August 2026
27 August
I walked from Woy Woy to Blackwall, alongside Brisbane Water, and found 34 species. I saw seven Pied Oystercatchers, a reasonable count, and the Caspian Terns were down to only two birds (which means that winter is nearly over). There was a single Long-billed Corella. Two pairs of Maned Ducks had ducklings - one pair had eight of them and the other pair had eleven!
25 August
There was no birding today as it was too wet, but in the evening I went to Tuggerah for the monthly meeting of the Central Coast branch of Birding NSW.
18 August
I did my surveys of the Warrah Trig section of Brisbane Water National Park. I had a calling Lewin's Rail at one of my sites - I approached to within 2-3m of it but never saw even a glimpse of it! The heath there was pretty thick. I found a Rockwarbler at the lookout - it passed right in front of me while I looked in admiration. Some Fan-tailed Cuckoos were vocal at a couple of places.
15 August
I did the Ash Island survey with Helen, a newbie. We found four Far Eastern Curlews at Milhams Pond - these must have been newly returned as there were none in the July survey. We didn't find any more shorebirds until nearly the end, where there was a flock of 11 Red-capped Plovers huddled together on the Fish Fry Flats track. When these flushed, two others came up from nearby and the whole group flew away together. Unusually, there were almost no ducks - just some scattered Pacific Black Ducks and no teals at all. Despite that, we found 45 species, and some of the highlights included a group of Variegated Fairywrens - these are not often recorded on Ash Island - and a Shining Bronze Cuckoo, which eventually posed well for us.
14 August
I walked from Woy Woy to Blackwall, alongside Brisbane Water, and found 28 species. There was a large flock of ground-foraging Long-billed Corellas - I counted 21 birds. That's easily the largest assemblage of them I've found locally.
12 August
I did my monthly surveys of the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland. I found 19 species which is rather good for that location. In the burnt area I had some Yellow Thornbills - a first-time record for these here - and Variegated Fairywrens which have been there several times now. There was also a male Superb Fairywren in the area - an eclipse-plumage bird that perhaps was on the roam.By my reckoning there were six Australian Golden Whistlers overall, which is a great tally. They were quite vocal.
11 August
I surveyed my two sites along the van Dahl's Trail in Brisbane Water National Park and then went around to the Pearl Beach Arboretum. I found 29 species of which the Rose Robin and Brown Cuckoo-Dove were the highlights.
6 August
I surveyed three sites in Brisbane Water National Park- the Pearl caves area and then up at Coora Swamp. I found 24 species, with highlights including Brown Cuckoo-Dove and an Australian Brushturkey.The Scarlet Myzomelas around Pearl Caves were vocal.
3 August
It was the annual winter survey of Port Stephens, with teams of HBOC members in boats (with skippers organised by NSW NPWS) covering all of the estuary. I went on foot to a couple of places around Swan Bay that can't be seen properly from a boat. I was with Pip from NPWS. It was a slog through the mud, but it was well worthwhile as we found groups of Double-banded Plovers, Red-capped Plovers and Pacific Golden Plovers, all a long way from the shoreline. Other sightings were an Osprey and a White-bellied Sea Eagle, and a very distant flock of 18 Far Eastern Curlews in flight. Afterwards I went around to the NPWS Anna Bay offices to join the others for lunch and debrief. Now, my job is to collate and interpret the results.
July 2026
21-24 July
Over these days I completed all my monthly surveys of sites in Brisbane Water National Park. Highlights included a flock of 26 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos one morning and a group of six of them the following day, two Glossy Black Cockatoos (together, both were males), pairs of Rockwarblers at two locations, and plenty of honeyeaters.
20 July
I surveyed my sites in the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland. Overall, I found 18 species which is good for that location. Unusually, the burnt area had some birds - eleven species including Variegated Fairywrens, Yellow Thornbills, Eastern Yellow Robins and an Australian Golden Whistler. Some months I only find 2-3 species there.
18 July
Four of us did the Ash Island survey. It was quite wet and the conditions were a bit miserable, also there weren't many birds because of the combination of the season plus the weather. We did find a pair of Black-fronted Dotterels, and two Caspian Terns.
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USA visit, June-July 2026
Margaret and I flew to Seattle on 15 June, to spend a month in Washington state (we were Seattle-based, with many brief excursions to elsewhere within the state). The trip was mainly for a family reunion, but I managed to squeeze in some birding opportunities from time to time. The blog below is just about the birding activities; I saw 83 species overall.
