Exploring Sydney - and further afield. (1 Viewer)

[MKinHK]

Northern Beaches: Dee Why and Long Reef
30th June 2024



Either side of my seawatches I made two visits to my regular spots at Dee Why and Long Reef. The big highlights of the first visit (eBird list here) were a trio of Royal Spoonbills that were helpfully flushed out of the river by a Swamp Wallaby bounding along the grassy bank, and landed on the mud just round the corner from the spot in the SE from where I was viewing the lagoon. I was able towrope down to the level of the mud, sneak up to the corner and wait for them to make their way towards me, which they did as if following a well rehearsed script. This meant that I got some lovely imitate shots as they foraged in the shallow water, coming to within 15 or so metres, before slowly turning round and heading back the other way. The first and second pix show the red bindi spot in the centre of the fore crown of the adult and the final shot of the bird preening shows the black primary tips of an immature bird that is common to all old world spoonbills.




Even better, they attracted a couple of Australian Ibises that with their customary boldness came even closer, perfectly showing what their long curved bills are really intended for by twisting their heads to poke under the edges of rocks, and displaying the black lace bustle to beautiful effect.



From Dee Why Lagoon I moved to a waterlogged Long Reef golf course where I confirmed that the Musk Duck had finally moved on, but two Little Grassbirds were still occupying the reeds on the southern fringe. It was in fact pretty quiet, but I did enjoy the Pacific Black Ducks dabbling in a puddle on a fairway, and this White-faced Heron, which came up out of thank grass on the edge of the big lawn to perch helpfully on a railing.



The real highlight here was a trio of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos that were feeding in a banksia nearby. Heavily wind-blown, the feathers round the bill had puffed up like a big scarf pulled right up to the nose. I always love getting close to these imposing birds - the largest parrots in Sydney.



Cheers
Mike

 

[Rick Wright]

Thank you for another fine report. Could I ask your opinion of this bfg:

Australian Good Birding Guide: NSW-ACT | aus-birding-guide

This is the first of a series of books describing hundreds of exciting birdwatching locations in Australia. Our NSW Good Birding Guide is arguably the most comprehensive compendium of the birdwatching sites in the State available to date.For each site, at the minimum, the access details, habitat...

www.australian-good-birding-guide.com

It's even more expensive here in the US. Do you recommend it for visitors?
Thanks—

 

[MKinHK]

I've never seen or heard of it Rick - It looks like a self-published limited print run book. I presume the eye-popping price is an indicator that it might be pretty good.

 

[MKinHK]

Northern Beaches: Long Reef Aquatic Reserve
6th July 2024





Following my third seawatch on Saturday 6th July, I headed down to Long Reef to catch the low tide and get out on the rock platform to check out the overwintering waders, and the roosting gulls, terns and cormorants.

Three Grey-tailed Tattlers working the newly exposed seaweed on the northern edge of the shelf eventually came really close as the rising tide pushed them further onto the rock platform. With he light coming form the northwest I struggled to get shots that did not put a shadow across the face (a big no-no according to my Hong Kong photographer mates) but persistence eventually paid off, and it was great to watch them hunt for crabs among the seaweed-scape. I know its not a word, but I challenge you to find a better one!




There were also ten or so Red-necked Stints, three Ruddy Turnstones and half a dozen Double-banded Plovers, two of which were coming into summer plumage, showing the curious bi-coloured breast band.



I also enjoyed the antics of Pied Cormorants the which are always pretty relaxed allowing a close approach - and grandstand view of their querulous interactions. And how much fun is this set of a Pied Cormorant being coached on his approach, followed by a happy dance from coach and pupil after he absolutely nailed the landing !




Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Sydney Olympic Park Wader Roost
8 July 2024



Taking break from the coast I headed over to Sydney Olympic Park for the first time in well over a year to look for Red-necked Avocet, which I have long thought would take some serious beating as the best-looking wader in Australia. I parked at the archery range where I'd seen my first NSW Red-rumped Parrots in June 2022, shortly after connecting with no less than 35 Red-necked Avocets. I briefly saw one pair of Red-rumped Parrots on one of the nesting boxes, but with the light due to fade fast on this midwinter afternoon I headed over to the wader roost, adding a Striated Heron on the rubbish dam across the creek and an Australasian Grebe foraging amongst the ribs of one of the wrecks in the bay that i initially misidentified as Hoary-headed Grebe, which can often be found here.



