A Fast Start to 2013

In some ways, I find the 1st of January to be a tiring day. While it is a good day, with each species a new year tick, and a fast-growing list (not to mention all the other non-bird things such as a hope for a fresh start on all those resolutions that never happen, like getting fit, eating more, and studying more), it also undoes, in that one instant of firework bursts, all the good work of the previous year. It highlights all those annoyingly tricky birds that must be hunted down again over the coming 365 days. So waking up (hah, joking, pulling myself together after a night with uni friends) on New Years Day, it was difficult to put my shoes on and head out that door to Eastlakes.

File photo (Nov 2012) from Eastlakes, as I didn't
have my camera with my on NYD

Yet off I went and I'm glad I did, because, despite my sleep-deprived state, I had a terrific morning, seeing 74 species, including Brown Quail, Buff-banded Rail and all three crakes, Swamp Harrier, Green and Goldfinch, and Little Grassbird. It was approaching 30 degrees when I called it quits, before midday, and headed home with by far my best January 1 count, to sleep.

***

With such a flying start to the year, I didn't head out over the coming days, but on the 5th, a Yellow Wagtail was reported from Sydney Olympic Park, at Newington Armoury. This bird is becoming a little bit of a bogey for me, having dipped on more than one occasion in Newcastle, on the famed Wagtail Way. With Max in Europe, I asked Josh if he was interested. Despite needing to finish packing for an overseas trip of his own to Asia - he was set to leave the next day - the lure of a lifer in Sydney was too good to resist, and we met up mid afternoon at the bird hide by the Waterbird Refuge. On the way to meet him, I came across a calling Mangrove Gerygone. Having dipped just a couple of weeks earlier at Towra Point, with Josh and Max, I was determined to see it, and after a few patient minutes, it called again, and I had good views, and another Sydney tick under the belt. We drove off to Newington, and were soon scanning the field where the wagtail had been.

Unsurprisingly, it had flown the coop, and has not been seen since the original sighting. Four pipits and no White-fronted Chats had us searching though. Josh has never successfully twitched an Australian vagrant, and the trend continued today. Despite this failing, we made the best of the day, driving round to Haslam's Creek near the Olympic Stadium, where a female Musk Duck had been for a few weeks. We'd barely arrived at the site when Josh exclaimed "There it is", and indeed, an unwattled Musk Duck could be seen diving on the still, wide, deep upper reaches of the creek. Just across the road, where we'd parked, a Glossy Ibis was found at one of their known haunts in the area, and a good day's birding ended, oddly, with me only able to lift my year list by five to 80.

***

I woke the next day to find a very exciting report on Birdline. A Barking Owl had been reported from Warriewood, on Sydney's northern beaches!! This was a bird that I had not seen since 2008, when a group of Varied Honeyeaters flushed one in Townsville, so was not only a year tick, but a NSW and Sydney tick, and a terrific bird. However, it seemed an unlikely sighting, and I didn't know the reporters. While it is nice to think that all birdwatchers are good and reliable birders, it is undoubtable that some birders just aren't that good, and could, easily, confuse a Barking Owl with a Boobook. So it took until midafternoon when I finally decided to chance my arm, and get on a bus to the northern beaches. It is a painfully long way by public transport to what has to be Sydney's most affluent yet simultaneously inaccessible by public transport area, and I didn't arrive until almost 6:30. Thankfully, the magicalness that is daylight saving meant that I had almost 2 hours of daylight, and I certainly made the most of it. An Azure Kingfisher (a bird it took til November to see last year) flew by just downstream of the reserve, and I ticked off other nice birds such as Dollarbird and White-cheeked Honeyeater.

