May 2026
26 May
I decided to go up to Lake Macquarie, as there was a report of an unusual booby hanging around Marks Point. After about an hour I bumped into some other birders, and a little bit later on we found it. Celebrations all round! It has since been confirmed (NB not by BARC as yet) to be a Cocos Booby, the first known record of one for Australia. As well as the usual cormorants, pelicans, gulls etc, there was a Pied Oystercatcher in the area.
25 May
There was no specific birdwatching activity today, but during my daily walk, this time around Booker Bay, I saw an out-of-season Sacred Kingfisher and a pair of Musk Lorikeets. Nice sightings!
21 May
I did my regular walk alongside Brisbane Water, going from Woy Woy to Blackwall. I only saw two pairs of Pied Oystercatchers (which is a low count for that locality) but there was a Little Heron and a couple of Caspian Terns, also two Long-billed Corellas were feeding on the ground and three Musk Lorikeets whizzed through. Right at the start there was a large group of egrets, all of them hunting in shallow water fringing on Pelican Island. There were ten Great Egrets and eight Little Egrets (plus there were a few Little Pied Cormorants). I didn't see anything being caught but I assume there was a run of fish happening.
20 May
I surveyed two more sites in Brisbane Water National Park, and then visited the arboretum at Pearl Beach. There were good numbers of honeyeaters around but nothing out of the ordinary. A Superb Lyrebird was calling at the arboretum but I wasn't able to lay eyes upon it. There had been some discussion recently on the Hunterbirding chat group about the Merlin bird identification app so I used it today. It worked well in Costa Rica two and a half years ago but back then when I tried Merlin in Australia (using it locally) it wasn't very good. It performed far better this time, certainly earning a pass mark (but definitely not a distinction). It was a complete failure with Little Wattlebirds. At one point I was standing right by a calling bird but the app didn't recognise it. I had several similar situations (and a couple of time it was incorrectly ID'd as a Red Wattlebird).
16 May
Ross and I did the monthly Ash Island survey. It was an early morning start and very foggy, which complicated our work. We found no migratory shorebirds, but there were 90+ Pied Stilts present and we saw three Red-capped Plovers. Teal were present in good numbers, with 600+ Chestnut Teal and almost 200 Grey Teal. On Swan Pond there was a pair of Australasian Shovelers too. In April we had eight raptor species, but only one this time - singles of Whistling Kite, two sightings.
15 May
I visited the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland for my monthly survey. There were two Australian Brushturkeys - one looked to be an immature bird (maybe a young female). There were some Scarlet Myzomelas around plus a young Australian Golden Whistler and some Grey Fantails.
13 May
I surveyed the Warrah Trig section of Brisbane Water National Park. There were quite a few honeyeaters although probably fewer than I was expecting. However, there were plenty of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters on migration passage, also lesser numbers of Silvereyes and Noisy Friarbirds. The highlight came leat in the morning - there was a Rockwarbler near the Warrah Lookout (although I only heard it). I went around to Patonga afterwards,but that was very quiet.
6 May
It was the HBOC 50th Anniversary Gala Night, held at the Newcastle Town Hall. And what a wonderful night it was - with lots of fun, lots of reminiscing, plenty of good food and drink, and the chance to catch up with so many old friends. Margaret and I had a great time, and so did everyone else judging by all the comments made on Hunterbirding over the ensuing days.
5 May
I surveyed three sites in Brisbane Water National Park in the morning - the Pearl Caves area and then around Coora Swamp. Noisy Friarbirds were by far the dominant species especially in the Coora Swamp area. Overall, I found very few birds that weren't some sort of honeyeater.
1 May
I did the walk from Woy Woy to Blackwall, alongside Brisbane Water. There were nine Caspian Terns on the jetty where last month there were five of them. I also found 13 Pied Oystercatchers, including there were five birds together on a jetty (plus there were four scattered pairs elsewhere). My highlight was a pair of Scaly-breasted Lorikeets - it's only the second time I have found them on the Central Coast. The Mallard count was down to 73 birds, and there were only four Black Swans around.
