Exploring Sydney - and further afield. (1 Viewer)

[MKinHK]

Following the whale watching trip I've added a few birds during walks with the dogs. Most prominent of these was a flock of Galahs foraging and a contrastingly green lawn at Rawson Park. A couple of days later I saw them a bit closer to home, feeding on the spiky fruit of a tree in a quiet street, but still in Mosman rather than Cremorne. Then yesterday half a dozen were on the wire on Spofforth Road, which marks the boundary between the districts of Mosman and Cremorne. They may have been on the wrong side of the road, but that's close enough for me to include them on the patch list. Here's a pcx and a video of these lovely parrots.




Here's a couple more from the walk on which I first saw the Galahs that gives a sense of the habitat of much of Sydney's shoreline - weathered sandstone with mature trees and other plants that are specialists of thin soils. And a nicely lit back-on shot of a very approachable Laughing Kookaburra, showing its russet tail and power blue rump.



Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

And now my biggest day of birding so far - the pelagic. The Sydney Pelagics boats take just ten birders once a month out to Brown's Mount, a seamount rising 133m above the seabed, which here - 21 nautical miles out from Sydney Harbour Heads, and beyond the continental shelf - is around 600m deep. I was fortunate enough to get on the boat with three days notice because of three COVID cancellations - and the fact I live just ten minutes from the pickup point at Mosman Wharf! That was absolutely not planned but is a huge extra blessing in choosing to live here!

I met four of the birders on Mosman Wharf at 6:45 and at 7:00 the remaining six participants joined at Rose Bay on the southern side of Sydney Harbour. That 15 minute journey amazingly delivered a flight of 14 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos (68) flying north over the Sydney Harbour bridge against the orange light of dawn. Zooming in on the third shot below reveals that each bird has a pale cheek patch, which in this part of the world separates this species from the two other black cockatoos that occur here.



Other birds included a scattering of Silver Gulls and 21 Pied Cormorants roosting on the east side of Cremorne Point. As we headed past the Heads we almost immediately began seeing Fluttering Shearwaters. The same size as Manx or Black-vented Shearwaters they are typically fond close to the coast and I've seen then on every visit to Manly. But they're small and fast so getting a pic is far from easy and these are included more for completeness than quality. In amongst them were two slightly larger and distinctly darker-headed Hutton's Shearwaters (69) They were an Aussie lifer, but I've seen them before on my only other pelagic trip - the amazing Hauraki Gulf pelagic, which goes from just north of Auckland - and I'm not sure any of us noticed the Black-browed Albatross you can see in the background of the first shot of the Fluttering Shearwaters, but it does provide some indication of how close these wonderful birds come to the shore. A few more albatross sp. were circling around a commercial fishing boat away to the north, but we did not approach it as it was far north of our track and we had significant ground to cover to reach the Brown's Mount.



My first full fat lifer of the day was two Brown Skuas (70) hanging around gaggle of small fishing boats about an hour offshore. Unfortunately we did not approach too closely in oder to avoid criticism for spoiling the fishing, but even from a distance the heavy-headed broad-shouldered bulk of these bully boy parasitic feeders was highly apparent. These were followed around an hour later by a lovely juvenile Yellow-nosed Albatross (70), which flew right by the boat and offered fantastic views of its snowball-white head and the sharply contrasting all black bill and dark eye. This is the smallest of the albatross species on offer, and one I very much hope to pick up from Manly, so these close views were just fantastic.



As we continued we passed through an impressive school of around 100 Common Dolphins, some of which played with the boat - riding the bow wave and appearing close alongside.



More to come ...

Cheers
Mike

 

[foresttwitcher]

Mike, to prove I pay attention, you've numbered both your last 2 lifers as 70 - I assume the Yellow-nosed should be 71.

 

[MKinHK]

Before I get to it, a word about the headers. While it may look like the birds have been pasted onto the background these are photos that are cropped and the text is added but they are otherwise "as taken". There really were three albatrosses and a Giant Petrel in the first one, Wandering and Black-browed Albatrosses in the second, and the hazy vestige of the CBD skyline in the distance in both images, and I love them for providing that definitive identification of the location as a Sydney Pelagic!

As we approached the sea mount, which was helpfully marked by a moderate-sized and fully loaded container vessel the fish oil slick and a a mix of fish guts and cutting were laid in the sea to attract the seabirds. While this is not natural it does replicate the process whereby birds are drawn to the smell of decomposition, and many seabirds do follow fishing boats and other vessels to feed on the discards.

