Thinking About Birds

April 2025

28-30 April

I didn't do any serious birding after we arrived back from our NSW trip, but while out and about around Ettalong and the Woy Woy Peninsula, I did see a few interesting species - such as White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Superb Fairy-wren, Greater Crested Tern. None of those are common locally.

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NSW short trip

Margaret and I went to the Macquarie Marshes for three nights, camping at Willie Retreat with 30+ Hunter Bird Observers Club members. From there we went to Trilby Station, near Louth, for another three nights of camping with a small subset of the HBOC group. We had stops at Gulgong and Bourke en route and then we had two (very wet) nights in Parkes on our way home. Overall, I recorded 125 species.

17 April

We drove from Ettalong to Goulburn River National Park, arriving there for lunch. I birded at three spots within the NP - White Box (where there had been a fire a few months ago), Fossickers (where there had been a big storm a few weeks back - many branches down) and the NP opposite Poggy Station (where another recent fire had happened). Those three calamities meant I didn’t find many birds. However, at Fossickers I saw a pair (possibly two pairs) of Turquoise Parrots and a pair of Brown Treecreepers, and four Emus in the paddocks of Poggy.

18 April

We left Gulgong and went to Dubbo. The botanical gardens were closed so I went to the sewage treatment works instead. The views of the ponds there are limited and the main ducks on view were Grey Teal, plus a few Pacific Black Ducks and Hardheads. My first western birds for the trip were Cockatiels and Little Ravens, and I had great views of several Golden-headed Cisticolas.

Our next stop was at Warren, where I walked around the Tiger Bay Wetland. By chance I bumped into three Hunter birders including Ann Lindsey who has just been announced as this year’s Hobbs Medallist. As I was her nominator, we had a bit of a moment together. Walking around the wetland afterwards, I found some Grey-crowned Babblers and Purple-backed Fairy-wrens, plus several Yellow-billed Spoonbills. There were Zebra Finches, Double-barred Finches and Plum-headed Finches, all at about the same spot, and a Whistling Kite on a nest. Driving on to Willie Retreat via Quambone we saw many Emus, also Brown Falcons, Apostlebirds, and numerous Black-shouldered Kites (and the day before - they are doing well it seems). We arrived at Willie Retreat mid-afternoon but by the time we’d set up camp there wasn’t much birding time available. However an Australian Owlet-nightjar called often after dark.

19 April

I spent the morning exploring the home block of Willie Retreat. I found a pair of Black-fronted Dotterels at some surface water (run-off from a nearby dam). There were many White-winged Choughs and Crested Pigeons also using the water, and there was a Spotted Bowerbird nearby. I saw about ten Red-winged Parrots and also several Australian Ringnecks and Red-rumped Parrots. The Australian Owlet-nightjar called a few times in the morning, from a hollow trunk of a tree opposite our tent. Late morning I went to Monkeygar Crossing - from the new lookout I could see about 80 Australian Shelducks as well as several Royal Spoonbills, and ten Emus too. The raptors on view were Whistling Kites and White-bellied Sea-Eagles.

Mid-afternoon I went to a spot on Carinda Rd, where I found some Chestnut-rumped Thornbills. En route I passed a paddock with 17 Emus in it. I finished up at the Burrima Boardwalk - I had been looking forward to that but it turned out to be very quiet, and with almost no waterbirds.

20 April

I spent the morning wandering the homestead block again. I found 42 species of which the highlights included pairs of Hooded Robins and Red-capped Robins, a Pallid Cuckoo, a small group of Chestnut-rumped Thornbills, an Eastern Yellow Robin (out of range??), Plum-headed Finches and Zebra Finches, and some Apostlebirds. I also saw two Black-faced Woodswallows. The afternoon was hot so I waited until late afternoon then went to Monkeygar Crossing. Here were Australian Shovelers (at least 30 birds), Royal Spoonbills etc - pretty much the same lot as the day before except I also saw a Black-shouldered Kite. My final stop was to join some of the others at a spot at the Carinda Rd junction. I found a group of three White-winged Fairy-wrens there, plus a female Red-capped Robin. The others found a largish group of Black-faced Woodswallows, which were offering good views near the road.