There were just two Red-necked Avocets amongst the 61 Pied Stilts and 34 Bar-tailed Godwits at the wader roost, where the other highlights were a flock of 18 Australian Shovelers, which was a record count anywhere for me. Other good birds were a solitary Caspian Tern, three Royal Spoonbills and a Buff-banded Rail calling from cover to the left of the hide, while as ever I enjoyed photographing the Black Swans, which I don't think get the adulation they deserve.I also watched a Little Pied Cormorant make quite a meal of removing the legs from a hapless crab before swallowing it.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MJB]

Northern Beaches: Long Reef Aquatic Reserve
6th July 2024

View attachment 1592883



Following my third seawatch on Saturday 6th July, I headed down to Long Reef to catch the low tide and get out on the rock platform to check out the overwintering waders, and the roosting gulls, terns and cormorants.

Three Grey-tailed Tattlers working the newly exposed seaweed on the northern edge of the shelf eventually came really close as the rising tide pushed them further onto the rock platform. With he light coming form the northwest I struggled to get shots that did not put a shadow across the face (a big no-no according to my Hong Kong photographer mates) but persistence eventually paid off, and it was great to watch them hunt for crabs among the seaweed-scape. I know its not a word, but I challenge you to find a better one!

View attachment 1592751 View attachment 1592752
View attachment 1592532View attachment 1592753

There were also ten or so Red-necked Stints, three Ruddy Turnstones and half a dozen Double-banded Plovers, two of which were coming into summer plumage, showing the curious bi-coloured breast band.

View attachment 1592756 View attachment 1592757

I also enjoyed the antics of Pied Cormorants the which are always pretty relaxed allowing a close approach - and grandstand view of their querulous interactions. And how much fun is this set of a Pied Cormorant being coached on his approach, followed by a happy dance from coach and pupil after he absolutely nailed the landing !

View attachment 1592878 View attachment 1592879
View attachment 1592880 View attachment 1592881

Cheers
Mike

Rather than apologise for devising a new word, claim 'seaweedscape' as a neologism! (Junk the hyphen!) 'Neologism' is one of the key words English dictionaries have their search engines scan the net for...
MJB

 

[MKinHK]

The Hills and Scheyville NP
13 & 20 July 2024

A couple more visits out west included a quiet morning failing to again see the Spotted Quail Thrushes I saw a few weeks previously with Veeraj at Sackville in The Hills. Despite missing the quail thrushes I had an enjoyable couple of hours with some nice woodland birds I don't see too often in Northbridge, with the highlights being a Grey Shrikethrush and a well-behaved White-throated Treecreeper that pished in close and foraged for lerps in an old branch hole. Commoner birds included Grey Fantail, Eastern Yellow Robin, Striated and Brown Thornbills and Eastern Spinebills.



A whistlestop tour of Kangaroo Swamp, Longneck Lagoon, Pitt Town Cemetary and a random pond on the Dural Road produced Wedge-tailed Eagle, Whistling Kite, and three Wandering Whistling Ducks at Kangaroo Swamp,a bumper crop of at least eight Jacky Winters, Restless Flycatchers in a couple of spots, a Aussie Darter preched at the base of a dessicated tree trunk sticking out of the water and a pair of Red-rumped Parrots exploring a similar stump just a few metres away in Longneck Lagoon.



The random pond held a mixed flock of Australian and Straw-necked Ibises and a Plumed Egret, plus a pair of Red-rumped Parrot at a nest hole in a tall tree across the road.



An extra bonus on the way home was a White-headed Pigeon hanging upside down in a fruiting roadside tree aand looking up to check out the traffic as it came past, while another picked fruit from the grassy verge below.

A week later an abortive trip to the Megalong Valley in the Blue Mountains that was blown out by gale-force winds and rain delivered a solitary male Rose Robin, a few Eastern Rosellas and Crimson Rosellas and Veeraj's impressive 16th consecutive dip of Grey Currawong and a male Scarlet Robin near Blackheath.



