Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 26 Aug 2012.

Sun 26 Aug	Pacific Baza Lakes of Cherrybrook-Shepherds Dr Cherrybrook Quietly feeding in the tops of blue gums. 3 birds. Seen annually at this time Gabrielle Rees
	Little Eagle, Brown Goshawk Deer Pool, Royal National Park 1 Little Eagle hunting down towards Curra Moors, and 1 Brown Goshawk actively circling around were the avian highlights of a lovely mornings walk. Troy Mutton
	Glossy Black-Cockatoo, White-Breasted Woodswallow, White-throated Gerygone Queens lake West Haven 5 Birds observed, 2 males; 3 females, feeding in Casuarina near the Sailing club on Queens Lake. Other species seen were White-Breasted Woodswallow nest building in mooring pylons in the lake and White-throated Gerygone callling near-by. Stephen Gallivan
	Little Eagle Berrima One bird soaring about three kilometres south of town. Little Eagles are seen infrequently in the Southern Highlands. I'm still waiting to add one to my Bundanoon list. Lorne Johnson
	Straw-necked Ibis Exeter Around fifty birds in paddock on Sutton Forest side of town. The first time I've seen them in Exeter in almost two years of living nearby. Lorne Johnson
	Emerald Dove Mt. Keira Ring Track. Illawarra One bird on track near junction with Mt. Pleasant Track Martin Cocker
	Square-tailed Kite Rennie's Beach Ulladulla a single adult Square-tailed Kite was seen flying along the escarpment at Rennie's Beach this morning at 11.30. Possibly the same one that has been hanging around Mollymook / Narrawallee area for the last 2 weeks. The Molly / Narrawallee area is a bit of a hot spot for this species in the warmer months. Bob Rusk
Sat 25 Aug	Olive-backed Oriole Irrawong Reserve, Warriewood Wetlands Forgot there were two very vocal O-b O's yesterday too along trail to waterfall. Alan McBride
	Powerful Owl Royal Botanic Garden Sydney Powerful Owl still in the same tree between conservatorium and government house. 2 Tawny frogmouths still behind the tropical centre. Falk Wicker
	Black Bittern, Dollarbird Warriewood Wetlands One Black Bittern seen to south from boardwalk via Katoa Close entrance on open marsh area, walked off up creek into woodland. Dollarbird on Irrawong Track near waterfall. Alan McBride
	Red-necked Avocet and Bar-tailed Godwit Waterbird Refuge, Sydney Olympic Park There were 8 Red-necked Avocet and 45 Bar-tailed Godwit in front of the bird hide. The avocets were roosting and the bar-tailed godwits were all feeding. Adrian Dick
	Glossy Ibis, Buff-banded Rail and Azure Kingfisher Wentworth Common, Sydney Olympic Park There was an adult and immature Glossy Ibis on a small pond near the hill on Wentworth Common. The Azure Kingfisher was on a low bush near the main holding pond and the Buff-banded Rail was under casuarina trees beside the same pond. Adrian Dick
	White-throated Gerygone King Creek, Wauchope Our first White-throated Gerygone of the season, heard this morning. Clive Meadows
	Noisy Pitta, Bassian Thrush, Leucistic Pacific Black Duck Warriewood Wetlands, Irrawong Reserve Found the Noisy Pitta Feeding around the small waterfall off the main path at the end of Irrawong Road at about 7:30. As noted in the report from Thursday, it did not call (and didn't seem to take a lot of notice of my whistling). It seemed pretty comfortable in my presence. Also 3 Bassian Thrush seen near the main waterfall, and a leucistic Pacific Black Duck on the fountain pond. Joshua Bergmark
Fri 24 Aug	Whiskered Tern Newcastle Ocean Baths Single Whiskered Tern at Newcastle Baths - an early return? Allan Richardson per Mick Roderick