21 April

The Australian Owlet-nightjar called many times during the night. I did another walk around the home paddock in the morning. I was mostly finding the same birds as before but I had three new species - Masked Woodswallow (two, flying with a group of about ten White-browed Woodswallows), a Hoary-headed Grebe and two Southern Whiteface. I also had a long close-up encounter with a female Red-capped Robin. We packed up mid-morning and drove to Bourke via backroads until Coolabah on the highway (where we had lunch). There were plenty of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos around Bourke - I could hear them all the time and I had several sightings of them. I also saw several Black Kites. I checked out the sewage works - amazingly it had no ducks (I did find five Black Swans, but nothing else). The Darling River is swollen and presumably the ducks have plenty of options available.

22 April

There were yet more Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos in Bourke in the morning, plus a couple of Red-winged Parrots. We left mid-morning after restocking our provisions, and drove to Toorale National Park. We had a fly-through by a pair of Pink Cockatoos en route. At the old homestead at Toorale there was a Spotted Bowerbird and several Tree Martins, also Splendid Fairy-wrens. The Warrego river was swollen and I saw an Australasian Darter and a Whistling Kite there. Later, en route to Louth for lunch, we passed a paddock with 45 Emus bunched into a corner. We got to Trilby Station mid-afternoon and set up camp beside the Darling River. Later I wandered the river red gum forest, finding Brown Treecreepers, Jacky Winters, Rufous Whistlers and Restless Flycatchers amongst other things

23 April

Lorna, Andrzej and I spent the morning and early afternoon birding in the back blocks of Trilby. We had Black-faced Woodswallows almost immediately, and many more sightings of them during our outing. It was similar for Chestnut-crowned Babblers - they were at many locations although it was hard to get good looks at them due to their wariness. I did chase one group for quite a while and eventually discovered there were at least eight of them. We saw several Red-capped Robins too. At the old house there was a Spotted Bowerbird and a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, also Southern Whitefaces (which we saw more of later) and several Splendid Fairy-wrens, and a pair of Black-fronted Dotterels at the house dam. A White-backed Swallow gave us a fly-by, as did a Wedge-tailed Eagle, and the paddock for rams (with lots of spillled feed) had about 170 Galahs plus 20 or so each of Apostlebirds and Little Crows. We also saw Bluebonnets, Mulga Parrots and Australian (Mallee) Ringnecks on our drive around.

Back at the campsite some Red-winged Parrots and Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos flew threw, and a group of eight Australian Ringnecks landed for a while.

24 April

The three of us set off again in the morning to explore the back blocks of Trilby. The highlight came early - a pair of Pink Cockatoos on a side track from the main Trilby entrance road. They flew off and joined with another six birds, flying away. After that we found mostly the same species as yesterday, but missing a few, possibly because we did the route backwards and it was later morning when we arrived at some of yesterday’s more productive spots. We had Chestnut-crowned Babblers at several of our stops - they all were very wary groups and it was hard to get good views of them. Other species at multiple sites were Chestnut-rumped Thornbills and Red-capped Robins, and we also had several Singing Honeyeaters. We stopped for some Bluebonnets and found a pair of Mulga Parrots with them, and Australian Ringnecks were not far away. Heading back to Trilby we found a White-necked Heron at a billabong - it and some Grey Teals on the river were our only waterbirds for the property. Late afternoon there were several Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos around the homestead.

25 April

The day’s highlights came early - a pair of Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos flew over while we were packing up, and then we saw ten Pink Cockatoos shortly after we exited the Trilby property. We saw Emus several times on our drive to Parkes, and there were Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters at Tullamore where we stopped for a short break. Late afternoon in Parkes I went to Bushmans Dam, which proved to be just a small waterhole in the middle of a park/playground and it didn’t have much - a group of 15 Pacific Black Ducks and not much else.

26 April

It was a cold wet day and not too conducive for birding. I visited the Parkes sewage works in the morning. The views were poor as I could only look from the roadside, but I did see the first Pied Stilt for my trip, and there were Great Cormorants, Black-fronted Dotterels and various duck species present. A flock of Zebra Finches flew in just as I was leaving. In the afternoon we went to the Parkes radio-telescope, where there were Apostlebirds in the front yard and Blue-faced Honeyeaters around the building.

27 April

A day of solid rain, as we drove home from Parkes. There were no birding opportunities.

