Birdline New South Wales Weekly Update

Birdline New South Wales

Published sightings for the week ending 22 Sep 2013.

Sun 22 Sep	Speckled Warbler, White-winged Triller Megalong Valley Down in Megalong Valley saw a Speckled Warbler beside the 6 foot track (first time I have seen one in the Blue Mountains) as well as 2 male Scarlet Robins (one approached me very closely), Restless Flycatcher, a few Jacky Winters, several Tree Martins, Dusky Woodswallows, White-throated Gerygones, no less then 6 White-winged Trillers passing through and a light morph Little Eagle soaring high above. In the wet gully back up the road was a Red-browed Treecreeper, a couple of Crested Shrike-tits and heard a couple of Rose Robins. Edwin Vella
	Gang-gang Cockatoo Evans Crown Reserve A breeding pair of Gang-gang Cockatoos were spotted 20m into the reserve from the access point on Honeysuckle Falls Road at 4:00pm. Tom Hickman
	Dollarbird Coffs Harbour Botanical Gardens Adult Dollarbird perched in dead tree near Creek. Observers' first record of this species for the season. Greg & Val Clancy
	Black-faced Monarch, Bassian Thrush, Powerful Owl (2), Southern Boobook (2) Blackbutt Creek Reserve, Gordon One Black-faced Monarch, one Bassian Thrush. Usual resident owls present. No fledgelings sited. Southern Boobooks flushed from roost. David Vickers
	Dollarbird Lower Pappinbarra Dollarbirds and Channel-billed Cuckoos seen today for the first time this season here. Tuesday a male Australian Koel was seen in Wauchope. Ian Kerr
	Glossy Black-Cockatoo Bobbin Head Rd (Kur-Ring-Gai Chase National Park) 1 party of 3 Glossy Black-Cockatoo heard (& seen v briefly) across the river from where the mangrove boardwalk goes up the stone stairs onto the escarpment. A single Glossy Black-Cockatoo heard up slope behind the cafe. Both after 5:30pm. Also an Azure Kingfisher bathing, at least 8 Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters (very active) and an Australian Owlet-Nightjar called approx 5:40pm from stone stairs area. Tom Wilson
	Glossy Ibis Pitt Town Lagoon 7 Glossy Ibis Kbrandwood
	Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Noisy Pitta Pelican Point Reserve, North Shore, Port Macquarie One immature Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove and one, possibly two, Noisy Pittas. Spectacled and Black-faced Monarchs also present. Tim Morris
	Glossy Ibis Bicentennial Park, Homebush Bay Single Glossy Ibis was feeding in the early morning in the small weedy pond, west end of Lake Belvedere. Tun Pin Ong
Sat 21 Sep	Black Falcon, Black Kite, Freckled Duck, Baillon's Crake, Spotless Crake West Byron Sewage Treatment Plant Another Black Falcon for the Northern Rivers, also Black Kite (7), Freckled Duck (1) and a good day for crakes: Baillon's Crake (6) and Spotless Crake (4). Hans Wohlmuth, Steve McBride, Kathy Wilk and others.
Sat 21 Sep	Australian Koel Pecan Close Cherrybrook Female heard today . The Koel reported 25/8/13 was a male with classic call. So at our site the male certainly arrived before the female this year. Gabrielle Rees
	Painted Honeyeater Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve Painted Honeyeaters heard and briefly seen over the last couple of days. Other species of note were Little Eagle, Diamond Firetail, Jacky Winter, White-browed Babbler, Little Lorikeet, Striped and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater. Martin Filipczyk
	Pectoral Sandpiper (1), Baillon's Crake (1), Hoary-headed Grebe (150+) Campbell's Swamp, Griffith The lone Pectoral Sandpiper stood within 10m from us next to the boardwalk allowing good views before flying off in a zig-zag flight across the swamp. The crake was the first for this season and was seen beside the hide along with Reedwarblers and Little Grassbirds. The Hoary-headed Grebes were all together in the pond beside the boardwalk. Max O'Sullivan, Nella Smith
	Painted Honeyeater (3), Yellow-plumed Honeyeater (1) "The Winery" site opposite the southern part of Binya SF. The Painteds were very vocal and showed themselves clearly. The first sighting for this Spring. Max O'Sullivan, Nella Smith
Fri 20 Sep	Glossy Ibis Lenaghans Wetland Glossy Ibis. There are a number of Glossy Ibis visible in this wetland area. I counted two groups of about a dozen each through binoculars from the roadside near the old quarry track. There are presumably many more scattered across the further reaches of Hexham Swamp. Roger Giller
Fri 20 Sep	Black-eared Cuckoo, Turquoise Parrot, White-winged Triller, Hooded Robin Binya State Forest (Wattle Dam) A great days birding at Binya David Rower
