Day 8 - Chiltern
This was our last morning of proper birding before we had to drive all the way back to Sydney, we got up early again and packed all our stuff. Just outside the hotel were a few flowering bottlebrush trees, which attracted a few birds, including some Yellow Thornbills. Superb Fairywrens are forever present, and the familiar but non-native Blackbirds are common garden birds.
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Superb Fairywren - male |
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Yellow Thornbill |
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Eurasian Blackbird - a common non-native species |
We arrived at Cyanide Dam and was greeted by a lone Pacific Heron on the water. Yellow-tufted Honeyeaters were again quite common. A Willie Wagtail nesting nearby was hawking for food near where we parked the car.
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Pacific Heron |
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Yellow-tufted Honeyeater |
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Willie Wagtail |
A Swamp Wallaby showed up, although it stayed quite far away from us. A flock of Brown-headed Honeyeaters showed very well and allowed us to get some good photos.
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Swamp Wallaby |
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Brown-headed Honeyeater |
Other birds that were seen includes a few confiding Striated Thornbills and White-throated Treecreepers. Splendid Fairywrens were again present.
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Striated Thornbill |
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White-throated Treecreeper - female |
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Superb Fairywren - male |
Our only new addition to our trip came in form of a Satin Flycatcher, it stayed quite high up but showed well enough for everyone to get a good look.
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Satin Flycatcher - male |
We didn't have a lot of time on our hands, so we headed over to Green Hill Dam, on the way in we got great views of a small flock of Superb Parrots! All feeding quite low down! I don't think I can get bored of looking at this fabulous parrot.
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Superb Parrot - adult male |
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Superb Parrot - immature male |
The walk around Green Hill Dam was a bit underwhelming, as we added very few birds. A Spotted Pardalote was perhaps one of the more interesting birds present. We spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get photo of the extremely common Fuscous Honeyeater, for some reason they were all staying very high up and extremely jumpy, making photographing them a real challenge, in the end I made do with a record photo.
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Spotted Pardalote - female |
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Fuscous Honeyeater |
The best was saved for last, as we were walking back to the car, we came upon a male Crested Shrike-tit! It showed very well for us, allowing us to get some good photos. No doubt the best bird of the morning! From there, we drove nearly 6 hours back to Sydney, by the time we got to our hotel it was already late afternoon, we decided to call it a day on birding and later went out for dinner at Cabramatta, also known as the Little Vietnam in Sydney.
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Crested Shrike-tit - male |
Day 9 - Sydney
Mike offered to bird with us for our final morning in Sydney before our flight in the afternoon. One of the bird that we haven't seen properly (although I did see a few flying over as we were driving along) was the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo. While not a rare bird, they can be tricky to track down when you want to find it. Mike suggested us head over to Marouba Beach, just because he knew someone reported some there just the day before. At the car park we saw a few Australian Figbirds, males of race vieilloti with greyish throat.
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Australian Figbird - female |
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Australian Figbird - male race vieilloti |
We walked along the coastal footpath without seeing all that much, Pied Currawongs were flying around. The most 'interesting' bird was probably a few Red-whiskered Bulbul! A familiar bird to us and one I did not expect to see in Sydney, they are of course non-native here. Seeing there were not many birds around, we walked back towards the carpark, along the way we saw an Elegant Snake-eyed Skink.
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Pied Currawong |
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Red-whiskered Bulbul - very familiar species to us |
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Elegant Snake-eyed Skink |
Near the carpark there were a lot of common park birds, such as Noisy Mynas and Australian Magpies, both I have not taken a single photo this entire trip until now.
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Noisy Miner |
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Australian Magpie |
A big flock of Little Corellas were feeding on the lawns and the trees, allowing for close approach.
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Little Corella |
Having thought we failed to locate the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, we decided to head to Centennial Park next, as Mike drove his own car, we went separately. As we just got out of the car park, we received a call from Mike that he located the Cockatoos! We immediately circled back and to our surprise they were just feeding next to the car park, on a few small Banksia trees at touching distance! They were completely unbothered by people, and we got excellent views of them.
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Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo - male |
With our biggest target of the morning achieved, we got to Centennial Park hoping to add the Black Swan onto our trip list, as we for some reason have not seen any during our trip. This was also our last chance to take some photos of the common birds around Sydney. At the ponds there were plenty of Grey Teals and several Hardheads.
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Grey Teal |
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Hardhead - female |
Crested Pigeons are very common in Australia, but I haven't taken a single photo during this trip. They are actually quite a good looking species and probably deserve a bit more attention.
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Crested Pigeon |
At the large pond there were plenty of Australian Ibis, another 'trash' bird that most people ignore. And of course, there were many Black Swans, all asking to be photographed!
