Month: March 2016

Participants:

Bryan Arnold, Kristin Arnold, Karen Dick, Peter Dick, Darryl Eggins, Rob
Hamilton, Mona Loofs-Samorzewski, Nicole Sommer, Michael Vaughan, Peter
Vaughan, George Vaughan, Els Wakefield, and Paul Brooks (organiser and
report compiler)

Boat:

The Pauletta, skippered by John Males, with deckhand Andre.

Activity:

Left port at 0715 hrs and headed south towards the Hippolytes; after going
around Cheverton Rock (Little Hippolyte), we dispensed with the customary
circumnavigation of the Hippolyte due to the sloppy conditions. Headed
east, to berley over 365 fathoms at 0930 hrs, drifting north-easterly out
to 498 fathoms. Berleyed until 1230 hrs with various fish frames, chicken
skins and tuna oil. Headed back in to the shelf break, to berley over 82
fathoms for around 20 minutes, then headed for home, docking at 1505 hrs.

Conditions:

Left port in c. 10 knot southerlies with a 2 m swell from the south-east
and overcast skies. In offshore waters, the swell picked up over 2.5
metres with occasional waves up to 4 metres and a second swell making
things interesting. The southerly wind also picked up, approaching twenty
knots at times. Around midday, the wind dropped back to around 10 knots
and the swell dropped back a bit but remained lumpy and confused. Water
temperature was approx. 18.5 deg C inshore, rising to 20.2 out wide. Three
seasick.

Mammals:

Common Dolphin: a few inshore in the morning.

Australian/New Zealand Fur Seal: c. 70 (45) on and around the Hippolytes.

Fish:

1 billfish, possibly a Swordfish or Striped Marlin, cut the surface a
couple of times with its tail fin close to the boat in pelagic waters.

Shortfin Mako Shark: 2 in pelagic waters.

Birds (IOC v 5.3 – max at one time in brackets):

Wandering-type Albatross: 5 (2) All in pelagic waters. Taxonomy not yet
resolved but possibly 2 Wandering Albatross and 2-3 Antipodean Albatross
(race *gibsoni*).

Southern Royal Albatross: 1 (1) Pelagic waters.

NORTHERN ROYAL ALBATROSS: 1 adult in pelagic waters, seen twice with almost
an hour between sightings (possibly 2 birds).

Black-browed Albatross: 2 (1) 1 adult and 1 immature.

Shy Albatross: c. 80 (30+) 20 inshore in the morning; 6 offshore in the
morning; remainder pelagic, including 2 immatures.

Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross: 1 adult in pelagic waters.

Buller’s Albatross: 22 (6) 14 inshore in the morning; 3 offshore; 8 pelagic.

Northern Giant Petrel: 1 in pelagic waters.

Fairy Prion: 8 (5) All in pelagic waters.

Great-winged Petrel: 2 birds of race *gouldi* in pelagic waters.

White-headed Petrel: 2 (1) Both pelagic.

SOFT-PLUMAGED PETREL: 1 A single bird did a couple of fly-bys just after we
headed back for port.

White-chinned Petrel: 7 (7) All in pelagic waters.

Sooty Shearwater: 2 (1) Both in pelagic waters.

Short-tailed Shearwater: c. 1500 (c. 400) Mainly absent inshore with a few
large flocks offshore. Smaller flocks encountered in pelagic waters.

Fluttering Shearwater: 1 observed in inshore waters by a couple of
observers.

Hutton’s Shearwater: 2 (2) Inshore in the morning.

Flutton’s Shearwater: 1 (1) Inshore in the morning

Grey-backed Storm Petrel: 2 (1) Pelagic waters; both birds in primary moult.

White-faced Storm Petrel: c. 2 (1) Both birds in pelagic waters.

Common Diving Petrel: 7 (3) 3 inshore in the morning, 1 offshore in the
morning and 3 offshore in the afternoon.

Black-faced Cormorant: c. 400 (c. 110) 63 inshore in the morning; remainder
on and around the Hippolytes.

Australasian Gannet: 14 (5) 13 inshore in the morning, 1 pelagic.

Masked Lapwing: c. 20 on a rock shelf outside Pirates Bay in the morning.

Silver Gull: 45 (c.12) Inshore and on the Hippolytes plus 5 birds in
pelagic waters.

