More migratory birds at Ballina

As September comes to an end, numbers of migratory birds at Ballina in New South Wales Northern Rivers region are increasing. Groups of shorebirds can be found at many of the town’s numerous rocky shores, estuaries and river banks.

Ballina has to be a hot spot for this iconic and perilously endangered group of birds. It might be even more spectacular with more protection from people and dogs for the birds and the areas they feed in.

A group of around thirty shore birds was seen at Lake Chickiba in Ballina; a well known gathering spot. This Pacific Golden Plover was one of a dozen of these colourful birds.

One of a group of Curlew Sandpipers at Lake Chickiba. The third migratory species seen there were Sharp-Tailed Sandpipers. Also present was a Royal Spoonbill, a Little Egret, Australian White Ibis, and a Mangrove Gerygone was calling.

At Flat Rock, Ballina the numbers of all species had increased, with 20 or so Red-necked Stints milling around.

There were more Ruddy Turnstones at Flat Rock, Ballina.

Two Tattlers keeping company at Flat Rock, Ballina. Again, distinguishing between the Grey-tailed and Wandering Tattler is difficult. The one on the right appears to be the rarer Wandering Tattler while the jury is still out for the bird on the left.

Hidden amongst 200 plus Crested Terns was this Common Tern (highlighted), the first of this species I had seen. The first Common Terns from northern Asia arrive in Ballina in September, with numbers swelling to a peak in December/January.

The Common Tern, visitor from the northern hemisphere, arrives in Ballina.

Migratory birds return

August is the month that migratory birds begin to return to Australia after their long journey to Siberia. Many of these birds can be seen on beaches in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Ballina is a hot spot for migratory birds.

This Ruddy Turnstone has just returned from its migration north to Siberia, flying great distances without a stop. It was photographed at Flat Rock at Ballina, feeding to regain weight and condition after a long and exhausting trip.

Weighing between 25 to 40 grams, the tiny Red-necked Stint has also just returned from Siberia. Stints move rapidly across the rocks, feeding on molluscs and crustaceans.

The Curlew Sandpiper is recognised by its curved bill. Another long distance traveller refuelling at Flat Rock Ballina. Numbers of Curlew Sandpipers have declined sharply since the 1980s.

These Sharp-tailed Sandpipers were feeding at the Byron Bay Wetlands. Sharp-tailed Sandpipers are the most numerous of the migrants found in both freshwater and saline wetlands.

Big Scrub Loop

The Big Scrub Loop walking track is in Nightcap National Park, near Lismore, New South Wales. The track passes through magnificent subtropical rainforest dominated by enormous fig trees, Giant Stinging Trees and huge buttressed Yellow Carabeen. The Nightcap Range has been designated an Important Biodiversity Area (IBA) by Birdlife International. The key IBA bird species found in the park are the Albert's Lyrebird, Green Catbird, Pale-yellow Robin, Australian Logrunner, Paradise Riflebird, and Regent Bowerbird.

Four of the six key IBA species were recorded during this weeks survey by the Byron Bird Buddies; the Green Catbird, Logrunner, Paradise Riflebird and this Pale-yellow Robin.The three hour survey recorded thirty plus plus species, many heard rather than seen.The Pale-yellow Robin is a true rainforest inhabitant feeding on insects close the ground, amongst the lawyer vines.

Nightcap National Park on the Big Scrub Loop wallking track.

A dozen Logrunners made their presence known with a loud and distinctive “be-kweek-kweek-kweek”. The white bib identifies this bird as a male.

The tortured cat wail of the Green Catbird provides a disconcerting backdrop to the continual chorus of bird calls in this prolific rainforest. There were only glimpses of this species which likes to remain high in the forest canopy.

This Large-billed Scrubwren was one of the small birds feeding at lower levels of the forest together with Brown Gerygone and Brown Thornbills. Up in the canopy Scarlet Honeyeaters and Lewin’s Honeyeaters were calling.

The northern ranges of New South Wales are home to a wide variety of pigeon species. The call of the Brown Cuckoo-Dove seen here was heard a number of times. Other pigeons recorded were the Wompoo Fruit-Dove, White-headed Pigeon, Pacific Emerald Dove, Wonga Pigeon, Topknot Pigeon and Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove.

Beautiful fungi grace the undergrowth.

Do Beach Stone-curlew eat shellfish?

This bird is one of the very few remaining Beach Stone-curlews inhabiting New South Wales beaches. It is based at the mouth of an intermittent coastal lagoon in the Northern Rivers area.

Having navigated its way past two dogs illegally on the beach,this Beach Stone-curlew wandered down to the surf to forage, emerging with this shellfish.

The Beach Stone-curlew then left the surf and headed back to the lagoon.

At the lagoon the Bush Stone-curlew washed this bivalve shellfish several times and seemed to make a half-hearted attempt to crack the shell on a rock.

