2013 Wrap Up Part 3 - Twitches!

On the 3rd October 2013, a Satin Flycatcher was reported at Sydney Olympic Park. This bird was a bogey for Josh Bergmark, so he wasted no time in driving out there. Sadly, as he lives on the other side of Sydney from me, he couldn't give me a lift, so I was stuck with catching trains! As my train pulled in, I got a call from Josh which went something along the lines of, 'F#@%!!! This is one sexy bird!' He then told me to run, so I did. I ran past the site, thinking that it was further than it was, and ended up having Josh drive around to Newington Armoury.... which I was nowhere near because he didn't know there was another wharf in the park. I ended up running back a kilometre and meeting him in the carpark... he was not amused.
We then walked up to the site and he found the bird for me with no trouble at all!Sadly my camera didn't focus on the bird properly, but he got some nice shots!

Satin Fly out of focus.....

We then dashed around the rest of the park and managed to see 73? species... whatever it was it was apparently the best day list for the site!! A Nutmeg Mannikin flock showed briefly at Triangle Pond which was a lifer for me, much to Josh's amusement, and we succeeded in seeing a Lewin's Rail at the hide at the waterbird refuge in the dying light!!!

Lewin's Rail... poor photo

Next twitch, the Oriental Plovers at Long Reef Golf Course on the 6th October! I caught a bus to the site from the city and then wandered up the golf course. I was pretty stoked when I found myself the resident Black-tailed Native Hen, but when I texted Josh, he replied with, "that's nice dear." Clearly I needed to get my priorities in order!

Black-tailed Native Hen

As I slowly walked up the hill to where the plovers had been reported, searching the rough and fairways thoroughly, I saw a rather large lens approaching. This rather large lens was held by Dave Stowe. Max and Josh has told me the Oriental Plover was a bit of a bogey, so it wasn't a huge surprise to see him there, but it was a thrill to be birding with one of the experts! Shortly after, he spied one of the Pacific Golden-plovers, specifically the one that had caused some interest as it was originally considered to be a Grey Plover!

Slightly dodgy Pacific Golden Plover

Same bird, on the fairway

We wandered over to the plover, hoping the Oriental would be there to and...... Bingo!! An Oriental Plover wandered out from a little ditch in between the fairways and stood in front of us!

Our first view of an Oriental Plover!!!

From here it was time for photos! The birds allowed us to get within a few metres of them after a lot of crawling along the ground, and weren't fussed at all by our presence. They even sat down so that we lost sight of them at one point! Greg McLachlan, Tom Wilson and another birder (apologies for forgetting your name if you're reading this!) all joined us and we got some great views of the plover.

Dave and  a golfer, oblivious to the plover in the ditch!

Oriental Plover!!

Pheasant-tailed..... Oriental Plover

Oriental Plover portrait

More Oriental Plover

After some golfers came through on a buggy to ask us what we were looking at and scared the plovers off (grrrr!!!) , we all headed down onto the rock shelf to get a look at some waders, and the amazing Short-tailed Shearwater migration. It was incredible seeing tens of thousands of these birds dipping and diving, this way and that, over the swell. My photos aren't anything special, but as these were from land and not a boat, I think it gives a good idea of what we were looking at. A few Sooty Shearwater (lifer!) as well as some Wedge-tailed Shearwaters were mixed in with the flocks of Short-tails. On the rocks some Little Tern were seen as well as Red-necked Stint, Pacific Golden-plover, Grey-tailed Tattler, Ruddy Turnstone and surprisingly a small flock of Red Knot, not an easy bird to find in Sydney!

Red Knot

Short-tailed Shearwaters

The others departed, Dave went to try find the Barking Owl at Narrabeen, and Greg and I headed over to Dee Why, to try for the Peregrine Falcons. Once we arrived at the site, we could hear a bird calling and it didn't take us long to locate it. It was great to see an adult Peregrine perched at eye level.