Pacific Gull: 2 Adults on the Hippolyte.

Kelp Gull: 19 (5) Inshore and around the Hippolyte in the morning.

Greater Crested Tern: 3 (1) In pelagic waters.

PB

---

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

---

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Hello BirdingAussers, Myself,Megan McNeill and Richard Carden are just back from a 4 day trip up to LockhartRiver and Iron Ranges NP (three full days and PM and AM on either end).  Much of the sites are well known but Ithought I would share a bit of recent Gen.  We focused primarily on birds not seen south or on a previous trip toPNG.  We spentalmost all our time in the Rainforest as I was attempting to do soundrecordings and most of our targets were there.   Specifically, where didwe spend our time? Ourfavourite was the Coen Track.  A wonderfulwalk after a brief creek crossing. We also spenttime at Cook’s Hut, the Rainforest Campground and ‘between the bridges’ at theend of Portland Road Rainforest area.   Sortieswere required to the heath for White-streaked HE and the Portland Road VillageMangroves for Varied HE and some shorebirds.  We visited the Poo Ponds twiceand saw bugger all.  The Mango Farm Damwas good, but not as productive as it must be in the Dry. We stayedat the Green Hoose and walked the track behind the lodge multiple times.   Everytime we visited one of these areas we picked up different birds, so there was alot of recycling and movement of individuals at this time of the year. Key targets for me were:  Northern Scrub-Robin, Yellow-legged Fly-Robin, Tropical Scrubwren,Frill-necked Monarch, White-streaked Honey-eater and Green-backed Honeyeater. All wereseen well, the Scrub-Robin was only seen one and took a bit of doing.  At the Rainforest Campground a pair wasfound. The Fly-Robinwas probably not-uncommon but we only saw two. They were both in the sub-canopy and their call blended with thebackground.  It was only when I caught abit of song did we stop and look.  I amsure if we tried and played tapes at various spots we could have found plentymore.  Seen at the Cook’s Hut toilets andRainforest Campground. All theother targets were encountered multiple times through general birding. THEN NEXTtarget list were all the regional specialities shared between Cape York andPNG.   Westruggled with Black-winged Monarch,perhaps many have started leaving?  Wesaw one on the grounds of the Green Hoose and along the Coen Track.  I expected them to be much more common. The Manucodes were not calling, I fuked one feeding by the Coen Creek Crossing, but it wasnot until the last morning that we found a small group…between the bridgesalong the Portland Road.  Thankfully onewas trumpeting between the bridges. We dippedbadly on the Red-cheeked Parrot.  Probably because we spent most of our timeunder the rainforest. Spotted Whistling-Ducks were around but with all thewater were not coming into Mango Farm.   Stu,owner of the Hoose saw Cassowary, but we did not. Note toself, Lovey Fairywren do not respondto pishing.  We saw a few, but they werequite cryptic for Fairywrens.  Heard andthen bush bashed off Cook’s Campground for one group and then a couple of K’sdown the Coen Track   The Fawn-breasted Bowerbirds were notbehind the Poo Ponds where the traditional bower was, but seen in the forestbetween the Mango Farm and Mango Farm Dam. Yellow-billed KF and BBParadise KF were common, love them.
 Papuan Froggies were common while spotlighting in the open fieldsand at one point we had a Marbled sitting up along the road in the rainforestjust 100 meters from a Papuan. The size difference is amazing… Red-bellied Pitta were still calling in the mornings and we saw two; didnot try for any others. At MangoFarm we flushed a Common Sand fromthe shore and it attracted the attention of a Saprrow-hawk.  The sparrowhawk dove on the bird and forced the sand into the pond and under water for afew seconds until the hawk flew off.  Then, it popped to the surface andflew off.  Never seen that before!   The mostinteresting bird was a Mangrove Gerygonein the Mangroves at the beach in Town.  I heard Fairywren and pisshed…uppopped this bird and it gave a bit of a song.  