the road but then flew to another tree across the road), 3 Eastern Whipbirds, a pair of Crested Shrike-tits, Restless Flycatcher, an Immature Golden and a male Rufous Whistlers, Fairy Martins etc. Edwin Vella and Mark Fuller
	Pied Oystercatcher Hen & Chicken Bay (Wareemba, Sydney's Inner West) Tide well in, and so birds on water's edge quite close. Two oystercatchers amongst 50+ Black-winged Stilts. 44 Bar-tailed Godwits in the same area (south of the outflow pipe, near bottom of Bickleigh St). First time I have seen POs in this Bay. Barrie Ayres
	Wedge-tailed Eagle Castlereagh near Penrith end While photographing waterbirds at the lakes this morning, I saw an adult wedgie stoop low across the lake on the far side chasing some prey, which I could not see. It flew low, about 10m at the most and suddenly swept into a vertical ascent with tail and wings spread wide, much like a Black or Whistling Kite would do. Then it continued on. About five minutes passed and it surprised me coming in extremely low, almost at Swamp Harrier height and I could see extremely nice detail in the bird as he looked at me as he passed. Then he flew around, back to the lake's western side and sat on a dead tree for about one hour. Then disappeared over the quarries. Ákos Lumnitzer
Sat 4 Aug	Spotless Crakes, Buff-banded Rail, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Chestnut-breasted Mannikin Riverstone (approx 10km NW of Balcktown CBD) I spent a few hours around Riverstone to visit the wetlands there were I saw 2-3 Spotless Crakes (one seen chasing another out in the open), a Buff-banded Rail, a possible Australian Crake, 12 Black-winged Stilt, 2 Black-fronted Dotterels and good numbers of waterfowl included 21 Australasian Shoveler, 90 Grey and 10 Chestnut Teal, 20 Hardhead, 6 Hoary-headed and 20 Australasian Grebe, c120 Coot and 6 Black Swan. Also I had a Wedge-tailed Eagle flying over with another large but smaller bird of prey (looked like a Whistling Kite) and a flock of at least 15 Chestnut-breasted Mannikin. Edwin Vella
	Regent Honeyeater, Little Lorikeet, Wedge-tailed Eagle Quorrobolong near Cessnock On private property at Quorrobolong, south east of Cessnock, 10 Regent Honeyeaters were found during the National Regent Honeyeater and Swift Parrot surveys betwen 9-12.00 am. Altogether there were 12 species of honeyeaters present, the commonest being Yellow-faced, Yellow-tufted, White-naped, Fuscous and Brown-headed Honeyeaters and Noisy Friarbirds. 16+ Little Lorikeets were seen and there were 3 sightings of a single Wedge-tailed Eagle. Alan Morris, Rex Schmidt, Carole & John Carpenter
	Glossy Black-Cockatoo Talawahl Nature Reserve Pair of Glossy Black-Cockatoo in She-oak tree. Travelled N on Pacific Highway, turned left on Possum Brush road (just after Failford rd turnoff to the east). Crossed a stream on the dirt road, took the next right into reserve and parked. Walked on right fork about 200 M, left about 50 M. Tree on right about 20 M in. Could hear cracking of oak "nuts". Can send coordinates. Dennis & Cathy Novosad
	Fan-tailed Cuckoo 12km North of Stroud NSW Elaine Coldham
Fri 3 Aug	Freckled Duck (3) Campbell's Swamp, Griffith Birds were in a huge flock of Australasian Shovelers (50+), Chestnut Teal and Grey Teal (100s) and Eurasian Coot (100s) in front of the hide. One male Freckled Duck had clear red bill markings. Max O'Sullivan
	Glossy Ibis Pitt Town bottoms Rd Single bird in ponds opposite the golf course, good close views. Saw about 10 birds on golf course in the distance last summer. Michael Rutkowski
Thu 2 Aug	Little Eagle Warriewood Wetlands A Little Eagle seen Thursday and Friday (3rd Aug) cruising over Warriewood Wetlands. Also a Brown Goshawk today. Alan McBride
	Hardhead, Buff-banded Rail Plumpton Park A new record for Plumpton Park was three Hardheads seen on the lake, also seen were pair of Buff-banded Rails which successfully bred here some years ago. Signs of spring included nest-building swallows and Masked Lapwings with a chick. Mark Fuller
	Australasian Shoveler Riverstone Saw approx 30 shovelers in pond at Riverstone Tony Dawe
	Rockwarbler Knapsack Gully Bridge, Glenbrook Pair on E side of cutting just N of bridge. Nice to see them less than 500m from suburban sprawl of Emu Plains. Also Eastern Grey Kangaroo at Elizabeth's LO David Potter
	Australian Hobby Canterbury Australian Hobby (1) Heard the bird call briefly from a few streets away. Found it perched on a power pole. Another beaut raptor tick for the area. Greg McLachlan
