Thinking About Birds

December 2024

16 December

I did my surveys of the Warrah Trig area of Brisbane Water National Park. My highlight was to see a Glossy Black-Cockatoo - I could hear what was probably two birds, way off from the track, and eventually managed a distant view of one of them. I heard a Brush Bronzewing, and there were several Pheasant Coucals calling. I finished my morning at Patonga, counting the gulls and cormorants (not that there were many).

14 December

Ross and I did the monthly survey of Ash Island. We got away to a great start - by seeing two Buff-banded Rails out in the open at the almost dry Northern Swale area, and then there was an Osprey at the nearby nest site. We found four Far Eastern Curlews at Milhams Pond but the highlight for migratory species was on Swan Pond where we had ten or so each of the two common local godwits (Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwit) and about 70 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. There were 600 or so Pied Stilts, but no avocets (last month we had about 20 of them). At Phoenix Flats, there was a Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater - my first ever coastal sighting of one. We also saw a pair of Chestnut-breasted Mannikins, near the Bellfrog Wetland, and several groups of Fairy Martins and Tree Martins.

11-12 December

Wednesday morning I went to two more of my Brisbane Water National Park sites, plus the Pearl Beach Arboretum. The cicadas were a problem and I didn't find many birds - the hightlight was to hear a Brush Bronzewing. In the afternoon I went to Karigi Point at The Entrance, to check out the Little Tern breeding colony. There were at least a couple of hundred of them, many sitting (on eggs?) and many othersflying around noisily. I saw a Bar-tailed Godwit there and a Red-capped Plover. It's a tough location for ether of those species to be hanging around! On Wednesday night I attended the HBOC Christmas meeting - everyone was in a happy mood and it was a great night. On my way home on Thursday I stopped in at the Pioneer Dairy Wetlands in Wyong, where I saw a Wood Sandpiper for the first time there. Many people have told me about it - apparentlyit's been an annual visitor there, which at last I have caught up with.

10 December

I surveyed my sites at Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodlands. The cicada activity level was high, making it quite difficult to hear birds. But, there probably weren’t many present in any case (I certainly didn’t find many). My highlight was a male Australian Brush-turkey attending its mound. I spent the late morning doing follow-up paperwork in relation to the Broughton Island trip.

9 December

I did three sites in Brisbane Water National Park from my monthly survey regime. They were quiet for birds plus there was a fair bit of cicada activity in the woodland areas. My highlight was to have two Chestnut-rumped Heathwrens, almost together - with one bird seen briefly a couple of times. They were either a pair or an adult plus an offspring.

5-8 December

On Thursday morning I was in a Teams meeting for the Rufous Scrub-bird Recovery Project. I expressed my concerns that some people may be mis-identifying calls of other species, which will create a wrong impression about their numbers. I spent the night at Nelson Bay, ready for a 3-day trip to Broughton Island starting early the next morning. There were seven of us from HBOC doing the usual mix of surveys and banding. Unusually there were Tree Martins around - about 20 birds and present all weekend. We visited the Gould’s Petrel nest boxes, finding four birds and three eggs. On our way there, a flock of White-throated Needletails flew through and we had Peregrine Falcons wheeling above us at the top, along with a fledged youngster. The Sooty Oystercatchers were paired off and at least one pair had a nest with eggs. There were at least three Eastern Reef Egrets, and six Little Penguins came ashore on Saturday night. The Osprey pair had two youngsters, which seemingly fledged on the day of our arrival. Raptors were in short supply but we reached six species with late sightings of Brown Goshawk and Black-shouldered Kite.

On my way home I stopped at Stockton Sandspit, where it was high tide and there were roosting Far Eastern Curlews, Pacific Golden Plovers, Curlew Sandpipers and Red-necked Avocets, and Grey-tailed Tattlers around the corner.

November 2024

24 November

I took my daughter to the Warrah Trig area in an attempt to show her a Brush Bronzewing. Alas, the birds were silent, unlike on Friday. I did briefly here one late in the visit but it was distant and did not call for long. In compensation we had a sensational and long view of a Rockwarbler, almost at our feet at times. A Fork-tailed Swift flew over, as did a Whistling Kite, and we had nice views of a pair of Scarlet Honeyeaters (in particular, the male, quite close) and later a pair of White-eared Honeyeaters. We finished up at Patonga where there was another Whistling Kite plus the usual Australian Pelicans, Great Pied Cormorants, etc.

