NSW South Coast Bush Shows Green Shoots

Ten weeks after the bush fire there are green shoots to soften the bleak colours of the burnt bush. The heavy rain of the past few weeks has been very timely but a lot questions remain about the fire’s impact on wildlife.  Bird species numbers on the bush survey sites I monitor are not showing any increase since the fires. But this week a flock of Thornbills feeding in the fresh green foliage increased the total number of birds counted.

The “Path” site photographed in my January 28 blog showing the magic effect of time and rain. Unfortunately there were very few birds to match its green appearance.

There do seem to be more birds around the townships and some less common birds have taken up residence. The photos below show some of the newcomers.

This Wonga Pigeon has taken up residence in the vegetable garden, here seen exploring the compost heap.

Another pigeon, the White-headed Pigeon has turned up, not often seen in these coastal towns.

This Glossy Black-Cockatoo was at Garrad Reserve, Narawallee.

Rain fills Sydney Eastern Suburb ponds

Australia’s top birding organization Birdlife is asking birdwatchers to do more surveys in response to the bush fires. They highlight the importance of knowing what is happening to bird numbers, not only in burnt out areas, but across the rest of the country as well.

Last weekend I surveyed my two regular Eastern Suburb sites. The past week’s 200 – 400 mm rain has extinguished most of the fires across NSW and in the city it has filled ponds in local parks and brought a flush of green to the previously desiccated bush. The pond at Randwick Environment Park was full for the first time since early 2018 and the count there showed a handful of Pacific Black Ducks, three Eurasian Coots and an Australasian Grebe in addition to the regular Magpies and Red Wattlebirds.   

At the Kensington Pond in Centennial Park there were ducks, coots and an Intermediate Egret gracing the waters. In the slither of Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub that lines the northern bank were Red Wattlebirds, New Holland Honeyeaters, Superb Fairy-wrens with Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos in the adjacent Maritime Pine trees.

Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo at Kensington Pond, Centennial Park, Sydney

At the Fly Casting Pond, a Freckled Duck, one of three that have been in residence on and off over past months, was showing signs of breeding plumage with its bill reddening at the base.

Freckled Duck at Fly Casting Pond at Centennial Park, Sydney

NSW South Coast Birds after the Bush Fires

The trepidation of our trip down the Princes Highway from Nowra was relieved to some extent by green patches along the burnt out roadside. Then turning onto the Bendalong road this devastating scene; these barren and charred remains.

Bendalong road, January 2020

The seaside towns of Bendalong and Manyana are intact despite being burnt on all sides, a tribute to the firies. Even the bush along the Bendalong beach-front has been burnt out. The dawn chorus was subdued, a pair of Magpie-larks and then a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo’s screeching. The numbers of town birds are well down; ones or twos where previously there had been a dozen.

The “Path” Birdata bird survey site, 95% burnt out.

The two Birdata Survey sites I set up in 2017 were burnt so I wanted to see how bird numbers had changed. On the “Path” site survey I found it a relief to hear a lone Little Wattlebird calling, later to be joined by two Lewin’s Honeyeaters and then some Striated Thornbills. On the “Bush Track” it was fifteen minutes before the first birds arrived; two Eastern Yellow Robins and then a Rufous Whistler.

Eastern Yellow Robin on the “Bush Track” site

The two sites were already badly affected by drought and bird numbers dropped off during 2019, as seen from the survey results below. The birds are going to need all the help they can get to recover from this double whammy to bird life.

Birdata Bird Survey results for Maple Street sites 2017-2020.

Centennial Park – Still in Drought

Bushfires have dominated our attention in New South Wales these past weeks. In the meantime the drought that makes these bushfires so fierce and unrelenting continues, with one hundred percent of the state drought declared and most of the state in severe drought. It is a shock to see how dry our city parks are, the ponds of Centennial Park are all but empty and much of the bush showing stress, some shrubs and trees are dying. The park’s rainfall for the last three months is 50 mm, less the 20 percent of the average.

Large mud-banks formed as water levels drop are attracting a number of birds of interest, as seen at today’s Birding NSW excursion to Centennial Park. On the Duck Pond unusual visitors were Latham’s Snipes, Little Terns, Black-winged Stilts and Black-fronted Dotterels. At the Model Yacht Pond were Chestnut Teal, Freckled Ducks and Australasian Shovelers. Other birds of interest included Figbirds, Topknot Pigeons and Royal Spoonbills.      

Royal Spoonbill at depleted Fly Casting Pond, Centennial Park, Sydney

Broome Bird Observatory

The Broome Bird Observatory is located on the northern shore of Roebuck Bay, Western Australia, 24km from Broome. This is one of the world’s most important shorebird sites with over 800,000 birds visiting each year. Migratory birds leave from here each autumn to feed and breed during Asia’s and Siberia’s short summer. Adult birds and chicks only weeks old retrace the 10,000 km journey to enjoy the Australian summer. They return to feed on Roebuck Bay’s rich mudflats replenished by tides of up to 10 metres.

