Byron Bay Wetlands in September

It has been a busy start to September in the Wetlands. Plenty of nest building and family raising action to be seen. Azure Kingfishers in a courting dance, Superb Fairy-wrens building nests, Tawny Grassbirds chasing and buzzing through the reeds, Masked Lapwings protecting their three chicks, a Pheasant Coucal calling. Also an unexpected visitor, a Radjah Shelduck a long way from its northern tropics home.

A rare visit from a Radjah Shelduck, more commonly found in the tropical north of Australia or the coastal rivers of north Queensland.

This Super Fairy-wren looks to be building a nest in the car park!

Identification of the sub-species of Silvereye can be difficult, with many overlaps of territory. This specimen appears to be the eastern sub-species Zosterops lateralis cornwalli.

Bar-shouldered Doves are often to be seen and more often heard around the wetlands.

Silvereye families identified

There are seven sub-species of Silvereye recognised in Australia plus the ‘Capricorn White-eye’ which some think should be a separate species. The sub-species can be difficult to separate, made more so by the migration of some birds. A helpful pamphlet on bird identification is published by the Australian Bird Study Association Inc. on their website. Link to “Silvereye” pamphlet

This Silvereye was photographed at Sydney’s Centennial Park last week. After considerable discussion it was concluded that this bird was from the resident Sydney population, the South-eastern Silvereye belonging to the Zosterops lateralis westernensis sub-family. The key identification criteria were its tawny flanks and its yellow chin.

Also photographed in Sydney’s eastern suburbs last May, this bird was identified as the Tasmanian Silvereye, Zosterops lateralis lateralis. This was based on its rufous brown flanks and its grey chin. Many Tasmanian Silvereyes migrate north in the late summer and can be seen as far north as Queensland. They “island hop” across Bass Strait and join flocks of other Tasmanian and local birds.

This Western Silvereye was photographed in Albany on the southern coast of Western Australia. It has a distinctive olive-green back compared to the grey back seen on other sub-species.

Related to the Silvereye is the Yellow White-eye, Zosterops luteus, a mangrove dweller seen across the north of Australia. This Yellow White-eye was photographed from the famous Streeter’s Jetty in Broome, WA.