Birdline New South Wales Weekly Update

Birdline New South Wales

Published sightings for the week ending 22 Jun 2014.

Sun 22 Jun	Little Eagle Schofields Around the middle of the day I saw a light morph Little Eagle soaring high over Gordon Rd (where I have seen one before) and a Brown Goshawk. Had here the usual resident Striated Pardalotes and Weebills. Attached is a poor record shot of the Little Eagle. Edwin Vella
	Wandering-type Albatross, Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross north head manly. Got my first sighting of a Wandering-type Albatross for the year this afternoon. Almost a bird of the past from north head. Also 10+ Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross. michael ronan.
	Lewin's Rail, Freckled Ducks Bada Dam and Lions Park, Dolphin Point/Burrill Lake, Ulladulla The Lewin's Rail is still being seen at the small creek in the Lions park and is usually viewed from the wooden foot bridge. Looking at low tide would almost be compulsory as its only seen when it feeds along the small exposed mud flats and reeds at low tide. The Freckled Ducks have increased in numbers to 35 at the fresh water dam at Dolphin Point. Access to this is by a small service road from Bada Crescent to a pumping station This the dam is what serves the small creek at the Lion's Park with fresh water. Bob Rusk
Sat 21 Jun	Regent Honeyeater, Spangled Drongo, Glossy Black-cockatoo Chiltern Trail, Ingleside Saw 3 Regent Honeyeaters feeding together along the Chiltern Track but at one time I may have had actually 4 Regent Honeyeaters present. There are still good numbers of Fuscous Honeyeaters about, several Striated Pardalotes (Yellow-tipped form), a Spangled Drongo and 2 Glossy Black-cockatoos also flew over. I would have loved to seen the Death Adder reported there recently but it was a no show. Also saw a Rockwarbler at the West Head look out and around Illawong Bay a few Rose Robins and a couple of male Superb Lyrebirds. Edwin Vella et al
	Collared Sparrowhawk Roselands One Collared Sparrowhawk flying near M5 this morning. Lorne Johnson
	Topknot Pigeon Westleigh 45+ Topknot Pigeons flying South over Berowra Valley NP at 11am. Carol and Peter Abbott
Fri 20 Jun	Superb Parrot, Ground Cuckooshrike Condobolin While working on a roof at a property 15 km East of Condobolin today I observed 7 Superb Parrots in two different groups fly over at mid morning and then around 4 pm two Ground Cuckooshrikes flew over. Other birds present in the garden were White-winged Fairywrens, Grey-crowned Babblers, Bluebonnets and an Australian Hobby. Warren Chad
	White-headed Pigeon Woolwich Road, Hunters Hill One White-headed Pigeon flying and mobbed by Noisy Miners Elisabeth Karplus
	Topknot Pigeon, Little Lorikeet, Spangled Drongo, Crested Shrike-tit Riverside Park, Riverside Rd, Chipping Norton Busy morning at Riverside Park. 7 Topknot Pigeons flew over. Four species of Lorikeet all abundant. 50 or more Little Lorikeets, some breeding or intending to in Forest Red Gums Euc territicornis. A single Spangled Drongo. A pair of Crested Shrike-tits was only my third sighting here this year, although I presume they are resident. An immature White-bellied Sea-eagle flew over. A small flock of Yellow-rumped Thornbills. Several Olive-backed Orioles, all adult, not singing. Large numbers of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and New Holland Honeyeaters attracted to flowering Blue Box Euc. bauriana, but I couldn't find any other of the winter nomad honeyeaters today. David James
Thu 19 Jun	Spotless Crake, Brown Honeyeater and Rose Robin Warriewood Wetlands All species seen extremely well this afternoon at about 5:10pm. 2 Spotless Crakes seen feeding with potentially a 3rd being present. 1 Brown Honeyeater was seen feeding and occasionally being harassed by yellow faced and White-cheeked Honeyeaters. Also a female Rose Robin has been present at Irrawong reserve in the dead coral trees near the raised up boardwalk for over 2 months. I saw the female today and yesterday however have not seen the males in over 2 weeks. Jayden Walsh