At high tide shorebirds congregate on the beaches of Roebuck Bay.

Run by Birdlife Australia, the Observatory provides an educational and scientific facility with accommodation for visitors and resident guides who facilitate regular tours, courses and manage the research facilities.

The red soil meets the blue waters of Roebuck Bay, a surreal background for this visiting Black-necked Stork.

On our tour of beaches near the Observatory last month (November is Broome’s hottest month!) we were lucky to be guided by Nile and Jane, enthusiastic and knowledgeable bird watchers. We saw many shorebirds including Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits, Whimbrels, Curlews, Redshanks and Greenshanks, Grey-tailed Tattlers, Terek, Sharp-tailed, Curlew and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Great Knots and Turnstones. Seven species of Tern and Pacific Golden, Grey, Greater Sand and Red-capped Plovers contributed to our shore and land-bird total of 53 species for the morning’s visit. Never to be forgotten was the beach with an estimated 7,000 birds, settling then rising and swirling as a Brahminy Kite flew over.

A passing Brahminy Kite raises a cloud of birds: Godwits, Curlew Sandpipers, Greenshanks and Great Knots.

Red-winged Parrots enjoying Mangoes in Broome

Breakfast in Broome would be incomplete without succulent Mango fresh from the tree. And this, a Red-winged Parrot feeding on Mangoes where they hang, is another memorable scene from a visit to Broome.

Elaborate bower of the Satin Bowerbird

There are 20 species in the Bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchidae) family and 8 of these are native to Australia. The Satin Bowerbird is found along Australia’s eastern seaboard. Females and immature male birds are olive green then the breeding males get their glossy blue-black plumage at between five and seven years of age.

Their famous bower is an avenue of grass and sticks decorated with blue and yellow objects. It is built by the breeding male to attract as many females as possible. Females inspect the bower while the male is absent. She may return later to view the male’s dancing and calling display before making the decision to enter the bower for mating.

The female departs to the nest she has already built to lay her two to three eggs and raise the young alone. The male will continue manning the bower looking for new partners. The young males may use the bower to practise their courting skills.

Cuckoo Time

The cuckoos of spring have arrived and are making their presence known. There are Channel-billed Cuckoos in Sydney and Common Koels calling down the NSW South Coast. At Barren Grounds a number of Fan-tailed Cuckoos were holding court with their distinctive and musical descending trills. And Cuckoos active in the far north-west, in Broome, Western Australia.

Fan-tailed Cuckoo at Barren Grounds on 18 October

Common Koel waiting for Red Wattlebird foster parent - South Coast NSW

Young Black-eared Cuckoo photographed in Broome, Western Australia

Brush Cuckoo,Broome WA

Narawang Wetland at Sydney Olympic Park

Spring brings a new round of Sydney Olympic Park spring surveys and this year the early morning start is eased by the quick trip westward in the new WestConnex tunnel. This year’s sites include the garden-like Narawang Wetland close to tidal Haslam’s Creek. These small ponds are home to a surprising variety of water birds such as Latham’s Snipe, Baillon’s Crake and Buff-banded Rails in addition to the usual Purple Swamphen, Dusk Moorhen, Eurasian Coots and a variety of ducks. In the marshes are Australian Reed-Warblers, Golden-headed Cisticolas and this week a Tawny Grassbird.

Australian Reed-Warbler

Brown Honeyeaters predominate in the bushes surrounding the wetland along with Red Wattlebirds, Little Wattlebirds, New Holland and White-plumed Honeyeaters.

Brown Honeyeater

Brisbane city birds

It was a short trip to Brisbane last week, no time for a trip to the bush. I stayed in the leafy hills of Auchenflower, not far from the Botanic Gardens and Mount Coot-Tha. The ground was very dry and the leaves sparse. 

There were the usual Noisy Miners, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos, Pied Currawongs, Ravens and Magpies around. Three Grey Butcherbirds and two Pied Butcherbirds kept busy in what seemed an unusually small area. Also a bird new to me; among the Rainbow Lorikeets feeding in a nearby tree were a number of Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, easily distinguished from a distance by their luminous green sheen.

Scaly-breasted Lorikeet

The Biggest Loser – the Red Goshawk

Habitat loss is the largest contributor to Australia’s decreasing bird populations. A recent study by University of Queensland reports that 7.7 million hectares of critical forest and woodland habitat have been cleared since passing of the “Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999”.  Of this 93% was not even referred for assessment. The report concludes that the act is totally ineffective.

