| Wed 23 | | Spotted Quail-Thrush
Blue Mountains National Park--The Rock Lookout |
|
| A male and female seen about 150m from the car park along Fairlight Road. Only 4th record for Penrith LGA. Previous sightings in Penrith LGA are 2016, 2009 and 1970 in eBird. eBird checklist |
| Martin Snowball 23/4 #272470 |
|  | Flame Robin
Bushells Lagoon |
| Female adult feeding on neighbouring farmland. Rare winter migrant to this location. Photo on ebird list. eBird checklist |
| Michael Rutkowski 23/4 #272467 |
| Tue 22 | | Eastern Yellow Wagtails
Hexham Swamp Nature Reserve--Old Pipeline Track |
|
| Two breeding-plumaged Eastern Yellow Wagtails seen and photographed yesterday along the old pipeline track. This is the first report there for nearly six weeks and obviously it's impossible to tell if they are part of the cohort of up to 7 birds first located there on the 27th Jan. The yellowish throat, pure yellow chest and hint of a greenish nape on the male are indicative of a possible 'similina' bird. eBird checklist |
| Paul Fuller per Mick Roderick 23/4 #272469 |
| | White Wagtail
Terrigal Haven |
|
| Amanda Ward-Collins photographed an adult White Wagtail (ssp. leucopsis) yesterday morning (22/4) on the rocks around from (south of) Terrigal Haven / Point - roughly below the middle lookout. The bird was subsequently briefly seen this morning (23/4) at about 7:30am before it flew strongly (while vocalising) towards Terrigal CBD. Nearby playing fields, bowling greens and other likely locations were then inspected, but the bird has not been seen again. Cracking record and photos Amanda! (Moderator's Note: Cracking on both fronts indeed. This is the first NSW report since a bird was seen briefly at Newry Bar in Dec 2013 and before that the well-known, one-legged [ssp. lugens] bird that inhabited a car park at Glendale Shopping Centre for a week in April 1998. One report from Narran Lake in November 1997 was not accepted by BARC due to the observer not having dismissed Black-backed Wagtail [lugens] which was a separate species at the time and is considered a legitimate claim of White Wagtail (per NSW Atlas Vol 3). This report will be subject to a BARC submission, though hopefully the bird is re-found before that happens! MR). |
| Amanda Ward-Collins, Andrew Robinson, Guy Dutson 23/4 #272468 |
| | Roseate Tern
Flat Rock (Ballina) |
|
| Roseate Tern seen resting on Flat Rock this afternoon. (Moderator's Note: Roseate Tern is on the NSW ORAC Review List. MR) |
| Steven McBride 22/4 #272464 |
| Mon 21 | | Barking Owl
Condobolin |
| Was out this evening sitting around a fire at a BBQ and heard a Barking Owl calling from close by. Called for about five minutes and was heard again about an hour later. Bird was right in town not far from the high school. |
| Warren Chad 21/4 #272462 |
| | White-breasted Woodswallow
Hornsby Hights. |
| Seen 10+ White-breasted Woodswallows flying high traveling north over Hornsby Hights looked like they were on migration never seen them around Hornsby before. |
| Michael Ronan 21/4 #272460 |
| Sun 20 | | Spotted Harrier
Mangrove Mountain |
|
| Spotted Harrier observed flying low over paddocks on Ironbark Rd, Mangrove Mountain. |
| Andrew Robinson and Guy Dutson 20/4 #272457 |
| Sat 19 | | Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo
Cremorne Point |
| A lone YTBC flew over the Cremorne Point track yesterday morning, heading NE. |
| Ted Nixon 20/4 #272458 |
| Mon 14 | | Regent Honeyeater
Pilliga Nature Reserve, Dandry Road near Pilliga Pottery |
|
| Our good friend Julie Squire has located a Regent Honeyeater in Pilliga NR, along Dandry Road near Pilliga Pottery on the 130425. John and I were able to get out there early morning of the 140425 and also observed it and managed to get a few sketchy photos. The lone bird was seen feeding in an isolated flowering White Box on the edge of the Dandry Road only a few hundred metres from Pilliga Pottery. Julie originally spotted it the day before (130425) morning almost by accident, she was just checking to see if there was much White Box flowering going on, and her attention was drawn to a bird being hassled by some White-plumed Honeyeaters. Lots of budding in other white box trees, could be another good flowering event for 2025. The exact spot has yielded Swift Parrots in 2023, and Painted Honeyeaters (2024). |
| Julie Squire, May and John Whittall 15/4 #272449 |
| Sun 13 | | Brown Booby, Streaked Shearwater, Wilson's Storm-petrel (130+)
Offshore--Port Stephens pelagic |
|
| The highlights of today's Port Stephens pelagic were a female Brown Booby that was amongst a throng of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters at the start of our third drift in deep water. Numbers of Wilson's Stormies were another highlight with ~70 birds being the maximum count visible at the same time and an overall estimate of 130 birds minimum (including at least five birds feeding with Wedgies, Fleshies and at least two Streaked Shears <5 miles from the heads on the return leg). Brown Booby photo by Steph Owen. |
| Mick Roderick and all aboard M.V. Reel Contagious 13/4 #272440 |
| | Wilson's Storm-petrel
Long Reef Aquatic Reserve |