Not having made any progress on opening the shell, this Beach Stone-curlew headed back to surf some 50 metres away where it abandoned its catch on the beach.

This sort of behaviour has been described as stress related. Certainly this bird has chosen a busy spot to live with people, bicycles, swimmers and illegal dogs to contend with. The whole episode took twelve minutes, the bird looked purposeful in every step, and it successfully navigated around dogs and people on the way.

Peregrine Falcon makes unexpected visit

This unexpected visitor arrived after dusk at Tallow Creek in the Northern Rivers, New South Wales. It took a few moments to identify the bird landing for a drink in the dark. The pictures were taken at ISO 6,500 and are only usable thanks to the new AI assisted Denoise feature in Adobe Lightroom, which does a remarkable job of noise reduction.

A Peregrine Falcon lands on the shore of Tallow Creek Lagoon near Byron Bay in New South Wales Northern Rivers region.

After a wary five minutes checking for any danger the falcon enters the water to drink.

After a quick drink it is off again, then perching on top of a log “teepee” built at the high tide mark on Tallow Beach.

Logrunners at Mount Nardi

Mount Nardi at 812 metres is a peak in the Nightcap Range of the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. Swathed in semi tropical rainforest, the dense crown cover means there is little light for good photography. Last weeks visit to Mount Nardi was an introduction to the Logrunner, the Little Shrike-thrush, and to the call of the Albert’s Lyrebird.

The Logrunner, a fascinating thrush sized bird that forages in the leaves and debris of the rainforest floor for invertebrate prey, much in the fashion of the lyrebird. The female, shown here, is unusual being more colourful than the male who sports a white chest in place of the female’s rufus colours.

The low light meant a slow shutter speed and extremely high ISO was needed to capture the Logrunner on the dark forest floor. These pictures where taken at 1/100 seconds, f/5.6 at ISO 8000 using a EF Canon 100-400 f /4.5 - 5.6L IS II USM lens.

Birds on the Back Fence

There have been a number of interesting birds turn up in our Byron Bay back yard the last few weeks, two of them shown here.

An early morning visitor, the Fan-tailed Cuckoo.

A more frequent visitor, the Australian Brush-turkey.

Byron Bay Wetlands Survey

Last week’s survey at Byron Bay Wetlands in the New South Wales Northern Rivers region showed the wide range of birds this reserve attached to Byron’s sewerage works attracts. 81 species were counted with representation in a wide variety of bird groups. Raptors included a Grey Goshawk, Whispering Kite, Swamp Harrier and Sea-eagle. Water birds included a Spotless Crake, Glossy Isis, Pink-eared Ducks and Black-fronted Dotterels. Sacred, Forest and Azure Kingfishers were sighted. A highlight was the large number of Little Grassbirds out in the open.

I went back to the wetland two days later to photograph the Spotless Crake seen on the survey. This time there were two more crakes in the reeds nearby.

This Sacred Kingfisher was in the same place two days after the survey on one of the grassy walkways through the melaleuca lined ponds.

There were many Little Grassbirds to be seen on the edges of the larger ponds.

Around a dozen Black-fronted Dotterels were feeding on the mudflats.

This Great Egret lifts for a better view from the top of the tree at the right.

Goonengerry National Park

Goonengerry National Park is one of several national parks in the “Tweed Caldera”, part of the ancient Mount Warning volcano in far north New South Wales. Parts of this area form the “Nightcap Range Important Bird Area”, designated because of the population of Albert’s Lyrebirds, Pale-yellow Robins, Paradise Riflebirds, Green Catbirds, Regent Bowerbirds and Australian Logrunners.

Goonengerry Falls plunge into an enormous gorge.

The Varied Sittella is an infrequent visitor to the park which falls on the boundary of the ranges of the Orange-winged and White-headed sub-species. As the name Varied Sittella suggests there are many variations in the appearance of this species.

Two sociable park inhabitants; the Eastern Yellow Robin and Grey Fantail.

Grey Fantail feeding from ground on one of the parks well maintained trails.

Booyong Flora Reserve

The “Big Scrub” of New South Wales once extended over 75,000 hectares of rich volcanic soils emanating from the ancient Mount Warning volcano; to Lismore, Ballina and on to Byron Bay. Ninety nine per cent of the Big Scrub’s lowland subtopical rainforest has been cleared with only tiny remnants remaining. The Booyong Flora Reserve is one of these, a 16 hectare reminder of the previously luxuriant forest. Its canopy is formed by White Booyong - a flowering rainforest tree with prominent buttresses, giving the reserve its name - and Red Cedar, White Beech and fig trees.

There were many birds calling but few showing themselves in the dark understory of the Booyong Flora Reserve. This Brown Gerygone was one of a small flock seen near a giant fig tree in the reserve.

