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Wednesday, 25 September, 2013
Today was my first day of actual birding on this trip, and what a day it was. I crashed last night at about 7:00, and I slept great, but I woke about 2:45 am, and lay in bed until 3:30, when I gave it up and got up for the day. Getting up at 3:30 seems absurd, but I had had a great 7 ½ hours of sleep, so I started my day feeling just fine.
I took care of a lot of organization details, had my humble brekkie (plain Greek yogurt with canned peaches mixed in it and four almost hard-boiled eggs), and got ready for my day. My birding guide for the day was a local birder named Barry. The Aussies love nicknames, and their nickname for Barry is Bazza, or Baz for short. Baz picked me up at 6:30, out in front of my hotel. We headed out of town to the south, to Royal National Park. En route, I picked up AUSTRALIAN RAVEN, CRESTED PIGEON, RED WATTLEBIRD, COMMON MYNA, AUSTRALIAN PELICAN, GALAH, and WHITE-FACED HERON. They are all common birds, and I’ll see them all many times, but these were the first ones of the trip for me, and I plan to list all the different species of birds I see this time. I’m expecting to see over 300 species, if I’m lucky, and each time I add one to my trip list, I will use ALL CAPS for the name.
Our first real stop was at a place called Wattle Forest, on the Hacking River. The place was resounding with bird calls when we got there, and there were lots of birds around. I added RAINBOW LORIKEET before we even left the car park. We headed into the little section of remnant rainforest to look for several species. We soon saw our first of many YELLOW-FACED HONEYEATERS for the day. I want to get a picture of that bird, but they constantly fly around, and I didn’t have any chances today. There were also a lot of SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOOS flying around and screeching, and I did get a picture I like of one, later in the day.
They can spread that yellow crest open at will, but I wasn’t able to get a picture today of one with its crest opened up.
We saw several EASTERN YELLOW ROBINS in that area, and later I got a picture of one of them. It is pretty “soft” because there wasn’t much light, but it is a cute little bird, and it was just crying out to have its picture taken.
The robins were constantly flying around and making us look at them, in case they were some other small bird.
Baz knew of a bowerbird that had a bower in the area, and although he had moved his bower, we soon found him. I didn’t get a picture then, but we came back later, and here is a male SATIN BOWERBIRD, showing his cool purple eye.
The bird appears black until the light shines right, and then you can see its deep blue sheen. Bowerbirds are called that because the males of most of the species in Australia build structures called bowers, to attract females. They gather bits of plastic and glass of a particular color, according to the species of bowerbird, and leave them around in front of the bower, to attract the ladies. The Satin Bowerbird uses blue bits, and in this next picture, you can see the bird in its bower, with a few pieces of blue plastic scattered in front of it.
The bower is constructed with lengths of dried grass that the bird has built into that structure, with an opening in the middle. It isn’t a nest; it is just built to impress and attract the females, as I understand it. The bird was in the midst of building this bower and moving the blue bits, from the location nearby, where it was last week when Baz saw it.
We continued into the rainforest along the river, and picked up a pair of CHESTNUT TEAL. There wasn’t enough light to try for a picture, but the male is quite attractive. There were several LEWIN’S HONEYEATERS flying around, and we got a good look at a GREY SHRIKE-THRUSH, but it was too distant for pictures. We also got an excellent look at a very pretty bird, a BLACK-FACED MONARCH. Later I got a picture of one, which doesn’t really show how attractive it is, but it does show the bird.
Near the end of the track, there were lots of birds flying around and making a racket, and we could tell they were whistlers. Finally we got good looks at both male and female GOLDEN WHISTLERS. They didn’t ever stay still enough for me to get a picture, though. Likewise several GREY FANTAILS. It was a very birdy area at that time in the morning.
On our way back to the car, we were looking for another bird I had only seen once before in all my Aussie trips, and we got onto a lovely BASSIAN THRUSH hopping around on the ground. That was a really good one to get, as I had figured I only had a 20% chance of seeing one at any time on the trip. Woo-hoo, a good one, knocked off on the very first day of birding.
There were water birds in the river, too. We had one AUSTRALASIAN GREBE, several EURASIAN COOTS, some DUSKY MOORHENS, some AUSTRALIAN WOOD DUCKS, and a number of PURPLE SWAMPHENS. We got EASTERN GREAT EGRET at that point, too. There was also a LITTLE PIED CORMORANT on the river. I didn’t get a picture of it then, but later in the day I got this picture of that one or another one.
As we came out of the forest, we got a good view of a BLACK-FACED CUCKOO-SHRIKE, and there were some LITTLE CORELLAS around, too. Later I got this picture of a Little Corella.
Here is a picture of Baz, as we were leaving that very productive area.
We picked up LITTLE WATTLEBIRD there, too, and on the drive out we got a good look at a WHITE-BROWED SCRUBWREN flitting around on both sides of the road. At another stop on the way out, Baz spotted this GREY BUTCHERBIRD.
We also got great looks at a very colorful EASTERN ROSELLA. I even got a picture of that beauty.
I also saw my first LAUGHING KOOKABURRA of the trip. I took the time to get some pictures because it was my first of the trip for this iconic Aussie bird.
So, we finally pulled ourselves away from that very productive area and headed up to the Curra Moors area, to look for several difficult species that are specialties of Royal National Park. I knew they were going to be difficult, and it turned out that the search for them was also the most difficult part of the day for me, because we walked for over two hours, and that included a fair bit of up and down. It was beautiful scenery, though, and a beautiful day, although a little warmer than average for this time of year. Here is a picture of the coastal heath, looking down the coast.