As the berley was laid birds started to arrived for what was a fabulous couple of hours No less than six species of albatross headed by half dozen Black-browed Albatrosses - both adults and younger birds, two very similar Campbell Albatrosses, four each of Indian Yellow-nosed, Shy/White-capped and Buller's Albatrosses and, the crowning glory, an absolutely massive Wandering Albatross (72)! While most of these were content to come right tup to the boat to poach scraps the Wandering - most likely Gibson's according to the resident experts - made just two passed before disappearing into the distance, never to be seen again.

Added to these a single first winter Southern Giant Petrel with a pale green-tipped bill was joined a few minutes later by a Northern Giant Petrel (73) and both of these magnificently grotesque bruisers sat together on the sea, allowing for a great comparison between two species that are inseparable unless the colour of the bill tip can be seen in good light.

More to come

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Mike, to prove I pay attention, you've numbered both your last 2 lifers as 70 - I assume the Yellow-nosed should be 71.

Ah, yes, but Australian Pelican got counted twice, so balance is thus restored!

 

[MKinHK]

Many thanks for the typo check gents. For some reason counting up in single digits has proven ridiculously difficult! What's worse I also forgot to mark Buller's Albatross as a new one and I've run out of time to edit the previous page. Ho Hum.

Anyway - the pix. First up ... Black-browed Albatrosses - both adults and younger birds.



I was delighted to again connect at close range with Campbell Albatross. The frustration of the whale watching boat is that you are limited to whatever flyby the bird offers, but here the birds were so close it was possible to make out the iris of the younger bird was beginning to turn pale and fully appreciate the smudged face of the adult at close range.



The four Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses were my favourites for their effortless elegance. I posted the youngster yesterday, so here's a few of the adults.



More to come ...

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Larger only than Indian Yellow-nosed, Buller's Albatross (74) was distinctive for its grey head and the yellow trim on both upper and lower mandibles. I was delighted with the shot of three birds sitting together on the sea.



Shy/White-capped Albatross is the largest of the smaller albatrosses (which includes all of the above species); its a little longer-winged than Black -Browed Albatross. After getting initial views and shots at Manly It was great to get progressively better views first from the whale watching boat and then really close up on this pelagic. These close views show that there is no yellow on the base of the upper mandible, which is indicative of Shy Albatrosses that breed in southern Tasmania, which I saw a few years ago.



To wrap up the smaller albatrosses the final shot show a not altogether misleading comparison of the relative sizes of the largest (White-capped) and smallest (Indian Yellow-nosed).



Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

And finally .. the King of the Ocean - Wandering Albatross. Its a shame this fabulous bird only hung about for a minute or so, but it was at least enough to grab a couple of pix.



In trying to explain to a non-birding friend how big they were I finally got through when I explained their wingspan is twice the height of my wife Carrie - and hence the photo below.


Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Northern and Southern Giant Petrels

In addition to the albatrosses the other quality seabirds included both Northern and Southern Giant Petrels. It was great too see both together on the sea which allowed comparison of the differences - seasick green for Southern Giant Petrel and damask rose for Northern Giant Petrel, which also clearly shows the distinctive pale eyeing.



I was disappointed not to get Northern Giant Petrel well in flight as I did with the Southern Giant Petrel (which also helped to confirm my pic from Manly a few weeks ago), but the shot of it in a nest of foam is perhaps my favourite shot of the whole day.



Just two more birds - Providence Petrel and Fairy Prion - to come

Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Sydney Pelagic
Providence Petrel, Fairy Prion, and Common Dolphins on the way home.

The only smaller birds that came into the slick were ten or so Providence Petrels and four or five Fairy Prions, whose grey-blue upperparts and dark W wing pattern make them very difficult to pick out against a broken sea. How many species can you find and identifyin the final panoramic shot?





The highlights of the return trip were safely retaining the contents of my stomach and getting these shots of porpoising Common Dolphins that were part of the large herd we'd seen on the way out. All told a fabulous day out!



Cheers
Mike

 

[THE_FERN]

Larger only than Indian Yellow-nosed, Buller's Albatross (74) was distinctive for its grey head and the yellow trim on both upper and lower mandibles. I was delighted with the shot of three birds sitting together on the sea.

View attachment 1459775 View attachment 1459777

Shy/White-capped Albatross is the largest of the smaller albatrosses (which includes all of the above species); its a little longer-winged than Black -Browed Albatross. After getting initial views and shots at Manly It was great to get progressively better views first from the whale watching boat and then really close up on this pelagic. These close views show that there is no yellow on the base of the upper mandible, which is indicative of Shy Albatrosses that breed in southern Tasmania, which I saw a few years ago.

View attachment 1459873 View attachment 1459890

To wrap up the smaller albatrosses the final shot show a not altogether misleading comparison of the relative sizes of the largest (White-capped) and smallest (Indian Yellow-nosed).