This Lewin’s Honeyeater was calling along with Brown Cuckoo-Doves, Wonga Pigeons, Torresian Crows, Eastern Yellow Robins, Whipbirds and Figbirds. There were a number of calls I did not recognise. The reserve is home to a rich selection of rainforest species including Fruit and Emerald Doves, Logrunners, Catbirds, and Cicadabirds.

Breakfast at Flat Rock, Ballina

A huge swell assaulted the Ballina, NSW coast yesterday together with a cold southerly wind, the first as winter comes closer. The resident bird population was lying low but a few individuals found their breakfast close to the rocks.

Crested Terns and Pied Cormorants on Flat Rock shelter from wind and the large surf nearby.

A Silver Gull feeds on fresh crab.

Surfing the wild waves has rewarded this Pied Cormorant with a hearty breakfast.

A not so fresh fish provides a large feed for this Silver Gull.

Byron Bay Wetlands

The Byron Bay Wetlands form part of Byron’s 100ha Integrated Water Management Reserve, the area’s sewerage treatment process. The constructed wetlands and malaleuca/banksia woodlands are accessed by a large network of well maintained walking tracks. A printed birdlist for the site lists 227 species including migratory birds, water birds as well as honeyeaters and thornbills. Permanent or short-term site access is easily obtained from the Byron Shire Council.

This Azure Kingfisher was waiting by a roadside ditch on my arrival at the Byron Bay Wetlands.

There are a large number of ponds providing a range of wetland types, some with large areas of water, some with mudflats, and others with extensive reed beds. In this pond are Australian White Ibis, Great Egrets, a Glossy Isis, Purple Swamphens, and Eurasian Coots.

Smaller birds were well represented including this Willie Wagtail, Thornbills, Striated Pardalotes, Grey Fantails as well as Golden-headed Cisticola and other reed dwellers.

A Scarlet Honeyeater feeds on malaleuca blossom in one of the extensive planted malaleuca groves.

Wandering Tattler

I could see the silhouette of a small bird in the distance on the rocks at Broken Head, Northern Rivers region NSW. It looked like a Tattler, an unusual bird to me. So which one? The more common Grey-tailed Tattler or the uncommon Wandering Tattler? Back home looking at photos it was hard to tell. I was leaning towards the rarer Wandering Tattler.

The main evidence was the brow line which went as far as the eye, unlike the longer brow line of the Grey-tailed Tattler. I read that the nasal groove of the Wandering Tattler extended two thirds of the bill length, and longer than the Grey-tailed, but the photos did not show this clearly. Also that the Wandering Tattler was a more consistently plain grey but not being able to make any comparison this did not help.

So off to summon expert help from the Australian Bird Identification page on Facebook. And agreement it was a Wandering Tattler. Also some further support: Birdata Explore showed a Wandering Tattler at nearby Ballina less than a week ago.

Wandering Tattler on the rocks at Broken Head, Northern Rivers NSW.

This picture clearly shows the shorter brow line but it is hard to make out how far the nasal groove extends down the bill.

Back to Tallow Creek

I decided to return to Tallow Creek at Suffolk Park in the Northern Rivers region of NSW. A previous visit of a couple of hours photographing around sunset resulted in a number of close ups of interesting birds and some very good evening lighting (Link to “Tallow Creek at Suffolk Park “). The walkway to the bridge that crosses the creek takes you through creek-side reed beds for close ups of reed birds and finches. The sporadic trees provide for close ups with clear space behind that give a nice blur to the background of the photo. This latest trip proved equally fruitful with the photos below.

The Beach Stone-curlew is seen in New South Wales from the Manning River northwards. However sightings are rare and the species is now regarded as critically endangered.

Photographed from the Tallow Creek bridge, a Little Pied Cormorant attests to the food available in the “Intermittently Closed and Open Lagoon” that the creek flows into. The category “Intermittently Closed and Open Lagoon” refers to the outlet to the sea which at times is closed for months.

Welcome Swallows and Tree Martins flutter constantly across the water of the lagoon. They often rest in a small tree at the end of the bridge; this provides a convenient place to photograph them.

A Tree Martin, possible a younger bird?

A small bird in another tree turned out to be a Striated Pardalote, another bird seen regularly at the lagoon. The heavy black marking across the eye and red spot on the wing indicates it could be of the northern Striated Pardalote race, the so called Black-headed Pardalote.

It was a surprise to see this young Mistletoebird, evidently another bird frequently seen at this site.

This Brown Thornbill was feeding in the middle branches of a medium sized tree.

I was pleased to see that the White-breasted Woodswallows sighted on the previous visit were still around. I counted fifteen birds present in total, similar to previous.

This Golden-headed Cisticola chose a helpful tree branch to pose for this photo.

The White-cheeked Honeyeater is common in the area, supplanting the New Holland Honeyeaters seen further south.