	Black Falcon Lake Belvedere - Sydney Olympic Park Noted a dark falcon-like raptor about 15:30 being harassed by a bunch of Australian Ravens near the function center on the hill beside the lake. It was far, but I took a few photos. I instantly thought Black Falcon, but was hesitant to post until I received confirmation from Stephen Debus, who concurred. His comments were: "A Black, no doubt about it (albeit moulting)." So happy to report my first ever sighting of a Black Falcon, from the heart of Sydney! :-) Sorry about the photo quality, it was a little far. Ákos Lumnitzer
	Rainbow Bee-eater Sawtell At least one bird in flight overhead (~1000 hours), heading southwards. First birds here for season. Peter Higgins
	Buff-banded Rail Gum Swamp Forbes A single bird on the road in to the bird hide. Also hundreds of Pink-eared Ducks and a White-bellied Sea-Eagle at nest with fresh nesting material Warren Chad
	Superb Parrot 10 km west of Narrabri 2390 A single male bird was seen flying east along Yarrie Lake Road, near the Kiandool Lane turnoff (Charles's bore). This is about 10 km east of a known site of Superb Parrots (the Australia Telescope observatory at Culgoora). Michael Dahlem
	Kelp Gull On Maroubra Beach Adult Kelp Gull seen on the beach eating a small fish - amongst Crested Terns and Silver Gulls. Tom Rambaut
	Australian Spotted Crake Yarrie Lake, 30 km west of Narrabri 2390 Accidentally flushed a bird off a low branch of a tree standing in a densely vegetated swamp at the inlet to Yarrie Lake. I am sure it was not a Buff-banded Rail (all went too fast to get a photo). The overall greyish-brown appearance, in the absence of a band on either breast or eyebrow, with the typical bill of a crake, makes it very likely that this was an immature Australian Spotted Crake. Michael Dahlem
	Spotted Harrier Yarrie Lake, 30 km west of Narrabri 2390 Three Spotted Harriers seen above Yarrie Lake, two of which in a "dogfight" (see photo). Looked like they were just passing by, heading towards south-east (sorry, the photos [this is a composite of two different shots] are a bit ordinary; the birds were quite high up). Michael Dahlem
	Black-necked Stork 5 km east of Wee Waa 2388 The Black-necked Stork reported earlier (1 August, #138093) is still present in the ephemeral wetland 5 km east of Wee Waa. The fishing was good - saw it strike 3x in an hour. Better photo attached. Michael Dahlem
	Glossy Ibis, Australian Reed-warbler, Little Egret Penrith Quarries (Private property) I heard my first warbler chatting away at my friend's property this morning. The bird was not there yesterday, so perhaps arrived during the day or night. A Little Grassbird was calling from the pond across from the warbler. Glossy Ibis feeding in another pond with two Little Egrets (full breeding plumes). Several Black-winged Stilts were squabbling in another pond and my kestrel pair mated twice again. What a super morning near boring old Penrith! :-) Ákos Lumnitzer
Thu 23 Aug	Southern Giant Petrel Mistral Point, Maroubra Not that unusual, but certainly odd on a 29 °C day. This bird was the highlight today, but also seen whilst sunbaking, were : 1 Yellow-nosed Albatross, 5 Black-browed Albatross and plenty of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (c 20) David Mitford & Ray Gobbe
	Noisy Pitta Irrawong, Warriewood NSW Clear views for several minutes of a Noisy Pitta on the ground near the small waterfall. It did not call but was hopping on the ground of the patch of rainforest. Barbara Ellis and Steph Chen
	Square-tailed Kite Asquith One bird still present, seen gliding over the F3 freeway at lunchtime. Carl Corden
	Buff-banded Rail Rock Forest, west of Bathurst The rail was briefly on the road verge next to flooded, well-vegetated ditch. Stopped the car for a better look and the bird (as is their wont!) vanished...seems to be a woefully under-reported species in the region, so thought it worth submitting this sighting. Box Gum Grassy Woodland around site. Co-ordinates: 33 21 29S, 149 24 26E. Tiffany Mason