Peregrine Falcon

A good day of birding all-round! Cheers Dave, Tom, Greg and the other birder whose name has escaped me, for a great day!!

After the above twitch, not too much happened birding wise. I went to Eastlakes with Dad and we found some Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Baillon's Crake, Swamp Harriers, Latham's Snipe, Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo and other nice birds, and I regularly visited my favourite Powerful Owl in the Sydney Botanical Gardens after orchestra almost every Saturday. I liked the name Boris, but apparently he (due to the square head) is called Argus... or something like that, by the staff at the gardens.

Powerful Owl

Then came the waders. Julian has already written about the mega Buff-breasted Sandpiper (http://worthtwointhebushbirding.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/buff-breasted-sandpiper-twitch.html) on this blog, so I won't write too much about that, but I will certainly write about the Ruffs and Pectoral Sandpipers that came to Sydney!
On the 31st October, Ashwin and I decided we would try to twitch the two Ruffs and Pectoral Sandpipers that had been reported at Pitt Town Lagoon a few days before. After a ~ 4am start, Ashwin missing the train and catching a taxi to get the train, we arrived at Mulgrave Station and walked to Pitt Town. After a tiring walk/run to get to the lagoon on sunrise, Ashwin and I arrived and immediately headed out to the island in the middle that with low water levels you can walk across to. As we were crossing, a group of waders flew across in front of us and I spied a larger bird amongst them. Ruff!!!! Sadly as they went around the reeds, we lost sight of the group and couldn't locate the bird again. However, Ashwin soon found me a Pectoral Sandpiper (lifer!) so I was happy.... but not finished!

Pectoral Sandpiper (front) and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (back)

Pectoral Sandpiper (back) and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (front)

A Baillon's Crake briefly flushed in front of me and dashed to cover. We tried to wait for it to come out, but it was long gone. After seeing Straw-necked Ibis, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, both Teal species and numerous others, we decided to circumnavigate the lagoon to get better looks at the Ruff. So off we went, through the mud.

Ashwin in the mud

We searched all the Sharpies we came across but didn't find anything. A few Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Australasian Grebes and Hardheads were around, as well as Chestnut-breasted and Nutmeg Mannikin.

Double-barred Finch

As we reached the far side, we found more ducks, some Red-kneed Dotterel and finally, some migratory waders! A group of Pacific Golden-plover flushed from the mud in front of us and we could see more waders in the distance.

Golden-plovers

We searched through the waders we'd seen earlier and found only Sharpies. Then, about 100m from 'the mound' where we had started, we spied another smaller group of waders. RUFF!!!!!!!!!!!!
Needless to say, the Ruff was a lifer. Not only did we find the Ruff, but we found another Pectoral Sandpiper foraging with it!

Ruff (centre ) with Sharpies and possibly a Pec on the left

Sharpy (left) and Ruff (right)

Ruff (left), Sharpy (behind ruff), Pec (centre) and Sharpy (right)

Sadly we couldn't find the Painted Honeyeater that had been reported there and at a bridge nearby, but we settled for what we had seen, we were chuffed!
Dad then picked us up from the lagoon and we went to some other sites to follow up some reports of Pied Honeyeater, Budgerigar, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater, Plumed Whistling-duck, Australasian Bittern and other birds that are not easy to find in Sydney, the Pied Honeyeater, probably the first record ever for the area.
We didn't find any of them.
We met Jenny Stiles in at the place the Plumed Whistling-duck had been reported but none were there. Ashwin found a Brown Goshawk sitting in a tree but that was about it for the stretch of road on which most of the above birds had been seen.

Brown Goshawk

We briefly stopped at the lakes along Castlereagh Road and found some Great Crested Grebes and a fox, and then we headed off home.

Fox

Great Crested Grebe

And that's the end of the twitching for 2013!!! Following this, I'll write up about my Capertee Valley trips, dipping on Regent Honeyeaters but finding lots of other nice birds and then my most recent trip to Hawks Nest, with Julian!

More to come, thanks for reading!

~Simon