Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 14 Oct 2012.

Sun 14 Oct	Common Diving Petrel Pelagic off Port Stephens A single Common Diving Petrel was a surprise highlight on today's Port Stephens pelagic. The bird was first noticed sitting on the water literally 15m from the stern, from where it flew down onto the slick and eventually disappeared. This is a new species for the Hunter Region list. It was a very "wintery" pelagic, clearly dominated by albatrosses, with a Brown Skua and a Cape Petrel also seen. Short-tailed Shearwaters not in large numbers at all. Mick and Steve Roderick et al
	Lewins Rail, Curlew & Sharp Tailed Sandpiper Waterbird Refuge, Bicentennial park, Homebush Lewins Rail calling from the grass just in front of the hide (responding to playback but not coming out!) approx 8am; single Curlew Sandpiper and 29 Sharp Tailed Sandpipers present (as previously reported Friday). Also 4 Bar Tailed Godwit, 17 Red Necked Avocets 6 Royal Spoonbill and lots of Teal. At Mason Park flushed a single Lathams Snipe and single Red Kneed Dotterel present. Tom Wilson
Sat 13 Oct	Pink-eared Duck Dangars Lagoon sth of Uralla NSW About 50+ Pink-eared Duck present on the lake with large flocks of Hardhead, Grey and Chestnut Teal. Birds very timid and kept some 200mts away from shore, resulting in poor photograph. Stephen Gallivan
	Osprey Cornwallis Road, Richmond Single Osprey was a bit of a surprise on the Hawkesbury River this far upstream. Also Banded Lapwing (1) Brown Songlark (1) Rainbow Bee-eater (10) on the turf farm loop. King Quail and Spotless Crake heard at Pitt Town Lagoon. Cicadabird male at Cattai NP. Dion Hobcroft and Olaf Soltau
	Giant Petrel, Sooty Shearwater Mistral Pt, Maroubra A brief sea watch from here produced about 6 Black-browed Albatross, 1 Giant Petrel species, hundreds of Fluttering Shearwaters amongst thousands of Short-tailed and Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Sooty Shearwater, Kelp Gull and a distant Humpback Whale. A nice adult Sea-eagle also seen with a decent sized fish catch. Edwin Vella and Follow That Bird
	Brown Honeyeater, Common Greenshank Woolaware Swamp, Kurnell There were 4 Common Greenshanks and about 6 Pied Oystercatchers as well as a Brown Honeyeater. Another 28 or so Pied Oystercatchers were seen at their usual roosting spot in Taren Pt with also a Sooty Oystercatcher amongst them. Edwin Vella and Follow That Bird
	Cape Petrels, Giant Petrels, Arctic Jaeger Cape Solabder, Botany Bay NP (south of Sydney) Within an hours sea watch we were amazed to see at least 20 Cape Petrels foraging amongst the thousands of Short-tailled Shearwaters, a few hundred Wedge-tailed and a few Fluttering Shearwaters amongst them, a Shy and at least 10 Black-browed Albatross, 2 Giant Petrels, a dark morph Arctic Jaeger and an adult Kelp Gull. This is the highest count of Cape Petrels I have seen from land and particularly interesting also for this time of year. There is certainly a good number of sea birds out there at the moment! Edwin Vella and Follow That Bird
	Latham's Snipe Ash Island Lathanm's Snipe 3,Whiskered Terns 6, Bar-tailed Godwit 3, Greenshank 1, Eastern curlew 3,Red knot 3 Red-necked Avocet 30 + Tony Dawe
	Cook's Petrel, Fairy Prion, Northern Giant Petrel Sydney Pelagic A Cook's Petrel over the shelf came uncharacteristically close to the boat 3 times over an hour. Up to 5 White-faced and 5 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels, lone Fairy Prion, Northern Giant Petrel, Brown Skua. Pomarine Jaeger and ‘comic’ tern. Up to 7 juvenile New Zealand Shy (White-capped = steadi) Albatrosses. Plus the usual suspects. Full report on Birding-Aus soon. . David James for all on the Halicat
	Grey-tailed Tattler, Little Tern Shoalhaven Heads Grey-tailed Tattler (1) Observed single bird fly in and join the large group of Bar-tailed Godwits. Little Tern (1) Saw a solitary bird standing with the Red Knots. Duade Paton