	Brown Songlark 2km e of Manildra Brown Songlark (1) male Neville Schrader (1702)
	Pacific Golden Plover Sydney Airport Solitary bird coming out of breeding plumage observed on 2 consecutive days at the southern end of the third runway. Sightings in previous years have tended to move on in pretty quick time. Nigel Coghlan
	Lewin's Rail Barokee Rest Area, Cathedral Rock National Park One bird heard calling in swamp in late afternoon. Greg Clancy, Jenny Madeline, Allan Ible
	Peregrine Falcon Parkes 10' Cell Peregrine Falcon (1) Neville Schrader (1702)
	Australian Shelduck, Stubble Quail, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper Parkes Sewage Ponds Australian Shelduck (1) male Stubble Quail (8) Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (5) Curlew Sandpiper (1) Neville Schrader (1702)
	Black-necked Stork, Black-tailed Godwit Deep Pond (Kooragang Island) Pair of storks standing on the southern end of Deep Pond this morning. Also a flock of 100+ Black-winged Stilt standing in shin-deep water at the northern end, along with 4 Black-tailed Godwits. Mick Roderick
	Whiskered Tern Ash Island 23 Whiskered Terns (all but 2 in breeding plumage) over Swan and Wader ponds on Ash Island this morning. First seen on Tuesday when 14 were counted. Mick Roderick
	Australian Brush-turkey Greenwich A fairly tame bird with a doubled orange band on its left tarsus [Berry Creek, below Vista St] Ted Nixon
	Peregrine Falcon Clyde, western Sydney A single Peregrine Falcon observed cruising around the industrial area near Clyde train station at 1030. Nick Carson
Thu 19 Sep	Swift Parrot Werakata State Conservation Area (Pelton) 4 Swift Parrots still present at Pelton gleaning leaf foliage as they have been doing at this site since mid-May. Dusky Woodswallows nest-building and White-bellied Cuckoo-shrikes doing pre-nesting behaviour. I also thought I heard a Cicadabird but the call only happened once and I can't be 100% of the record. Mick Roderick and Richard Atkins
	Australasian Bittern Ash Island, Hexham Good views after I came face to face with it out of sheer luck! Be wary though, the warm weather means the resident snakes are becoming active - with a big Eastern Brown (attached picture) and a healthy looking Red-bellied Black spotted today. Shaun McKay
	Magpie Goose, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Red-kneed Dotterel, Glossy Ibis Queensland Road swamps, Casino 19 Magpie Geese, 9 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (observers first for the season), 7 Red-kneed Dotterel. Glossy Ibis nesting attempts previously reported have failed most probably due to falling water levels. Many hundreds of Grey Teal and Pacific Black Duck also present. David Charley and R. Moffatt
	Glossy Ibis, Caspian Tern Bicentennial Park, Homebush Bay 2 Glossy Ibis in the weedy ponds near L Belvedere; a single Caspian Tern fishing over the main lake. Single Bar-tailed Godwit on the waterbird refuge; 9 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers at Mason Park. Tom Wilson
	White-browed Woodswallow Hunter Economic Zone (south of Kurri Kurri) Flock of 25 White-browed Woodswallows over the HEZ, south of Kurri Kurri today. These are the first I'm aware of in a coastal catchment in NSW this season. I note that flocks of White-browed and Masked (the latter more common) were seen just out of Brisbane today too. Also present was an Olive-backed Oriole performing masterful mimicry, including some perfect Swift Parrot calls. This is the 3rd oriole I have seen in the HEZ this year doing Swifty calls. Mick Roderick
	Black Falcon Condobolin Rubbish Tip While dropping rubbish at the tip this morning I noticed 20 Black Kites, 1 Whistling Kite and 3 Black Falcons all sitting in the one tree beside the tip gates. The pair of Black Falcons have been there for most of the winter and now they have a young bird with them. Warren Chad
	Leaden Flycatcher, White-naped Honeyeater Mount Kaputar National Park, Upper Bullawa Creek Next to other migratory species (Channel-billed Cuckoo, Sacred Kingfisher), the first Leaden Flycatchers have returned to inland NSW. No Dollarbirds yet. Both male and female Leaden Flycatcher were seen. Other not commonly observed species around at the time were White-naped Honeyeaters (photo taken) and Scarlet Honeyeaters. Michael Dahlem