However, there was no sign of the Barking Owl at its reported roost site, despite a thorough search, and, becoming bored, I headed across the road into Irrawong Reserve. While Warriewood is a combination of vegetated wetland and melaleuca swamp, Irrawong is just that extra bit upstream, and the habitat is markedly different. Much denser, and much wetter, the site has recorded such rainforest birds as Noisy Pitta and Superb Fruit Dove, and is home to Brown and Grey Goshawks. In this late afternoon light, I found Rufous Fantails, Eastern Whipbirds, Lewin's Honeyeaters, a Buff-banded Rail, and two immature Brush Turkeys, foraging like small chickens with (in one case) a big tail. The waterfall at the track's end was the site of the camp in the movie of Tomorrow when the War Began, and in that movie, I have heard Cicadabirds concurrent with the site's footage. Sadly, there were none here today, but a pair of Needletails circling above - golden in the dying light - were more than sufficient consolation.

What a bird!!

The sun was gone by the time I returned to Warriewood, with the intent of walking out through to the bus stop and giving up. I had not, after all, brought a spotlight. However I was brought up short on the boardwalk by a hawk swooping low over a mass of vegetation full of Purple Swamphens settling in to roost - or at least, they had been until this predator sent them into a frenzy. The bird landed, and turned, and I was shocked to stare into the hypnotic yellow eyes of a Barking Owl!! At the last possible minute (it was 8:15pm!), it had revealed itself. With no flash, I could do nothing but crank up the ISO on my camera, rest it on the arm rail of the boardwalk, and hope that 1/30th of a second would be fast enough. Somehow, it was, and I came away with a shot or two that I was pleased with, given the circumstances. For the next quarter hour, it hung around, flying low over the reeds again four times, harassing the swamphens, but never making a realistic attempt at catching them. Given the comparable sizes, I would have been amazed to see it. The owl eventually vanished, after having trilled a few times, and I headed off. At the exit I found a fellow birder just getting out of his car with spotlights and the full works, and I had to give him the bad news that I'd seen the bird not five minutes earlier, but that it was no longer around. I left them to it, and hopefully they had the same luck I did.

***

A couple of days later, I had an opportunity to meet yet another young birder who I'd only "met" on the net. Julian Teh is a 14 (almost 15) year old birder who also keeps finches, and has the job we all want: assistant at a walk-through aviary in Canberra, where he lives. He's up in Sydney, rooming with Simon, who is his age, and they have hit it off well, which suggests they both enjoy that high school humour that I like to think I grew out of years ago. Simon and he had successfully twitched the Barking Owl the previous night, following my report, and today we were planning on ticking off some waders for Julian, whose list is the poorer in this regard, for living so far inland. First stop today was Boat Harbour, Kurnell. Despite getting there shortly after high tide - a good time - it's fair to say I've had better days this summer. Little Terns were on hand, as were Ruddy Turnstones and Red-necked Stints for Julian, but there was no sign of Common Tern, Kelp Gull or Reef Egret. The Common Tern was particularly worrying. Since I first ticked it in 2006, I have missed it each odd year, and seen it each even year, and so, despite having seen them as recently as 28th of December (at Stockton), it seems that this year is already on track to continue that trend.

From here, after seeing Swamp Harrier in the car park, a first for me at the site, we headed on to my spot at Quibray Bay, where the tide had receded enough for the Whimbrels and Eastern Curlews to come out to feed. The Red-capped Plovers were here, as well as a group of Red-necked Stints, which I haven't seen here before. Sadly, of the Emuwrens that seemed resident here in 2009 and 2010, there was no sign, and I think they may no longer live here. A Pied Oystercatcher was a good find, especially given the pair that live at Metromix Wetlands, round the corner, were not there, for the second successive visit after I made that fateful "dead cert" call to Josh in December. We wrapped it up after that site (which gave good views of at least three Brown Honeyeaters), with a good range of birds for the day, and my year list pushed up to 110, in just eight days. I have only once previously reached 100 in January, and that was way back in 2007, when I managed only 177 in the year (in fairness, my life list was a meagre 238 by year's end).

Julian is also involved in bird banding, out at a site near West Wyalong, and he's invited me along to a weekend out there over Australia Day, so I have something awesome to look forward to! It should also give me a serious year list boost to round out January.

Til next time!

