I only update the gallery photos occasionally. Sorry about that, too busy. See my Sri Lanka gallery though and also the latest additions to my UK and Denmark galleries.
June 2025
26 June
I walked from Woy Woy to Blackwall alongside Brisbane Water. I found a pair of Australian Pied Oystercatchers roosting on the roof of a boat, and another two discrete pairs of them further along. There were eight Caspian Terns roosting together on a jetty. There were no Black Swans at all - that happened last winter too. I wonder if it's the norm?
25 June
I surveyed the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodlands this morning, with the highlight being several Scarlet Honeyeaters.
24 June
I surveyed my sites in the Warrah Trig section of Brisbane Water National Park. I saw plenty of honeyeaters including some White-naped Honeyeaters, which I don't find often in the national park, and there were many Eastern Spinebills too (plus of course all of the Yellow-faced Honeyeaters etc). Heading south from the Trig Point, a male Superb Lyrebird crossed the track right in front of me - that was probably my highlight for the morning. I finished up at Patonga, which was quiet.
20-22 June
Seven of us from HBOC spent three days on Broughton Island for the winter visit. There was a Double-banded Plover on the main beach (Providence Beach) on all three days, along with a group of 8-10 Red-capped Plovers and fluctuating numbers of Sooty Oystercatchers - I estimated that 25 individuals of these were on the island. A pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagles were around all the time, and some Swamp Harriers, and we had several sightings of a Brown Goshawk. The raptor highlight was a young Brahminy Kite - we had several sightings of it on the final day. A couple of times I saw a Willie Wagtail that we had colour-banded about 12 months ago (during the winter 2024 visit) and we had a wintering Grey Fantail too, plus a Golden Whistler. Red-browed Finches were very obvious, with a flock of 15-20 of them often seen around the huts and some smaller groups of them sighted elsewhere. The whale activity was amazing - so many Humpbacks seen!
17 June
I surveyed another two sites in Brisbane Water National Park plus went to the Pearl Beach arboretum. I heard a couple of Glossy Black-Cockatoos in the national park but wasn't able to set eyes upon them. Once again, there were lots of honeyeaters - all of them very active.
14 June
Andrzej and I surveyed Ash Island as part of the monthly estuary survey. The highlight was a flock of 34 Bar-tailed Godwits on Fish Fry Flats - we don't often get that species on Ash Island particularly as a winter record. There was a group of three Australasian Shovelers amongst a larger bunch of ducks (which mostly were Grey Teal), and the only raptor we saw was a Black-shouldered Kite. Afterwards, we met Ann for lunch at the Wetlands Centre - the big group of Magpie Geese were still present.
11-12 June
I went up to Newcastle for the HBOC meeting - the guest speaker talked about her seabird studies in Antarctica. On the Wednesday afternoon I walked around the Wetlands Centre - going all the way to the rainforest area. The birding was quiet, and I found nothing exceptional (although there were good numbers of Magpie Geese). On Thursday morning I went to Hexham Swamp - there were several White-necked Herons during the approach section and also a Swamp Harrier. I saw a White-bellied Sea-Eagle and a Black-shouldered Kite at the main swamp, also a solitary Pied Stilt.
10 June
I walked from Woy Woy to Blackwall alongside Brisbane Water. I found fifteen Caspian Terns; almost all of those were roosting together on a jetty alongside a pair of Australian Pied Oystercatchers. There was another pair of the latter a bit further along (on another jetty) and later I found a group of thirteen Australian Wood Ducks.
6 June
I surveyed three sites in Brisbane Water National Park - the Pearl Caves area and then the Coora Swamp area. There was a Brown Cuckoo-Dove at Pearl Caves - the first one I've had there in quite a while. Once again there were plenty of honeyeaters at Coora Swamp, including a group of four Brown Honeyeaters - I haven't had them at that site before.
5 June
I tried out the Cockle Bay Nature Reserve in the morning but the tracks were even more overgrown than the previous time I went there. I also called in at Empire Bay, where I found two separate pairs of Australian Pied Oystercatchers.
3 June
I had to be in Newcastle in the evening for a discussion about the Broughton Island project. On my way to that, I stopped at the Central Coast Wetlands (near Wyong), then Colongra Swamp Nature Reserve (near Lake Munmorah) and finally at Pirrita Island near Swansea. The birding was quiet everywhere but I had some pleasing raptor views - White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Whistling Kite and Swamp Harrier at the Central Coast Wetlands and then a Black Kite not long before Colongra Swamp NR.