Birdline NSW Weekly Update

Birdline NSW

Published sightings for the week ending 20 Jan 2013.

Sun 20 Jan	Pectoral Sandpiper, Australian Painted Snipe Proposed marina site, Shellharbour Pectoral Sandpiper Australian Painted Snipe Paul Nesbitt
Sun 20 Jan	Streaked Shearwater. north head manly. Saw my first Streaked Shearwater of the season today flying south with large numbers of Wedge-tailed, Short-tailed and Flesh-footed Shearwaters & 1 Shy Albatross. michael ronan.
	White-eared Monarch North Creek, Lennox Head A single adult at ecotone between mangroves and remnant vine thicket. Also in same area, 5-6 Spectacled Monarch (incl. 2 juveniles), 4-5 Rufous Fantail, 2 Grey Fantail and a Leaden Flycatcher. Perhaps the start of northern migration or post-breeding dispersal? David James
	Emerald Dove Kooloonbung Creek, Port Macquarie Walking about the west side footpath. Dave Whitfield
Sat 19 Jan	Hooded Plover Racecourse Beach, Bawley Point 1 Hooded Plover seen at about 5:10pm Anthony & Vicki Katon
Sat 19 Jan	Little Egret Spring Creek Reserve Single bird feeding on mudflat with lone Black-tailed Native-hen Neville Schrader (1702)
	Australian Painted Snipe 1, Latham's Snipe 5+, Pectoral sandpiper - 1, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - 5, Shellharbour Marina Development Site We observed the Australian Painted Snipe resting and feeding for over an hour. Posted video footage on Illawarra Birders website for all to enjoy - note shot from behind a fence without disturbing bird. Also observed lots of other birds - Red-kneed and Black-fronted Dotterels, Musk Duck, Swamp Harrier, Black-winged Stilt and others. This wetland to be partly filled in within two weeks which will destroy the snipes current foraging area Michelle and David Rower, Jill Molan.
	Great Shearwater Mistral Point, Maroubra A Great Shearwater was sighted this afternoon amongst Wedge-tailed Shearwaters flying south at around 15:30, close-in off Mistral Point. Features noted were: black cap, greyish upper wing, distinctive white bar on upper aspect of tail, mainly white underwing with significant dark trailing edge and dark axillary lines. Shortly after this sighting a pod of very active False Killer Whales appeared off Mistral Point heading south. Three to four adults were accompanied by at least one youngster - the juvenile breached many times in a row which was delightful to watch. An amazing day. Working through video footage of the whales . . . Moderator's note (NH): This amazing observation will require a submission to BARC. Ray Gobbe and Fiona Brook
	Broad-billed Sandpiper, Great Knot Stockton Sandspit Single Broad-billed Sandpiper (juv) at Stockton Sandspit late this afternoon. First seen around oyster banks towards western end of the beach. Also present were 2 Great Knots. A host of other shorebirds - a total of 19 species of shorebirds. Mick Roderick, Nikolas Haass and Raja Stephenson
	Black-tailed Native-hen Bushell's Lagoon, Wilberforce Single bird seen from the Brewer's Lane entrance on exposed mud to the left of the track. Carol and Peter Abbott
	Fork-tailed Swift Lennox Head about 30 Fork-tailed Swifts scattered about this morning. I noticed only 2 White-throated Needletails with them. Yesterday there were about 80 White-throated Needletails and about 20 on the 17th and 16th, but no Fork-tailed Swifts. David James
	Australian Shoveler Penrith Lakes I received an e-mail about the Freckled Duck last night, so I checked the lake Adrian Dick mentioned. I didn't see that species, however, there were at least five (3 male, 2 female) Australian Shovelers on the southernmost end of the lake, in the swampy section. Other interesting birds were a lone Glossy Ibis, a Little Egret, and the usual three grebe species in the main part of the lake. An Australian Hobby made a pass low over the lakes and even mock charged a feeding Great Egret. Wishful thinking, I thought. Ákos Lumnitzer
Fri 18 Jan	Freckled Duck Penrith Lakes. About noon I stopped at Penrith Lakes and noticed a Freckled Duck swimming with some teal on the Penrith end of the lake. The lake is off Castlereagh Rd and opposite the Cranebrook Rd intersection. Other birds of interest there were Red-kneed Dotterel, a Glossy Ibis, Hoary-headed Grebe and Great Crested Grebe. Adrian Dick