Old Acquaintances in the Rainforest

The Christmas-New Year break has often been fruitful for me in the past, as I have sought to fill some gaps in my year list or add another lifer or two before the new year began. This year, I set my sights on some rainforest birds I'd missed when I'd been in the Barrington/Gloucester area with Max in October. At the eleventh hour, I invited Josh who happily accepted, and we were on our way north, with Dad in the driver's seat, early on December 27.

First stop, as is almost always the case with trips to/through Newcastle was Stockton Sandspit, where we were greeted by a very high tide. In spite of this, careful scanning then stalking revealed a number of species, including the usual avocets (alas, no Banded Stilt), Bar-tailed Godwits, Eastern Curlews, Red-necked Stints (but no Broad-billed Sandpiper), Pacific Golden Plovers (but no Grey Plover), Red-capped Plover (but no Lesser Sand Plover) and the pair of Pied Oystercatchers. In addition were more than a dozen Sharpies, an irregular species at the 'spit, a couple of Curlew Sands, a couple of Red Knots, some Blackwits, and a Whimbrel or two. Round by the oyster racks we picked up Grey-tailed Tattlers and Terek Sandpipers. We missed Brahminy Kite (again!), meaning the following day would be our final chance for the year.

One of a number of Terek Sandpipers that were hanging out with the Grey-tailed Tattlers (see left-hand-edge) near the oyster racks.

Up through Seaham, we picked up Azure Kingfisher, Night Heron and numerous others for the trip list, which was already up around 75. We arrived at Cabbage Tree Creek shortly after 12, hoping to kick things off in the rainforest with a Logrunner or two. Cabbage Tree Creek is just down the hill from Yeranda Cottages, where we would be staying. About 15 minutes north of Dungog along the Main Creek/Skimmings Gap roads, we first stayed here in 2006, and in that trip, and the three subsequent visits, we have regularly seen a number of species on the very southern edge of their range, including Paradise Riflebird and Pale Yellow Robin, two of our targets for this visit. Cabbage Tree Creek has been arguably the most reliable of the spots in the vicinity, but today it would not come through with the species we really wanted. That said, we still had a good time, with Spectacled and Black-faced Monarch, Rose Robin and Rufous Fantail, among others, seen.

A (threat?) display or hunting move of a Rufous Fantail.

We headed up the hill and checked in with Ros and Kevin, the lovely owners, before setting our tents outside one of the cabins. A group of Leaden Flycatchers had Josh on edge as he tried to find Satins among them to no avail. It was easily over 30 degrees up in the dry woodland of the hillside, so we retreated to Cow's Head Creek, another nearby rainforest site which I had had luck in before. Here, it was much cooler, but, as rainforest can so often be, birdless. Eventually, as we carefully made our way downstream, things began to pick up, and we got onto another Spectacled Monarch, a young White-naped Honeyeater and Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos. Then, from the distance, I picked up the distinctive walk to work of a Noisy Pitta. We turned, and set off back upstream in pursuit. After five minutes or so of walking, we were very close. Josh spotted it calling from a few metres off the ground, and we all got views excellent views of it hopping about on the ground.

With the first of our targets under our belt, we set off back downstream, and not long after, I spied a female Logrunner! She was not very obliging however, and Josh didn't get to see her before she vanished. With nothing else further downstream, we turned back, and at the spot I'd found Logrunner, this time Josh found the other three (it's unusual to see a lone Logrunner, and we'd expected a family group hiding nearby). Returning to our tents (via Nalleeghee Creek which was lifeless), we got dinner together, and Josh had a chance to clean up the tick and leech bites he'd already managed to procure. Not long after dinner, the first White-throated Nightjars called, and we jumped up and went after them. Not long after, we'd seen three in flight, which is not overly impressive,but I had also managed to find a bird sitting on a nest. This little detail we only got after accidentally flushing it due to camera flash, and we hoped it would be back on the nest the next morning.

Barrington Tops Frog - little is known about this species, which,
as you might expect, is confined to the Barrington area.