	Major Mitchell's Cockatoo Ivanhoe town Revised sighting and date, flock of 30 plus feeding on ground. (Moderator's note: Large number for a small country town! AKM) E. & J. Lawes
Fri 12 Oct	Cape Petrel, Pomarine and Arctic Jaegers Mistral Point, Maroubra Plenty of birds today, dozens of Black-browed and Shy Albatrosses, 1000's of Short-tailed Shearwaters, at least one Cape Petrel, 6 Arctic Jaegers, 2 Pomarine Jaegers and a few Hutton's Shearwaters amongst the many Fluttering Shearwaters. Late in the evening, I also saw a 'Commic Tern', the flight and feeding style suggested Arctic, but the bird was too distant to call. David Mitford, Ray Gobbe, Robert Griffin and Fiona Brook
	Bar-tailed Godwit Waterbird Refuge, Sydney Olympic Park Bar-tailed Godwit (150): a high number for the site - two had orange over green leg flags on left leg. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (26), Red-necked Avocet (14). Mark Hocking
	Red Knot (1) Waterbird Refuge, Sydney Olympic Park Red Knot still in partial alternate. Also 150 Bar-tailed Godwits, 20 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and 1 Curlew Sandpiper Dion Hobcroft
	Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Little Tern Lake Tabourie, near Ulladulla, South Coast Ruddy Turnstone (2), Sanderling (1), Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (7), Red-necked Stint (3), Little Tern (3), Caspian Tern (1). No sign of Hooded Plovers today. Marnix Zwankhuizen
	Pacific Golden Plover Riverstone Today at private property Riverstone saw 4 Pacific Golden Plovers Tony Dawe
	White-browed Woodswallow Coolgardie Plateau, approximately 7km south east of Alstonville in northern NSW 2 birds were watched as they perched on a powerline then hawked for insects over a grazing paddock. Very strong westerly winds. First records for this location and a very uncommon visitor to the region. David Charley
	Black-winged Stilt, Magpie Goose, Latham's Snipe Narrabri Lake, Narrabri 2390 It's been a while since last I saw Black-winged Stilts at Narrabri Lake. This morning there was a single adult bird. Flushed 1 Latham's Snipe (again...). The number of Magpie Geese has now increased to at least 35 (all out in the open together, not scattered in the tall reeds). Michael Dahlem
	Pied Cormorant Castlereagh 10' Cell Pied Cormorant (1) I am pretty certain this is my very first sighting of this species near Penrith. Sitting on bank among darters and other cormorants at the end of the Devlin Rd ramp at 08:00 this morning. Ákos Lumnitzer
Thu 11 Oct	Eastern Grass Owl Hexham Swamp (pipeline maintenance track) Single Eastern Grass Owl observed hunting over grasslands and phragmites reedlands on Hexham Swamp during the bittern surveys last night (no bittersn seen or heard). An Eastern Barn Owl was also observed on the drive out, about 5km to the north. 150 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers also present where the Grass Owl was seen. Ann Lindsey, Jude Westphal and Hayley Boyce per Mick Roderick
	Ruddy Turnstone, Hooded Plover Lake Tabourie, near Ulladulla, South Coast Single Ruddy Turnstone with 3 Hooded Plovers at Lake Tabourie beach. Also present 17 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, 6 Red-capped Plovers and 3 Bar-tailed Godwits. Seen before a massive storm swept through overnight. Marnix Zwankhuizen
	White Goshawk, Tawny Grassbird, Little Grassbird, Little Egret McPherson Rd Swamp, Tuggerah A single White Goshawk circled slowly and low over this wetland around midday, my first White Goshawk at this site! Also present were 2 pairs of Tawny Grassbirds, Little Grassbirds calling, single Great, Little and Intermediate Egrets, 52 Hardheads, many Fairy Martins, and calling Olive-backed Oriole and Sacred Kingfisher. All up 42 species in 20 minutes at this wetland. Alan Morris
	Wandering Whistling Ducks Gavenlock Rd Swamp, Tuggerah There was a pair of Wandering Whistling Ducks at this roadside wetland, the cnr of Gavenlock Rd & Woodbury Park Drive, Tuggerah today. The last report for the Central Coast was at the nearby McPherson Rd Swamp on 30/1/2012. Alan Morris
