| Fri 21 |  | Pacific Swift
Narara Ecovillage |
| It's Pacific Swift time! Flocks passing through ahead of a rain front; max 760 together eBird checklist |
| Guy Dutson 21/3 #272401 |
| Wed 19 | | Marsh Sandpiper
Greenwell Point, Nowra, NSW |
| A visit to Greenwell Point sometimes showed a single Marsh Sandpiper, over last ten years or so. Today's visit showed four of the ssp. in a group actively working the swampy and shrubby wetland. A rare number for my 'logs'!
Maybe 'prepping' for a long flight?. eBird checklist |
| Harry Roberts 19/3 #272399 |
| Tue 18 | | Black Noddy
North Curl Curl |
|
| Single bird been on site since Sunday(?). Seen loafing on the railings and then fishing just off the rocks. Easily observed without getting into the edge with the railings (to reduce disturbance). |
| Tom Wilson 18/3 #272398 |
| Mon 17 | | Black Noddy
Norah Head |
|
| A Black Noddy was feeding in the breakers at the end of the rock shelf directly down from Norah Head Lighthouse today for three hours between 3:30pm and 6:30 pm. The same bird was seen briefly on the 15th of March at the end of the rock shelf at Soldiers Point (Norah Head) eBird checklist |
| Nick Giles 17/3 #272397 |
| Sun 16 | | Oriental Cuckoo
Cuppitt's Lane, Richmond lowlands |
| Flew over Cuppitt's Lane from Windsor direction and appeared to land in the line of casuarinas towards Baker's Lagoon but we could not relocate it. Immediately drawn to the long-tailed, sharp-winged flight profile and glimpse of banded underparts. eBird checklist |
| Eric Finley 17/3 #272396 |
| | Fork-tailed (Pacific) Swift
Little Bay, The Coast golf club |
| Whilst having a cleansing ale at The Coast golf club bar on a hot early evening C.300 Fork-tailed (Pacific) Swifts passed north along the coast and partially out to sea - presumed feeding on a pressure wave before a change in the weather. Sure enough C.5 minutes later a cool southerly change came through! |
| Michael Ellison 16/3 #272391 |
| Sat 15 | | Glossy Ibis, Brolga
Flooded paddock at Cowper |
|
| 50+ Ibis foraging at edge of water, 3 Brolgas nearby |
| Greg Clancy 16/3 #272393 |
| | Square-tailed Kite
Brushgrove |
|
| Adult Kite in heavy moult forging on the wing low over the park |
| Greg Clancy 16/3 #272392 |
| | Red-footed Booby, White Tern, Streaked Shearwater, Sooty Tern
Offshore--Sydney Pelagic |
|
| Highlights from a terrific day on the ocean included a Streaked Shearwater, seen in ~120m before 12 mile, a White Tern seen in 400m around 1NM from our drift. At the drift we had the forty or so Flesh-footed Shearwaters we'd picked up well offshore on the trip out along with a handful of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters. A Red-footed Booby made a single pass near the boat when we were in 670m. We also added a Sooty Tern and a Grey-faced Petrel before leaving +700m. Three Shy Albatrosses were encountered on the return leg as were a pod of Pygmy killer whales. See eBird checklist for other species. Photograph: Greg McLachlan eBird checklist |
| Sydney Pelagics and all onboard 16/3 #272390 |
| | Blue-faced Honeyeater
Gwandalan Street Emu Plains NSW 2750 |
| Very exciting. I’ve never seen this bird before. It had a drink and a bath in my backyard birdbath. |
| Greg Davidson 15/3 #272389 |
| | Painted Honeyeater
Ephemeral wetland 11 km east of Pilliga |
|
| Two juveniles in this wetland that still has a bit of water in it, where a creek crosses the Wee Waa to Pilliga Road, at 9:30 this morning. No accompanying adults found. |
| Michael Dahlem 15/3 #272388 |
| Thu 13 | | Brown Booby
Terrigal Pelagic |
|
| The highlight of an impromptu Terrigal trip was a female adult Brown Booby which was only the fourth record for the Central Coast LGA and first for a Terrigal Pelagic. Also seen was a Buller’s Albatross along with several Shy Albatross, Providence Petrel (1), Grey-faced Petrel (2) and Wilson’s Storm Petrel (1). Photo by Stephanie Owen. |
| Central Coast Pelagics (Andrew Robinson with 15 others on board) 14/3 #272386 |
| Sun 9 | | Australian King Parrot
16 Charles st Balldale NSW 2646 |
| A large King Parrot, that looked like a young male, was seen around midday feeding on a tree beside the house. Only one parrot was sited. Video was recorded. (Moderator's Note: Balldale is on the edge of the range for King Parrots in NSW, they occur in reasonable numbers further south along the Murray River, in towns like nearby Corowa, but rarely further north into the pastoral country, there is only one previous eBird record for Balldale in 2024. AKM) |
| Dani Kerr 11/3 #272381 |
| | Great Frigatebird
Evans Head |
|
| Adult Male & Female Great Frigatebird - seen 09/03/25 near dusk at Razorback lookout, relocated again at end of Chinamans Beach Rd, before last seen heading south along the coast toward Illuka.