Of the 1390 threatened species that saw loss of habitat it was the Red Goshawk that lost the most. This largest and rarest of Australia’s Goshawks saw its potential territory reduced by 3 million hectares. This wide ranging bird was once seen from the Northern Territory to north New South Wales but is now seldom seen in the southern part of the range.

The Red Goshawk hunts for large prey in forest and woodlands. This bird was seen on a roadside tree in Kakadu National Park.

Red Goshawk, Kakadu National Park

Wildflowers at Barren Grounds Nature Reserve

In springtime Barren Grounds sports a vibrant cloak of wildflowers; tea tree, boronia, fuchsia, drumsticks, wattles and yellow pea flowers… The Reserve is a spectacular heathland plateau perched on the Illawarra Escarpment, surrounded by precipitous cliffs and woodlands, forests and rainforest. This heathland is one of four remaining on the NSW south coast. It provides a retreat for heathland plants and animals including many vulnerable species.  

Yellow pea flowers at Barren Grounds

The Reserve was set up in 1956 to protect two threatened heathland birds, the Eastern Bristlebird and the Ground Parrot. Eastern Bristlebirds are medium-sized, long-tailed, brown and rufous birds. The entire Eastern Bristlebird population has decreased to around 2000 and Barren Grounds is one of the remaining strongholds. The elusive Ground Parrot is a slender parrot, grass-green with black and yellow markings and a prominent pale yellow wing bar.  

160 species of bird have been counted in the Reserve including the Southern Emu-wren, the Striated Fieldwren and Superb Lyrebirds. The dense heath provides protection from predators for rare mammals including the smallest of the Kangaroo family - the Long-nosed Potoroo, Swamp Wallabies, Sugar Gliders and Tiger Quolls. Sightings during last week’s visit to the Reserve included several honeyeater species, White-browed Scrubwren and three Emu-wren.  

Southern Emu-wren

Swift Parrots at Mount Annan

After the trip via the M5 tunnel to Mount Annan south-west of Sydney it was refreshing to see the large and well cared for grassland, gardens and bush remnants of the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan. This was a follow up (16 August) to reports that there were still Swift Parrots in the Banksia Garden at the park’s rear. There were indeed at least a dozen birds, feeding high in the eucalypts. They sped in small flocks of four or five through the trees and moved rapidly from flower to flower in keeping with their name.

Swift Parrots breed in Tasmania but travel north as far as Brisbane in winter, arriving in May and leaving for the trip south again in August. Their main food in Tasmania is nectar from blue gum flowers. Clearing of blue gum forest and old trees with nesting hollows threatens the future of these birds. An additional threat is predation by sugar gliders introduced into Tasmania in the 1800s. As a result, Swift Parrots are now listed as endangered and have an Environment Australia recovery plan.

Swift Parrot at the Banksia Garden, Mount Annan, 16 August 2019

An Australian export - New Zealand's iconic Takahē

The iconic Takahē is as imposing as it is a legend; widespread on New Zealand’s North and South islands when Maori people arrived seven hundred years ago but presumed extinct by the late nineteenth century, the decline caused by habitat loss and hunting. Then there was the dramatic rediscovery in 1948 in the remote Murchison Mountains near Lake Te Anau. There are now over 300 birds, in the Murchisons plus those bred in sanctuaries.   

I am greatly enjoying reading “Birds of the West Wind” written by Garry Sheeran, on the origins of New Zealand’s birds. Sheeran postulates that 110 of New Zealand’s current bird population arrived or are descended from Australian birds blown by the prevailing westerly winds across the Tasman sea, some species arriving multiple times over the past twenty five million years.  In fact it appears most of New Zealand’s birds have arrived this way. 

The Takahē evidently evolved from a proto-type Australian Purple Swamphen that took the Tasman route perhaps 10 million years ago. It grew larger in size and developed digging tools to graze on alpine grassland. Like many New Zealand birds it lost its ability to fly. The Purple Swamphen has repeated the feat within the last 500 years and found recently cultivated lands to its liking. As a bird that is very similar to its Australian ancestor, this second invader has become what is now the New Zealand Pukeko.

One of two Takahēs at the wonderful Zealandia Sanctuary in Wellington.

Barn Owl back at Centennial Park

Eastern Barn Owls have often been seen in Sydney’s Centennial Park over the last five years; during the day they roost underneath the foliage of Canary Island Date Palms. Numbers in the park seem to be increasing, with a peak count of five birds seen last year. Powerful Owls and the Southern Boobook are also seen in Centennial Park.

The Barn Owl is one of the world’s most widespread birds, found across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. They are well adapted to agricultural areas but their numbers may be increasing in the city too. 

This bird was seen on last week’s winter survey, the first sighting for several months.