14 April

I did my monthly surveys of the Warrah Trig section of Brisbane Water National Park in the morning and then went around to Patonga for a while, for some waterbirds. There were three types of cormorant there - Great Pied, Great and Little Black Cormorant. The National Park had lots of honeyeaters but not much else of note.

12 April

Four of us did the quarterly survey of Ash Island in the morning. The only migratory shorebirds were two Far Eastern Curlews but we found 700+ Pied Stilts on Swan Pond. There were 12 Red-necked Avocets amongst them, and we found Black-fronted Dotterels at a couple of spots too. There were a couple of hundred each of Chestnut Teal and Grey Teal, plus some Australasian Shovelers in with them. A raptor highlight was a Collared Sparrowhawk, which flew across Phoenix Flat and briefly perched in a gum tree (I got it into my scope, for a moment). We had several other raptor species through the morning - Brown Falcon, Nankeen Kestrel, Black-shouldered Kite, Whistling Kite and Swamp Harrier, all in multiples. Other highlights were a Caspian Tern and a Spangled Drongo.

9-11 April

After I left Martindale I went to a property at Turanville near Scone. The place has a large area of River Red Gums, which are now protected by a Conservancy Agreement with the NSW government. Many of the trees are hundreds of years old and some approaching 1000 years. They have hollows galore, and so there were lots of parrot-types around (lorikeets, rosellas, cockatoos). The owner is keen for us to do regular surveys there.

Then I went to McCullys Gap, where four of us did the quarterly surveys over Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday evening we heard a pair of Powerful Owls around our campsite and the male was calling again on Thursday evening. We saw a young Swamp Harrier on Wednesday afternoon - the first record of one for the area (I was surprised that it wasn’t a Spotted Harrier instead). There were several Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters around the campsite (some also at a couple of other sites) and we had a small group of Dusky Woodswallows too. Overall we recorded 90 species (68 for me). On my way to Newcastle (where I spent Friday night) I stopped off at Doughboy Hollow, where around 120 Plumed Whistling-ducks were visible. It’s always a bit pot-luck how many are able to be seen there.

7-9 April

Four of us did the quarterly surveys at Martindale. On my way there I stopped at Jerrys Plains cemetery which was quiet except that I found a female Red-capped Robin. Martindale had many Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters - including about 15 of them at the Medhurst Bridge site where the Mistletoe was flowering prolifically. There were lots of other honeyeaters also using the blossom. Overall we had around 100 species (79 for me) including Little Lorikeets and Musk Lorikeets, Speckled Warblers, Grey-crowned Babblers, Blue-faced Honeyeaters and Brown Quail. The highlight was a Spotted Harrier, which we saw a few times near the bridge. We also had several good views of Wedge-tailed Eagles, and briefly a Little Eagle.

4 April

I went to the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland. It was a little bit birdier than my previous visits - including I saw Yellow Thornbill and Scarlet Honeyeater plus Eastern Yellow Robin (seems to be reliable there) and heard a couple of Golden Whistlers.

3 April

I surveyed two more sites in Brisbane Water National Park - there were plenty of honeyeaters including I saw an immature Fuscous Honeyeater - not a bird that I find often locally. There was a group of three Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos just as I was leaving. I also went to Crommelin Arboretum, where there were a couple of Musk Lorikeets.

2 April

Margaret and I went up to Nelson Bay for a dinner with visitors from Yugawara City. They hosted us during part of our birdwatching visit to Japan in 2023. On the way we detoured to Palmdale, where I had been tipped off about some Gang-gang Cockatoos being present. Bingo! I saw a dozen birds, high up in an avenue of liquidambers. Walking around Nelson Bay in the drizzle, I saw Scaly-breasted Lorikeets and a Striated Heron.

1 April

I surveyed three sites in Brisbane Water National Park - nothing exceptional recorded.

March 2025

31 March

I walked from Woy Woy alongside Brisbane Water with my daughter Sally. We saw a Caspian Tern a few times (but probably the same bird each time) and there were four Australian Pied Oystercatchers on the sand island. That didn’t have many Australian Pelicans on it this time, but amongst the ones present there were a couple of young ones. The final bird of the walk was the highlight - we flushed a Striated Heron.