	Painted Button-quail Summer Hill, inner Sydney A Painted Button-quail was found twitching on its back in Carrington Street, Summer Hill this afternoon (possibly flew into a window). Despite my best efforts, it sadly passed away shortly after. A very unusual record for a well-populated suburb. Ashwin Rudder
	Topknot Pigeon Bundeena A flock of 35 Topknot Pigeons were moving between trees near Jibbon Beach in Bundeena this morning. Bruce Roubin
	Pacific Baza Point Clare, NSW 2 Pacific Baza, flying from tree to tree for about 45 minutes. Sometimes being attacked by Noisy Miners and other honey-eaters. Got some good photos of these birds in flight. Have not seen Pacific Baza in this location before. Andrew Whitaker
Wed 10 Oct	Square-tailed Kite, White-winged Chough Wilberforce village, Hawksbury Shire One Square-tailed Kite was flying over veggie fields. Chough family (6) was in the garden near main road. Ted Wnorowski
	Australasian Bittern Pitt Town Lagoon, Hawksbury Shire Two A. Bitterns were sitting on a dried mud few meters from the water ( very foggy early morning). They were facing one another (1 m apart) and performing synchronised neck "dancing". The second bird was following every move of the first one. After few dancing sequences both stayed still on the "longest neck position" and after one minute they were "dancing" again. It lasted nearly 20 minutes and it was beautiful. The water level in the lagoon is very low. I could walk around lagoon on the dried land. Is it normal? All reed vegetation is on dry land now. There is no place for bitterns to hide or breed now. Ted Wnorowski
	Wood Sandpiper, Painted snipe, Latham's Snipe, Spotted Crake Riverstone Today ona private property at Riverstone I saw 4 Latham's Snipe, 2 Painted Snipe, 3 Wood Sandpipers,70 Black- winged Stilts, 60 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers 20 Black-fronted Dotterels, 20 Pink-eared Ducks, 4 Australian Spotted Crake, 3 Baillon's Crake,1 Spotless Crake Tony Dawe
	Banded Lapwing Private property, 3km North of Come By Chance Banded Lapwings, a Pair of Pale-headed Rosella's and a Collard Sparrowhawk Steve Edwards
Tue 9 Oct	Noisy Pitta Cape Byron Headland Reserve, Wategoes Beach Byron Bay Amazement to see this very colourful one hopping around in a littoral rainforest with a 'canopy' not even 5 metres high. May be just passing through. Encouragement for those rehabilitating these areas for sure. Dont usually find pittas when you go whale spotting! Duncan Fowler
	Pied & Black Honeyeaters Round Hill Naure Reserve Pied and Black Honeyeaters abundant in flowering eremophila around Whoey Tank. 50+ on 7th, including 19 Pied sitting in one treetop, but numbers greatly reduced on 9th. White-fronted and Spiny-cheeked also common. Black Honeyeaters also present in NW Nombinnie. Gibert's Whistler in wheat paddock. Most small waterholes in reserve now dry, but the major rivers/creeks flowing. Carl Weber
	Banded Stilt, Magpie Geese Ash Island, Hunter Estuary Found the Banded Stilt mid-afternoon, feeding alongside about 70 Avocets and 50 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, at the back of the wetlands half way along the eastern side of Ramsar Rd. Also 5 Magpie Geese in the wetlands off Cabbage Tree Rd before the rainforest. Bruce Roubin and Ken Gilmour
	Square-tailed Kite Pacific Hwy, Glenugie (approx 13km south of Grafton) A single Square-tailed Kite seen flying low over the Pacific Hwy at Glenugie. Approx 1km south of Eight Mile Lane (Wooli turnoff), at northern end of new dual carriageway section. Steve McBride
	Pacific Golden Plover, Square-tailed kite, Azure kingfisher Central Coast Wetlands, Tuggerah (formerly Pioneer Dairy Wetlands) A single Pacific Golden Pover was at the Dairy Swamp section, 1st record for the reserve, also 2 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, breeding Back-shouldered Kites, single Buff-banded Rail, Brown Falcon doing courtship display, Sea-eagle, 2 Whistling Kites, 6 Black-fronted Dotterels, a Square-tailed Kite circling over Tuggerah Creek plantations and an Azure Kingfisher on Tuggerah Creek. There is limited access to this Reserve, due to open to the public on 2/2/2013. Alan Morris & Diana Hogan (photo)