It was decided that, with no other night birds in evidence, we should try our hand at "frogging", so we drove down slowly to the creekline at the bottom of the hill, and crawled along slowly, listening for anything. A couple of hundred metres down the road (towards Carawirry), an absolute raucous of frogs brought us to a stop. At least four species of frog were easily audible around a permanent pond, and it was remarkably easy to find Peron's Tree Frogs and Tyler's Tree Frogs sitting on practically any vegetation. They were everywhere! By the edge of the water, Dwarf Green Tree Frogs were "reek-pip"ing away happily, and further back, after some careful searching, the source of the guttural "wahk wahk" was found to be a Great Barred Frog - quite an awesome looking guy. We couldn't make out any more calls, so moved on. At the Cabbage Tree Creek crossing where the birds are best, we found another two species. The first was a pair of small brown froglets amplexing. Without disturbing them, or hearing them call, we couldn't identify them to a species. They were either Common Froglets or Eastern Sign-bearing Froglets. The second was a few small green frogs that we found. A couple had beige-y-brown backs. We took notes and photos but the ID was only confirmed in Sydney by a herpetologist as a BarringtonTops Frog. Interestingly, it appeared to match a Green Stream Frog morphologically, but its call matched Pearson's Green Tree Frog closest. The return drive yielded a Striped Marsh Frog on the road, taking our tally for the night to 7 species, with one other heard a fair distance off but never found.

***

A female Logrunner - one of a group of four seen at Frying Pan Creek.

We were up early the next morning and soon on our way into Chichester State Forest. A brief stop confirmed the nightjar had thankfully returned to the nest. We arrived at Frying Pan Creek Campground, and, after a wrong turn, found the walking track that I've had so much luck on in the past. In 2006 and 07, the track has yielded Pale Yellow Robin, Paradise Riflebird, and many Noisy Pittas. It was rather quiet, as far as good birds went - nonetheless we saw a Pitta and a group of four Logrunners well on the track ahead of us -  and it was really only after we reached the track's end, where there is a beautiful rockhole waterfall, and started heading back, that the route came to life. I spotted a Pale Yellow Robin, which evaded Dad and Josh, and we, at the same location, had a pair of extremely obliging Logrunners which went through their full repertoire of calls. A pair of Whipbirds were spotted in the midstorey, which was rather bizarre. Closer to the campground, I spotted another robin which gave us good views, and was, to much relief, a Pale Yellow. A male Satin Bowerbird seen poorly had Josh and I very excited as we convinced ourselves that, surely, it was a Riflebird, but (of course) it was not seen again.


We returned to Yeranda, packed up the tents and headed off back into Dungog. Because it was still early, and because it would net Josh some good year ticks, we opted to head north-west to Allyn River. I had spent a night camped with Max here in October, and it had given us excellent birds such as Wompoo Fruit Dove and Regent Bowerbird in the figs. Unsurprisingly though, given it was two months later, the figs had finished fruiting, and it was only with much effort that we were able to locate a small group of Topknot Pigeons. A lyrebird and an unidentified Accipter (sparrow/goshawk) were the only other nice birds seen.

We retraced our route from yesterday, out to the coast and then south towards Stockton. While heading east, a big southerly could be seen approaching in the distance, and it was therefore not overly surprising to spot a loose group of needletails passing over (going west, oddly). We counted 27, between first and last, before continuing on, hoping to reach Stockton before the rain arrived. This we succeeded in doing, but, given it was absolute low tide, we took the risk of setting out across the mud to get closer to the waders, and were punished when the southerly struck, leaving us huddled under a lone mangrove tree sheltering ourselves and our cameras and binos from what quickly developed into hail. After 20 minutes getting progressively wetter, the rain finally relented, and we were able to escape our shelter. Bird-wise, we had decent diversity, with extremely low numbers (4 Avocets, 1 Terek Sand, 1 Whimbrel, and a couple of Stints and Eastern Curlews). And, of course, no Brahminy Kite. A Long-billed Corella on the F3 not far south of the Hunter River was an embarrassing but relieving year tick.

When it rains it pours. And hails. The view from our mangrove shelter at Stockton.

The one, only, and last. Male Cicadabird.