22 November

Today I did my surveys in the Warrah Trig area of Brisbane Water National Park. There is no significant blossom and so once again the honeyeater activity level was rather low. A highlight was a group of three Glossy Black-Cockatoos - I had terrific views of them up close. There also were at least three calling Brush Bronzewings, and eventually I had a view of one of them, high in a tree. It’s always so hard to pin down where the call is coming from. I also heard several Pheasant Coucals - I no longer even try to track those down!

18 November

I walked home from Woy Woy via the Brisbane Water esplanade. The highlight was a Common Sandpiper - my first local record of one. It was briefly on a jetty right in front of me - and then, it disappeared! I also saw two pairs of Australian Pied Oystercatchers and a Long-billed Corella. I couldn’t see any additional migratory shorebirds despite looking hard for them.

16 November

In the morning three of us did the monthly Ash Island survey. We found about 500 Pied Stilts - that’s by far the biggest count of them on Ash Island for well over a year. With them were eight Red-necked Avocets - it’s probably a couple of years since we’ve had any of them there. We found nine Far Eastern Curlews, at scattered locations, and we had Buff-banded Rails at two spots. There were flocks of 20-30 Fairy Martins at three spots, and we saw Golden-headed Cisticolas bringing food to a probable nest. White-necked Herons have returned - we had about 20 of them overall.

Mid-afternoon I joined an HBOC cruise around Port Stephens, run to celebrate 20 years of the surveys there that I run. The Kushiro delegation joined us, plus Susanne representing NPWS. It was low tide, hence difficult to see birds, but we did see some including a Brahminy Kite and several Ospreys, also a couple each of Australian Pied Oystercatchers and Far Eastern Curlews. After getting the visitors onto a private bus at the end of the cruise, I briefly joined Margaret at a BBQ event for a second group of visiting Japanese.

15 November

In the morning I went to Stockton Sandspit. It was right on high tide, so there were plenty of birds but not much activity from them. Shorebirds present were Far Eastern Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Pacific Golden Plover, Curlew Sandpiper and at least one Red Knot. I also found a couple of Grey-tailed Tattlers roosting in a mangrove. Later I went to Stockton Breakwater where there were two distressed Short-tailed Shearwaters sitting on the water, as well as the usual gulls, terns and cormorants.

In the afternoon I was at a “sharing meeting” at the Wetlands Centre, related to a visit by people from Kushiro (including some we met during our visit there last year). I presented about HBOC’s wetlands monitoring activities.

14 November

I went to the Gloucester Tops today. I checked out various sites for Rufous Scrub-birds, finding birds at two of them. There was a pair of Eastern Shrike-tits at one spot, quite vocal, and a silent Rose Robin there too. I heard a Bassian Thrush and there were several Superb Lyrebirds, but there were no indications of any of the Gloucester Tops special birds.

13 November

I drove up to Newcastle, stopping at the Wyong Wetland first, and later at the Hunter Wetlands Centre. I saw a Buff-banded Rail at Wyong, and 30-40 Magpie Geese at Shortland, but otherwise things were quiet at both locations. There was a Square-tailed Kite over the freeway somewhere around Morisset. In the evening I went to the HBOC meeting - there was an interesting talk about how Jacky Winters (in particular) respond to extreme heat waves.

8 November

In the morning I went to another two of my sites in Brisbane Water NP, and then to the Pearl Beach Arboretum. The latter had lots of noisy Rainbow Lorikeets, also a juvenile Little Wattlebird and five Australian Brush-turkeys. The national park wasn't highly active but I did see a pair of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos and a group of three Variegated Fairy-wrens.

7 November

Andrew McIntyre and I went to an AWC property near Stroud, where we shown around by their local ecologist. HBOC has been asked to help survey the bird populations on the property, and we were taking the first look at it. There were Golden Whistlers everywhere we went, and Eastern Yellow Robins were common too, and we had Brush Cuckoos at a couple of spots. We saw a Topknot Pigeon, and some White-throated Needletails were flying over. We heard a Paradise Riflebird, which apparently are relatively common on the property. It looks good for the various large forest owls.

4 November

In the morning I went to three of my sites in Brisbane Water NP. Highlights included great views of Variegated Fairy-wrens at two of them, some Striated Thornbills (I don’t find these often in my local patches) and Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos. There was a flock of eight of them at Coora Swamp, mostly they were down low and offering terrific views. At the spur site, I had a pair of them, with the male making constant softish noises and chattering (I think the female also was chattering).