Wed 18 Jun	Swift Parrot Mulgoa Nature Reserve Two Swift Parrots seen along Dillwynia east firetrail only a couple of hundred metres from parking area on Dillwynia Drive. They were in foliage of grey box being among Bell Miner colony and occasionally being harassed by them. (poor id photo taken). Mark Ley
	Regent Honeyeater (1), Glossy Black-Cockatoo (1), Little Lorikeets Chiltern Trail, Ingleside Regent Honeyeater showing well throughout the day with a total of 14 honeyeaters present. Appears to be a first year bird due to washed out yellow plumage, small relatively smooth facial skin patch and neat plumage (welcome other opinions). Single Glossy Black-Cockatoo in flight at 730am, Little Lorikeets also seen in flight. Dion Hobcroft, David James and several birders including a rare sighting of Tony Palliser!
	Striated Pardalote (yellow-tipped) Chiltern Trail, Ingleside Single male Yellow-tipped Pardalote in Grey Gums; this is the Tasmanian breeding population infrequently reported in NSW. The higher pitched longer trilling call led to its discovery. Dion Hobcroft and David James
	Regent Honeyeater Chiltern Trail, Ingleside One Regent Honeyeater seen at about 1 pm. Also saw one Spangled Drongo as well as usual other honeyeaters. Elisabeth Karplus
Tue 17 Jun	Grey Goshawk Roberts Hill, Coffs Harbour Grey morph Grey Goshawk in flight over edge of hill. Greg Clancy
	Powerful Owl Coffs Harbour Botanical Gardens Adult Powerful Owl perched high in Turpentine (poor photo attached). Koala photographed in tree a few hundred metres away. Greg & Val Clancy
	Freckled Duck Bada Dam, Dolphin Point/Burrill Lake, Ulladulla Freckled Ducks - still in this unusual site of a very small dam and have now increased their numbers to 18, along with 12 Royal Spoonbills, 10+ Masked Lapwings, 20+ Australian White Ibis as well as small numbers of Hoary-headed and Australian Grebe, Eastern Cattle Egret, Little Pied and Pied Cormorant, Chestnut Teal and Hardhead. Charles Dove and Bob Rusk
	Chestnut-rumped Heathwren Private property Wamboin Chestnut-rumped Heathwren called vigorously and then fleeting glimpses of chestnut rump and tail pattern as it flew. Finally clockwork mouse impersonation as it scurried back into dense scrub. Martin Butterfield
Mon 16 Jun	Sooty Oystercatcher Royal National Park (Bonnie Vale Campground) 11 Sooty Oystercatchers seen on beach just near kayak hire site. Rough seas probably explains why they were there and not out on rocky coastline. Deryk Engel
Sun 15 Jun	Grey-headed Albatross (Subject to submission to NSW ORAC) Stockton Beach This immature Grey-headed Albatross was found by Dean Portelli at Stockton Beach on the 15th June. [Moderator's note (NH): This and the one from Friday, 13th June 2014 (#218326) are two of the few well-documented records of Grey-headed Albatross (GHAL) in NSW. While on the one hand most claims of juvenile/immature GHALs are now considered likely to have been instead juvenile/immature Black-browed (BBAL) or Campbell Albatross (CAAL), on the other hand white-headed immature GHAL may be underreported due to misidentification as BBAL or CAAL. Sightings of Grey-headed Albatross in NSW are subject to submission to NSW ORAC.] Nikolas Haass (moderator) for Dean Portelli
	Northern Giant-Petrel, Great-winged Petrel, Shy and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Magic Point, Maroubra A good sea watch was had yesterday from about the middle of the day with at least 60 Black-browed, 6 Indian Yellow-nosed and at least 14 Shy Albatross, a Northern Giant-Petrel plus at least 10 other unidentified Giant-Petrels, about 10 Great-winged Petrels, about 10 Fluttering Shearwaters, 3 Brown Skuas, 5 Kelp Gulls and hundreds of Australasian Gannets. Amongst the mammals seen were 16 Humpback Whales, at least 2 False Killer Whales (seen travelling quite fast and giving us good views of most of their whole body as they leaped out of the water), a few Bottlenose Dolphins and a fairly close in loafing Fur Seal. Edwin Vella, David Mitford, Paul Johnstone