This trip more or less wrapped the year up. However, after a few reports of Glossy Black Cockatoos at West Head in Ku-ring-gai, I linked up with Josh again on the 30th, and we headed out for an unsuccessful attempt. The day was saved, however, after a Cicadabird was heard on the Chiltern Track, and we were able to bush-bash to the top of a hill to watch a beautiful male calling. He more than compensated, additionally, for the dip on the "dead cert" (damn you Josh!) Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters on the same track. A last ditch attempt at the pair of Bush Stone Curlews that apparently live at Avalon, just south of Palm Beach, was an abject failure, and this meant that that Cicadabird was the last year tick of 2012, taking me to 374, and it wrapped up what has been by far and away my best year. Now here's to an even better 2013!!

A Lace Monitor that Josh and I cornered in the open at Ku-ring-gai provided exceptional views and photo opportunities.

Birds with Friends

Since my birthday, I've been up to a lot of things. Sadly, from the point of view of this blog (and you, dear non-existant readers), those things have not included birding. However finally, on the day of the supposed Mayan apocalypse, December 21, I got back out into the field. The location: Eastlakes Golf Course (the closest thing I have to a local patch). The aim: best day list record (the standing record being 76, by yours truly). The company: another young teen birder, Simon Gorta, who I uncovered using the subtle method of google stalking.

Sydney tick: Tawny Grassbird

The day had been organised by Simon, who, having finished school for the year just days earlier, was eager to add to his life list. While he had never seen a crake, I'd been seeing all three Sydney species with relative ease over previous months. And within 15 minutes of arriving at 6am, at the first suitable habitat we checked, we had first Spotted Crake, followed barely a minute later by Baillon's, which was in turn followed by a brief cameo appearance of a Spotless Crake. Even by my standards of crake success, this was incredible. The morning continued in a similar fashion, as we added such good birds as Greenfinch, Night Heron, more crakes (of all three species), Common Tern fishing over the main lake, a very vocal Tawny Grassbird - a very unexpected Sydney tick. A slight drop in water levels (hopefully not a sign of things to come over summer) had exposed more mud than usual, and we resultantly saw many Latham's Snipe very easily, more Sharpies than usual (6), and three Red-kneed Dotterels, an increase on previous sightings on one. As an aside, Red-kneed Dots are definitely one of my favourite birds, so cleanly coloured, and with that wonderful, bobbing motion unique to the plovers.

The record-equaling Swampie

The regulars all continued to turn out for us, and by 9:30, we had leveled my record of 76, when a Swamp Harrier - my first here in at least three years - flew over. Breaking the record from here was a mere formality, as we had yet to see Indian Myna. And sure enough, bird 77 was that species. Thankfully, we continued to grow the list, but at a now significantly reduced pace. Over the following few hours, we added just five more species: Blackbird, White-faced Heron, Buff-banded Rail, Topknot Pigeon and Little Grassbird, the last being Simon's seventh lifer of the day. We wrapped up shortly after as there was no sign of any other birds we hadn't already seen. With 82 species (full list HERE ), and the record well and truly under our belt, the day could only have been called a success.

Common Tern: only the third record for Eastlakes

Two days later (today), I was picked up just after 6am by long-time teen birding mate Max Breckenridge, and, along with Josh and Simon, headed off south to Royal NP. On the way down, anticipation built, as we mapped out the target birds for the day. The plan was to spend a few hours in Royal, ideally breaking the day list record of a measly 62 (set accidentally by Josh, Max and me late last year), before heading off down James Cook Drive through the Sutherland Shire (...) to Boat Harbour. Josh was yet to see Pied Oystercatcher in Sydney, and I promptly put the mockers on him by declaring the pair at Metromix Wetlands a dead cert.