1 November

I did my walk alongside Brisbane Water, from Woy Woy to Blackwall. There were two Australian Pied Oystercatchers on the roof of the fish co-op! And I saw two more pairs of them later. The pelican island had about 150 Australian Pelicans incusing some young ones, and also a group of five Bar-tailed Godwits. I also saw a group of three Long-billed Corellas, which were feeding on the ground with about a half dozen Little Corellas. The surprise sighting was a Short-tailed Shearwater - I first saw it flying low over the water and then it flopped down onto the water and just sat there bobbing around. It was still there when eventually I moved on.

October 2024

31 October

I went to the Wetlands Centre in Shortlandfor a lunchtime meeting of HBOC’s Research Subcommittee. On my way there I called in at the Ourimbah RTA Reserve. There were several singing Common Blackbirds in trees - and also some seen skulking in the undergrowth. Black-faced Monarchs were calling, and one briefly landed directly in front of me. There were many groups of White-browed Scrubwrens and I also saw two pairs of Yellow-throated Scrubwrens. I heard Wonga Pigeon, Rose Robin, Brown Cuckoo-dove and Shining Bronze-cuckoo and watched an Eastern Yellow Robin enter a barrel - to get a drink; the barrel was two thirds full of water. I then went to the Wyong Wetland - my third visit there this month. I found 39 species including singles of Black-fronted Dotterel, Buff-banded Rail, Plumed Egret and Great Egret.

28 October

I went off in the morning to explore the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland - it’s an EEC and partly fenced off by Council to help regrowth after a controlled burn. Birdwise there wasn’t much to see - I found a massive Australian Brush-turkey mound with an adult male actively attending to it, and also saw some Variegated Fairy-wrens. Afterwards I dropped in at Correa Reserve and found a Brown Honeyeater in the mangroves.

22 October

In the evening was the Central Coast group’s regular monthly meeting. I left home early afternoon, to go to it with some birding stops en route. I went first to the Tuggerah Lake salt marsh - that was bone dry and almost birdless but on the walk in I had an opportunity for a long look at a calling Brush Cuckoo. There also were Variegated Fairy-wrens and some Musk Lorikeets. My next stop was the South Wyong WWTP - out on the far pond I could see a large group of Hardheads plus some Hoary-headed Grebes and Eurasian Coots. Unfortunately the near pond had dried out and grassed over. From there I went to the Wyong Wetland which had a lot of water and no muddy margins. Highlights included a Buff-banded Rail, a brief sighting of a Latham’s Snipe, two Long-billed Corellas, and a White-necked Heron. I don’t see the latter often on the Central Coast. Finally, I visited the Don Small Reserve, at the junction of the river and lake. Although I found 20 species, this was remarkably quiet overall but I did find a solitary Pied Stilt there.

21 October

I did my monthly visit to the Warrah Trig area. Although it was a cool overcast day, the bird activity was remarkably low and there were hardly any honeyeaters. However, the morning started really well, with me hearing a Brush Bronzewing not long after I arrived, and soon afterwards a Lewin's Rail. The rail called for a long time and also it was responding to the call playback which I eventually tried. I did some bush-bashing in an attempt to see it, but that caused it to go silent. About ten minutes later the calling started up again - and then while listening to that, I saw a second bird dash across a small gap in the vegetation quite close to me. I finished up at Patonga where there were two Australian Brush-turkeys wandering around and one of the Masked Lapwing pairs had a small chick.

19 October

Three of us did the Ash Island survey, as part of the monthly Hunter Estuary surveying by HBOC members. We had Far Easten Curlews in small numbers at three locations, also a solitary Bar-tailed Godwit at Fish Fry Flats. Other shorebirds were Pied Stilts (a group of 86 birds) and three Red-capped Plovers. We had long look at a Buff-banded Rail, which flushed from our feet and landed 20m away, at a spot where it thought it was out of sight. All the waterbirds were only present in smallish numbers, but overall we managed to record 51 species for the morning (across all the guilds).

18 October

I walked from Woy Woy to home via the Brisbane Water path. There were three Bar-tailed Godwits on the sandbank, along with three Caspian Terns and a pair of Australian Pied Oystercatchers plus the usual large congregation of Australian Pelicans. There also were about 50 Black Swans - a big increase in numbers after several months with few or none. I saw a group of three Long-billed Corellas, and then a fourth bird a bit later. My very last sighting was a Buff-banded Rail - right where I've seen one a few times previously.

