birding-aus

Black-necked Stalkers Twitchathon report (part 2)

To: "'Greg and Val Clancy'" <>, "'Birding-aus'" <>
Subject: Black-necked Stalkers Twitchathon report (part 2)
From: "Tony Russel" <>
Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:41:54 +1030
No word about immatures or juveniles Greg ?

Tony

-----Original Message-----
From:  
 On Behalf Of Greg and Val 
Clancy
Sent: Tuesday, 30 October 2012 12:22 PM
To: Birding-aus
Cc: Warren Thompson; Bob Carr; Alan Morris; ; Gary & 
Margaret Eggins; 
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Black-necked Stalkers Twitchathon report (part 2)

Before the spelling and grammar police start getting upset I advise of the 
following corrections to my report - 'morp' should be 'morph' and the raft of 
shearwaters 'was' foraging.


Greg

-----Original Message-----
From: Greg and Val Clancy
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 12:43 PM
To: Birding-aus
Cc: Warren Thompson ; Bob Carr ; Alan Morris ;  ; Gary & 
Margaret Eggins ; 
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Black-necked Stalkers Twitchathon report (part 2)

One spinoff from searching for nocturnal birds is that you often see other 
fauna especially mammals.  The only drawback is that you can’t add them to the 
tally.  We had great views of a Long-nosed Potoroo at the base of the Gibraltar 
Range and two Rufous Bettongs between the Range and Grafton.  A young Parma 
Wallaby in the Washpool and a third Rufous Bettong on the way to the coast were 
others seen.  Dodging large alpha male Eastern Grey Kangaroos on the road was 
also an entertaining pastime which kept us on our guard.  It was still dark 
when we left the house on the coast north-west of Grafton the next morning.  As 
we climbed into the Land Cruiser we heard a Brush Cuckoo, our first bird of the 
day.  Off to the coastal heath where it was still very dark due to heavy cloud 
cover.  It wasn’t long though until we heard a Ground Parrot and also ticked 
off White-cheeked and Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters.  Then to the estuary where we 
were welcomed by a vociferous Leaden Flycatcher as we were trying to identify a 
flock of small terns that weren’t right to be Little or Common Terns.  It 
turned out that they were Whiskered Terns, more common in freshwater wetlands 
than estuaries in our area.  A grey morp Eastern Reef Egret, a Striated Heron 
and a diversity of shorebirds were added to the list.  Two small plump 
shorebirds took some time to identify as the overcast weather made them look 
darker than normal. 
They were Sanderlings, a species not usually found in this estuary.  As we left 
the estuary an Eastern Osprey flew over the road and brought the total to 141 
at 6.17 am.  At a small lake nearby a Swamp Harrier was observed and a pair of 
Pied Oystercatchers was at their nest and at a rock platform two 
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers were the first seen by us for the season.   A large 
raft of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were foraging off the rocks but the 
Australasian Gannet was nowhere to be seen.  Four Coastal Emus were in a cane 
paddock on the trip back to the Pacific Highway.  As we disembarked from the 
vehicle at the Iluka Nature Reserve we heard a monarch.  Someone called out 
Spectacled Monarch and we all agreed at first but then I the realised that it 
was a White-eared Monarch and not a Spectacled Monarch.  We did add Spectacled 
Monarch as well as Regent Bowerbird and Large-billed Scrubwren before leaving 
the rainforest for the estuary.  At an inlet we heard Mangrove Honeyeater and 
then on to Woody Head.  The extremely high tide meant that all of the 
shorebirds and terns were clustered together on rocks, making it relatively 
easy to check them off.  There were Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers and Little 
and Common Terns, making 180 species at 9.39 am.  To be continued.

Greg Clancy
Head Stalker
Black-necked Stalkers Twitchathon team.
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