Birdline New South Wales Weekly Update

Birdline New South Wales Published sightings for the week ending 18 Jan 2015. Sun 18 Jan Streaked Shearwater,Long-tailed Jaeger, Black-browed Albatross. Sydney Harbour National Park-North Head. Seen my second Streaked Shearwater flying south with Wedge-tailed Shearwaters this afternoon also 20+Black-browed albatross and 3 Long-tailed Jaegers. michael ronan. Crested Shrike-tit Riverstone Early morning between 6:30am and 7am spotted 2 Crested Shrike-tits. Also photographed Olive-backed Orioles, Scarlet Honeyeater, Yellow- faced Honeyeater, juvenile Red-rumped Parrots, Eastern Spinebills, and juvenile Rufous Whistler and golden whistler. All seen just behind the cemetery. Stephen and Antonella Gilmour Sat 17 Jan White-rumped Sandpiper Lake Wollumboola White-rumped Sandpiper still present in the usual spot feeding adjacent to the Little Tern breeding area. Also several Red Knot and single Great Knot and a single White-winged Black Tern. Didn’t see the reported Broad-billed Sandpipers. Simon Blanchflower Brown Booby 28km east of Terrigal Brown Booby seen on a fishing trip 28km due east of Terrigal, circling the boat twice at close range. Obi Gabriel per Mick Roderick Whiskered Tern, Caspian Tern, Common Tern, Pied Oystercatcher Clarence River, near Lawrence Large mixed flock of terns roosting on sandpit in Clarence River 1.5km SE of Lawrence (observed approx 1km south of Lawrence ferry from Woodford Dale Rd). Approx 20-30 Whiskered Tern, 2 Caspian Tern, 1 Common Tern, many Crested Tern. Also 2 Pied Oystercatchers. Many Silver Gull. Whiskered Terns have been present on Clarence River (observed from Grafton downstream to Maclean) for previous few months. Darryl and Gary Eggins and Maureen O’Shea Thu 15 Jan Lesser Sand Plover & Curlew Sandpipers Soldiers Point (Norah Head) A Lesser Sand Plover and 15+ Curlew Sandpipers were observed between 10:45 and 11:18 out the front of the rock self (Low Tide) Other species were 76+ Red-necked Stints, 20+ Ruddy Turnstones and 4+ Grey-tailed tattlers. Steve Merrett White-rumped Sandpiper Lake Wollumboola Showing well throughout late morning-early afternoon. Two Broad-billed Sandpipers, two Lesser Sand-Plovers, two White-winged Black Terns and a Whiskered Tern. No sign of Great Knot or Fairy Tern for us. Dion Hobcroft, David James and Dean Purcell Wed 14 Jan Scarlet Honeyeater Ulan Foraging and singing from flowering Rough-barked Apple (Angophora floribunda) near Corporate Rd. Up two two birds but more may have been present. Kurtis Lindsay Pacific Emerald Dove Coutts Crossing Village Adult male Pacific Emerald Dove returned to our backyard today at about 16:50 hrs. I heard its call at first and then later it was feeding on the fallen fruits of Cockspur Thorn, probably just eating the seeds, and later was seen to eat the seeds of a native Basket Grass Oplismenus aemulus. I took some photos but as the bird was continually moving they weren’t as good as I had hoped for. Greg Clancy Wedge-tailed Eagle (x4) Castlereagh Four Wedge-tailed Eagles were observed by my friend at approximately 17:40 today. I am awaiting photographs. They were near gate 12 of the quarries. Akos Lumnitzer for Peter Phealan Plumed Whistling-Duck Sydney Olympic Park–Waterbird Refuge 28 Plumed Whistling-Duck resting at low tide 9.00am Marie Lister White-rumped Sandpiper Culburra Beach Bird still present this morning in same spot – despite strong westerly – and seen by many birders. Other birds of note: Broad-billed Sandpiper, Great Knot, Red Knot, Lesser Sand Plover, Little Tern, Fairy Tern. Lorne Johnson Square-tailed Kite Culburra Beach One bird flying low over The Lake Circuit (close to shops) about 9am. Tremendous views. 3 Australian Magpies chased it away. Lorne Johnson Great Frigatebird Shelley Beach, Port Macquarie. A female Great Frigatebird was observed flying North along Shelley Beach at 11:30 this morning. (Moderator’s Note: Great Frigatebirds are on the NSWORAC Review List and therefore this sightings should be referred to the that committee for review, a urrf can be down loaded for this purpose. (AKM). Liz Hawkins per Clive Meadows Latham’s Snipe, Wandering Whistling Duck. Swamp near Ironbark Creek, Minmi Rd, Wallsend Flushed at least 40 Latham’s Snipe which were on the drying out SW area of the swamp – (swimming pool carpark end). Also spotted a Brown Honeyeater. Saw 3 Wandering Whistling-Ducks at the Bunnings pond next door. John French & Fiona Lumsden Plumed Whistling-duck Waterbird Refuge, Sydney Olympic Park 30 Plumed Whistling Ducks at the Waterbird Refuge at 10:00 am today. In a tight group about halfway down the long side. Jenny Stiles, Rod Stiles, Geoff Hutchinson, Marie Lister and Margaret Murray. Tue 13 Jan Long-tailed Jaeger Mistral Point, Maroubra 20+ Long-tailed Jaegers, including a flock of 14 birds together. 