On the way back to town we drove through the Richmond Lowlands starting at Pugh's Lagoon, where a couple of Azure Kingfishers and 9 Nankeen Night Herons added some gloss to the day list, which we supplemented by 30-odd Cattle Egrets and a Nankeen Kestrel on Edmonds Lane, before adding a Royal Spoonbill, two Great Egrets, Two Pacific Herons, at least a dozen White-faced Herons at Cuppits' Lane, and with the light fading as we headed past Windsor Turf a hunting Australian Hobby took off from a roadside fence post. We were subsequently gut punched to learn the that a Black Falcon was found in the same area the next day. Such is birding.



Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Return to Cremorne Point
15 July 2024

As I was chauffeuring Carrie to a lunch in Cremorne I decided to stay and make use of the time for my first return to Cremorne point sinc we'd left alomost a year earlier. My main target was the Tawny Frogmouth, whic was happily hunkered down in exactly yher same crook of the exactly the same tre as when I'd last seen it.



I was also happy to see that Variegated Fairywren had become established. In the years earlier I'd only seen a single male a couple of times right out at the point, so the family party of four or five birds hopping in and out of a thick stand of lantana was a welcome additon to the resident avifauna.




I was happy to see a nice range of cormorants on the roost tree, Little Pied, Little Black and Pied Cormorants, and a male Australasian Darter.



Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Willoughby / Northbridge Patch birding
July 2024 and first year review

The highlights of the month were my first patch Australian Hobby (107), that whipped over the golf course at high speed on 16 July, a second Great Egret foraging along the edge of the big pond on the golf course on 19th July, and a surprise winter record of a Sacred Kingfisher on 15th July in the mangroves onthe northern edge of Harold Reid reserve and my first perched Collared Sparrowhawk on 26th after a couple of swiftfly-bys over the course of the last year. There was a minor flurry of parrot activity, with a couple of Long-billed Corellas appearing on the golf course for a couple of days, followed closely by five Galahs, in additon to the usual winter fly-bys from the ever wonderful Yellow-tailed black Cockatoos. I did see a couple in a tree above the path at Mowbray Park, but unfortunately lacked the time to try for a shot.



Other significant moments were the first Little Black Cormorant on the golf course rather than in the watrs below. This turned out to be the first of a flurry that peaked at the dend of the month with peaked four Little Black and two Little Pied Cormorants. The pic is not great, but it will serve as a record shot for this unexpected overload of cormorants for such a small pond.

More to come

 

[MKinHK]

Willoughby & Northbridge in July 2024 continued ...



A busy second half of the week meant I was timed out from completing my last post, so here's the rest of it ... First up, a couple more Galah shots - their plumage is too gloriously outrageous to ignore for long! The pic above showes the view looking west over Northbridge Baths, the marina and the mudflats, mangroves and woods at the mouth of Sailor's Bay Creek. A few weeks back I was again down at Northbridge Baths and from the green walkway I had an Osprey on the oposite bank and an adult White-bellied Sea Eagle, which dropped into the creek to sccop a fish from the surface among the moored boats.



Some two weeks after the end of the month one of the Little Pied Cormorants and three of the Little Black Cormorants remain in residence.



I only managed record shots of the Great Egret, which I subsequently saw again a couple of weeks later and the two Long-billed Corellas (which were again on the golf course last week) , as well as a mere smudge of a Southern Boobook I fluked on a neighbouring rooftop during an evening dog walk.



I enjoyed more cooperation from the resident female Hardhead, which looked rather beautiful under the shadows in the back of the small pond next to the cricket nets on the Oval. I saw that sh'e attracted a male a couple of days ago, but since there was no sign this morning I wonder if he's tempted her away to make little Hardheads somewhere else.



I'll close with two pix of Australia's most mocked birds - an Australian Ibis - aka Bin Chicken - which flew into the ponds one evening, an Australian Brush Turkey that had no notion that the Mowbray Park running track should be used by anyone but himself at all! and a view across the river from Mowbray Park to Lane Cove National Park on the basis that I do claim birds that appear across the river that are still visible frm my side. In short, if I can see or hear it from inside the Willoughby boundary I'll have it!




Now, with a beautiful sunny afternoon ebbing away outside I'm off birding, so more later.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

The first year in Northbridge
August 23 - July 24

Rather than repeat everything I've writtenin previous posts I'll provide links (as a personal quick reference index) and some highlights, lowlights and deep ornithologal analysis. Not really I have no idea how to do that !