| There were four Wilson's Storm-petrels feeding in front of the Island off Long Reef this morning. |
| Michael Ronan 13/4 #272439 |
| Sat 12 | | Barn Owl
Sydney Park |
| Awesome to see. Found by other birders before 7am. The first Barn Owl record at SP since 2013 according to eBird. Species #113 for my Park list! |
| Lorne Johnson 12/4 #272438 |
| Fri 11 | | Beach Stone Curlew
Broadwater National Park |
|
| A single bird found. Very friendly and came up towards me and also following me around. No tag on the Bird. I got the feeling it is a young bird. It's the first Curlew I have spotted on this beach in 10 of visiting BNP. |
| Angela Powell 11/4 #272435 |
| Wed 9 | | Turquoise Parrot
Helensburgh |
|
| Immature male, based on the small amount of red shoulderpatch. At about 4pm I unexpectedly flushed this neophema parrot off the trail (-34.158385, 150.980514) as I rounded a bend, and it dissappeared from view in the thick trackside scrub. I quickly backtracked and waited. Thankfully, it eventually flew back onto the track to continue feeding, enabling the opportunity to get some record shots. Western end of the Cawleys Road Trail, access from the Princes Highway. eBird checklist |
| Paul Lynch 10/4 #272431 |
| Sun 6 | | Spotted Harrier
Munmorah State Conservation Area |
|
| Adult Spotted Harrier photographed adjacent the coast. Rare visitor to the Central Coast and several years since the last record from memory. Photo Jamie Cannon. |
| Jamie Cannon (pers comm. Andrew Robinson) 10/4 #272434 |
| | Spotted Harrier
Sydney Airport |
|
| A Spotted Harrier was initially located mid afternoon at the southern end of the main runway and later located mid-field (and visible from Shep's Mound, the plane spotting location under the new air traffic control tower).
They are quite a rare record for Sydney Airport, being only the 3rd sighting I'm aware of in the past 26 years that I've been on the airfield. If past records are anything to go by, the bird may hang around for a few days. |
| Nigel Coghlan 6/4 #272428 |
| Fri 4 | | Pink-eared and Wandering Whistling Ducks, Little Friarbird, Shoveler
Seales Road Swamp, Belmore River |
| Heavy rains in March followed by rains from Tropical Cyclone Archie, and then more rain last week have filled these Belmore River wetlands, and there are hundreds of pairs of Black Swans feeding in these wetlands and seemingly getting ready to breed. Among all the waterfowl seen from two visits this week were 62 Australian Shovelers (a big number for the Mid North Coast), 5 Wandering Whistling Ducks & 2 Pink-ears. There is extensive flowering of Broad-leafed Paperbarks at the western end of the Swamps, where a group of 12 Little Friarbirds were found feeding in the flowers. Little Friarbirds have been very scarce on the Mid-north Coast in recent years. eBird checklist Further information |
| Ed Loey & Alan Morris 5/4 #272426 |
| | Topknot Pigeon
Mason Park Wetland |
|
| Five Topknot Pigeons flying over Mason Park Wetland this morning eBird checklist |
| Gerard Duane 4/4 #272424 |
| Thu 3 | | Bush Stone Curlew
Magenta Shores |
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| A Bush Stone Curlew was photographed by David McManus on the golf course a few weeks back. A rare species in the former Wyong LGA. (Moderator's Note: A Bush Stone-curlew was first reported at Magenta in February and on 1/3/2025, there were two birds present. However there have been few sightings since so it is good to know that one bird is still present. AKM) |
| David McManus pers comm. Andrew Robinson 15/4 #272448 |
| | Litte Friarbird
Ku-rin-gai Chase National Park, Chiltern Trail, Chiltern Road end. |
|
| Sighted with several Noisy Friarbirds. |
| Neil Fifer 4/4 #272425 |
| | Blue-winged Parrot
Private property, south of the Mid Western Hwy, Gunbar |
|
| What appeared to be a mixed aged flock of 12 Blue-winged Parrots. The birds were feed on grasses before I startled them.. |
| Bruce Mullins 4/4 #272423 |
| | Regent Honeyeater
Hunter Wetlands Centre (Newcastle) |
|
| An unbanded Regent Honeyeater was photographed by Ted Elks this morning at about 10:30am west of the egret tower and not far from the end of Mort Street. Follow-up searches this afternoon failed to find the bird. This is the first report of a Regent Honeyeater in Newcastle LGA since the mid 1980's. The whereabouts of any other Regents are not known at the time of writing. Photo by Ted Elks. eBird checklist |
| Ted Elks per Mick Roderick 3/4 #272422 |
| Tue 1 | | Black-necked Stork
Lismore airport |
| Pair overflying the airport. Also observed several Common Mynas perching on the back of grazing cattle nearby (also cattle egrets) - don’t know if this is a known behaviour (Moderator's Note: Yes it is a known behavior for both species! AKM). |
| Ian Colvin 3/4 #272421 |
| | Wandering Albatross (likely juvenile)
Sydney Harbour National Park North Head,Manly |
| Highlight of a seawatch this afternoon was a likely juvenile Wandering Albatross; brown all over except for white underwings and a white face. Also there were 3 Black-browed Albatross; 2 juveniles and 1 adult. |
| Michael Ronan 1/4 #272419 |
| | Pacific Emerald Dove
Irrawong Reserve, Warriewood, Sydney |
|
| Seen walking along the track near the Waterfall.