28 March

I did a pelagic trip from Terrigal - my first one from that port. The shelf is much closer than it is from Port Stephens which is a plus but the boat produced a lot of spray, which is a negative. Although the diversity wasn’t great we had some good birds including a Gould’s Petrel at the start of the drift and two Kermadec Petrels near the end of it. We also had several each of Providence Petrels and Grey-faced Petrels, and 3-4 Shy Albatross types. There were numerous Wilson’s Storm-petrels too, and hundreds of shearwaters. The highlight though was a prolonged encounter with a Smooth Hammerhead shark, which hung around the boat for almost two hours.

25 March

Mid-morning I visited Katandra Reserve, a hilly rainforest site near Mt Eliot. However, I didn't find a lot of birds - the highlight was some Large-billed Scrub-wrens. I quickly became quite leech-conscious, and consequently I didn't stay very long. I then headed to the coast - to the rock platforms at Soldiers Point and Norah Head. I saw some Caspian Terns, also a Sooty Oystercatcher and various cormorant species, plus lots of gulls and terns. My last stop was the Central Coast Wetlands at Wyong, where there was a group of four Black-fronted Dotterels on a narrow mudflat and many Cattle Egrets in the paddocks. There alos were a couple each of Great Egrets and Plumed Egrets.

In the evening I went to the monthly meeting of the Central Coast branch of Birding NSW. The main talk was about olfactory disguise of shorebird nest sites, to protect them from foxes and other predators. I found it interesting.

20 March

I went to the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland to do my monthly surveys there. As usual it was very quiet. I had my first record for there of Lewin's Honeyeater, and once again there were some Eastern Yellow Robins present. I'll give this site a few more months but it isn't a very fruitful one.

18 March

I surveyed the Warrah Trig area of Brisbane Water National Park in the morning. At my first site I saw a female Variegated Fairy-wren - that was probably my highlight for the day. There were lots of honeyeaters, including a few Noisy Friarbirds, a Yellow-faced Honeyeater and at least a couple of Scarlet Honeyeaters. Early signs of the autumn northern migration?

17 March

I did my walk alongside Brisbane Water, from Woy Woy to Blackwall. Surprisingly, the numbers for both Black Swan and Australian Pelican were down a lot on recent months - there were only 50-60 of each species compared with 150 or so of each usually. The Mallard count was alarming - there were about 120 of them including two groups each of about 40 birds. But, I also saw some Pacific Black Ducks (about 20 of them), two Chestnut Teal and a pair of Australian Wood Ducks had eight youngsters. There was a single Blue-faced Honeyeater along the foreshore, and earlier I saw a Sacred Kingfisher and a pair of Australian Pied Oystercatchers.

15 March

The three of us (me, Ross, Cyrus) had a good morning on Ash Island – there were plenty of birds to look out and a good diversity of them too. On the main ponds there were about 350 Pied Stilts, with about ten Red-necked Avocets amongst them plus ten roosting godwits (nine Black-tailed Godwit, one Bar-tailed Godwit). We couldn’t find any Pacific Golden Plovers around Milhams Pond/Phoenix Flat but there were three Far Eastern Curlews, one of which was the bird with leg flag AAE – it’s being quite faithful to that site. We found a Latham’s Snipe foraging in a swale along Cabbage Tree Rd. Teal Waters was living up to its name (which isn’t always the case). There were about 300 teal on it, with Grey Teal outnumbering the Chestnut Teal, and also four Australasian Shovelers and five Pink-eared Ducks. The raptor species count was good too – Brown Falcon, Nankeen Kestrel, Whistling Kite, Swamp Harrier, Black-shouldered Kite and White-bellied Sea-Eagle. We also had two separate Spangled Drongo sightings, plus views of Sacred Kingfisher and Azure Kingfisher.

13-14 March

Both mornings I did some of my regular surveys around Brisbane Water National Park. There was't much species diversity but the honeyeaters were very active, and their numbers have risen (especially for the White-cheeked Honeyeaters). At the Crommelin Arboretum I saw two Australian Brush-turkeys plus two Brown Cuckoo-doves were calling.

NSW/ACT short trip

Margaret and I went to Canberra for two nights, followed by three nights at West Wyalong and then three nights at Wagga Wagga. The trip was only partly for birding .

3 March

Margaret and I drove to Canberra - an uneventful trip with no birding stops until we were in the ACT. Then, we stopped off for a while at the Jerrabomberra Wetlands, lateish afternoon. I discovered a couple of Freckled Ducks lurking under a shady tree - it had been several years since I last saw any in the wild. Another shaded area had a large group of Australasian Shovelers - about 35 birds were bunched up together. I also had a nice view of an Australian Reed-warbler during my walk around.