They are not supposed to bethere? All theother regional specialities were seen well. THEN NEXT,as a bit of fun, targeted all the ‘Cape York named’ ssp from BirdLife’s AussieList, some of which are targets for future splits: YES, CapeYork Australasian Figbird, Sphecotheres vieilloti flaviventrisYES, CapeYork Australian Brush-turkey, Alectura lathami purpureicollisYES, CapeYork Black Butcherbird, Cracticus quoyi jardiniDip, CapeYork Black-backed Butcherbird, Cracticus mentalis kempiDip, CapeYork Black-faced Woodswallow, Artamus cinereus normaniDip, CapeYork Blue-faced Honeyeater, Entomyzon cyanotis griseigularisYES, CapeYork Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Macropygia amboinensis quinkanDip, CapeYork Brown Treecreeper, Climacteris picumnus melanotusYES, CapeYork Eclectus Parrot, Eclectus roratus macgillivrayiYES, CapeYork Fairy Gerygone, Gerygone palpebrosa personataYES, CapeYork Frilled Monarch, Arses telescopthalmus lorealisYES, CapeYork Graceful Honeyeater, Meliphaga gracilis imitatrixDip, CapeYork Laughing Kookaburra, Dacelo novaeguineae minorYES, CapeYork Leaden Flycatcher, Myiagra rubecula okyriDip, CapeYork Little Corella, Cacatua sanguinea normantoniYES, CapeYork Little Shrike-thrush, Colluricincla megarhyncha normaniYES, CapeYork Marbled Frogmouth, Podargus ocellatus marmoratusDip, CapeYork Masked Finch, Poephila personata leucotisDip, CapeYork Noisy Miner, Manorina melanocephala titaniotaYES, CapeYork Noisy Pitta, Pitta versicolor simillimaYES, CapeYork Olive-backed Oriole, Oriolus sagittatus grisescensYES, CapeYork Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Megapodius reinwardt yorkiDip, CapeYork Pale-headed Rosella, Platycercus adscitus adscitusYES, CapeYork Papuan Frogmouth, Podargus papuensis rogersiDip, CapeYork Pied Currawong, Strepera graculina magnirostrisYES, CapeYork Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus septentrionalisYES, CapeYork Red-browed Finch, Neochmia temporalis minorDip, CapeYork Red-browed Pardalote, Pardalotus rubricatus yorkiDip, Ouch, CapeYork Red-cheeked Parrot, Geoffroyus geoffroyi maclennaniDip, CapeYork Rufous Owl, Ninox rufa meesiYES, CapeYork Rufous Whistler, Pachycephala rufiventris pallidaYES, CapeYork Silver-crowned Friarbird, Philemon argenticeps kempiYES, CapeYork Spectacled Monarch, Symposiarchus trivirgatus albiventrisYES, CapeYork Spotted Catbird, Ailuroedus melanotis joanaeDip, CapeYork Star Finch, Neochmia ruficauda clarescensYES, CapeYork Tawny-breasted Honeyeater, Xanthotis flaviventer filigeraYES, CapeYork Trumpet Manucode, Phonygammus keraudrenii gouldiiYES, CapeYork Varied Triller, Lalage leucomela yorkiYES, CapeYork White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Coracina papuensis oriomoYES, CapeYork Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Ptilinopus magnificus assimilisDip, CapeYork Yellow Honeyeater, Lichenostomus flavus flavusYES, CapeYork Yellow Oriole, Oriolus flavocinctus flavotinctusYES, CapeYork Yellow-breasted Boatbill, Machaerirhynchus flaviventer flaviventerYES, CapeYork Yellow-spotted Honeyeater, Meliphaga notata notata Our lastgood bye was my best ever look at Channel-billed Cuckoo.  While waiting atthe air strip one landed in the fig tree about 2 meters overhead and could notbe bothered we were under it.  Amazing bird. Bigdisappointment was no Cuscus or Green Python. We went spotlighting every nightand found little.  According to “Steve the Snake Man” thePythons are getting poached badly.  We did see the famed Rainbow Serpent akaWater Python and another snake I need to key out.  TwoDingos were nice and I need to look up a bandicoot. I got alot of good recordings so I am happy about that.  It was fun to spend 3full days in the same forest and get to know the birds a bit.  Shouldanyone like specifics, please let me know. Lastly,thanks for Rob, Sarah, Gus and Chris for their advice and mud-maps.
Cheers, Roger RogerMcNeillSamfordValley SEQ

---

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

The observers went back to the site and took more and better photos that
show the bird to be a Silver Gull with a dark line down the rear of the ear
coverts on one side of the head only that appears to be the result of
staining. The submission has been withdrawn.