April 2026
28 April
I did my quarterly visit to the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland site. Species diversity/richness was higher than usual, including there were at least four Grey Fantails and at least a couple of Australian Golden Whistlers plus some Brown Thornbills.
25-27 April
Eight of us spent three days on Broughton Island doing the regular quarterly visit and the associated activities. We saw nine raptor species including a first-time (for the island) visit by a Grey Goshawk and an adult Brahminy Kite (this species is now a regular autumn visitor). There were at least two Brown Goshawks, and four White-bellied Sea Eagles. The high raptor diversity was probably associated with the large numbers of dead and dying Wedge-tailed Shearwater chicks (a typical late autumn phenomenon, becasue the adults have departed and the chicks aren't being fed). Australian Ravens (there was a total of nine birds present) were also feasting upon the chicks. Pacific Reef Herons were missing until almost the end, when I saw a pair flying away towards North Rock. A Mistletoebird was present - it was only the second time that we have recorded it in 14 years of surveys.
23-24 April
I had a couple of unexpected days in Port Stephens, having gone up there for a pelagic trip, which was cancelled, and for a trip to Broughton Island, which got postponed by a day. I visited a few spots in Tomaree National Park, only finding some common species. There were Blue-faced Honeyeaters around my motel and I saw them elsewhere too, and I saw a Sooty Oystercatcher near Barry Park (Fingal Bay).
21 April
I surveyed two sites in Brisbane Water National Park and then wend to the Pearl Beach arboretum. The honeyeater numbers are rising, from birds passing through on migration. In particular there were quite a few Scarlet Myzomelas at the arboretum.
18 April
Five of us went to Ash Island for the monthly waterbirds survey. We found only two migratory shorebirds, singles of Far Eastern Curlew and Pacific Golden Plover, but some Pied Stilts have returned - we had them at various locations, and almost 100 birds overall. We also found a group of five Red-capped Plovers. Raptors were a feature of the survey - we saw Brown Falcon, Australian Hobby, Brown Goshawk, Black-shouldered Kite, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Whistling Kite, Nankeen Kestrel and Swamp Harrier during the morning.
15-17 April
I packed up at Martindale after lunch and made my way to McCullys Gap. I stopped at the Denman sand quarry en route, finding four Great Crested Grebes on the water and numerous roosting Royal Spoonbills and Australasian Darters, plus some other waterbirds. At McCullys Gap there were White-winged Choughs and Blue-faced Honeyeaters around the campsite, and many Red-rumped Parrots, plus a solitary Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater was regularly present. A large flock of Musk Lorikeets flew over me during a survey on the first morning and I saw some other small groups of them. On Thursday night a Barn Owl called briefly (one of the others also heard it the night before). Highlights on Friday morning included Buff-rumped Thornbills, Red-browed Finches and Zebra Finches. The team recorded 90 species (62 species for me) during the visit. On my way into Newcastle to stop for the night, I checked out Doughboy Hollow and found about 100 Plumed Whistling-ducks.
13-15 April
On Monday morning I walked from Woy Woy to Blackwall alongside Brisbane Water. There were four Caspian Terns on a jetty - my first record of them for their autumn-winter coastal visit. Also there were five Pied Oystercatchers on the sandbank and another two pairs closer to Woy Woy. The sandbank had nine White-faced Herons, which is unusual (for there).
I headed to Martindale in the afternoon for the quarterly surveys. On my way I stopped at Jerrys Plains cemetery, where I found a female Red-capped Robin. A slashed paddock at Bureen had 34 Australian Magpies walking over it and three raptor species flying over - Black Kite, Whistling Kite and Brown Falcon. At Martindale we found more than 90 species (83 for me) with my records including Grey-crowned Babbler, Rockwarbler, Restless Flycatcher, Yellow-tufted Honeyeater and much more. There were a couple of good highlights on the Wednesday morning - three Gang-gang Cockatoos landed briefly in a tree at the campsite and later in the morning we saw a Spotted Harrier on a fence post.
10 April
I surveyed my sites in the Warrah Trig area of Brisbane Water National Park. There were plenty of honeyeaters but not much else around, although I did hear a Red Wattlebird, which isn't a common species there. I finished up at Patonga and found an Australian Brush-turkey.
