Group shot from Hexham Swamp - Stanley, myself, Max, Josh, Nathan, Simon, and Henry on the roof
Been a while since my last post, but since Simon's been stepping up I thought I should too!
This whole thing started on my second-ever visit to Hexham Swamp, on January the 19th. I'd been traveling for a few days with Stanley Tang who was down from Townsville, and we'd been up to the Capertee Valley. Hexham Swamp is a bit of a detour on the way from Capertee to Canberra, but seeing as most of the other members of the Young Birder's Group were going to be there, it was worth it!
When we got there, we met up with the other young birders - Joshua Bergmark, Max Breckenridge, Nathan Ruser, Henry Coleman and of course Simon. We drove in, and, after picking up Eastern Yellow Wagtail (including the taivana bird), we ran into Rod Warnock.
I knew of Rod from the Feathers and Photos forum, but I'd never met him. We were sitting by the car scanning the swamp, while Henry was chatting to him. Henry returned in due course, and informed us that Rod had seen a Buff-breasted Sandpiper the day before, not 10m from where we were standing!!
Not knowing Rod, I was a bit skeptical. But after subsequent discussion (and later the appearance of a photo on Birdline), we were all convinced. Stanley and I had to leave the swamp at 12pm, taking Henry with us, but the other guys searched for a few more hours without success.
I think we all felt that would be the end of that.
Then, on Friday, January the 24th, it was seen and photographed again - and Simon was one of the ones that saw it. Unacceptable! Simon isn't allowed to see megas that I don't! At least I didn't have it as bad as Josh and Max - they'd left for Borneo the day before. Even so, I was doubtful about being able to go for it. Regardless, that evening, I jokingly made a comment about going for it on Monday.
As luck would have it, David Stowe (amazing photographer and all-round awesome birder), had offered Simon a lift up to Hexham on Monday. Being the shameless, twitch-hungry monsters we are, Nathan and I begged for a lift as well, and by Saturday night we had a plan!
On Sunday the 26th, I left work at 3pm and caught the first bus to Sydney that I could. I met Simon at Central, and we caught the train to David's house, intercepting Nathan along the way.
David had very generously offered to let us stay the night at his place, sparing us the horror of public transport in Sydney at 3am the following day! We were all very excited, and it took us a while to get to sleep between watching David's digital workflow in Lightroom and the cricket.
That's a lie. I'd have been happy to sleep through the cricket.
The next morning, we were on the road by 4.45am. It was a bit dark to be looking for the fabled Brahminy Kites of Hawkesbury River (Simon has seen them there several times, and only a few believe him, it being the southern limit of their range). Despite that, it was an enjoyable trip up, and we arrived swampside at around 6.20am.
The road to Hexham (apologies for terrible quality - taken with my iPod Touch)
We were hardly the first people to arrive. The bird had been seen again the day before, and certain people had been on site since 5.30! Since the initial sighting, Buffy (as we affectionately nicknamed it) had never deigned to show itself in the afternoon, so all the birders were mainly concentrating on the morning.
Morning at the entrance to Hexham Swamp
One of the many trains that pass Hexham
Pretty clouds
David (above) and Nathan warming up for the morning
Little-black Cormorant silhouetted at sunrise
We were soon joined by Nick Weigner. With the bird still not showing by 10am, we were all getting discouraged, and Nick had to leave. We decided to take a break from buffy-hunting, and head over to Stockton Sandspit so that David could photograph some Avocets.
David's camera gear - the dream!
I was unprepared for the quality of birding at Stockton that morning, even though it was midday with the temperature touching the 30s. First up were Knots, both Red and Great, feeding side by side on the mudflats. Two lifers for me. Then Nathan (who had my scope) spotted some Terek Sandpipers on a far spit of mud. Although I braved the sticky, slippery mud to get a bit closer, the shots I got were only barely identifiable.
The mud-walk did have an upside though - it got me a 4th lifer within a 10 minute span. A Mangrove Gerygone called, and then flew past me.
Sadly, the trip wasn't so good for David as for me. The Avocets flushed at the first sign of us, and he didn't get the shots he was after.