16 June
My first full day in Seattle and I walked to Gasworks Park, mainly for the exercise but I took my binoculars and camera just in case. On my way there, I found Black-capped Chickadees and Dark-eyed Juncos - both species turned out to be very common everywhere I went during the four-week visit. The Song Sparrows were vocal and there were several Barn Swallows around. An Osprey flew over, and later a pair of Bald Eagles (I had many more sightings of this species at anywhere coastal). There was a large flock of Canada Geese, including many goslings of varying ages. I noticed a different bird on the fringe of the flock - it was a Greater White-fronted Goose. I was quizzed about it by the eBird moderator as it is an out-of-season record (they breed in the Arctic); fortunately I had photos.
20 June
I went to Discovery Park, on the north-western side of Seattle, to join a Birds Connect Seattle guided walk that went for about 3 hours. There were about 30 people (most were complete beginners and/or out-of-towners) plus three guides (Neil, Ed, Kathy). We found about 30 species, the majority of which were new for me. My lifers included Spotted Towhee, Savannah Sparrow, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper and American Goldfinch. Other good birds included White-crowned Sparrow and Cedar Waxwing.
21 June
I joined another Birds Connect Seattle guided walk, this time at the Washington Arboretum. Again, there were about 30 tyros, plus two leaders (Kathy from yesterday, and Cynthia). It didn’t seem quite so birdy as yesterday but that was because the abundance was down a bit, and actually I saw 25 species for the 2h walk. The three new ones for me were Chipping Sparrow, Tree Swallow and Downy Woodpecker. There were also some Pileated Woodpeckers, which I’d previously seen in Costa Rica but never before in the USA. We found two Bushtit nests, probably with young in them as adults were making frequent visits.
27 June
We left Seattle early morning and drove south, to the Billy Frank Jr Nisqually Reserve, near Olympia. There I joined a guided bird walk, which was a great experience. I saw about 40 species, at least half of which were lifers for me - including Bullock’s Oriole, Brown-headed Cowbird, Rufous Hummingbird, Hooded Merganser, Western Wood-Pewee, Northern Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Tree Swallow and Cliff Swallow. Three species had nests - Rufous Hummingbird, Western Wood-Pewee, Tree Swallow - plus some of the Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers had youngsters. We had great views from time to time of some Swainson’s Thrushes, also of a Red-tailed Hawk which for a while was in a tree being dive-bombed by American Crows and then it flew over us for a while. After lunch we drove up into the mountains near Mt Rainier, staying near Packwood, where Common Ravens were the local corvid.
28 June
I went into the Mt Rainier National Park area in the morning with Robyn & Nick. On the walking trail to the Silver Falls I found several Pacific Wrens (vocal, small, and quite hard to see), but not much else. I did better on the other side of the trail, walking through Box Canyon alongside the Ohanapecosh River. I had fantastic views of an American Dipper fishing in the river, also many Vaux’s Swifts were zooming around. We went back there late afternoon, where a Swainson’s Thrush put in an appearance, plus many Vaux’s Swifts. Back at the cabin later, there were Turkey Vultures flying around, also Spotted Towhees and a Steller’s Jay. My Merlin app regularly said that there were Black-throated Grey Warblers around but I could not lay eyes upon one.
30 June
I went to Union Bay Natural Area in the morning - it’s a rehabilitated site alongside the water. It was quite good although I think it’s not fully reached maturity. I didn’t find any new birds for my trip - the Merlin app suggested there were some, e.g. Golden-crowned Kinglet, but I wasn’t able to sight any of the potential new ones. I had great views of Bushtits and Black-capped Chickadees, and of an Osprey wheeling above me. I spent quite some time trying for a photo of a Bewick’s Wren - I had great views in the binoculars but couldn’t manage a decent shot of one.
2 July
I was all day on a birdwatching tour from Fairhaven near Bellingham. The main objective was to get to Smiths Island about 30km to the south-west. Here, after quite some searching, we found some Tufted Puffins, and eventually I had good views of several of them. Pigeon Guillemots and Glaucous-winged Gulls were really common, as were Rhinoceros Auklets from about halfway out. Around Smiths Island, using the kelp forest, were hundreds of gulls including some Heerman’s Gulls. There also were plenty of Pelagic Cormorants and Double-crested Cormorants, and a couple of Black Oystercatchers. There was a Parasitic Jaeger with the gulls at Smith Island.