Wed 18 Sep	White-throated Nightjar, Channel-billed Cuckoo Coutts Crossing, SW of South Grafton 1 White-throated Nightjar in flight low over yards in village flew low over school grounds at dusk. Channel-billed Cuckoo heard calling at 02:00 hrs (19th September). First record of this species by the observer this season. Greg Clancy
	Australian Koel - males or females? NSW Australian Koels were reported a number of times in NSW this season: North Gosford, 17th August (AKM); Pecan Close, Cherrybrook, 25th August (Gabrielle Rees 26/8 #192721); Manly Lagoon, Sydney, 8th September (Joshua Bergmark 8/9 #195400); Sawtell, 16th September (Michael Cheers 17/9 #196591) - all dates are within the expected arrival period (e.g. see previous years on Eremaea). However, it would be interesting to know which sex they were in the light of the theory that males usually arrive a week or more earlier than the females. Thanks to Graeme Chapman for his comment on this topic. Nikolas Haass (moderator)
Tue 17 Sep	Australian Brush-turkey Birchgrove An Australian Brush-turkey seen in Birchgrove this afternoon, casually crossing Dock Road. Sue McLean (reported to Robert Griffin)
	Little Bronze-Cuckoo, Rainbow Bee-eater Washpool Road, Clarenza 2+ Rainbow Bee-eaters in trees and over canopy. Little Bronze-Cuckoo heard calling in trees. Observers' first record of Little Bronze-Cuckoo this season. Greg Clancy & Warren Thompson
	Pacific Baza, Leaden Flycatcher Elbow Creek Road, Woodford Island Three Pacific Bazas in flight over wetland and adult male Leaden Flycatcher in Camphor Laurel along Elbow Creek Road. Observers' first record of Leaden Flycatcher for season. Greg Clancy, Warren Thompson
	Freckled Duck, Pink-eared Duck, Glossy Ibis, Red-kneed Dotterel, Australian Koel Lawrence Egret Colony 20+ Freckled Ducks, 540+ Pink-eared Ducks, Glossy Ibis (4) over Clarence River near wetland, Red-kneed Dotterel (5), Australian Koel (1) male heard calling - observers' first record for season Greg Clancy & Warren Thompson
	Black Kite Wooyung 21 birds over cane fields beside Wooyung Rd Rob Morrow
	Latham's Snipe, Baillon's Crake, Hoary-headed Grebe, Whiskered Tern Eastlakes Golf Course Ay least 7 Latham's Snipe, 5 Whiskered Tern, 1 Baillon's Crake, and 1 Hoary-headed Grebe, all near end of track connecting 2 golf courses, Gardeners Rd end. On 13/09 the Freckled Duck was still around further west, in the shallow pond near the second track. Did not check today. Bas Hensen
	Spangled Drongo Beaconsfield St. Revesby Fairly surprised to see a Spangled Drongo in this area. Possibly on the move as I don't think that they are a resident species. The bird was sitting on a power line. [Moderator's note (NH): Correct, they are not residents in this area] Brendon Levot
Mon 16 Sep	Latham's Snipe, Freckled Duck Pitt Town Ferry Road lagoon Wilberforce 2 Latham's Snipe; 30+ Freckled Duck Keith Brandwood
	Jacky Winter Scheyville NP pair of Jacky Winters Keith Brandwood
	Rainbow Bee-eater Tizzana Road, Ebenezer Good numbers of Rainbow Bee-eater Keith Brandwood
	Australian Koel Sawtell First Koel for season in Sawtell, calling at 7:02pm. [Moderator's note (NH): Australian Koel sightings in NSW this season: North Gosford, 17th August (AKM); Pecan Close, Cherrybrook, 25th August (Gabrielle Rees 26/8 #192721); Manly Lagoon, Sydney, 8th September (Joshua Bergmark 8/9 #195400) - all dates are within the expected arrival period] Michael Cheers
	Australasian Bittern Ash Island, Hexham Mid afternoon visit in dull and light rain conditions. With Jillian Nolan and Steve Merrett. Absolutely thrilled to see an Australasian Bittern along the Bell Frog Track. Australasian Bittern (1) Flushed from the reeds along Bell Frog Track. Very exciting sighting & big thanks to Jillian for spotting it fly & calling out! Some pretty poor flight photos taken. Jenny Stiles
Sun 15 Sep	Rufous Scrub-bird Gloucester Tops One Rufous Scrub-bird seen and briefly flushed flying feebly a short distance and disappearing. Trevor Lumb
	Budgerigar Leard State Forest Budgerigars still in abundance in the Leard State Forest. Roselyn Druce
Sat 14 Sep	Striped Honeyeater Kooragang Island Striped Honeyeater just past the steel barrier at the northern end of Wagtail Way. I have visited Kooragang Island every few years since 1976 and have not seen them there before. [Moderators' note (NH & AKM): Striped Honeyeater is common on Ash Island, including the spot described] Gil Langfield

Birdline New South Wales is sponsored by Birding NSW, Birds Australia - Southern NSW & ACT and Cumberland Bird Observers Club and hosted by Eremaea Birds.

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