Sorry!

Mike Carter, 03 5977 1262

181/160 Mornington-Tyabb Road

Mornington, VIC 3931, Australia

From: Mike Carter [

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Just a short note to say that the wake for John Gamblin is going to be at
Rain Hayne and Shine Farmyard, 490 Stumpy Gully Road, Balnarring VIC 3926,
at 4pm on Sunday, 10th April.

It probably won’t be a very long affair, but (to quote the organiser) “beer
will be drunk and lies will be told”.

Bill

---

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

BirdLife Australia has received a brief submission including one very
pixilated photo from a ranger on the Coburg Peninsula NT claiming a
Black-headed Gull seen on 20 March 2016 on Sandy Island No. 2.

To me, the bird looks like an adult Great Black-headed = Pallas’s Gull in
winter plumage! If anyone has access to that area a full description and
better photographs are required. Also, if anyone knows how to get to that
area, please advise.

Cheers,

Mike Carter, 03 5977 1262

181/160 Mornington-Tyabb Road

Mornington, VIC 3931, Australia

---

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

The following is a digest of Sightings Reported on Birdpedia for the period Monday, March 28, 2016 to Sunday, April 3, 2016:

Area: SA

Location: Kangaroo Island

Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus) (2) a pair over NW Curly Creek sector of Murrays Lagoon, Cape Cantheaume CP, 29 Mar 2016; my first observation of a pair of birds together on KI; it will be interesting to see whether they take up residence at this seemingly suitable habitat-as opposed to past experiences when vagrant individuals offered only fleeting glimpses before disappearing back to mainland; this pair were circling over shallows and causing panic amongst the many waterfowl and other water birds below.

Double-banded Plover (Charadrius bicinctus) (35) foraging in dry samphire (Sarcocornia) ground cover on perimeter of a mostly dry Rush Lagoon, 29 Mar 2016.

Double-banded Plover (Charadrius bicinctus) (30) congregated with assorted waders at Cape Rouge high tide roost, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016.

Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) (3) congregated with assorted waders at Cape Rouge high tide roost, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016.

Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris) (10) congregated with assorted waders at Cape Rouge high tide roost, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016.

Red Knot (Calidris canutus) (6) congregated with assorted waders at Cape Rouge high tide roost, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016.

Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis) (c500) congregated with assorted waders at Cape Rouge high tide roost, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016.

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) (15) congregated with assorted waders at Cape Rouge high tide roost, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016.

Hooded Plover (Thinornis rubricollis) (14) 4 adults and 10 grey-headed immatures on exposed limestone substrate at low tide, c 1 km N of Cape Rouge, northern edge of Bay of Shoals, 20 Mar 2016.

Rock Parrot (Neophema petrophila) (11) several adult, remainder immature; feeding in samphire saltmarsh association, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016.

Reported by: Chris Baxter on Wednesday, March 30, 2016

———————————————

Location: Kangaroo Island

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) (1) at high tide roost with assorted waders, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016; heartbreaking to witness decline of this species on KI over past 20 years-hard pressed to find it now in KI habitats where it was once moderately common.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Calidris acuminata) (2) at high tide roost with assorted waders, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016; heartbreaking to witness decline of this species on KI over past 20 years-much diminished in KI habitats where it was once quite common.

White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) (70) at high tide roost with assorted waders, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016

Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) (56) at high tide roost with assorted waders, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016; some individuals showing pronounced breeding colour/plumage.

Little Grassbird (Megalurus gramineus) (12+) in samphire saltmarsh association, Bay of Shoals and Western Cove, 25 Mar 2016

Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia) (3) adult with 2 recently (month+) fledged immature, Bay of Shoals, 25 Mar 2016.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) (1) foraging over exposed mud flats at low tide, Western Cove, 25 Mar 2016

Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) (200) on early germinated green paddocks at Hanson Bay Sanctuary, 8 Mar 2016; germination due to heavy falls of unseasonal cyclonic summer rain; signs of birds pairing off and courting in readiness for possible early start to breeding season.