	White-throated Needletail North Bundjalung NP (south of Evans Head) 5-6 flying overhead - first of the season Bob Moffatt
	Spotted Harrier (adult) Castlereagh This evening, one of the adults was sitting right beside my car as I drove into my friend's driveway at the quarries. I managed to take a few close photos. What a stunning raptor! Ákos Lumnitzer
	White-fronted Chat, Southern Whiteface, Diamond Firetail Spring Valley NSW 10' Cell White-fronted Chat (2) Close views on fence near road then flew into the Canola crop. Southern Whiteface 5 Diamond Firetails seen in Canola crop, fence and footpath. All were seen near the following Co-ordinates along Wollogorang Rd. 34385656s, 149.53336e Anthony & Vicki Katon
	Black-Necked Stork (Jabiru) Lenaghans Drive, Black Hill, NSW Flew off when car stopped, headed north toward Maitland Matthew Lovasz
	Yellow-tufted Honeyeater, Painted Button-quail Windsor Downs Nature Reserve, Hawkesbury Shire Three Yellow-tufted Honeyeater were feeding on the flowering gum tree at the eastern part of the reserve. Very big surprise for me - the fist sighting of this species in the reserve. We also found a family (2 adults and one little chick) of Painted Button-quail. Cuckoos calling everywhere ( Koel, Horsfields Bronze Cuckoo, Shining Bronze Cuckoo, Fan-tailed Cuckoo and 1 Pallid Cuckoo sitting on the gate). Ted Wnorowski
	Crimson Chat Private Property, 10km North West of Come By Chance Several Crimson Chats and again countless White Browed & Masked Woodswallows Steve Edwards
	Painted Honeyeaters Private Property, 3km North of Come By Chance Painted Honeyeaters along with what seems to be thousands and thousands of White Browed & Masked Woodswallows. Steve Edwards
Mon 8 Oct	Banded Lapwing, Cockatiel, Rainbow Bee-eater Kyalite (NSW) 10' Cell Banded Lapwing Cockatiel Rainbow Bee-eater Trevor Hampel
	Spotted Nightjar East of Leard State Forest, about 25km NE of Boggabri Spotted Nightjar heard calling during a nocturnal survey north of Dripping Rock (about 25km NE of Boggabri). Allan Richardson per Mick Roderick
	Black-tailed Native-hen Moss Vale On large dam on private property, off Berrima Rd near sale yards. One Native-hen seen feeding in open ground just inside fence line. Shovelers, Trillers and Shelducks previously reported on birdline still present. M. Filipczyk
	Barking Owl 10km from Come By Chance on private property (nr Walgett NSW) Just 1 Barking Owl heard and then seen along the river! Steve Edwards
	Common Myna 3km south of Come By Chance, on the Come By Chance Road Normally I feel pretty good when I put birds onto birdline! Not on this occasion however!! This is the first pair I have noticed out this way! Steve Edwards
	Brolga 15km south along the Colrose Road from The Come By Chance Road. A pair of Brolga very close to the road Steve Edwards
	Lewin's Rail, Baillon's, Spotted and Spotless Crake, and many others Eastlakes Golf Course One Lewin's Rail seen very well for at least 10 minutes) in the same place as I saw a couple in July. Also at this spot were a Spotless Crake (very briefly), a very obliging Spotted Crake (feeding in the open for at least 15 minutes), Little Grassbird, Golden-headed Cisticola and a group of 17 Nutmeg Mannikins (Scaly-breasted Munias). I had good views of a single Baillon's Crake and another Spotted Crake further north on a small isolepis-covered island viewable from the other golf course. Other good birds for the site included 6 Whiskered Terns, 3 Nankeen Night-Herons, many Latham's Snipe, a few Greenfinches, a Scarlet Honeyeater (heard only), Brown Quail, a Rufous Whistler, a Peregrine Falcon, and a Black-shouldered Kite. Ashwin Rudder