	Little Eagle, Nankeen Kestrel Castlereagh 10' Cell Little Eagle (2) pair flying above lakes towards Castlereagh Nature Reserve direction. Appeared to be courtship flight with aerial combat between the pair. There has been a pair nesting in CNR previously. Nankeen Kestrel (2) At quarries, it's the pair I've known for about 18 months. I caught them copulating twice! Have some photos, which need processing still. In fact they are so used to me that I could easily take full frame head/shoulders portrait of the male from about six meters away as he sat on a railing. Observations made on private property! Ákos Lumnitzer
Wed 22 Aug	Straw-necked Ibis Botany Road, Mascot A flock of over a hundred Straw-necked Ibis, "drifting" south on thermals, - most unusual around here. David Mitford
	Rainbow Bee-eaters, Beach Stone-curlew, Sacred Kingfisher Red Rock estuary At least two Rainbow Bee-eaters flew overhead, in a south-westerly direction while in park adjacent to the caravan park office/shop. First for the season for me. Single Beach Stone-curlew was at the edge of the vegetation of the main island in the estuary, along with two loafing Australian Pied Oystercatchers. Tide was fairly high and a group of birds were loafing on the sandbank betwee the island and park: Common Terns (5), Crested Terns (3), Australian Pelicans (4), Great Egrets (2), Little Black Cormorants (2) and Silver Gulls (25). The Sacred Kingfisher was coming and going to the sandbank. Peter Higgins
	leucistic Crested pigeon Ffrench Street Greenwich Spotted at 2.45pm today, a white crested pigeon with a few brown flecks on the lower wings and flight feathers. It was feeding with a flock of about 6 others. (No that's not a typo in the street name, it has 2 F's, a settler from the early 1880's) Judy Clark
	Lewin's Rail (2) Spotless Crake (1) Red-necked Avocet (7) Sydney Olympic Park Also heard my first Reed Warbler at Wentworth Common. Avocet numbers are building at the Refuge. A male Rufous Whistler also noted. Dion Hobcroft
	Red-browed Finch Backyard River Rd Sussex Inlet A Flock of about 30 has been coming into our Backyard for the last week or so. Andy Christian
	Diamond Firetail White Rock Road, Rock Forest (nr. Bathurst) 8 Diamond Firetails feeding on road verge with about 30 Double-barred Finches, plus Yellow-rumped Thornbills, Red-rumped Parrots and Superb Fairy-wrens. The verges had been recently slashed, so I'm not sure what seeds they were all eating. Not many records of this species in the region and I've never seen so many at the one spot. Co-ordinates: 33 22 46S, 149 26 04E. Tiffany Mason
	Blue-faced Honeyeater (adult) Cambridge Gardens, near Penrith Another sighting of this beautiful species, this time at the front of our house at 08:00. Ákos Lumnitzer
Tue 21 Aug	Latham's Snipe & Horsefield's Bronze Cuckoo Kooragang island Just sitting by the edge of the road and water. Darin Rounsevell
	Buff-banded Rail Albion Park Seen twice now foraging along a drainage channel in an area frequented by kids playing (near Drysdale Rd). This is the first time I've seen one here in over a decade of living here. Nigel Coghlan
	Spotted Quail-thrush Blue Mountains NP, Glenbrook This afternoon, Neil and I observed and photographed a male/female pair near Mount Portal on a locked firetrail. Had excellent views of male perched about 7m up in a tree, making high pitch contact calls to his mate, who was foraging on trail below, as I was stalking her with my camera. We followed them for about 200 meters. Ákos Lumnitzer and Neil Kirby
	Tawny Frogmouth Royal Botanic Garden Sydney NSW One pair of Tawny Frogmouth was seen roosting on a low branch along the path that goes along the back perimeter of the Sydney Tropical Centre. Angela Sim
