Thinking About Birds

May 2026

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 regullr 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 phenomen, 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 awaytowards 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 nmbers 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 ony 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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Mudge/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.