Freckled Duck (Stictonetta naevosa) (2) roosting with small numbers of Teal on dead, emergent River Red Gum logs in freshwater Duck Lagoon, Cygnet River, 21 Mar 2016

Blue-billed Duck (Oxyura australis) (10) Kingscote sewage pond, 23 Mar 2016; 50:50 ratio of male and female; two males still showing pronounced breeding colour; remainder of males well advanced into eclipse plumage moult.

Reported by: Chris Baxter on Wednesday, March 30, 2016

———————————————

Location: Nine-Mile Road, Strathalbyn

Black-chinned Honeyeater (Melithreptus gularis) (1) Single bird in Red Gums surrounding the Creation Care nursery,about 2.5 KM south of Strathalbyn. Haven’t recorded Black-chins here for a couple of years.
Also heard one a couple weeks earlier along Burnside Creek, about 3 km NE of Strathalbyn.

Reported by: Nathaniel Doecke on Saturday, April 2, 2016

———————————————

Need more information about a sighting? Login and contact the poster directly.

Receive sightings via email or SMS immediately they are posted.

Not a member of Birdpedia? Membership is free and gives you access to information for over 230 countries.

To sign up go to the Birdpedia Web Site (www.birdpedia.com/).

To find out more about Birdpedia and what it can do for you, see ‘What is Birdpedia?’

———————————————

---

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Hi people,

Another batch of highlights from my big trip, driving large distances in SE Australia in search of species like these following highlights: Plains-wanderer, Inland Dotterel, Rockwarbler, Powerful Owl and Eastern Shrike-tit!

ibc.lynxeds.com/news/video-highlights-phil-mahers-plains-wanderer-trip-sites-se-queensland-e-new-south-wales

Best regards,

Pieter de Groot Boersma

---

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Hi Birding-Aus,

I’ve recently noticed on the Birdlife subspecies list, that it lists two
different subspecies of the introduced Spotted Dove – both the *Eastern
Asian Spotted Dove* (*S. c. chinensis*) and the *Southern Asian Spotted
Dove* (*S. c. ceylonensis*). My question is, were two different subspecies
introduced or is one the common feral mainland bird and the other a vagrant
to somewhere like Christmas/Cocos etc.

All the best,

*James Mustafa*

m. 0400 951 517
e. jamesmustafamusic@gmail.com
w. www.jamesmustafajazzorchestra.com

---

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org

Here are a few observations from a four day bushwalk in the back blocks of Lamington National Park (SEQ) over Easter.

Duck Creek Road has deteriorated a lot over the last couple of years. It is a private road with maintenance funded by a donation box. A lot of wombats get their jollies traversing this “four wheel drive” track. If you are thinking of birding along the road, early morning is definitely best as there are few of them around at that time. The flat rainforest section up the top is not too bad (just lots of potholes). The steeper sections are heavily worn with sump challenging obstacles for low clearance vehicles (i.e. hire cars) – far more creeping along in low range than previously. Not sure when the next lot of maintenance is likely to happen.

The route my companions and I took went from Christmas Creek, past the Stinson wreck to Pt Lookout, then along the border to Mt Worendo where we headed north across the Lost World and then back to Green Mountains via the Commando Track. A lot of route along the border has been recently marked with pink tape, which makes things easier for experienced walkers (others are still likely to get bushed). In terms of the birds of interest

1. We had a flock of up to 20 Needletails zipping around Kalinya Lookout east of Mt Westray (28 18 17.7S, 153 08 36.2E) at 11 am on Saturday 26 March. Some came in close enough to hear them slicing through the air.
2. One of the highlights of the walk was crossing the eastern razorback to the Lost World – epiphytes + steep rock + views = drained camera battery. Shortly after we entered the rainforest towards the top and before we hit the first nothofagus we had a good view of a Rufous Scrub-bird bounding along a log. The nothofagus summit was delightful …
3. The haul up the Commando Track on the last day was a bit of a trudge (very few people pass that way these days) but made more pleasant by the presence of a couple of Glossy Blacks in a band of casuarina trees …

All in all, it was nice reconnecting with the Lamington Plateau outside of the graded track network and associated humanoid masses (mind you, we did come across three groups in four days – it is a busy time). There was a large Lamington Blue (crayfish) out in the rain near Rat a tat …

Regards, Laurie.

---

Birding-Aus mailing list

Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:

birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org