Thinking About Birds

April 2026

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.

March 2026

24 March

I went to the Central Coast bird club’s meeting at Tuggerah in the evening - for an interesting talk by a Bush Heritage person about properties they manage in the channel country of north-west NSW. Before the meeting I visited a couple of locations (Ourimbah RTA Reserve, McPhersons Swamp) without finding much.

21 March

I went to Newcastle to do the monthly survey of Ash Island, joned by Ross and Emily this time. We found four Far Eastern Curlews - quite a drop on last month's count of them. There probably won't be any next month. The other shorebirds were a group of 17 Pacific Golden Plovers on Phoenix Flat, seven Black-fronted Dotterels at a swale behind Teal Waters and a solitary Pied Stilt on the main ponds. A couple of the plovers were in full breeding plumage, and looking beautiful. One of the plainer birds had leg flags, and we spenf 15-20 minutes trying to get a photo in which the tag ID could be read. We were only partially successful, unfortunately. We only found three species of duck, with Chestnut Teal being the dominant one - about 350 birds overall.

18 March

In the afternoon I had a meeting at a cafe near Empire Bay, to discuss results from the Brisbane Water surveys that they do. I've been helping to analyse the data. Before the meeting I stopped at the foreshore area - the highlight probably was a pair of Chestnut Teal (it's nice to see something that's now a Mallard!)

17 March

I did my approximately fortnightly walk alongside Brisbane Water, from Woy Woy to Blackwall. There was a Bar-tailed Godwit out on the sandbank, along with a dozen Pied Oystercatchers plus the usual pelicans and swans. I also saw a Little Heron and a Long-billed Corella.

16 March

I went to the Warrah Trig Rd section of Brisbane Water National Park. There was a lot of blossom, and honeyeaters were present in reasonable numbers although only the usual species. All morning I saw White-throated Needletails, usually only 10 or so at a time but perhaps 80-100 birds all up. There were a couple of Pacific Swifts amongst them. A Brush Bronzewing flew directly over the top of me at not a great height - which was a surprise in every way, as I hadn't seen or heard one all year until today. There also was a Pied Butcherbird - a rarity in the Woy Woy peninsula area. I finished up at Patonga, where there were no cormorants (very unusual) but there was a group of four Greater Crested Terns roosting on one of the boats.

13 March

I did my monthly surveys of the Umina Coastal Sandplain Woodland. I found a group of five Variegated Fairywrens in the burnt area - they were close to where I had some birds last month (and pretty soon they were back into that exact spot). There also were a couple of White-browed Scrubwrens present. I had great views of a male Australian Golden Whistler and of a pair of Lewin's Honeyeaters.

11 March

I went to the Central Coast Wetlands just before lunch. There were Tawny Grassbirds calling from their usual areas and I had a nice view of a female Satin Bowerbird. Also there was a Royal Spoonbill feeding in some pretty soupy water. I had an appointment in Newcastle and had planned to do the Macquarie Pier walk beforehand - unfortunately there were workers doing something or other, and the walkway was closed to pedestrians. That evening I went to the HBOC meeting where Andrea Griffin gave a terrific presentation about her group's work on shorebirds.

10 March

I did another three surveys today - two at the Van Dahls Track in Brisbane Water National Park and then at the arboretum at Pearl Beach. I found some Red-browed Finches at the former and later some Variegated Fairywrens. The highlight for me at the arboretum was a Rufous Fantail, which offered me long and frequent views as it flittered about in vegetaion by the creek.

6 March

I went to three of my sites in Brisbane Water National Park - the Pearl Caves area and then the Coora Swamp area. There was a Superb Lyrebird near the caves and a Scarlet Honeyeater later. There was some blossom and quite a few honeyeaters, but mostly only it was the two of yellow-winged variety.

2 March

I went to the rainforest area at Ourimbah (aka the RTA Reserve). The highlight for me was to see a Green Catbird - only my second sighting of one on the Central Coast. There also were Yellow-throated Scrubwrens and White-browed Scrub-wrens, a couple of Australian Brush-turkeys, and an elusive Rufous Fantail. I also visited the Ourimbah Rest Area and did the walk from there - it was really quiet.