According to eBird the last record at this location was in 2017.
Very skittish so only a dodgy phone shot attached. |
| Paul Johnstone 1/4 #272418 |
| Mon 31 | | White Terns & Grey-faced Petrels
Mistral Point, Maroubra |
| 3 White Terns today seen about 2 hours apart from each other. Other birds included, 44 Grey-faced Petrels, 1Shy Albatross, 24 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, 2 Sooty Shearwater, 2 Fluttering Shearwater, 2 Flesh-footed Shearwater and a Caspian Tern. Virtually perfect conditions this afternoon with gale force southerlies and continuous showers, nudging the birds close to shore as they avoid the rain. |
| David Mitford 31/3 #272416 |
| Sun 30 | | White Tern and Grey-faced Petrel
Mistral Point, Maroubra |
| The highlight of an otherwise fairly quiet sea watch, was a co-operative White Tern, which even tried feeding with Silver Gulls until one decided to bully him away, it drifted south east and eventually I lost it, but not before it racked up 9 minutes of view time. Also approximately 9 Grey-faced Petrels, 6 Flesh-footed Shearwaters, 28 Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, 2 Short-tailed Shearwaters, 2 Gannets, 1 Pomarine Jaeger & 1 Arctic Jaeger. |
| David Mitford 30/3 #272415 |
| Fri 28 | | Kermadec Petrel (2), Gould’s Petrel
Terrigal Pelagic |
|
| Highlights from a solid trip included 2 Kermadec Petrel with an intermediate and dark (image provided) morph, a Gould’s Petrel and an aberrant / partially leucistic Grey-faced Petrel. Also observed were Providence Petrel, Wilson’s Storm Petrel (high count of 25), Shy Albatross and expected Shearwater species. 12 taxa seen in total with 10 of those tubenoses, including 4 Pterodroma. A large Smooth Hammerhead Shark that provided excellent views and remained with the boat for over an hour was a real highlight. |
| Central Coast Pelagics (Andrew Robinson and 15 others on board) 29/3 #272413 |
| Thu 27 | | Gould's Petrel (rescue)
Offshore--Port Stephens pelagic |
|
| The highlight of what was otherwise an extremely quiet day off Port Stephens was rescuing a Gould's Petrel that was found on the water, feathers matted by Pisonia umbellifera fruit and seeds. The bird could not fly and was waterlogged and probably wouldn't have made it through the night. It was fished out of the water and taken to a wildlife carer. Photo by James Bennett. |
| Mick Roderick and others aboard M.V. Imagine 28/3 #272412 |
| | Little Eagle breeding record
Kellyville |
|
| A friend of ours messaged me yesterday with this image, and an accompanying video of a begging Little Eagle, juvenile bird.
Considering, we had an active breeding pair barely 6km in a straight line from this sighting (at Rouse Hill) only two years ago, it's quite possible the same pair of eagles raised a chick in a new nest in the general area, since their previous nest tree was cut down by developers straight after the eaglet fledged around mid-January in 2023.
A good record for NW Sydney.
And the eaglet is quite mobile, as our friend says it's been around about once a week in the same tree for at least the past month.
Image from our friend Jade J. |
| Ákos Lumnitzer 28/3 #272411 |
| | Black-tailed Native Hen
Central Coast Wetlands (Tuggerah) |
|
| Individual showing well around 9am this morning and foraging along edge of main water body. Less than 5 records for the Central Coast LGA. Also 2 x long-staying Wood Sandpiper present. |
| Andrew Robinson 27/3 #272408 |