TC Alfred has pushed lots of different birds inshore to Evans Head, 100 + Sooty Tern, Long-tailed Jaegers, Lesser Frigate, numerous Grey Ternlets and Common Noddy all spotted in Evans River & nearby beach during past week. (Moderator's Note: It is good to get such a comprehensive report on seabirds affected by TC Alfred. The Greater Frigatebird sightings are subject to NSWORAC Review. AKM) eBird checklist |
| Jacob Crisp 9/3 #272380 |
| Sat 8 | | Grey Ternlet (probable); Streaked Shearwater
Robert Dunn Reserve, Mona Vale |
| 75 minute sea watching session (reserve is on the cliffs between Mona Vale and Warriewood beaches). Small pale tern with fast, fluttery flying style and occasional check and glide before resuming flight. Seen approx 350-400m offshore heading south approx 4:20pm). Scope views showed pale grey, not white, plumage and black bill/eye.
Streaked Shearwater in with big group of all brown shearwaters following a commercial fishing boat. Obviously brown above/white below combo and even at distance clearly bigger than the all brown shearwaters. |
| Tom Wilson 8/3 #272377 |
| Thu 6 | | Grey Ternlet & Shy Albatross
Mistral Point, Maroubra |
| A Grey Ternlet spent 40 minutes feeding like a storm petrel, very close to the shore. It was with Silver Gulls which were also feeding. Single Shy Albatross, Caspian Tern, and Arctic Jaegers were also seen. |
| David Mitford 6/3 #272375 |
| Wed 5 | | Oriental Cuckoo
Lane Cove National Park |
| One young bird flew over the river near boat shed north-west direction |
| Fatih Sam 5/3 #272371 |
| Mon 3 | | Blue-faced Honeyeater
Mount Kembla, garden |
|
| Trail cam capture. Still pulled from 15 second video. Visiting pond alongside 2 Crimson Rosellas |
| Tye Purnell 4/3 #272208 |
| | Pacific Swift
Eulah Creek |
|
| Flock of maybe 100 seen overhead around 8 this morning, near the junction of Eulah Creek Road and Box Gully Road, 20 km E of Narrabri. |
| Michael Dahlem 3/3 #272206 |
| Sun 2 | | Ground Parrot
Beecroft Weapons Range |
|
| 2 individuals seen about 400 m apart feeding on grass heads on trail sides, about 300m from track head. Photos. eBird checklist |
| Jude Gillespie 2/3 #272205 |
| Fri 28 | | Pacific Swift
Royal National Park--Wattamolla |
|
| A flock with a minimum of 15 birds seen early morning eBird checklist |
| Peter Stevens 19/3 #272400 |
| | Pacific Swift
Kurrajong Hills |
| A flock of 15+ birds flying north just before 0800 this morning in clear still conditions. This is only my 2nd site record in over twenty years, the previous being Apr 2018. Also present several Large-billed Scrubwrens, which have increased significantly here in the past 3 years, and last night the local juvenile Powerful Owl was calling. eBird checklist |
| Eric Finley 28/2 #272203 |
| Thu 27 | | Glossy Black Cockatoo
Crawford Rd, Cooranbong |
| Had a trio of Glossys fly over this morning just before 10am. Usually it's a pair but looks like they've successfully bred recently, which is great news.