	Olive-backed Oriole Sawtell Single Olive-backed Oriole seen in urban area; not heard to call. Peter Higgins
	Great-winged Petrel, Buller's Albatross, Brown Skua, Southern Giant-Petrel North Head Manly Today at north head there were more albatross than any other day this year including.at least 150-200 Black-browed Albatross. 12 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross, 40 Shy Albatross and 1 Buller's Albatross. Also 3 Brown Skuas, 4 Great-winged Petrels and 10+ Giant-Petrels I identified two as Southern Giant-Petrels. michael ronan
Sat 14 Jun	Spotted Harrier Sawtell Very surprised to have an adult Spotted Harrier sail over the house, pursued by Torresian Crows and accompanied by Noisy Miner alarm calling. First record of this species in Sawtell for me, although there have been fairly regular reports of Spotted Harrier in the Bellinger Valley and at Upper Orara over the last couple of years. Peter Higgins
Fri 13 Jun	Two Grey-headed Albatross (Subject to submission to NSW ORAC) Stockton Beach Dean Portelli spoke to two of their staff who were on the beach Friday, 13th June, when the beachwashed birds were discovered while doing a bird survey HBOC. One of them took photos of all three birds. One bird was the Grey-headed Albatross reported for Sunday, 15th June (#218304), the second a juvenile/immature giant-petrel (photos don't show the head) and the third this second immature Grey-headed Albatross! Neither of the two beach-washed Grey-headed Albatross was found Friday, 20th June, despite searching for them. [Moderator's note (NH): This and the one from Sunday, 15th June (#218304) are two of the few well-documented records of Grey-headed Albatross (GHAL) in NSW. While on the one hand most claims of juvenile/immature GHALs are now considered likely to have been instead juvenile/immature Black-browed (BBAL) or Campbell Albatross (CAAL), on the other hand white-headed immature GHAL may be underreported due to misidentification as BBAL or CAAL. Sightings of Grey-headed Albatross in NSW are subject to submission to NSW ORAC.] Nikolas Haass (moderator) for Dean Portelli
Sat 7 Jun	Lewin's Rail Lions Park, Dolphin Point/Burrill Lake, Ulladulla Lewin's Rail thought to be a Buff-banded at first so little attention noted, just a couple of quick pics by one of the group, after getting home and downloading the photos realized it was a Lewin's Rail. One should not be to complacent sometimes. I have been back a number of times but with heavy rain since the original sighting - no show. great photo by Terry Edwell. Believed to be a new bird for the area Charles & Janina Dove - Terry & Mark Edwell - Silvia & Dave Garlic - Barbara & Brian Puffin
Wed 28 May	Superb Fruit-Dove Fort Street High School, Petersham, Inner Western Sydney 1 injured Superb Fruit-Dove found by students in the school. Was given to WIRES before I could get a look at it (only found out about it today, 20th June!). A science teacher at the school photographed it well and from these photographs I was able to discern that it was a small, mostly green fruit-dove. Also notable were a couple of deep purple feathers on the crown but most importantly an orange collar. Black was present in some of the wing feathers. Appears to have been an immature bird dispersing through sydney, but apparently only got so far as petersham before encountering a window. Simon Gorta

Birdline New South Wales is sponsored by Birding NSW, Birdlife Southern NSW and Cumberland Bird Observers Club and hosted by Eremaea Birdlines.

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