Female White-throated Treecreeper

But more on that later. We pulled in at Audley at about 7am, and set off down Lady Carrington Drive with the aim of finding Logrunner. The bush was alive, and we quickly built a list of 30, including Brown Cuckoo Dove, Owlet Nightjar (heard calling), Striated Thornbill, multiple Lyrebird, breeding Dollarbirds, Shining Bronze Cuckoo (heard only, unfortunately for Simon, for whom it would have been a lifer), Rufous Fantail, many vocal Leaden Flycatchers, and Cicadabird. This last bird was one of my major targets for the day, but we could only hear it calling from the wrong side of the Hacking River, and determined to search for it later.

After an hour or so, we turned back without Logrunner, but already within 20 birds of the record. Driving up to Wattle Flat, we added Azure Kingfisher, Crimson Rosella, and concluded that the Cicadabird, more than 50 metres up a steep, densely vegetated hill was beyond our reach. Along the rainforesty track, I heard and then found a Bassian Thrush, while Max called in a female Shrike Tit, and Simon and Josh spotted a Grey Goshawk. I glimpsed a white morph shortly after, but we could not relocate it, and had to make do with decent views of the other, grey, individual. Incredibly, by the time we set off from Wattle Flat, headed for the coast at Wattamolla, we had broken the record, with our count at 63.

Remarkably unobscured: the Heathwren

By this point, the heat was peaking. The forecast was for 28, but it felt already like more than that. Thankfully, an onshore breeze made it more bearable, but did nothing to ward off sunburn, which only Simon, with his darker skin and (probably more relevant) liberal and regular application of suncream, was able to avoid. Out at the crevasse, the going was slow, as we had to make do with Welcome Swallow and, bizarrely, a calling Bulbul. In a matter of minutes, and in a way only birds can achieve, the place came alive, as Simon or Josh spotted a Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (year tick), followed immediately by Josh's call of Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, which offered typically brief and obscured views. With two of our three targets seen within a minute of each other, our focus turned to Rockwarbler. While the other three preferred to stake out a spot where we'd seen them on a previous visit, I wandered somewhat aimlessly, and was rewarded when a Rockwarbler hopped out of a bush right in front of me!

After the others got brief views, we sought shelter back in Max's car, in front of the aircon jets. A quick count gave us our final tally for Royal: 74 species - a new record but by no means unbeatable. From here, it was straight to Metromix Wetlands near Kurnell. Having sworn we'd get Pied Oyk, it was perhaps completely unsurprising that they were not there, for the first time in my visits. On the other hand, a fishing Little Tern, and an Osprey were first records for the site, and were nice consolations (at least, they were to me; Josh may have a different opinion!). Thankfully, I was able to introduce the others to a site I have visited a lot in recent years, in Quibray Bay, which is reliable for Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Eastern Curlew, and Red-capped Plover; all barring the Barwit are reasonably difficult to find in Sydney, and Josh got two Sydney ticks out of the stop-over.

White hot: a male Kestrel shelters from the sun at Wattamolla

At Boat Harbour, we coughed up the ridiculously excessive $25 entrance fee, and drove over the dunes, in the process confirming that Foresters are far superior to dodgy Jeep-rip-offs made by Suzuki, which we watched as their back wheels spun, unable to move the car from its sandy prison. At the rock shelf, it was absolute low tide, and most of the birds had retreated from the hoards of Shire-folk and their dogs to an offshore rock platform. Thankfully, with the aid of Max's scope, we picked out all that could be expected at the site, including Common, Crested and Little Tern, Ruddy Turnstone (a lifer for Simon), Pacific Golden Plover, Red-necked Stint, Sooty Oyk and the four cormorants. Josh was on the hunt for something special on our own rocks, and his persistence paid off, after having flushed numerous RNSs and PGPs, he spotted a Reef Egret (year tick). Our views were poor at such a distance, and as soon as we tried to approach, it decided New Zealand was probably a better home, and set off out across the Pacific, soon disappearing over the horizon.

Max had bags to pack for a trip to Europe, so we called time on the day soon after, with a total day list of slightly over 100 - not bad for what was essentially only two visited sites. As ever, it was great to get out birding for a day, with two nice year ticks and a great time had by all (I hope). In particular, the excellent company goes a long way to seeing more, and making those long treks in the sun go by so much quicker. Cheers guys!