	Powerful Owl Royal Botanic Garden Sydney NSW One Powerful Owl was seen this morning roosting at the usual spot, perched high above the fig tree with a possum breakfast clenched under the talons. Angela Sim
Mon 20 Aug	Black Bittern Barraba, Travelling Stock Reserve No.4 (Millie Creek) Walking along bird route, flushed a single bird along creek, flew a short distance and landed for a moment before flying off out of view. Record photo attached. John Kooistra
	Spotted Harrier (AGAIN!) Penrith Quarries Please don't post if you don't think it's worthwhile (anymore). I was speechless when an adult bird flew over me as I was driving back from my morning doggie walk. I was near the corner of Castlereagh Rd and Olive Lane, Cranebrook. The bird flew SW and at Square-tailed Kite height. I was totally amazed as it was 0730 in the morning and that's about the same time it flew a similar path yesterday. We will be looking again tomorrow morning hoping to get some photos this time. Ákos Lumnitzer
Sun 19 Aug	Buff-banded Rail Brabham Drive, Eastern Creek Found a pair of Buff-banded Rails by the kerbside (hit by car?) when cycling to work Sunday evening. Now in freezer waiting to go to the museum. Mark Fuller
	Sooty Oystercatchers Terrigal Haven Four Sooty Oystercatchers high tide roosting on the rocks just south of Terrigal Haven. Paul & Luke Shelley
	Powerful Owl Ferndale Park, West Chatswood Powerful Owl (1) Flushed out while walking along the creek path. Clear view when it rested in the tree. Went to get my fiance to show her but it was gone 25 minutes later. Steven Girot
Sat 18 Aug	Swift Parrot Bodalla State Forest Swift Parrot (25) Mitchell's Ridge Road in flowering Spotted Gums. 25 counted in one tree but more than this here as calls heard in nearby trees also Kim and Geoff Larmour
Fri 17 Aug	Noisy Pitta Irrawong Reserve, Warriewood Wetlands One near small waterfall seen briefly on ground then flew along slope and went behind cover. Alan McBride
	Noisy Pitta, Russet-tailed Thrush, Red-whiskered Bulbul Northern end of Sawtell Reserve At least 3 Noisy Pittas at separate sites in the reserve. A single Russet-tailed Thrush seen well; a single Russet-tailed Thrush also seen preceding day, although in different spot. Red-whiskered Bulbuls becoming vocal again, although present throughout year. Logrunners also present. Increasing litter layer and recovery of littoral rainforest elements seemingly seeing return of some of these species to this part of the reserve following fire several years earlier. However, also noted decline in Tawny Grassbirds, which increased in numbers with flourishing Blady Grass-shrub layer immediately following fire. Peter Higgins
	Nankeen Night-Heron Yarrie Lake, near Narrabri. Over 30 Nankeen Night-Herons including juveniles, roosting in trees behind lagoon near inlet to lake. John Kooistra
Thu 16 Aug	Jacky Winter Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute, Camden Good views of a single pair of Jacky Winters in the paddock immediately opposite (east of) 'Sawyers Reserve'. Also good views of Australian Hobby and Rose Robin in Sawyers Reserve. Peter Ridgeway
Tue 14 Aug	Square-tailed Kite Northern end of Sawtell Reserve Single bird soaring over littoral shrubland/woodland at northern end of reserve below Boambee Headland. Peter Higgins
Mon 13 Aug	Square-tailed Kite Sawtell Single bird seen over suburb. Peter Higgins
Sat 11 Aug	Brolga, Glossy Ibis North Bank Road, north of Bellinger River, Raleigh 1 Glossy Ibis seen in same wetlands as reported 8 Aug; also 2 Brolga, where pair seen in previous years with a recently fledged young. Many Fairy Martins also present, and hundreds of Pacifc Black Duck in one field between road and Bellinger Rver. Peter Higgins

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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