Hi all Pitt Town Lagoon (NW Sydney, Hawkesbury district) is currently hosting some good water birds, with sightings over the last week or so including 2 Ruff and 2 Pectoral Sandpipers, 1 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Freckled Duck, lots of Sharp Tailed Sandpipers, 16 Glossy Ibis, Baillons Crake, 3 Lathams Snipe, both spoonbills (all there today), and Whiskered Terns, Spotless Crakes and Marsh Sandpipers (not there or not seen by me today). There’s an interesting “mixed” flock of Chestnut-breasted and Nutmeg Mannikins – interesting because although they fly around together, when I observed them feeding last week there was a distinct demarcation line between the two species. However, my dilemma is the Painted Honeyeater that has been reported and photographed hanging around the mistletoe-bearing acacias near the reserve entrance and by the Friendship Bridge on Pitt Town Bottoms Rd. I’ve had 2 goes for it and dipped twice and am starting to worry that the name “Painted whatever” is a curse for me – it took me 8 goes for Painted Snipe before I got one and I’ve had three or four futile forays for them since. In the last week I’ve had my 4th & 5th (unsuccessful) attempts for a Painted Honeyeater. Maybe it’s bird revenge because my first Painted Button Quail was almost a squashed Painted Button Quail? (Saved by my wife saying “I think you’re about to step on something moving in that long grass….it might be a snake”.) Cheers Tom Wilson =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================