First post - August 2023
Northbridge Castlecrag & Harold Reid Reserve part 1 and part 2
Northbridge Patch birding September 2023
Northbridge Patch birding 1 & 2 October, 6 October, 21 October, 22 October, 27 October 29 October
Northbridge Patch Birding November 23, Part 2

 

[MKinHK]

A bit shocked to discover I've not made an update since mid-August.

Submission in support of Northbridge Golf Club



However I did put in a response on a public consultation in support of Northbridge Golf Club, which runs the course where I walk my dogs several times a week.. Along with the forested Sailors Bay Creek which my home overlooks this is the heart of my patch, and the freshwater ponds provide interest on a daily basis - including a pair of Masked Lapwings that are anxiously protecting a single chick.

While I haven't yet heard the outcome of the consultation the golf club has already begun exploring how to obtain a sustainability accreditation, and is planning to offer public bird watching tours and use their golf carts and tracks to give elderly and disabled folks access to the course which is built around some beautiful Sydney Red Gum woodland. I have. meeting this week to discuss these ideas with the club board, so watch this space ...

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Long weekend to Jervis Bay
4- 7 August 2024



I've been somewhat distracted by changing jobs in the last four months; not so much from birding, but from writing up. I'll start with our four-day weekend three hours south of Sydney in a dog-friendly AirBnB at Calalla Bay; a small town about four streets deep and surrounded by bush on the northern edge of Jervis Bay.

I was pleased to pick up a Common Bronzewing as we turned onto the street and then utterly failed to recognise its call the next morning as I hunted an imaginary Australian Bittern through a range of progressively unlikely habitats until the penny finally dropped. I enjoyed seeing Crimson Rosella, Galahs, King Parrots and a male Satin Bowerbird in the garden.



Walking down to the jetty I was pleased to find a Nankeen Night Heron in the trees above the carpark and a handful of Australian Pelicans and Silver Gulls waiting for returning fishermen to gut their catches. The rock platform on the left of the bay continued round the corner where I found a White-faced Heron and Pied and Sooty Oystercatchers. One of the former carried a colour flag (2N) on its right left which revealed that it had been ringed near Melbourne in 2017 before moving some 650km (as the crow flies, but probably a lot more as it likely flew along the coast) up to Jervis Bay in 2018, from where it had been reported on and off ever since. The preceding record to mine was from 2019. While the typical age is around 12 years, there is evidence of birds reaching more than 30 years of age!



I checked this area and the offshore rock platform several times over the next three days and also found two Caspian Terns amongst 30-odd Great Crested and a peak of three Whimbrels and three Eastern Curlews marking the start of the shorebird migration. Perhaps my favourite addition to the birds on the beach were a gang of four Little Corellas that swaggered onto the beach and apparently began feeding on the wet sand below the high tide line. I could not tell if they were picking up grit or actively feeding - one at least is holding a periwinkle - but I thoroughly enjoyed their incongruousness among the sleeker and far more elegant Silver Gulls. The Silver Gulls had plenty of attitude, albeit of a different sort, of their own.



But it was the Australian Pelicans that stole the show. Whether it was pretending to be broken, close up in colour or a abstracted silhouette they just rock!




More to come ...
Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Long weekend to Jervis Bay II
4- 7 August 2024

My other birding on Jervis Bay included the creek and bushland between Callala Bay and Callala Beach, which delivered a nice range of the same species I see in Sydney. A late morning visit to the heathland habitat at the Beecroft Weapons Range site for Ground Parrot nearby drew big fat blank, although I did see my first Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters and Eastern Bristlebirds. I had hoped some good birds would come into a water-filled ditch to drink, but it was all New Holland Honeyeaters and Red Wattlebirds and nearby a single White-cheeked Honeyeater. I did see four different hunting raptors - White-bellied Sea Eagle, Black-shouldered Kite, Swamp Harrier and Brown Goshawk hunting. Other birds included a Black-faced Cuckooshrike that caught a stick insect and a couple of Southern Emu Wrens.