17 Pomarine Jaegers, 4 Flesh-footed Shearwaters, moderate numbers of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and Short-tailed Shearwaters also noted. One or two Sooty and Fluttering Shearwaters also mixed in. David Mitford Black-eared Cuckoo, Painted Honeyeater, Speckled Warbler Bobadeen Rd, near Ulan Four Black-eared Cuckoos seen over the 12-13th Jan in Ironbark – Acacia linearifolia woodland. Speckled Warblers breeding (seen at five locations) and Painted Honeyeater seen and heard at three locations. Some Mistletoe in fruit. Kurtis Lindsay Grey Ternlet, South Island Pied Oystercatcher Tucker’s Rocks to Bundagen Headland SIPO was finally found at ~5:30pm, about 400m South of Tuckers Rocks – bird was solitary and eventually flew North past the rocks. Aus Pied Oystercatchers also seen with 3 feeding just to the north of Tuckers Rocks and 5 or so roosting on the rocks at Bundagen Headland but the SIPO was not seen with these birds at any time. Another notable sighting was a Grey Ternlet seen briefly, offshore from the Bundagen Headland rocks. Lachlan Hall Little Tern Long Reef I observed a single Little Tern this morning at Long Reef at 8am this morning. I saw it in flight, calling and also perched on the rockshelf. I had clear views of the black tip on the beak to distinguish it from a Fairy Tern Jayden Walsh Emerald Dove Coutts Crossing Village, SW of Grafton Adult male Dove observed walking on ground in our backyard at 16:05 hrs, disappeared when I rushed to get camera/scope. Reappeared at 16:35 hrs walking on path near our bird bath at our back door. Disappeared again as I went for the camera. This is our first backyard record of the species, my first for the Coutts Crossing area and my first for the Clarence Valley for some years. This bird appears to be a rare, unpredictable, visitor to the Clarence Valley. Greg & Val Clancy White-rumped Sandpiper Lake Wollumboola The bird was located in the fenced-off tern breeding area. It made no attempt to move off and was quite busy just preening before it sat down to rest. Ben Weston Mon 12 Jan Pacific Baza Warriewood Wetlands Nesting site on eastern side of Powderworks road. John Taylor Wedge-tailed eagle Castlereagh Rd near Penrith Regional Lakes 2 circling wedge tails over trees on East side of road. A raven chased the rather ineffectually Adrian o’hara Red-necked Avocet, Black-necked Stork Wooloweyah Lagoon, W of Angourie 32 Avocets at high tide roost at western edge of lagoon with other shorebirds. They had to to move as tide inundated their roost. Adult Black-necked Stork foraging at north-western edge of Lagoon flew to site at western edge. Possibly one of the local adult pair which hasn’t been recorded breeding since 2001. Greg Clancy & Russell Jago Square-tailed Kite Kooloobong Park, Keiraville At 1:45pm, one Square-tailed Kite was gliding low – then higher – above Kooloobong Park’s canopy and the forest at the base of Mt Keira. I was somewhat surprised to see a STK here, considering the habitat is closed forest and rainforest; Pizzey & Knight do mention that STKs frequent these habits though. Not sure how many records of STKs there are for Wollongong area. Lorne Johnson White-rumped Sandpiper Lake Wollumboola Still present today, despite somewhat miserable conditions on the beach at times! At least 3 Broad-billed SP, 2 Sharpies, and 2 Curlew SP as well. Same location as previously reported. Seen resting, feeding and in flight. I’ll put up my full site list when I get home! Elliot Leach, Lori Leach and others Powerful Owl, Scarlet Honeyeater Nurragingy Reserve A young Powerful Owl was perching in a turpentine tree at the Currawong Picnic site and eating freshly killed ringtail possum early morning (7:15am). Ravens, magpies and miners were making a terrible noise and constantly harassing it. It didn’t bother the bird at all. I left it after 30 minutes with few pieces of possum left under its foot. Other birds have forgotten about the owl and moved away. Also in the reserve: Scarlet Honeyeater ( 8 feeding in mistletoes near the Creek), Brown Honeyeater (1). Ted Wnorowski Sun 11 Jan Wood Sandpiper Belmore Swamp, Seales Rd, Kempsey A single Wood Sandpiper was a nice surprise at this location. Bird landed on verge of swamp close to the road and provided great all round views. 10 Glossy Ibis present as well a several pairs of Australian Shoveler amongst the numerous Chestnut and Grey Teal. There were also 200+ Straw-necked Ibis feeding across a couple of wet paddocks on the south side. Clive Meadows & Louise Earnshaw Spotless Crake, Baillon’s Crake Pitt Town Lagoon Had good views of 2 Spotless Crakea and 5 Baillon’s Crakes at Pitt town lagoon today. michael ronan Kermadec / White-necked Petrels, Buller’s Shearwater, Sooty Tern (60+) Pelagic off Port Stephens Highlights of a very wet pelagic off Port Stephens yesterday were a dark Kermadec Petrel, White-necked Petrel, 2 Buller’s Shearwaters and at least 60+ Sooty Terns. Most activity was inside the last 3 or 4 miles landward of the shelf break (in fact there was very little wide of the shelf, though rain was heavy there). We also had a distant ‘Cookilaria’ that got away on us. 12 White-faced Storm-petrels was a good number of this species in recent times for these pelagic trips. Photo of the Kermadec by Allan Richardson. Mick Roderick and all aboard the MV Argonaut Wed 7 Jan Square-tailed Kite Silverdale rd, Silverdale nsw bird circled low over road and houses, harassed by butcher birds at one point when it tried to land in some trees Adrian o’Hara Sun 4 Jan Wonga Pigeon, Eurasian Tree Sparrow Wagga Wagga Botanical Gardens 1 Wonga Pigeon observed near the little zoo wandering around freely. It had no bands or any sign that it was an escapee bird, and flew up onto a tree when it was approached too closely. According to eBird, there are only a handful or records from North Eastern Victoria and a single 1991 record from Jerilderie which are worth noting as similar records. Two Tree Sparrows were also observed inside the amphitheatre where there are numerous records for them. Simon Gorta, Julian Teh, Owen Lishmund