14-16 October

Three of us did the quarterly Martindale Valley surveys, camping at the far end of the valley. We recorded 117 species - a great result. Highlights for me included Hooded Robins, White-browed Babblers, White-winged Trillers, Varied Sittellas, Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters and Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters. At night there were a couple of Southern Boobooks calling regularly (the others also heard a White-throated Nightjar). At the wetlands I heard a Spotless Crake and later an Australian Spotted Crake.

11-13 October

Seven of us went to Broughton Island for a three day visit - yet another one of our quarterly visits. Ross and I climbed to Pinkatop where we tidied up around the various nest boxes plus inspected them. We found five Gould’s Petrels - there were pairs in two of the nest boxes and a solitary bird in another of them. We saw a Peregrine Falcon whizz by while we were there; also we had Whistling Kites, White-bellied Sea-Eagles, Swamp Harriers and Ospreys flying around. The Tawny Grassbirds were displaying and vocal, the Golden-headed Cisticolas less so but by no means unobtrusive. We had Red-browed Finches at the hut, and also a Willie Wagtail that had been colour banded on a visit about a year ago. The night finished by listening to calling Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. We continued our surveying and banding work for the next two days. Sooty Oystercatchers seemed not to be breeding yet and we were struggling to find many until I found 17 of them on Providence Beach at an intermediate tide. There were a couple of sightings of Eastern Reef Egrets - they weren’t plentiful. We heard Pheasant Coucals several times and there was probably more than just a pair. I spent much of Sunday trying to get views of colour bands or the band numbers of some of the Tawny Grassbirds - with only moderate success.

10 October

I went up to the Gloucester Tops for the day, with my main purpose being to check out some of the “probables” from the Rufous Scrub-bird surveys of a couple of weeks ago. I visited 9 such sites, and I was able to confirm the presence of two scrub-birds. Most of the other sites did not seem to be in suitable habitat. There weren’t a lot of other high altitude specialists, apart from Crescent Honeyeaters at one stage. I also heard Black-faced Monarchs at several locations - we only had them around the campsite (ie at much lower altitude) a couple of weeks ago.

9 October

It was somewhat of a busy day. In the morning I surveyed a couple more of my Brisbane Water NP sites (which were quiet) and then went to the Pearl Beach arboretum. Despite noisy tree felling operations on site, the birding was OK, with the highlight being a group of five Satin Bowerbirds feeding together. I also had a Channel-billed Cuckoo fly-by. Then I packed and headed north, with my first stop being the Wyong Wetlands. It was drizzling most of my visit but I soldiered on. I was delighted to see some Latham’s Snipe (six, in total) despite the high water level. I also had some White-breasted Woodswallows and Fairy Martins, and a solitary Long-billed Corella. I had to drive to Anna Bay then, to collect the keys for the Broughton Island trip. On my way back I called in at Stockton Sandspit. Fortunately it was still high tide and so I found lots of shorebirds - Far Eastern Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Pacific Golden Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Red Knot and Red-necked Stint. There also was a nesting Australian Pied Oystercatcher and a large accumulation of Australian Gull-billed Terns (my count was 56 of them).

In the evening I went to the HBOC meeting, which was a special event to celebrate 25 years of Hunter Estuary surveys. It all seemed to go well. There was a massive attendance - 75-80 people and it was standing room only. Apart from organising the speakers (ten of them), I did the wrap-up presentation.

8 October

After a week of misery (due to a bad cold) I ventured out to some Brisbane Water NP sites in the drizzly morning. At the Pearl Caves area, there were two noisy interacting Brown Cuckoo-Doves - I suspect that what I was seeing and hearing was some sort of breeding activity interaction - but I couldn't confirm that they were breeding. And then I heard and then saw a Rockwarbler at almost the same spot. It was exactly where I had seen one last month carrying nesting material; I now am quite sure that they have nested or are nesting there. But, it's not an easy place to watch unobtrusively. I then went to the Coora Swamp area - there was almost no honeyeater activity and I was finding things rather quiet. A couple of Rufous Whistlers were calling, and not much else. However, suddenly a couple of Pheasant Coucals spoke up - they were calling from close by each other and it was probably some sort of breeding interaction. I couldn't lay eyes upon them. And then, a Brush Bronzewing began calling - again, I couldn't track it down. Later, at a second site, I heard another of them.

1 October

In the afternoon I went around to Saratoga to borrow a book (about birds) from a friend. I stopped at a couple of waterfront spots in the Davistown/Saratoga area - I saw a group of 15 Bar-tailed Godwits plus there were 1-2 Australian Pied Oystercatchers at each stop. At Davistown I also had a Long-billed Corella.