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.