View attachment 1459891

Cheers
Mike

So jealous. You knew this already but this is almost certainly white-capped rather than shy because it's grey rather than yellowish at the top of the bill at its base (steadi). This is the one from NZ sub-antarctic islands rather than Tasmania.

 

[MKinHK]

Thanks The_Fern. That's what I learned from the Australian Seabirds Facebook group. The real problem with my post is that I never finished the sentence, referring to Shy Albatross, by saying, "....so that's why this is probably White-capped."

Thanks also to Pete and James for trying to sort out my numbering. I will start an offline spreadsheet which is much easier to track than BF posts to attempt to restore some sort of order.

Sydney Olympic Park
Saturday 23 June

My next birding was at Sydney Olympic Park in a day of persistent drizzle last Saturday. This is an area of meadows, mangroves and managed scrapes and salt marsh on the site of an old armoury and an old shipbreaking yard. The dank day meant that I had the premier birding site in Sydney to myself with the exception of one other birder and a few walkers and cyclists. I accessed the park through a walkway under the railway that made me all too aware of what wildlife corridors under highways are like. Every expense had clearly been spared in making this grim conduit.

As I entered the park close to the southwestern corner I was surprised to watch a couple of Chestnut Teals fly up and land in a eucalyptus above a children's playground. I had been equally surprised to see a pair of Australian Wood Ducks perched on the roof of a house, so clearly it me that needs to re-calibrate! There was little sign of life in the mangroves until I found a pool that held a dozen Chestnut Teals that were clearly getting in the mood for spring. The males gathered together to show off - wing-flapping and sitting on their tails to puff out their chests and throw their heads forward. Some had clearly already paired up and were closely associating with a particular female, like this couple I was able to get a bit closer to and shoot through a gap in the mangroves.





More to come ...

Cheers
Mike

 

[Jos Stratford]

Amazing stuff, I was once booked on the Sydney pelagic...but it got cancelled due to weather

 

[MKinHK]

Sorry to hear you missed out Jos. This was apparently an expected haul for a July boat in rather gentle seas with nothing unusual showing up.

Continuing with Sydney Olympic Park ...

I headed north seeing not a lot until I came to the salt marsh around the tall thin radio tower. More than 100 Welcome Swallows were foraging low over the water suggesting a chironomid hatching was in progress. I found a solitary pale-rumped and rather scruffy Tree Martin amongst them. The most striking birds were two pairs of Black Swans - the birds on the back pond with a couple of well-grown cygnets. The low light and the dark water made photographing them something of a challenge, but in the end the pix turned out far better than I expected, benefitting as they did from the soft drizzle and the flat monochrome colours of the water. I hadn't realised how striking this effect was until I got home and processed the pix.





Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

The Scrape just to the north of the saltmarsh has a nice mix of waterbirds. Lorded over by the always impressive Australian Pelican, the new birds for me since arriving included 30-odd Bar-tailed Godwits (81) and Black-winged Stilts (82) plus 38 absolutely stunning Red-necked Avocets (83) - my top target for the day and fighting for the no 1 spot on my Sydney "most wanted" list with Powerful Owl and the albatrosses.



There was a good spread of Australian Swamphens, a couple each of Dusky Moorhen and three Eurasian Coot (84), and a distant trio of Royal Spoonbills (85), plus few more Chestnut Teals. The mangroves and border plants produced a couple of families of Superb Fairy Wren, my first Yellow Thornbills (86) and a Grey Fantail (87), and a Grey Butcherbird disputing some hidden food scraps with an Australian Raven.

A view across the old breaking yard revealed a party of nine Hoary-headed Grebes (88) in a ranges of plumages from fully grey-whiskered to dark-capped and rather similar to winter-plumaged Australian Grebes.

A little further round revealed the abandoned wrecks were a popular loafing site for Silver Gulls, and a Little Pied Cormorant that had clearly been waiting for an audience to give full scope to his beauty posed outrageously just offshore.



Next up ... more parrots and pigeons

Cheers
Mike

 

[MJB]

The Scrape just to the north of the saltmarsh has a nice mix of waterbirds. Lorded over by the always impressive Australian Pelican, the new birds for me since arriving included 30-odd Bar-tailed Godwits (81) and Black-winged Stilts (82) plus 38 absolutely stunning Red-necked Avocets (83) - my top target for the day and fighting for the no 1 spot on my Sydney "most wanted" list with Powerful Owl and the albatrosses.