4 March

My plan was to spend the morning at the National Botanic Gardens but it was quiet there plus several tracks were closed for maintenance work. I left mid-morning having not had much by way of highlights - perhaps a pair of Common Blackbirds, many New Holland Honeyeaters were the best of them. I decided to try some of the many dry woodland nature reserves in the ACT but I had trouble finding where exactly one could access them. Eventually I made brief visits to Isaacs NR and Wanniassa Hills NR but it was already late morning and there wasn’t much bird activity. And the afternoon was spent on cultural activities.

5 March

We left Canberra early afternoon and had an afternoon of mostly driving - which was not helped by an accommodation snafu. We made one birding stop, near Ungarie where there was plenty of Grey Mistletoe. Here I found some Mistletoebirds, and also a couple of Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters, but not much else was using the vegetation. I saw two Masked Woodswallows overhead, but I heard many more woodswallow-types way above the canopy. Near Lake Cargelligo there were some Yellow-throated Miners, and en route I saw several groups of Apostlebirds and White-winged Choughs, plus a group of three Blue Bonnets.

6 March

There were Little Ravens and Blue-faced Honeyeaters around the West Wyalong caravan park. I spent a fair bit of the morning at Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve. White-eared Honeyeaters were the predominant arboreal species but above the canopy (and occasionally landing in trees) were hundreds of woodswallows - mostly White-browed but I saw a few Masked Woodswallows too. Small bush birds were absent until right at the end when, in rapid succession, I had Brown Thornbills, Chestnut-rumped Thornbills and Splendid Fairy-wrens around me.

I tried a couple other places without much success, and then idled until lateish afternoon when conditions were beginning to cool. I visited Cooinda Waters, where I found White-breasted Woodswallows and a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, but not much else. Then I went across the road, to a wetland I’d visited several years ago. Since then, connections with the sewage treatment works have opened up. I found a Musk Duck, 10-12 Pink-eared Ducks, and miscellaneous other water birds including two Yellow-billed Spoonbills and about 30 Hoary-headed Grebes. It was my 6000th Birdata survey so I was pleased that there were a few “specials” amongst the species I found.

7 March

I spent the morning in the north-west section (“Hiawatha section”) of the South West Woodland Nature Reserve. At my first stop, I flushed a Common Bronzewing - for a moment I thought it might be a nightjar, but that wasn’t to be. There were White-browed Woodswallows overhead always, but not in large numbers. I found some Inland Thornbills in company with Buff-rumped Thornbills and some Purple-backed Fairy-wrens. I also saw a Brown-headed Honeyeater nearby, and later a pair of Brown Treecreepers. The second spot had White-throated Treecreepers, more Inland Thornbills and Brown-headed Honeyeaters, and also Peaceful Doves, Dusky Woodswallows and Double-barred Finches. The afternoon was too warm for birding and I just hung around the cabin.

8 March

Before we checked out, I went back to the West Wyalong Wetland. It was jumping - I found 39 species compared to 27 on Thursday afternoon. There was a large group of White-breasted Woodswallows huddled together on two branches (one directly above the other) plus a couple more smaller groups, also 100 or more Welcome Swallows and 50 or so Tree Martins. Highlights for me included several Australian Ringnecks, a pair of Black-fronted Dotterels, and a very wary Black-tailed Native-hen. The Musk Duck and Pink-eared Ducks from Thursday were still around.

We drove to Narrandera and visited the artificial wetland there. It was almost bone dry, and not many birds around. However, I found a couple of Yellow Rosellas (ssp of Crimson) and separate groups of Purple-backed Fairy-wrens and White-winged Fairy-wrens. Thence to Wagga Wagga.

9 March

I spent most of the morning at or near the Marrambidya Wetlands on the fringes of Wagga, alongside the Murrumbidgee River. I was hoping I might find a Superb Parrot but yet again they shunned me. I had very pleasant birding, but found nothing extraordinary. A highlight was a close encounter with a juvenile Sacred Kingfisher (later, I also had nice views of an adult). Late morning I went to a woodland site, Pomingalarna Park. I had trouble finding it as the birding trails brochure was a bit lacking. The site was quiet, until right at the end when I found a female Red-capped Robin. I finished my expedition at Lake Albert - cited as a shorebird site but it was full of water and speedboats.