3-6 July
We caught the car ferry from Anacortes to Orcas Island where we stayed for three nights. My main birding activities took place at Cascade Lake, Mt Constitution, Obstruction Pass Reserve, Olga, Orcas Landing and places around Eastsound (which is where we stayed). I found 34 species; the new ones for my trip included Belted Kingfisher, Purple Martin, Wilson’s Warbler, Black-headed Grosbeak, Western Flycatcher and Olive-sided Flycatcher. We had Anna’s Hummingbirds, Spotted Towhees and Dark-eyed Juncos around the house regularly, and frequent flyovers by Turkey Vultures.
8-10 July
I went with Margaret to Leavenworth, which is in the mountains about a four hour bus trip south-east from Seattle. My birding expeditions were to reserves on the Wenatchee River close to the town centre. Wednesday in the late afternoon, after our arrival, was hot and I didn’t find many birds. For quite a while, some Veerys were calling close by, but I couldn’t get onto them at all. I did eventually see some (a pair) on Thursday morning - they are ground-dwelling thrushes living amidst dense vegetation and thus hard to see, but they have a distinctive call. The birding was far better in the morning when it was cooler. New birds for me included Gray Catbird (nesting), Pygmy Nuthatch, Red-eyed Vireo and Pine Siskin. I also found a nest with young of Bullock’s Oriole - the parents were coming in frequently to feed them. There were some Spotted Sandpipers by the river, and I had great views of them a couple of times.
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June 2026
12-13 June
En route to Newcastle on Friday afternoon for the waterbirds survey on the Saturday morning, I had made arrangements to go out in a boat to see the Cocos Booby, hoping to be able to photograph it. Unfortunately, the arrangements fell through and in the meantime wasted a couple of hours of my afternoon! Next morning, Ross, Holly and I had an enjoyable time doing the Ash Island survey. We did manage to find a migratory shorebird - a single Far Eastern Curlew. We were struck by how thin it looked, compared to the ones we were seeing on the island a couple of months ago. Other shorebirds today were Pied Stilt, Red-capped Plover and Black-fronted Dotterel, all in lowish numbers. Amongst the few hundred each of Chestnut and Grey Teal (both were present at many locations) we found about a dozen Australasian Shovelers. There was also one Australian Tern, which was in breeding plumage, and a solitary Sacred Kingfisher too. There were not many raptors today, but a couple of White-bellied Sea Eagles helped flush out some of the waterbirds for us, plus we saw Swamp Harriers several times.
10 June
I walked from Woy Woy to Blackwall alongside Brisbane Water. My highlights included five Caspian Terns and a pair of Pied Oystercatchers. I saw no egrets - a complete contrast to the previous time that I did the walk.
9 June
I surveyed my sites in the Warrah Trig section of Brisbane Water National Park. There were Rainbow Lorikeets everywhere - probably I saw 150-200 birds in total. There also were abundant honeyeaters, including a pair of Brown Honeyeaters - I don't find those often in that national park. At my first 2ha site I saw a group of Variegated Fairywrens, which were moving quietly through the undergrowth.
5 June
I visited two more of my sites in Brisbane Water National Park and then went to the arboretum at Pearl Beach. The national park was full of honeyeaters especially Yellow-faced Honeyeaters and Scarlet Myzomelas. A Brown Goshawk zipped through, silently - I was rather lucky to get a brief view of it.
3 June
I went to the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland to do my monthly surveys there. There were Mistletoebirds, Grey Fantails and Australian Golden Whistlers, but no birds at all were using the burnt section. My highlight was to see three Australian Brushturkeys together at a mound. One was an adult male, the other two were either females or young birds. After a short while, the male chased away the two others, who then branch-hopped up nearby trees.
2 June
I surveyed three of my sites in Brisbane Water National Park - the Pearl Caves area and then around Coora Swamp. My highlight was a pair of Rockwarblers, which were foraging together under the rock overhang at Pearl Caves. There were Scarlet Myzomelas at all three sites, and plenty of White-cheeked Honeyeaters and New Holland Honeyeaters in the area around Coora Swamp.
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.