8-9 April
I went up to Newcastle for the HBOC meeting, at which the main talk was about the Australian Paintedsnipe. They have learned a lot about this rare species in the past handful of years but there is still much more to be discovered. On my way north I called in at the Ourimbah Rest Area, where I found a Red-whiskered Bulbul. On my way south on Thursday morning I went to the Ourimbah RTA Reserve. I saw lots of Yellow-throated Scrubwrens there, and the Eastern Whipbirds seemed to be just about everywhere.
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Mudgee/Dubbo/Appletree Flat trip: 29 March to 6 April
Margaret and I went to Mudgee, staying for two nights, then to Gulgong for three nights and then we had three nights camping at Appletree Flat (near Jerrys Plains) with the Hunter Bird Observers Club.
29 March
En route to Mudgee we stopped at Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve for an hour or so. It was mid-afternoon, so quietish, but I found a bit over 20 species including some Speckled Warblers, in with a flock of Yellow-rumped Thornbills. The dominant honeyeater was the Yellow-faced Honeyeater, but there also were several Eastern Spinebills. Our cabin in Mudgee was by the river and I went for a late afternoon walk beside it. There were Pacific Black Ducks and Maned Ducks, and various other common species. I saw a group of 11 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, which I thought was unremarkable but Birdata challenged it as being out of range. Not so!
30 March
I went back to Munghorn Gap Nature Reserve for the morning. The best extra from yesterday was a Buff-rumped Thornbill. I found Speckled Warblers again (at a couple of locations) and there were several Superb Lyrebirds calling - I got close to one of them before it twigged my presence. I also had a Wedge-tailed Eagle fly over. Late afternoon back in Mudgee I did the riverside walk again, finding some White-winged Choughs that had eluded me the day before.
31 March
I did the riverside walk again before we departed Mudgee, finding most of the birds from the previous occasions. On our way to Gulgong we stopped at Pucca Bucca Wetlands. Highlights here included a pair of Eastern Shrike-tits and some Tree Martins and Red- browed Finches. There were more Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, and once again Birdata reckoned they were out of range. We got to Gulgong late morning and settled into our cottage at the showgrounds. There was a clan of Apostlebirds on the oval when we arrived but I didn’t see them again. Spent much of the afternoon enjoying the Superb Fairywrens in the garden and hopping over the veranda.
1 April
I spent the morning birding along Durridgere Rd and Smedes Lane. I found a couple of Emus early on (at about the usual spot) and alos a couple of groups of Grey-crowned Babblers. A pair of Red-winged Parrots whizzed through while I was at the Ridgy-Didge spot. Jacky Winters and Superb Fairywrens were quite common everywhere that I went, but alas I couldn’t find any other robin species ( nor, any other wren species). Also, no songlarks or bushlarks - but I did get onto some White-winged Trillers (heard only, though).
2 April
There was no specific birdwatching activity today, I just hung around Gulgong all day. However, I did see some Common Blackbirds in a park in town - which was a year-tick for me.
3-6 April
From Gulgong we went to The Drip, in Goulburn River National Park near Ulan, and did the walk to the end. Margaret saw a Rockwarbler but I only heard one. There were a couple of Australian King Parrots around and I saw a Fan-tailed Cuckoo plus various small birds. At the Cassilis Rest Area I found Weebills and Yellow-rumped Thornbills plus many Superb Fairywrens. We drove on to Jerrys Plains and then to Appletree Flat and joined the Hunter Bird Observers Club. We stayed until Monday morning, with me doing various walks around the immediate area and one expedition up the hill into the higher parts of Wollemi National Park. I saw a couple of Superb Lyrebirds and heard several more, and a pair of Scarlet Robins up the hill (along with numerous Pied Currawongs and White-eared Honeyeaters. Around the campsite there were Grey-crowned Babblers, Speckled Warblers, Yellow-rumped Thornbills and more (although, not a lot more). At night we heard Powerful Owls and Australian Boobooks. The group overall found 82 species - a reasonable tally considering how dry it was and thus there were no waterbirds on the list.