With the time getting towards midday, we returned to Hexham. We were fairly sure that we'd missed our opportunity, but we weren't just going to give up!
When we got back, we saw that some people had actually ventured into the swamp itself. After a bit of indecision, Nathan, Simon and I (Nathan and I were wearing jeans, and Simon was just a bit paranoid about his shorts) lost our pants and jumped in. David jumped in too, but he kept his shorts on as he had a spare pair in the back of the car.
Swamping twitchers from the Central Coast
David at work
Our search for sandpipers wasn't helped by a pair of Black Falcons (tick) flushing huge flocks of birds left and right - but it's hard to complain when there are falcons hunting above you! Black Falcons are awe-inspiring birds, and they came quite close in their pursuit of lunch.
Black Falcon
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper flock, flushed by the falcons
Black Falcon (vaguely visible on the left) hunting Sandpipers
Our efforts were in vain however, and after close to an hour and a half of dedicated swamping, we retired to the shore. We sat in the car for a while, not talking much, and feeling a bit down in general.
We could see waders in a small flock, sheltering from the heat in the patch of grass just off the bank where the Buffy was first seen. We scanned it, but there was nothing interesting that we could see.
Simon set off on his own, swamping out in an arc to see if there were more waders behind the grass clumps. He took his sweet time, and we watched him absently as he scanned the flocks from the opposite side.
I was about to look away, when I saw him hesitate, and almost do a double take. He stared intently down the bins, and after a second, reached for his camera.
We all knew he'd seen something - but it wasn't until he stood up and started waving his arms and mouthing "BUFFY" that we really got moving! We weren't the only ones either, and a group of about 8 or 10 of us set out from the bank. We waded in a much bigger arc than Simon had, so that we didn't scare it off with our larger number of people.
The mud in the bottom of Hexham Swamp is dangerous stuff. One step it can be ankle depth, and the next you're up to your knee. Trying to negotiate the mud whilst also trying not to attract attention to yourself, and above all be fast, was a bit of a nightmare - but we all made it dry from the waist up, and we got our first views of Australia's 8th Buff-breasted Sandpiper.
Buffy
At first glance, a Buffy is nothing special. "Brown" is the word that comes to mind. If you look more carefully though, they really are a pretty bird - the patterning which becomes iridescent green in the sunlight, the white eye ring and pale buff cheek patches, lead to quite an attractive mix.
More Buffy
That and the fact that it was the 8th record for the country, and I was looking at it, made it bloody beautiful!
Never enough Buffy
As I knelt in the swamp, I began to see dust plumes on the horizon - I don't know who called them, but the twitchers were descending upon Hexham!
The bird walked around a little, making us a bit nervous, but eventually we ended up getting quite close. We were lucky enough to be able to watch him for quite an extended period of time - no half-ticks or bad views this time!
Simon, being the sod that he is (for having seen it twice), got bored fairly quickly and wondered off in search of some Ruff. After a while (and lots of photos), I joined him. We found a Ruff with a flock of Sharpies, making my 7th lifer for the day (Buffy was my 410th!)
Fairly soon after that, the flock with the Buff-breasted in it flushed, and wasn't relocatable. We left Hexham elated (though we missed Brahminy again on the way back to Sydney).
Another fantastic trip!! Thanks to David for letting us stay and for driving, Simon for finding the bird and Nathan for putting me up for a night before I returned home.
By the way, a couple of things I'd like to mention (click on bold/italic text for the links):
Firstly, Josh and Max's blog, For the Love of Birds, is an awesome read, and if you want to be super jealous of Josh's trip to the Sub-antarctic Islands at the end of last year, I highly recommend you take a look. I'm sure that in due course, there'll be posts about his current trip to Borneo on there as well!
Second, Nathan Ruser has recently started a blog as well, called Musings of Zoology. His is less bedtime-reading-type material, quite technical, but it's fascinating stuff, and I'm looking forward to his future posts (no matter how little of them I understand).
Thirdly, you should definitely go have a look at David Stowe's website. His photographs are truly exceptional, and I could spend all day looking at them - you can purchase many of them too, if you're so inclined.
And lastly, full lists for our trip can be found here for Hexham, and here for Stockton.
Thanks for reading,
Julian.
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