View attachment 1460847

There was a good spread of Australian Swamphens, a couple each of Dusky Moorhen and three Eurasian Coot (84), and a distant trio of Royal Spoonbills (85), plus few more Chestnut Teals. The mangroves and border plants produced a couple of families of Superb Fairy Wren, my first Yellow Thornbills (86) and a Grey Fantail (87), and a Grey Butcherbird disputing some hidden food scraps with an Australian Raven.
View attachment 1460850 View attachment 1460851
A view across the old breaking yard revealed a party of nine Hoary-headed Grebes (88) in a ranges of plumages from fully grey-whiskered to dark-capped and rather similar to winter-plumaged Australian Grebes.
View attachment 1460848
A little further round revealed the abandoned wrecks were a popular loafing site for Silver Gulls, and a Little Pied Cormorant that had clearly been waiting for an audience to give full scope to his beauty posed outrageously just offshore.

View attachment 1460860 View attachment 1460857 View attachment 1460858

Mike

Unless the taxonomy has been revised again, your stilts are White-headed Stilts, Himantopus leucocephalus.... Menkhorst et al 2018 (revised edition) The Australian Bird Guide.
MJB

 

[KC Foggin]

What a smashing group of images you've collected for us!

 

[MKinHK]

Thanks KC, and MJB ... White-headed Stilt it is. eBird confusingly has it as Pied Stilt and my version of Pizzey and Knight has updated the label of the image, but not the text! Looking forward to my copy of Menkhorst arriving this week.

To wrap up Sydney Olympic Park ...

Just across the road I was delighted to find a bunch of Red-rumped Parrots (89) hanging out at a set of nest boxes attached to a set of repurposed telephone poles at either end of the Archery Field.





Some of the group at the far end had gathered in the edge of a mangrove and showed beautifully, including this wounded warrior that had perhaps survived the attempted predations of the Laughing Kookaburra that was using one of the nest boxes a hunting perch - and a touchingly affectionate pair.




Moving on reluctantly from the parrot lovefest I headed for the Birdlife centre in the grounds of the old Armoury. On the way I crossed a nice area of small wetlands that held a couple of Dusky Moorhens, three or four Australian Ibis, and a few each of Australian Swamphen - much richer purple-blue than the Grey-headed Swamphen I'm familiar with from Hong Kong.



Birdlife was disappointingly closed, but the Armoury grounds delivered additional quality in the form of another pair of Red-rumped Parrots, a couple of Masked Lapwings and 13 White-faced Herons feeding on the extensive cut lawns. I was delighted when a Crested Pigeon flew into the tree I was standing next to, and a few metres further down a raucous screeching in an Australian Ibis roost turned out to be a quartet of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos that had been feeding on the casuarinas. As they departed directly overhead I once again marvelled at their serene progression that appears to defy gravity so slowly do they fly. A couple of Australasian Darters in the mangroves across the far side of the Parramatta River and an adult White-bellied Sea Eagle that took off from just above them were the fine finale to a terrific day.



Cheers
Mike

 

[MKinHK]

Narrabeen Lagoon

On Thursday last week I made a mid-week return to the Northern Beaches to meet up with former Hong Kong birder Neil Fifer. As our coffee was not planned until 1100 I made an early start and walked clockwise around Narrabeen Lagoon starting at South Creek Park.


The open area by the car park produced my first Laughing Kookaburra of the day, followed shortly thereafter by my first Eastern Yellow Robin (90), which was hunting along a line of fence posts. White-browed Scrubwrens and Superb Fairy Wrens were abundant along the boardwalk, where I also found my first Golden Whistler (91), a calling female with a prominent wing bar. What views I had of the lagoon showed it to be rather quiet, with a couple of Silver Gulls, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorants, and a solitary Black Swan. A waterlogged corner of the Sports Institute just to the north of golf course held a Masked Lapwing and a Dusky Moorhen.



The highlight of the morning was the forested trail running north for a couple of hundred metres from the asterisk before turning east and crossing Deep Creek. Pishing along here produced a rush of interest from a curious group of White-browed Scrubwrens, Brown Thornbills (92) and Red-browed Finches (93) and a solitary Lewin's Honeyeater (94).



A little further on the scrubby edge of a once fenced-off area held a couple of Eastern Yellow Robins, two Eastern Whipbirds, one of which showed just about its whole self and allowed a decent shot, and a beautiful Eastern Spinebill (95), which is among the most elegant of this huge family.


All in all this was a nice return for my first period of any time in some real forest. An Osprey flew in front of the surf rescue club a couple of times and I learned from Neil that Long-billed Corellas have been hanging around with the Sulphur-crested Cockatoos that feed on th Norfolk Pine seeds, so i will have to come back at some stage.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[KC Foggin]

We have a few members from Australia that post often. Keep your eyes out