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March 2026
24 March
I went to the Central Coast bird club’s meeting at Tuggerah in the evening - for an interesting talk by a Bush Heritage person about properties they manage in the channel country of north-west NSW. Before the meeting I visited a couple of locations (Ourimbah RTA Reserve, McPhersons Swamp) without finding much.
21 March
I went to Newcastle to do the monthly survey of Ash Island, joned by Ross and Emily this time. We found four Far Eastern Curlews - quite a drop on last month's count of them. There probably won't be any next month. The other shorebirds were a group of 17 Pacific Golden Plovers on Phoenix Flat, seven Black-fronted Dotterels at a swale behind Teal Waters and a solitary Pied Stilt on the main ponds. A couple of the plovers were in full breeding plumage, and looking beautiful. One of the plainer birds had leg flags, and we spenf 15-20 minutes trying to get a photo in which the tag ID could be read. We were only partially successful, unfortunately. We only found three species of duck, with Chestnut Teal being the dominant one - about 350 birds overall.
18 March
In the afternoon I had a meeting at a cafe near Empire Bay, to discuss results from the Brisbane Water surveys that they do. I've been helping to analyse the data. Before the meeting I stopped at the foreshore area - the highlight probably was a pair of Chestnut Teal (it's nice to see something that's now a Mallard!)
17 March
I did my approximately fortnightly walk alongside Brisbane Water, from Woy Woy to Blackwall. There was a Bar-tailed Godwit out on the sandbank, along with a dozen Pied Oystercatchers plus the usual pelicans and swans. I also saw a Little Heron and a Long-billed Corella.
16 March
I went to the Warrah Trig Rd section of Brisbane Water National Park. There was a lot of blossom, and honeyeaters were present in reasonable numbers although only the usual species. All morning I saw White-throated Needletails, usually only 10 or so at a time but perhaps 80-100 birds all up. There were a couple of Pacific Swifts amongst them. A Brush Bronzewing flew directly over the top of me at not a great height - which was a surprise in every way, as I hadn't seen or heard one all year until today. There also was a Pied Butcherbird - a rarity in the Woy Woy peninsula area. I finished up at Patonga, where there were no cormorants (very unusual) but there was a group of four Greater Crested Terns roosting on one of the boats.
13 March
I did my monthly surveys of the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland. I found a group of five Variegated Fairywrens in the burnt area - they were close to where I had some birds last month (and pretty soon they were back into that exact spot). There also were a couple of White-browed Scrubwrens present. I had great views of a male Australian Golden Whistler and of a pair of Lewin's Honeyeaters.
11 March
I went to the Central Coast Wetlands just before lunch. There were Tawny Grassbirds calling from their usual areas and I had a nice view of a female Satin Bowerbird. Also there was a Royal Spoonbill feeding in some pretty soupy water. I had an appointment in Newcastle and had planned to do the Macquarie Pier walk beforehand - unfortunately there were workers doing something or other, and the walkway was closed to pedestrians. That evening I went to the HBOC meeting where Andrea Griffin gave a terrific presentation about her group's work on shorebirds.
10 March
I did another three surveys today - two at the Van Dahls Track in Brisbane Water National Park and then at the arboretum at Pearl Beach. I found some Red-browed Finches at the former and later some Variegated Fairywrens. The highlight for me at the arboretum was a Rufous Fantail, which offered me long and frequent views as it flittered about in vegetaion by the creek.
6 March
I went to three of my sites in Brisbane Water National Park - the Pearl Caves area and then the Coora Swamp area. There was a Superb Lyrebird near the caves and a Scarlet Honeyeater later. There was some blossom and quite a few honeyeaters, but mostly only it was the two of yellow-winged variety.
2 March
I went to the rainforest area at Ourimbah (aka the RTA Reserve). The highlight for me was to see a Green Catbird - only my second sighting of one on the Central Coast. There also were Yellow-throated Scrubwrens and White-browed Scrub-wrens, a couple of Australian Brush-turkeys, and an elusive Rufous Fantail. I also visited the Ourimbah Rest Area and did the walk from there - it was really quiet.