We had several fleeting glances of the first of our four main target species, and then got excellent looks at a TAWNY-CROWNED HONEYEATER. I won’t see them anywhere else on this trip, and I had the species at only 50% in my spreadsheet. The most common bird we saw in that area was NEW HOLLAND HONEYEATER. They were everywhere. Mostly they were flying around, chasing other birds and each other, but one sat up and posed for us nicely.
There were a couple of NANKEEN KESTRELS on the edge of a cliff, too. They were just a bit too far away to try for pictures, but I would have liked to have gotten a picture of them. We were trying for several other species, but the next one we actually got was a great one, CHESTNUT-RUMPED HEATHWREN (lifer). My first lifer of the trip. I only had that one at 10% in my spreadsheet, and I am very unlikely to see one anywhere else on the trip. We had really great looks at it, too, a couple or three times, as it flitted around near and on the ground. As we started back to the car, I got this picture of a little Sydney Cunningham’s Skink.
I say little, but it was probably over a foot long. We had seen another slightly larger one, too.
As we hiked back up the hill toward where the car was parked, Baz played the song of another little bird that is special in this area. At one of the places where he did that, he heard a response, and we soon god excellent looks at a SOUTHERN EMU-WREN (lifer). My second lifer of the trip, much to my pleased surprise. I only had that one at 40% in my spreadsheet, an indication that it was another difficult one with a limited range. Wow, we had really done well, as we had seen 3 of the 4 difficult birds we had been targeting.
There was a large group of maybe 30 young people marching up the trail at about that time, so we pulled over to let them pass, since they were marching up the hill at a much faster pace than we were. While we were waiting for them to pass, I spotted a little bird on the ground, so we went off the trail and looked for it. We flushed it again, and as it flew away, both of us could see it was actually the fourth difficult bird that we had been looking for, a ROCKWARBLER. I would have liked a better look at it, but I saw enough that I am willing to count it, and Baz was sure of what it was, too. I had that at 60% in my spreadsheet, because I could see them a couple of other places I will be, but it is always a difficult bird to see.
We finally got to the top of the hill and went down the other side to the car, after about 2 hours and 15 minutes of hiking in the sun. Well, hiking and standing, as we looked for and at birds.
We drove back down to near where we had started the day, and Baz got a cup of coffee while I had my snack of ham and cheese rollups that I had brought along. It was about 11:30 AM by then. I picked up PACIFIC BLACK DUCK while waiting for Baz and eating my snack by the river.
Next we parked the car and walked up Lady Carrington Drive, which is the old road down the coast, dating back to the 1800’s. Now it is closed to traffic, and it makes a wonderful hiking trail. Here is a picture of Baz on Lady Carrington Drive.
We got CRIMSON ROSELLA there, a cousin of the Eastern Rosella I had gotten a picture of earlier. The Crimson Rosella is red and blue, and also very brightly colored.
That picture isn’t very good. I had to process it heavily because the lighting was poor and the bird’s face was in deep shadow, but it does show the colors of the bird.
We got RUFOUS WHISTLER along there, and I got a fleeting look at a fairy-wren that I decided was a male VARIEGATED FAIRY-WREN, the less common fairy-wren species in the area. Later we saw some SUPERB FAIRY-WRENS as well. There was a little plain bird flitting around, and it stayed still enough for me to get great looks at a bird I would have had a hard time identifying on my own, a BROWN GERYGONE. A little later, Baz spotted an AZURE KINGFISHER across the river, and I got distant views of it. I got my first WILLIE WAGTAIL of the trip there, as well as a pair of MAGPIE-LARKS.
We went back over to Wattle Forest, where we had been this morning, and looked again for several species there that we had missed. As we got out of the car, I saw a large lizard on the ground nearby. It turned out to be a very bold Lace Monitor, maybe about five feet long. He moseyed around the picnic area, and later drove a couple away from their picnic, just by coming around. Here is a picture of that bad boy.
Here is a close up of its head, with its tongue sticking out, no less.
All day we had been hearing orioles calling, but we were never able to spot one. As we were looking for some other bird, I noticed a couple of birds flopping around on the ground doing something, and I thought they were Noisy Miners, which were all over the area. I got my binoculars on them anyway, and they certainly weren’t Noisy Miners, so I called to Baz to look at them. Just about then they flew up into a tree, and he took a look at them, as he told me they were just Noisy Miners. Then when he saw them in his binoculars, he told me to take a look, and they turned out to be OLIVE-BACKED ORIOLES, the bird we had been trying to see all day long. We had a good laugh at that, as we both had assumed they were Noisy Miners, but they turned out to be one of the species we had been looking for all day long.
We walked back into Wattle Forest again, but we didn’t see anything new. I got some of the picture I showed already on that second visit, though, so it was worth going back, just for that. We missed one of our main targets for the day, though, Green Catbird. I should have a shot at that one later in the trip, though, up in Queensland.
We sat at a picnic table, and Baz totaled up what we had seen for the day, including on the drive down. While sitting there, we picked up GREAT CORMORANT on the river, which brought my total for the day to 56 species, or which two were lifers. Since I had seen six of those species yesterday, that brought my trip total to that same 56 species. So, after one day of birding, I am over 1/6 of the way to my target for the trip. A really great start, and a really fun day.
We stopped at a bakery on the way back and each had a hot pie, while I had a Diet coke and Baz had a cappuccino. It was about 2:30 by then, and Baz had to get home to start packing, as he is leaving on a birding trip to Western Australia tomorrow. After Baz dropped me off, I stopped at a supermarket and got a few things I had forgotten yesterday, and I was back in my room about 4:00. I was pretty tired and my feet were sore, but I have managed to process my pictures, have a little Bundy rum and orange mango juice, eat my dinner, and write this rather long report. It is almost 9 PM now, and I am ready to hit the sack. Tomorrow I plan to take a train to the Blue Mountains, where I am supposed to meet a couple of local birders for another exciting day of birding. What a life!