A Darter stretches out over a re-habilitated sewerage treatment pond close to Tallow Creek.

South Coast Birds Last Week

Spotted Turtle-Dove

Nankeen Kestrel

Satin Bowerbird

Grey Butcherbird

Grey Teal family at Centennial Park

The Duck Pond at Centennial Park in Sydney has been deserted by many of its usual residents; for example not one Hardhead was counted at the last survey - normally the count might be over one hundred. However there are still a few ducks present including this Grey Teal family. And a few days ago a party of six Plumed Whistling Ducks stayed overnight, en route to who knows where.

Grey Teal family feed at the Duck Pond, Centennial Park, Sydney.

Centennial Park Summer Surveys

Thursday’s survey of the Duck Pond, Randwick and Busby ponds in Centennial Park, Sydney confirmed that the water birds are still extremely scarce in the eastern suburbs. Counts of individual duck species of one or two were made where over one hundred is the norm for these ponds. Presumably they are still enjoying the rain and floods; reports from colleagues of thousands of waterbirds seen out west are reassuring. After the surveys we checked the regular residents and found one of the two Powerful Owls, the nesting Tawny Frogmouths and Common Koels.

Male Common Koel

Female Common Koel

The male Tawny Frogmouth sits on the nest while the female stands guard nearby and provides food. One of the two chicks can just be seen at the bottom of the male’s front on the left.

A moment later the chick has opened its mouth in hope of food. It is an impressive size for such a small bird!

D'Aguilar National Park on the North-West of Brisbane

D'Aguilar National Park protects 36,000 ha of the D’Aguilar Range’s vast bushland. It has sub-tropical rainforest and eucalypt woodlands set in a rugged backdrop of rivers and gorges. There is easy access from the city, especially to the Walkabout Creek Discovery Centre on the shores of the Enoggera Resevoir, a back up water supply for the city.

This Bush Stone-curlew was part of a family of three feeding in the car park at Bellbird Grove in D’Aguilar National Park.

Not far from the parklands of Bellbird Grove were a selection of bush birds, including this Lewin’s Honeyeater.

This Brown Thornbill was seen near to the Bellbird Grove carpark.

About a kilometer along the Araucaria Walk at Enoggera Resevoir, a large group of Bell Miners were calling.

In the same area there was a pair of Olive-backed Orioles and also Lewin’s Honeyeaters..

And this Noisy Friarbird was feeding nearby in a patch of Lantana.

There were several Eastern Yellow Robins feeding on the walking track at various stages along the Auracaria Trail.

Minnippi Parklands in Brisbane

A worthwhile place to visit in central Brisbane is the Minnippi Parklands and the areas surrounding. They are located on Bulimba Creek which flows into the Brisbane River near its mouth in Moreton Bay. The Parklands contain one of the few remnant lagoons of this area, with woodlands, mangroves as well as open fields used for sport and paths for running and cycling.

The Minnippi Parklands are home to many species of water birds and woodland birds. This Sacred Kingfisher was active on Bulimba Creek near the the head of the lagoon.

Among the waterbirds was this Cattle Egret, evidently regular visitors to the Minnippi Parklands.

Bulimba Creek is tidal shown here with the tide coming in.

An Australian Hobby was patrolling the creek line, hawking then using this high tree as a vantage point.

A family of Australian Hobbys were using the high-tension power pylons as their super-high lookout. I spotted three birds at one time, working from the pylons. This bird was feeding on a captured bird judging by the shower of feathers beneath it. They may be using the crude nest to the left, Hobbys usually use the old nest of other raptors.

A wide range of bush-birds were around, this Spangled Drongo was chasing insects in the woodland bush.

A female Rufous Whistler photographed close to Bulimba Creek.

This Common Tree Snake, about one metre long, was crossing one of the concrete paths in the Parkland.

Tallow Creek at Suffolk Park

Suffolk Park is a suburb of Byron Bay on the North Coast of NSW. The Tallow Creek estuary forms the southern border of the Arakwal National Park and it is home to a wide variety of bird-life.

The Chestnut-breasted Mannikin is rarely seen in Sydney but becomes more common as you head northwards to northern NSW. This single bird was feeding, snipping away at seed-heads in the reeds that line Tallow Creek.

A Golden-headed Cisticola, lit up by the last rays of sunlight for the day.

The were some twenty White-breasted Woodswallows on the western side of the creek; some solitary like this bird, and others were gathering along tree branches in close packed groups of three or four.

The Red-backed Fairy-wren is Birdlife’s current bird of the month; another species that can be seen more often as you travel north along the NSW coast.

It is a pleasure to see many Australasian Figbirds, along with a surprising number of Olive-backed Orioles - controlling territory that might more often belong to Noisy Miners further south?

The sun sets over Tallow Creek, this photo taken from the bridge on the walking path and cycle-way that runs through the reserve.