	Fork-tailed Swift Corlette, Port Stephens 40 Fork-tailed Swifts passing through this morning between 10&11am. No White-throated Needletails with them. David Mitford
	Forest Kingfisher Crescent Head Seen one female Forest Kingfisher on powerlines today just outside of crescent head. Furthest south i have seen them. Not sure of any reports anymore south of this area. Moderator's note (NH): Yes, there are records of this species as far South as Wollongong (see Eremaea's 'Species distribution map' function). They also have been reasonably regularly reported from Cattai Wetlands (near Coopernook) since late 2010. It is usually at least a pair reported as well. From the 2011 HBOC Annual Bird Report: "Two adults and an immature bird were at Yarratt SF Lansdowne 29 Dec (NSWBA - this was Neville Schrader). 1-2 birds were present at Cattai Wetlands over Feb-May (STA, FIW) and four birds were recorded there 23 Jul (BRG et al.)." (thanks to Mick Roderick for this comment) Jake webb, Paul O'brien
Thu 17 Jan	Freckled Duck, Superb Parrot Native Dog Swamp (South), Berrigan Freckled Duck (58) a good number but probably more, small groups scattered around the western side of the swamp with other waterbirds, many appeared to be young birds. Superb Parrot (3) first time seen here, a small group of immature or female birds in grassy Grey Box woodland on the south edge of the swamp, eventually moved off the to west. Michael Ramsey
	Black Honeyeater Burrumbuttock township Adult male seen feeding in Eucalyptus torquata planted in school yard, along with small group of Yellow Thornbills. Last seen in this district during height of the drought. Other notable species in the township include Red-whiskered Bulbul, Dollarbirds with fledged young and Australian Hobby. David M Watson
Wed 16 Jan	White-throated Needletail and Fork-tailed Swift Corlette, Port Stephens About 30 White-throated Needletails this morning, with at least 2 Fork-tailed Swifts mixed in the flock. David Mitford
	Spotted Harrier and Buff-banded Rails Murrays Run Road - SE Cessnock LGA. Single immature Spotted Harrier observed late this afternoon capping off a day with a few sightings of interest that began with 8 Buff-banded Rails seen together (3 adults and 5 small black chicks), although the third adult was clearly not welcome. Gang-gang Cockatoos encountered twice, the chewed nuts of Allocasuarina torulosa (Forest Oak) evidenced Glossy Black-Cockatoos had been foraging in two locations, a White-bellied Sea-eagle was observed a little away from usual habitat and 19 White-throated Needletails seen foraging late over an associated ridge-line. Allan Richardson
	Black Honeyeater Myall Creek Massacre Monument between Inverell and Bingara A number of Black Honeyeaters (male and female/juvenile) were seen around 1pm today feeding in flowering White/Grey Box near the north east end of the short walking track at this site. Also of note were Plum-headed Finch, Diamond Firetail and Little Lorikeet. Phil Gilmour
	Square-tailed Kite Shoplands Rd Annangrove NSW An adult Square-tailed Kite landed in a tree just off my back deck and only 20m from my kitchen window. Excellent views of the third bird of this species I have seen here in ten years residence. It circled around my group of gums and then flew off in its typical hunting manner further up the valley. Darryl Smedley
	Australian Spotted Crake Warriewood Wetlands (Sydney) Photo almost certainly of the bird reported on Sunday by David Simpson Yuko Chiwata & Barrie Ayres
	Australasian Shoveler, Musk Duck, Latham's Snipe Sydney Olympic Park Australasian Shoveler (1) Still present in Triangle pond. Have photos. Musk Duck (1) Lower reaches of Haslams Creek. One of my photos seems to show the beginning of a flap, but the duck was distant so I am not confident. Latham's Snipe (1) Nurawang. Poor photo. Jenny Stiles