Also earlier in the week there were Needltails in small numbers around 8:30 flying directly north and quite low. Not feeding but just directly flying. This happened a few times around the same time and in different locations. I'm presuming they're migrating like that, as I've never seen that sort of behaviour from them before. |
| Paul Schofield 27/2 #272201 |
| Wed 26 | | Magpie Goose
Crowsnest Swamp, Coldstream River |
|
| 5+ Magpie Geese perched on tall rushes and in flight, although not confirmed, behaviour suggests breeding. This is a regular behaviour with geese that regularly roost at Clarenza. When they disappear from that site geese turn up at the Coldstream, presumably the same ones, and when they return to Clarenza they are usually accompanied by juveniles. |
| Greg Clancy 28/2 #272202 |
| | Sanderling
Pelican Point, Norah Head |
| 3 Sanderling foraging on rock platform amongst Red-neck Stints. (Moderator's Note: Sanderlings are rare visitors to the Central Coast LGA, last record was Feb. 2023 at Pelican Point. AKM) |
| Steve Bowman 26/2 #272200 |
| Tue 25 | | Streaked Shearwater
Sydney Harbour National Park North Head |
| Highlight of a seawatch from North Head this afternoon was a single Streaked Shearwater flying south. |
| Michael Ronan 25/2 #272198 |
| | Spangled Drongo
Old Castlereagh Road, Penrith |
| Pair of Drongos located at end of road by church at about 8.00am. Will upload poor quality phone photo later. eBird checklist |
| Martin Snowball 25/2 #272194 |
| | Osprey
Bronte Beach |
|
| An osprey with a fish in its talons. A pleasant Bronte Beach sighting. Poor photo attached. |
| Charles Hunter 25/2 #272193 |
| Mon 24 | | Pacific Swift
Denistone Park |
| Counted 12 Pacific Swifts circling ove Denistone Park early this morning along with a flock of about 50 Topknot Pigeons heading north. |
| Michael Ronan 24/2 #272189 |
| Sun 23 | | Streaked Shearwater
Offshore--Sydney Pelagic |
|
| Despite the challenging conditions we had plenty of activity at the shelf and during the return leg. The obvious highlight of the day was a single Streaked Shearwater which arrived not soon after we set-up the drift. It remained with us for much of our time at the shelf. The bird was very active chasing and challenging other shearwaters for berley scraps. It also called several times during interactions! Flesh-footed Shearwaters along with Wedge-tailed Shearwaters dominated the activity. We had a brief view of a Grey-faced Petrel as it came in to the slick only to promptly disappear. Other species seen included a number of Shy Albatrosses (white-capped), Pomarine Jaegers, Sooty and Short-tailed shearwaters and Australasian Gannets. Photograph: Greg McLachlan eBird checklist |
| Sydney Pelagics and all onboard 24/2 #272191 |
| Sat 22 | | Magpie Goose, Latham's Snipe, Australasian Grebe, Australian White Ibis
Wetland on Big River Way, Clarenza |
|
| 46+ Magpie Geese loafing at edge of water, 1 Snipe flushed from vegetation, adult Grebe with very small young on water and dozens of White Ibis with at least two nests, one with 1+ young. Geese had been absent for some months and had been returning in small numbers for a few weeks. |
| Greg Clancy 22/2 #272188 |
| | Great crested Grebe
Glenbrook Lagoon |
| 2 birds 1st seen 18/2. Over last few days courtship display &, mating & nest buding. Today3rdbird seen. Few records of GCGs atlagoon & mountains. Ebird check-lists to be provided. |
| Matt Hughes 22/2 #272187 |