Eastern Bristlebird was the best of these and I was delighted to pick up several more and record their calls, but still no useable pix in the wonderfully-named Abraham's Bosom Reserve on the northern corner of the Beecroft Peninsula during a late evening dog walk a couple of days later.
My other birding was in the woods and creeks around Callala Bay, which had a good selection of the same birds I see regularly in Sydney. An afternoon trip down to a vineyard (Cupitt's Estate) near Ulladulla proved more interesting as a wetland below the winery held a trio of Pacific Herons, eight Straw-necked Ibises and the same of Eastern Cattle Egrets as well as a Black-shouldered Kite and a Spotted Harrier. Somewhat frustratingly I discovered only when I checked eBird on returning home that we had been within a very few kilometres of recent sightings of both Hooded Plover and Beach Stone Curlew, and that would be too far to return the next day. Adding them to my NSW list will have to wait.

None of these produced much in the way of photo opportunities, but Hervey Bay itself is a lovely area and both we and the dogs had a great time.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Local patch summer birding
September 2024 - January 2025

Needing to catch up I'm telescoping a few months of summer birding, mostly on Northbridge Golf Course. this has been mostly about the breeding birds. Most prominent amongst these were the Australian Wood Ducks who produced a fine brood of 13 ducklings which initially puttered around the lower pond, before marching them up to the upper ponds, where they eventually raised nine birds.



A send pair of Wood Ducks produced a single chick, but I suspect they were young parents as it was rarely well tended and soon disappeared, and a third pair appeared on one day with six chicks before disappearing again. These chicks are from the first brood and look disturbingly like AI birdlets - even though I don't use any of the sharpening/de-noising software packages!



Other successful breeders include:

1. a pair of Masked Lapwings successfully raised one of two tiny chicks, despite the worst intentions of the Kookaburras and Australian Ravens.


2. a pair of Pacific Black Ducks are currently raising five much younger ducklings
3. A Laughing Kookaburra pair raised three chicks, as did another pair down at Tunks Park.
4. Pied Butcherbirds breeding close the to protective netting on the third hole produced two chicks
5. Australasian Grebe - 3 three chicks of which two are still going
6. Dusky Moorhen raised four chicks on the top pond.
7. Long-billed Corella fledged two chicks in the woods below the golf course, where Little Corella also nested, although I'm yet to see any chicks
8. There were three Dollarbirds together on the bare trees on the upper western edge earlier this week
9. Perhaps my favourite - a fearless Australian Magpie with a gammy left leg somehow raised two youngsters
10. This mooring a juvenile Pacific Koel was begging loudly, albeit unsuccessfully
11. This evening a family party of four Galahs were feeding on grassroots on the fourth fairway. They didn't breed here but its great to see the course being used as a nursery.



During these summer months the number of waterbirds drops significantly, with the Coot, Hardhead and Little Black Cormorants disappearing and just one Little Pied Cormorant remaining, until this week when a single rather scruffy Little Black Cormorant returned.

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Barking Owls at Narrabeen Lake
17 November 2024

One of the big highlights of the spring was gripping back a family of Barking Owls I dipped in horrendous weather last year on the southern edge of Narrabeen Lake on the Northern Beaches. This well-known family likes to hang out over a busy hiking /jogging/ cycling trail that runs from Jamieson Park, past a RSL retirement village and right the way round the circumference of the lake. I parked at the RSL village and following precise instructions on where they'd been seen the day before had no luck until one of the birds helpfully called a couple of times and allowed me to find it about 8 metres up in a tree less than five metres from the path.



I eventually found an angle where I could get a reasonable view, but its head was in shade and the pix were frankly not much cop ( hence "no press" hand gesture from the owl!) so I went to see if I could find some of the others. I didn't do much better but did get onto a Dollarbird family that was chattering away as they hunted from bare snags above the canopy. As I came back from having a drink at the car some 30 minutes later I was delighted to hear them call again and found all four birds together in a much lower tree right by the path. Other birds in the are included a family of four Tawny Frogmouths, and a gathering of Black Swans and Caspian Terns on a sandpit out in the lake.



One of the juveniles in particular was full of character, head bobbing, neck twisting and calling away out of sheer curiosity, giving me some of my favourite images of the year.



I finally got some images of one of the birds in better light, which capped off a fantastic morning.



Cheers
Mike

 

[Frank van Drogen]

Those are some amazing photos!!

Such beautiful owls