February 2026
24 February
In the morning I did the walk from Woy Woy to Blackwall. There were nine Pied Oystercatchers ot on the sandbank along with a Far Eastern Curlew, and there was one Long-billed Corella foraging on the grass. Late afternoon I was at the Central Coast Wetlands in Wyong where there were a few dozen Eastern Cattle Egrets loafing and a Plumed Egret. There also was a group of six Long-billed Corellas foraging under the fig trees. That evening I went to the meeting of the Central Coast branch of Birding NSW. It was a long meeting that I didn't get a lot out of!
19 February
I did my surveys of the Warrah Trig area of Brisbane Water National Park. The honeyeater numbers have risen, and there was some blossom about, but there weren't many birds. Afterwards I went to Patonga, where the usual group of cormorants were perched on boats out on the water.
18 February
I surveyed the Umina Coastal Sandplainn Woodland - where the highlight was a small group of Variegated Fairywrens.
16 February
Today was the summer survey of Port Stephens, with the usual late hiccups etc occurring but we juggled things around and were able to get it all done. My boat, with Callum and three NPWS staff, was about an hour late getting into the water. They dropped me on Corrie Island, which I walked while the others went off to do Charlie sector. I had a long wait before they collected me but the waiting conditions were pleasant. I found many birds during my survey including 45 Far Eastern Curlews, about 240 Bar-tailed Godwits, ten Eurasian Whimbrels, 15-20 or so each of Pied Oystercatchers and Sooty Oystercatchers, also several Little Terns and Caspian Terns and at least one Common Tern (I saw single birds twice). The highlight though was a pair of Beach Stone-curlews.
13-14 February
On Friday morning I surveyed the Van Dahls section of Brisbane Water National Park - it was incredibly quiet - and then I went to Crommelin Arboretum at Pearl Beach. There was a Superb Lyrebird calling plus I saw three Australian Brush-turkeys. Late afternoon I drove to Newcastle so that next day I could do the Ash Island survey next morning. Ross and I did the survey accompanied by many mosquitoes. There were hardly any shorebirds - apart from Far Eastern Curlews that is; we saw 16 including a flock of 9 birds together at Fish Fry Flats. There was also a solitary Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. We saw four species of raptor - Black-shouldered Kite, Swamp Harrier, White-bellied Sea Eagle and a pair of Brown Falcons. There were about 300 Chestnut Teal and 100 or so Grey Teal, but not much else by way of ducks. We flushed a Little Heron at Fish Fry Flats.
11-12 February
In the morning I did some of my monthly surveys of Brisbane Water National Park - Pearl Caves and then Coora Swamp. All sites were quiet. Later, I drove to Newcastle for HBOC’s AGM. I dropped in at Stockton Sandspit en route - there were 70 or so Far Eastern Curlews and 300+ Bar-tailed Godwits, but not much more. However there was a solitary Red Knot plus two Pied Oystercatchers.
The AGM was a disappointment, but life goes on! Next day I joined a videoconference for the Rufous Scrub-bird Recovery Project Team. That was very much a positive for the day, and also I was pleased that Simon Ferrier has joined the team.
10 February
In a break in the month’s crappy weather (usually either too hot or too cold) I did the Woy Woy to Blackwall walk. It was at low tide and so that will have affected things. I only found two Pied Oystercatchers compared with 22 of them on my previous walk. I did see one Far Eastern Curlew - it was out on the sandbank.
6 February
I tried some sites to my north, that I hadn’t been to for well over a year. Firstly, Cockle Bay Nature Reserve. It continues to be badly overgrown and not maintained, so I couldn’t explore much of it. However, I did find two Little Herons (one adult, one immature) down by the water. Then, I did the Daleys Point fire trail in Bouddi National Park. It was totally dead - I only recorded six species in my 2km walk.
January 2026
28 January
In the morning I did the Woy Woy to Blackwall walk once again. In total there were 22 Pied Oystercatchers, including 14 on the sandbank and elsewhere there was a pair with an immature. The Black Swans were present in force - I counted 136 of them. Near to Blackwall I could hear three Pacific Koels calling simultaneously - I suppose at least one of them was a youngster.