Tue 15 Jan	Waders Chickiba Ck, Ballina At the constructed high tide roost around 11 am there were approximatley: Red-kneed Dotteral 1; Lesser Sand Plover (1), Pacific Golden Plover 110+, Eastern Curlew 17, Whimbrel 22, Bar-tailed Godwit 45, Ruddy Turnstone 1, Grey-tailed Tattler 25, Great Knot 5, Curlew Sandpiper 30, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper 30, Red-necked Stint 25. Slightly different to my recollections of waders roosting alongside Chickiba Ck in the 1980s before the highway was constructed through the roost, but good numbers and variety of waders for NSW by today's standards. David James
Mon 14 Jan	Cicadabird, Dollarbird Windsor Downs Nature Reserve Six Dollarbirds roosting on the dead trees on Sanctuary Rd (opposite the reserve). A single Cicadabird found near small dam inside reserve. Ted Wnorowski
	Australian Painted Snipe Shellharbour Marina Site One Australian Painted Snipe male - Located at the proposed marina site: Mudflats in wetlands south of the football ovals. Boollwarroo Parade, Shellharbour. Went back this afternoon to the wetlands at Shellharbour, that will be no more shorty as they start to fill it in tomorrow for the Marina. As we were walking Michelle spotted the Australian Painted Snipe which caused a bit of excitement especially for those that had not ticked this one off the list. Moderator's note (NH): It is very sad to hear that the marina project cannot be stopped. We will lose yet another excellent habitat. Charles Dove with Terry, Mark, Janina, Michelle, David, Pam, Nerida, Terrill & Michael Crosland
Sun 13 Jan	Australian Spotted Crake, Red-kneed Dotterel, Pectoral Sandpiper Proposed marina site, Shellharbour Australian Spotted Crake, Red-kneed Dotterel, Pectoral Sandpiper (1) Photograph available, first sighting in this area for many years. Christopher Brandis
	Pectoral Sandpiper Shellharbour After seeing the Snipe, Crakes, and Dotterels etc the other day went back and added a Pectoral Sandpiper there. Located at the proposed marina site: Mudflats in wetlands south of the football ovals. Boollwarroo Parade, Shellharbour. Charles Dove
	Wedge-tailed Eagle Cambridge Gardens near Penrith At 14:10 h a pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles passed through near my house following the southern boundary of the ADI site, now a new suburb called Judas Springs. They were slowly making their way east. Ákos Lumnitzer
Sat 12 Jan	Australasian Shoveler Sydney Olympic Park Female Australasian Shoveler that Dion reported on Friday was still at Triangle Pond, feeding happily. One Brown Falcon was at Mason Park hovering near the hill next to the motorway. Also pair of Red Wattlebirds were feeding an Australian Koel. Fatih Sam
	Square-tailed Kite Shalvey Square-tailed Kite hunting low over suburbia near the corner of Luxford and Rooty Hill Rd North at 16:15. Ákos Lumnitzer and Mickey Mackwan
Sat 5 Jan	Chestnut-breasted Mannikin, Marsh Sandpiper, Cattle Egret, Australian Hobby Farm Properties, 10km North West of Moree A good day with 90 species! We last saw Mannikins unusually in September 2012 at this site (common at this site), Chestnut-breasted Mannikins with long streamers of nesting material pulled out of the vegetation in their beaks were seen, we found where they were nesting and hopefully we will check up on them next month. Other Highlights included: A flock of 5 Australian Hobbies perched in a tree, they possibly breed here, 8 Caspian Terns were seen in total of which 6 were seen flying over a same part of a channel, 1 on a dam and 1 flying over farmland, Still large flocks of 200+ Whiskered Terns and hundreds of Gull-billed Terns, lots of Cattle Egrets (haven't seen any in 10 years of this site), Little Egrets (not recorded for years at this site), Diamond Doves, 100+ Black-tailed Native-hens, 4 Marsh Sandpipers (possibly last time to record at this site as this wetland is dry, these birds were just foraging in the puddles on the edges), Yellow-rumped Thornbills, and 3 Wedge-tailed Eagles making the use of tree shade on the ground as it was the only tree for a while. Curtis Hayne

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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