	White-headed Pigeon Thornleigh A single White-headed Pigeon seen flying over Pennant Hills Road at Thornleigh this morning. Carl Corden
	Red-capped Robin Woodford Blue Mountains My son came inside today to tell me there was a red-breasted robin in our front yard. I went out expecting to see perhaps a Scarlet or Rose Robin but instead saw a male Red-capped Robin sitting on our the lawn which flew up to the fence. This a very rare bird for the Blue Mountains, a male Red-capped was reported a few weeks ago from Lawson (about 5 kms from here) and this is probably the same bird. Mark Ley
Sun 7 Oct	White Fronted Tern Point Plomer, Limeburners Nature Reserve Six White Fronted Terns on the rocks at Point Plomer. Still in non-breeding plumage but must be ready to depart shortly. Tim Morris
	Rufous Scrub-bird, Olive Whistler, Noisy Pitta, Logrunner, Crested Shrike-tit Werrikimbe National Park One Rufous Scrub-bird seen and many other heard around the Brushy Mountain Campsite and Spokes Lookout area. Lorand Szucs
	White-winged Black Tern Boomanoomana 10' Cell White-winged Black Tern (1). Picked one out with the scope among hundreds of Whiskered Tern, a little smaller than that species, whiter rump and black ear patches seen well, a very rare bird in these parts. Also many more common species in great numbers in the wetlands along Clearview and Yarrawonga Roads. Over 100 Yellow-billed Spoonbill, 10 Intermediate Egret, 60 White-necked Heron, thousands of Grey Teal, around 150 Whiskered Tern and over 200 Black-winged Stilt. Glossy Ibis and Little Egret were also a couple of rarer species seen as well. Michael Ramsey
	Little Tern, Curlew Sandpiper Boat Harbour, Kurnell Little Tern (75+). Curlew Sandpiper (1). High tide visit to a very windy Boat Harbour. Surprised to find over 75 Little Terns. I haven't seen them any where near these numbers at BH before - usually only see two to five at a time. Apart from the usual suspects the other highlight was a lone Curlew Sandpiper. Photo attached. If anyone is interested I have a photo of a LT with bands and flags. Greg McLachlan
Sat 6 Oct	White-browed Woodswallow, Masked Woodswallow Barren Grounds Nature Reserve, Jamberoo W-B and Masked WS were first heard then seen in flocks flying over Barren Grounds Nature Reserve. About 20 of these birds were seen perched with only one being a Masked.Other birds seen between 7:30am and 12pm were 1 Pilotbird on track, good views, many Bristlebird seen and heard, 1 male and 1 female Southern Emu-wren, 3 Beautiful Firetail. 30 species seen in total. Carla Jackett Russell Cannings, Carla Jackett
	Whiskered Tern Fitzroy Falls Reservoir One Whiskered Tern was seen flying low over the reservoir, then perched on a post for some time. The Tern was identified by Russell Cannings. Hoary, Australasian and Great-crested Grebe also seen. Carla Jackett Russell Cannings, Carla Jackett
	Australian Shelduck, White-winged Triller, Pink-eared Duck, Australian Shoveler Moss Vale - private dam near the saleyards off Berrima Road. Between 1:15 and 2:45pm, there were 3 Australian Shovelers, 2 Australian Shelducks, 4 White-winged Trillers, 6 Pink-eared Ducks, with a total of 46 bird species seen at this location. Weather was cool and overcast. Carla Jackett Russell Cannings (Canadian visitor), Carla Jackett
Fri 28 Sep	Flame Robin Rocky Pic Road, Tallaganda State Forest, Braidwood 1 male Flame Robin. Steven Edwards & Lorne Johnson
	Olive Whistler Coxes Creek Road, Tallaganda State Forest, Braidwood Olive Whistler, Grey Currawong & Superb Lyrebird in a small gully with logging on either side. Steven Edwards & Lorne Johnson
Thu 27 Sep	Lewin's Rail Sandon Point, Bulli NSW Several Lewin's Rail seen and heard near Sandon Drive at Sandon Point (Bulli) NSW. Carl Corden
Mon 24 Sep	Red-winged parrots Enroute between Glen Innes and Tenterfield (New England Hwy) 5 birds observed flying over highway ahead of this afternoon's storms Peter O'Meara

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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