27 January
In the morning I did a couple more surveys in Brisbane Water National Park (it was quiet there) and then went around to the arboretum at Pearl Beach. That was far from quiet - due to cicadas plus some grass-cutting activities. There was much evidence of damage from the big storm of the week before. Bird-wise it was OK though, and my highlight was to see two separate Superb Lyrebirds. In the afternoon I visited the Tuggerah salt marsh area - it was heavily under water and there weren't many birds, but a pair of Black-necked Storks were busy fishing in the shallowish water (and having interactions with a Little Egret that was trying to do the same). Then I went to the Central Coast Wetlands, where I found 27 species including some Eastern Cattle Egrets and a Torresian Crow (plus there was a pair of Australian Ravens). In the evening I went to the meeting of the Central Coast branch of Birding NSW. It was members night (ie no guest speaker). I was presented with the Alan Morris Award, for doing the most Birdata surveys in the Central Coast in 2025.
23 January
I surveyed the Pearl Caves area of Brisbane Water National Park, followed by a visit to the Coora Swamp area. There were Brown Cuckoo-Doves at Pearl Beach. I heard a Chestnut-rumped Heathwren at Coora Swamp, and then in the nearby nextsurvey I heard and then briefly saw a second one of them.
22 January
I did my monthly surveys of the Warrah Trig section of Brisbane Water National Park. It was better birdig than for my Decmber visit, but still it was rather quiet. The highlight was a Glossy Black Cockatoo - which I heard and then managed to track down just as it flew away. I also found a group of five Variegated Fairywrens - it's always a pleasure to see those. Afterwards I went around to Patonga, where the highlight was a pair of Eastern Whipbirds feeding a youngster. There also was a Superb Lyrebird near the boatramp area (although, not visible).
17 January
Three of us did the Ash Island survey as part of HBOC's monthly survey of the Hunter Estuary. The main ponds were just about deserted and we hardly found a shorebird anywhere - except for Far Eastern Curlews. we had seven of those at the Milhams/Phoenix wetlands and ten more at Fish Fry Flats. There were many Great Egrets - we counted 31 of them - and we also found a Plumed Egret as well as a few Little Egrets. A highlight was all the honeyeaters feeding on Kangaroo Apples - there were two Lewin's Honeyeaters and a Striped Honeyeater, and also two Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters. We found two Caspian Terns at Fish Fry Flats, and we saw two groups of Brown Quail during our travels.
14-16 January
From Martindale I went to McCullys Gap via Denman, where I checked out the cemetery (it was quiet) and the sand quarry. At the latter there was a Great Crested Grebe - a surprise to see - and three Yellow-billed Spoonbills as well as various of the more common waterbirds. There were numerous Australian King Parrots around our campsite at McCullys Gap all the time, and a couple of Oriental Dollarbirds. We also had visits from a Grey Goshawk (once only, it was a new bird for our surveys) and a group of three Wedge-tailed Eagles (several times). I saw a Black Kite, which was another new bird for our surveys, and later the three of us heard and then found a Singing Bushlark. Every day we encountered many small flocks of Musk Lorikeets whizzing through (at least 100 birds overall) and there also were some Rainbow Lorikeets. Rainbow Bee-eaters had nests at the Wells Gully Rd site and were regularly bringing in large dragonflies. The overall list was 83 species; 71 of those were seen by me.
12-14 January
On Monday morning I did my surveys of the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland. I saw two Australian Brush-turkeys together and there was vocal Golden Whistler within the burnt area. In the afternoon I drove to the Martindale Valley to join the HBOC team for the quarterly surveys. The first night we heard White-throated Nightjar, Australian Owlet-nightjar and Tawny Frogmouth, and both the nightjars called again on the second night. Paddocks on the property where we stayed had about 90 Little Ravens on the first two days of our visit. Overall we recorded 99 species, with my personal tally being 81 species. Highlights included Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters, Grey-crowned Babblers, Jacky Winters and Brown Treecreepers.
11 January
I did the Woy Woy to Blackwall walk alongside Brisbane Water, in cool conditions after several very hot days. I recorded more than 30 species, including there were two Bar-tailed Godwits feeding out on the edge of the sandbank and a total of three Pied Oystercatchers. The Mallard count was again over 100.