Last week Warren Thompson and I did a trip ‘down river’ to check out the wetlands of the Clarence Valley between Coutts Crossing and Tullymorgan, near Maclean. Our first stop was at a wetland at the edge of Coutts Crossing where a number of common waterbirds were congregated around the last pool of water in the middle of the swamp with an adult female Black-necked Stork. There were 8 Royal Spoonbills, 3 Eastern Great Egrets, 2 Australian White Ibis, 3 White-necked Herons, Chestnut Teal, Grey Teal, Pacific Black Ducks and Dusky Moorhen and Purple Swamphen. A flock of 40+ Little Corellas flew over a nearby lagoon. A small group of Plumed Whistling-ducks was sitting on the edge of a dam north of Coutts Crossing and at Waterview Heights 8 Magpie Geese were in a similar situation. The Geese had been absent fro this site many many months so it was good to see that they had returned. At the end of Grafton’s main street a small colony of egrets was nesting. It was a new colony and had only been present for the past couple of years. 100+ Cattle Egret nests and at least on Intermediate Egret nest were recorded. The plumes on the Intermediate Egret were displayed showing why its alternative name is Plumed Egret. Along Alumy Creek we encountered our first Whiskered Terns for the day and an adult Swamp Harrier was flying over a paddock near the creek. Two Black-necked Storks were circling high over and at first they appeared to be adults but a check through the spotting scope showed dark wing tips. This meant that they were advanced immature or sub-adult birds. At nearby Trenayr three storks were observed rising on a thermal and at first I though that it may have been the two sub-adults with an additional bird but these were the resident adults with their young from last season. This made a tally of 5 Storks so far. A Peregrine Falcon joined the Storks as they circled. At the Little Broadwater near Lawrence an adult pair of Brolgas had a small young in tow. The Lawrence Egret Colony Swamp produced some more goodies with Pink-eared Ducks, 14+ Whiskered Terns and 2 Red-kneed Dotterels. With the Whiskered Terns was a smaller differently marked bird which turned out to be a non-breeding White-winged Black Tern. Four Caspian Terns on Munro Island were followed by a family of Pacific Bazas on Woodford Island. One adult was feeding two begging juveniles. One was fed a Dainty Green tree Frog Litoria gracilenta and the other an insect. A second adult may have been present but we didn’t see two adults at any one time. Returning home via Tucabia we saw two more Storks, a few Glossy Ibis, another Pacific Baza and a small group of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. On to Gilletts Ridge with a list of 98 species where we recorded a Black-fronted Dotterel and the final new species for the day, a Spotted Harrier, an uncommon bird in the Valley, making 100 species. An adult female Stork was loafing nearby making a total of 11 Black-necked Storks for the day.
The full list is below:
Magpie Goose, Plumed Whistling-Duck, Black Swan, Australian Wood Duck, Pink-eared Duck, Grey Teal, Chestnut Teal, Pacific Black Duck, Hardhead, Australasian Grebe, Spotted Dove, Crested Pigeon, Peaceful Dove, Bar-shouldered Dove, Australasian Darter, Little Pied Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Little Black Cormorant, Pied Cormorant, Australian Pelican, Black-necked Stork, White-necked Heron, Eastern Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, Cattle Egret, White-faced Heron, Little Egret, Glossy Ibis, Australian White Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis, Royal Spoonbill, Black-shouldered Kite, Pacific Baza, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling Kite, Spotted Harrier, Swamp Harrier, Wedge-tailed Eagle, Nankeen Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Brolga, Purple Swamphen, Dusky Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Black-winged Stilt, Black-fronted Dotterel, Red-kneed Dotterel, Masked Lapwing, Comb-crested Jacana, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, Whiskered Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Crested Tern, Silver Gull, Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Galah, Little Corella, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Rainbow Lorikeet, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, Musk Lorikeet, Eastern Rosella, Laughing Kookaburra, Sacred Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater, Dollarbird, Superb Fairy-wren, Red-backed Fairy-wren, Yellow Thornbill, Brown Thornbill, Lewin’s Honeyeater, Noisy Miner, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Grey-crowned Babbler, Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike, White-winged Triller, Grey Shrike-thrush, Australasian Figbird, Olive-backed Oriole, White-breasted Woodswallow, Grey Butcherbird, Pied Butcherbird, Australian Magpie, Willie Wagtail, Torresian Crow, Restless Flycatcher, Magpie-lark, Golden-headed Cisticola, Australian Reed-Warbler, Tawny Grassbird, Silvereye, Welcome Swallow, Fairy Martin, Tree Martin, Common Myna, Mistletoebird, Red-browed Finch, House Sparrow.
Mammals – Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Red-necked Wallaby, Fox.
Reptiles – Short-necked Turtle, Eastern Long-necked Turtle.
Greg
Dr Greg. P. Clancy Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460 0266493153 0429601960 ===============================
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