Eastern Barn Owl roosting under crown of a Canary Island Date Palm

Low bird numbers at Cowra Survey

It is rash to draw conclusions from the bird survey counts of one cold windy winter’s day. However last weekend’s bird counts were very low with zero birds on three of the sites surveyed. This was the first time I had made counts of zero and it was surprising to do so at several sites.

The Cowra Survey had shown a dramatic decrease in bird numbers during the Millennium drought (2001 - 2010) and then an healthy increase afterwards as the countryside recovered. From the comments of experienced birders it appears the current drought is affecting bird numbers across all the woodlands areas, perhaps to even lower levels than seen in earlier droughts. Drought-wise Cowra is actually faring better than many inland towns, with 60 mm rain over the last two months, and although creeks and dams are still empty there were puddles, and paddocks had a flush of green. 

The Cowra surveys were inspired by a landowner who noticed a decrease in the number of Babblers he was seeing on his farm. The project has inspired tree planting and the regeneration and protection of existing bush lands in addition to the invaluable information generated by the survey itself.

So it was a welcome consolation to see several Babbler families over the weekend, busy in their Babbler ways.

Grey-crowned Babbler at Morongla cemetery near Cowra

Going, going, gone

The Duck Pond in Sydney’s Centennial Park is a city haven for its water birds and its visitors from the bush in times of drought. It is fed from storm-water runoff and is part of a catchment which feeds the Botany Wetlands extending six kilometers downstream. 

The Duck Pond is home to numerous Hardhead ducks, Eurasian Coots, Black Swans, Australian White Ibis, Pacific Black Ducks, Dusky Moorhens, Darters, Great, Pied, Little Black and Little Pied Cormorants, White-faced Herons, Nankeen Night-Herons and Purple Swamphens with total numbers often exceeding 200 birds. Occasional visitors include Black-fronted Dotterel, Royal Spoonbills, Freckled and Pink-eared Ducks, Shovelers and a recent Shelduck.

The pond is also home to European Carp, considered a pest but also food for the water birds. This Great Cormorant has chosen a rather large fish for lunch however managed it well as seen in the photos below. 

The Lake Wollumboola Key Biodiversity Area

Lake Wollumboola, located 200 km south of Sydney, is a shallow intermittently closing and opening coastal lake with extensive sand and mud flats, rocky reefs, sedge and coastal salt marsh with adjoining Swamp Oak and Melaleuca forests.  

Lake Wollumboola has been designated a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) because of its importance for migratory birds such as Godwits and Sandpipers and its large populations of Black Swans and Chestnut Teal. KBAs are “sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity” registered with “The International Union for Conservation of Nature” (IUCN), an organization formed in 1948, with Australia as a signatory.  

Over 100 bird species have been recorded including 16 threatened species and total birds on the lake can number over 20,000. Rare birds make their way here, recently the Paradise Duck from New Zealand and the Hudsonian Godwit. Some common species found at Wollumboola can be seen at the link below.

Caspian Tern at Lake Wollumboola

Superb Lyrebirds at Granite Falls in Morton National Park

Superb Lyrebirds have been vocal the past few weeks, their characteristic calls and clever mimicry ringing across Morton National Park, South Coast NSW. The bird shown below was scratching at the turnoff sign from 12 Mile road to the Granite Falls car park.

Superb Lyrebird at Morton National Park

Granite Falls is an easy walk from the car park through robust stringybark, red bloodwood and turpentine trees. There is evidence of tin mining from the 1900’s, then the falls are a spectacular 63 metres into a forested valley. After a week of patchy rain with some local heavy falls there was only a trickle flowing down the polished granite rock-face.

The Viewing Platform at Granite Falls

Visit to Shoalhaven Heads and Comerong Island

Shoalhaven Heads 150 km south of Sydney is a good place to see shorebirds and waders. It is one of the key NSW sites for migratory birds over the summer. 

At this time of the year, late May, it is reasonably quiet. When I visited last week there were Black Swans, Grey and Chestnut Teal, Red-capped Plover, Sooty Oystercatchers, Masked Lapwings and a White-faced Heron on the mudflats. Two White-bellied Sea-Eagles appeared, one carrying what appeared to be a hapless Australian Raven while two further Ravens attacked. They flew low over the sand hills before disappearing on the town side of the river. 

The mouth of the Shoalhaven River is often blocked by sand and you can walk across to Comerong Island Nature Reserve, which lists over 150 bird species. While walking at the high tide mark I disturbed a Buff-banded Rail. It flustered off then peered back through the tussock. There were Yellow and Brown Thornbills, Brown Gerygones, Silvereyes and a Bandicoot quite happy to dig its holes along the path ahead, oblivious to my presence.  

White-bellied Sea-Eagle with Australian Raven at Shoalhaven Heads