Wed 1 Aug	Golden Whistler, Azure Kingfisher, Inland Thornbill, Brown Thornbill, Buff rumped Thornbill Farm, 30km East of Moree Im so happy with our record today! We have seen a female Golden Whistler and also when I am looking back through my photos, there turns out to be a few Males. This species hasn't been recorded in our area! Azure Kingfisher seen flying over grassland to the bank of the river! Also seen Buff rumped, Inland and Brown Thornbills together with Weebills and Yellow Thornbills. Two of those Thornbills havent been recorded here! Also, seen were Numerous Red browed & Double barred Finches, King & Red winged Parrots, Eastern & Pale headed Rosellas, Rufous Songlarks, 200+ Straw necked Ibis, Cisticola, Scrubwrens, Restless Flycatcher, Torresian Crow, Spotted & Striated Pardalotes, White throated Gerygone, Yellow faced Honeyeater, Common Bronzewing, Pied Currawong and Bowerbirds! Curtis Hayne
	Black-necked Stork 5 km east of Wee Waa 2388 A single immature Black-necked Stork (reported locally by James Faris, who saw the bird on 30 July at 14:30) is still present about 5 km east of Wee Waa. Previously seen at a farm dam, the bird was now in an ephemeral wetland on the edge of a wheat field, just across the road from the point of the first sighting (Yarrie Lake Road, km 36). The wetland, although visible from the road, is at least 500 m away and on a private property. Permission to enter is required. Will provide photo later. Michael Dahlem
	White-bellied Sea-Eagles Taylors Bay, Clifton Gardens, Mosman A Pair of sub-adult White-bellied Sea-Eagles were seen flying, & hovering over Taylors Bay around 1.30pm Jack Shapiro
Mon 30 Jul	Brolga About 5km out of Coonamble towards Quambone -30.96852,148.336329 A pair of Brolga at this spot as well as well as another pair at -30.964546,148.105659 which is about 32km out from Coonamble towards Quambone Steve Edwards
	Eastern Curlews and Whimbrel mobbing Whistling Kite Deeban Spit, Maianbar 9 roosting Eastern Curlew and a Whimbrel took to mobbing of a Whistling Kite, for several minutes after the kite had taken small prey near them off the sandbar at the northern tip of Deeban Spit. Bruce Roubin
	Buller's Albatross, Wandering Albatross Mistral Point, Maroubra The highlights of a morning seawatch at Maroubra were a Buller's Albatross, seen well close in to Mistral Point, and a Wandering Albatross. Also many Black-browed, Yellow-nosed and Shy Albatross (adults + imms), at least 5 Giant Petrels (both Northern & Southern), a few pairs/small groups of Prions, several large flocks of Fluttering Shearwaters and at least 3 Hutton's Shearwaters. Robert Griffin
Sun 29 Jul	Australasian Bittern, Forest Kingfisher Seale's Road Swamp, Belmore Ricer, Gladstone An Australasian Bittern was heard booming in the reedbeds of the Seale's Rd Swamp while an immature Forest Kingfsiher was seen close to the paperbarks on the western side of the swamp along the road. Ken Shingleton per Alan Morris
	Grey Goshawk, Wandering Whistling Duck Belmore River, sth of Gladstone Two Grey Goshawks seen along the Belmore River, one was a white morph, and a group of 6 Wandering Whistling Ducks. The observer has not seen a white morph Grey Goshawk in the Belmore River- Kinchela Creek area before. ken Shingleton per Alan Morris
	White-headed Pigeon, Common Bronzewing Kurrajong Heights Excited to see a White-headed Pigeon about a metre from a pigeon's nest with 2 well-developed chicks, about 10m up a turpentine. However the nest/chicks belonged to Common Bronzewings. Also seen Mistletoebirds singing, a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles, and Grey Goshawk. Eric Finley
Sat 28 Jul	Eastern Osprey Terrigal Lagoon A pair of Eastern Ospreys for about half an hour carried on with a courtship display, calling and whistling over Terrigal Lagoon, sometimes coming so low as to almost clip the powerlines near the Marine Discovery Centre. A single bird has been here for a while but only recently has there been two birds. A Great Egret was present on the rail of a private resident's swimming pool overlooking the Lagoon and a Buff-banded Rail was present at same site two days before. Alan Morris & 20 members of CCGBNSW, photo Carol Abbott
Thu 19 Jul	Sacred Kingfisher, Rose Robin Two Creeks Track, East Lindfield Kingfisher was seen amongst mangroves and two robins were seen feeding in a fairly open area next to a small inlet/creek line. Unusual records for time of year(kingfisher), location(robins)? (Moderator's Note: Some 1st year Sacred Kingfishers over-winter in mangroves (coastal) or in Red Gum forests (inland), while Rose Robins move into open forest and woodland in autumn and winter, and then move back into rainforest, wet gullies and wet schlerophyll forests in spring.AM) Martin Filipczyk

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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