10 March

I went to the Mates Gully Rd TSR - it was further away than I anticipated plus hard to find (poorly signed). But, I found it eventually. It was woodland birding, with my highlight being a pair of Black-chinned Honeyeaters. There was also a large busy group of Fuscous Honeyeaters. An Eastern Shrike-tit came in while I was enjoying a close encounter with a Grey Shrike-thrush. I tried three other TSRs in the same general area. Two were full of cattle (I tried birding at one of them and soon had a hundred or so cows following me around). The third was unsignposted and I wasn’t sure whether I was at the right spot. It didn’t look all that appealing either, and so I called it quits for the day.

1 March

I took Sally and Tom to the Ourimbah RTA Reserve late morning. Our very first bird, foraging on the track near the entry gate, was a Bassian Thrush - which was a new bird for both of them. Later we had wonderful views of Large-billed Scrubwrens (a couple of groups of them) and Yellow-throated Scrubwrens (many, often foraging on the track), and a few Black-faced Monarchs, including a young one (it had no black face). We saw several Eastern Whipbirds foraging on the ground. Afterwards we stopped at Mt Penang Gardens, where there were 30+ Australian Wood Ducks, and a couple of Mallards were wandering around the cafe.

February 2025

27 February

In the morning I did my regular walk alongside Brisbane Water, going from Woy Woy to Blackwall. I saw 3 pairs of Australian Pied Oystercatchers, and there were 150+ Black Swans. It’s only a few months ago that they were completely absent locally. I also had a couple of Musk Lorikeets, and a group of three Long-billed Corellas (as well as many Little Corellas).

26 February

I did my monthly surveys of the Warrah Trig area of Brisbane Water National Park. My regular sites were quiet, but as I walked around I had delightful encounters with a Rufous Fantail and a group of Variegated Fairy-wrens, and then a pair of Rockwarblers. The latter were uninhibited by my presence, and at times were foraging almost at my feet. I had a great view of a Spotted Pardalote at the same spot.

25 February

In the evening I went to the February meeting of the Central Coast group of Birding NSW. The guest speaker was Ann Lindsey, talking about the various Black-necked Stork breeding attempts in the Hunter Estuary. Prior to that I visited the Central Coast Wetland - it was quiet there, and the highlights were 19 Great Cormorants (mostly roosting together in a tree) and a Sacred Kingfisher.

21-23 February

Eight of us from HBOC spent 3 days on Broughton Island for the summer visit there. It was quiet - the banders only caught 40 birds, with many re-traps of presumed residents especially of Silvereyes. Those of us doing surveys didn't find much either. The highlights included brief fly-throughs from a group of four Fork-tailed Swifts and a flock of about 30 White-throated Needletails, a few sightings of Eastern Reef Egrets, and a Peregrine Falcon. There were no chicks (nor eggs) in the Gould's Petrel nest boxes but we did find a total of sevenindividuals (from three visits to the nest boxes). There were many Wedge-tailed Shearwaters on the island, presumably all with chicks in burrows, and we saw quite a few of them on the boat trips to and from the island. We also saw a couple of Australasian Gannets from the boat.

16 February

Dave Stone and I surveyed 5km of the swales behind the foredunes of the Worimi Conservation Lands, as part of an HBOC project to survey all of those swales. We found 25 Red-capped Plovers - whereas, the team doing the beach didn't find many, presumably because of disturbance from the massive numbers of 4WD people on the weekend. We didn't find much else - except for plenty of Australasian Pipits, some Welcome Swallows, and a solitary Tree Martin. Along the beach on our way back, there were 100+ Australian Pied Oystercatchers.

15 February

Ross, Cyrus and I surveyed Ash Island. The main ponds had stacks of birds - about 700 Pied Stilts, 350-400 Red-necked Avocets, a lone Red Knot, some Bar-tailed and 15+ Black-tailed Godwits. We also had eleven Far Eastern Curlews and a group of 30 Pacific Golden Plovers. There weren't many bush birds though.

14 February

Jeff and I were in a Marine Parks boat for the summer survey of Port Stephens. We found a group of 21 Whimbrel on an oyster rack and there were scattered small numbers of Far Eastern Curlews and Bar-tailed Godwits. We found a group of 20+ Australian Pied Oystercatchers together with four Sooty Oystercatchers, and we had Grey-tailed Tattlers in small groups at three sites. The main raptor was the White-bellied Sea-Eagle - we found six individuals, and there were 22 of them recorded overall, by the six teams.

13 February

On my way to Lemon Tree Passage for tomorrow's survey of Port Stephens, I stopped at the Tuggerah salt marsh area and then at the Central Coast Wetlands. The salt marsh was full of water, and not many birds - the highlight was some Litte Egrets. Similarly, there wasn't much at the CC Wetlands.

12 February

I spent the afternoon in the Box Head section of Bouddi National Park - birding, but not finding much. The highlight was a fly-by from a White-bellied Sea-Eagle.

10 February

Not much birding today, but at the end of a trip around the Hawkesbury River I saw an adult Brahminy Kite - I had prolonged views, and so presumably it's a well-established bird. The southern expansion continues!

6 February

I surveyed another two of my sites in Brisbane Water NP, in the Van Dahls Firetrail area, plus visited the Crommelin Arboretum at Pearl Beach. The highlights (these bothwere in the NP) were a group of four Brown-headed Honeyeaters and a fly-through by a pair of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos.

5 February

I visited the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland, having shunned the place in January becasue of very high cicada activity. They weren't too bad this time. There weren't many birds but I found a pair of White-browed Scrubwrens and a female Variegated Fairy-wren - both were new species for my list for the site. I also found a very young Eastern Yellow Robin - that's almost certainly a breeding record for the site.

4 February

I surveyed three of my sites in Brisbane Water NP - two of them in the Coora Swamp area and one at Pearl Beach. Although it was fairly quiet bird-wise, at least the cicadas weren't too bad and some honeyeaters have returned (at last). The highlights were a group of three Brown-headed Honeyeaters. and a small group of Variegated Fairy-wrens.

January 2025

24-26 January

Margaret and I attended three days of the HBOC ‘camp’ at the UNSW Field Station on Smiths Lake. Most people stayed in the bunkhouses or in their vans - there were only two tents. It was rather windy on the Friday but conditions were great for birding on the following two days. The creek beside our tent had Azure Kingfishers plus several smaller species - Brown Gerygones, Large-billed Scrubwrens, Red-browed Finches, etc. Further afield I saw a pair of Southern Emu-wrens and a pair of Forest Ravens, and I heard a couple of Lewin’s Rails. There were many honeyeaters - dominated by White-cheeked but I also saw Scarlet, Brown, New Holland and Yellow-faced Honeyeaters, plus there were plenty of Noisy Friarbirds and Little Wattlebirds. There was a problem with male Variegated Fairy-wrens (three of them) constantly attacking their reflections in one of the bunkhouse windows - Keith and I solved that eventually by breaking off the vegetation from which they were launching themselves.

23 January

I did my walk along Brisbane Water in the morning. There was a pair of Australian Pied Oystercatchers on the roof of the fish co-op and further along, a Striated Heron was fishing from a perch on a post. I also saw a Far Eastern Curlew in with the pelicans on the sand bank. There were two large groups of Mallards, each with 40-45 birds, but I did also find a group of four Pacific Black Ducks. The only raptor around was an adult White-bellied Sea-Eagle.

22 January

I surveyed two more of my Brisbane Water National Park sites - they were quiet for birds but at least had no cicadas. Then I went to the Pearl Beach Arboretum - which was full of cicadas (and almost no bird activity). The day’s highlight came early - a Glossy Black-Cockatoo on my drive up (and probably three others but I only had poor views of those ones).

21 January

I did my surveys of the Warrah Trig area of Brisbane Water National Park. It was very quiet, punctuated by four highlights - a Brush Bronzewing which flushed as I arrived, a perched pair of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos, a fly-through by a Grey Goshawk, and a pair of Rockwarblers foraging near the Warrah Lookout (I've had them there a few times now). I finished with a quickvisit to Patonga, where I saw an Australasian Figbird as the highlight.

16-17 January

The previous night’s storm eventually brought a welcome cool change, but then we had to wait out some seriously heavy rain on Thursday morning - our start was delayed by a couple of hours until that rain was over. There were trees and branches down everywhere we went on Thursday morning. Highlights from the two days included a group of three Wedge-tailed Eagles, a few Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters, plus Weebills, Dusky Woodswallows, Fairy Martins and and Tree Martins. I had nice and long views of Scarlet Honeyeaters and a White-throated Gerygone. At an otherwise not very exciting site, there were two Australian Hobbys hunting together, and we saw a couple of other single Hobbys that day. On our way to another site, the two farm dams that we passed had some Australian Shovelers and Plumed Whistling-ducks, also a Hardhead and several Little Black Cormorants.

The rain came back and we couldn’t survey at two sites. I left before lunch, driving home in rather heavy rain but it eased off long enough for me to stop at Doughboy Hollow where I eventually found about two hundred Plumed Whistling-ducks.

14-15 January

These were very hot days, culminating at 45C when I arrived at Muswellbrook late on Wednesday afternoon. We got all of our Martindale surveys done, starting at 6:00 each day but it was really hot by late mornings when we finished. Highlights from the two days included 20+ White-browed Woodswallows, with two very young birds amongst them, White-winged Trillers (female feeding a youngster), a Speckled Warbler, Varied Sittellas, Grey-crowned Babblers, a Peregrine Falcon, some Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters and a Horsfield’s Bushlark. To my surprise we found White-eared Honeyeaters at several sites - all our previous records of them in the Martindale Valley were autumn or winter ones. There was constant helicopter activity, mainly to do with filling up from a local dam for fire-fighting in Wollemi National Park. Wednesday night at McCullys Gap initially was quite pleasant (still hot though) but it culminated in a massive storm coming in from the west, which also brought very strong winds and hail. I was set up to sleep in the car but that couldn’t happen until the storm subsided - it was too tumultuous for sleeping. Thank heavens I had decided not to bring my stretcher tent - that would have resulted in absolute misery.

13 January

On my way to join the HBOC quarterly surveys at Martindale, I stopped at the Ourimbah Rest Area briefly and then at Newcastle Baths (for a bit longer, but still fairly briefly). At Ourimbah I found a Red-whiskered Bulbul and heard a Black-faced Monarch. At the baths, I soon found my target - a Brown Noddy for which there had been reports about for a couple of days. There were 250+ Greater Crested Terns too, and a single Sooty Oystercatcher. I arrived into the Martindale Valley late afternoon. On my way to the campsite I saw flocks of Double-barred Finches and White-winged Choughs, and three Black-shouldered Kites (a single and a pair). There was a fierce storm shortly after my arrival, after a very hot day - after the storm (which lasted qiute a while), it became a pleasant evening. A White-throated Nightjar began calling just after dark, and continued intermittently thereafter (it was active on both nights).

11 January

Ross, Cyrus and I had a great morning on Ash Island, finding 50 species as we moved around the various sites. Highlights included a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater taking fruit from a shrub near Phoenix Flats - the same shrub where we had one in December and I’d lay odds that it was the also same bird. We also had a Brown Songlark on the Wader Pond salt marsh - with occasional views of it flying and singing. On Swan Pond there were about 350 Pied Stilts, and a good mix of migratory shorebirds - 20 or so each of Black-tailed Godwits and Bar-tailed Godwits, three Red Knots, 15-20 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and an amazing total count (for Ash Island)of 21 Far Eastern Curlews.

10 January

I went to the Pearl Caves area of Brisbane Water National Park, and then to two other of my regular survey sites higher up in the national park. The cicada activity in the Pearl Caves area was high, which made birding rather difficult. Things were much better at the other two sites (in the Coora Swamp area). I flushed a Brush Bronzewing from the roadside as I pulled up, and then I had wonderful views of a second bird on the track not far in from the road - it was easily my best views of one of them on the east coast (the Cheynes Beach area in WA remains the tops for this species, for me). Pheasant Coucals were calling constantly - I reckon there were at least six individuals. At one site I could hear four birds calling simultaneously. Towards the end of my visit, I saw a pair of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos, and also there were a couple of Rufous Whistlers.

9 January

For my first serious birding activity of the year, I did the Woy Woy to Blackwall walk alongside Brisbane Water. It had rained for the preceding three days so the walk involved plenty of puddles. There was a Brown Honeyeater near Woy Woy, a Striated Heron a bit later, and a group of three Australian Pied Oystercatchers (a pair and a youngster). I also picked out some young Australian Pelicans amongst the largish group of adult birds on the sand island.