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Australian Ibis |
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Black Swan |
Our final bird was a Grey Butcherbird near the cafe, where we bought a few cold drinks, sat down and had a few laughs with Mike before saying goodbye to him. It was very nice to be able to meet up and have a bit of time birding together, hopefully it won't be too long until we meet again.
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Grey Butcherbird |
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the airport, where we got the late afternoon plane back to Hong Kong, arriving at around 9:45pm. All in all, I think this trip was quite successful, as we connected with most of our main targets, although there were a few I thought we may see but didn't, such as Spotted Quail-thrush, Gang-Gang Cockatoo, White-eared Honeyeater, White-fronted Chat, Beautiful Firetail and Diamond Firetail. There were also a lot of birds which were surprises for me, such as Square-tailed Kite, Pink Cockatoo, Australian Hobby and White-backed Swallow. With 204 species in just 9 days (8 days of birding effectively), I thought we did fairly well, considering we were mostly self guided! I had over 70 lifers!
It was a shame we didn't have enough time to visit Barren Grounds or the Capertee area, as those two areas are well known for birds, and things like Eastern Bristlebird and Ground Parrots could well be possible. I was probably a bit greedy on the itinerary, wanting to include a lot of inland habitat in such a short trip, but I also think it was nice to sample a lot of different habitats, which gave a good variety throughout the trip. Huge thanks again to Ian and Mike for helping us find some of our targets in Sydney, and for everyone in our group for being such good company. For guiding near Deniliquin, I highly recommend Phil and Robert from Australian Ornithological Services, they were extremely professional, made sure everyone saw the birds and knew which angle works best for photography, they kept us comfortable and were very good at what they do, I can't not imagine finding a Plains Wanderer and many other species if it wasn't for their vast local knowledge. I know for sure this is not the last time I will be birding in Australia, as there are still a lot to see and many areas to explore!
| Species | Scientific Name | Location |
1 | Emu | Dromaius novaehollandiae | Deniliquin |
2 | Magpie Goose | Anseranas semipalmata | Fivebough Wetlands |
3 | Black Swan | Cygnus atratus | Centennial Park |
4 | Australian Shelduck + | Tadorna tadornoides | Fivebough Wetlands |
5 | Maned Duck | Chenonetta jubata | |
6 | Pacific Black Duck | Anas superciliosa | |
7 | Grey Teal | Anas gracilis | |
8 | Chestnut Teal | Anas castanea | |
9 | Hardhead | Aythya australis | |
10 | Musk Duck + | Biziura lobata | Lake Wallace |
11 | Stubble Quail + | Coturnix pectoralis | Deniliquin |
12 | Rock Dove | Columba livia | |
13 | Spotted Dove | Spilopelia chinensis | |
14 | Brown Cuckoo-Dove | Macropygia phasianella | Royal National Park |
15 | Common Bronzewing + | Phaps chalcoptera | Griffith, Deniliquin |
16 | Crested Pigeon | Ocyphaps lophotes | |
17 | Wonga Pigeon | Leucosarcia melanoleuca | Royal National Park |
18 | Peaceful Dove | Geopelia placida | |
19 | Pacific Koel | Eudynamys orientalis | |
20 | Fan-tailed Cuckoo | Cacomantis flabelliformis | Royal National Park |
21 | Australian Owlet-nightjar | Aegotheles cristatus | Deniliquin |
22 | Black-tailed Nativehen + | Tribonyx ventralis | Fivebough Wetlands |
23 | Australian Crake + | Porzana fluminea | Fivebough Wetlands |
24 | Dusky Moorhen | Gallinula tenebrosa | |
25 | Eurasian Coot | Fulica atra | |
26 | Australasian Swamphen | Porphyrio melanotus | |
27 | Pied Stilt | Himantopus leucocephalus | Fivebough Wetlands |
28 | Pacific Golden Plover | Pluvialis fulva | Long Reef |
29 | Black-fronted Dotterel | Thinornis melanops | Chiltern |
30 | Banded Lapwing + | Vanellus tricolor | Deniliquin |
31 | Masked Lapwing | Vanellus miles | |
32 | Red-kneed Dotterel | Erythrogonys cinctus | Fivebough Wetlands |
33 | Plains-wanderer + | Pedionomus torquatus | Deniliquin |
34 | Latham's Snipe + | Gallinago hardwickii | Chiltern |
35 | Grey-tailed Tattler | Tringa brevipes | Long Reef |
36 | Marsh Sandpiper | Tringa stagnatilis | Long Reef |
37 | Ruddy Turnstone | Arenaria interpres | Long Reef |
38 | Sharp-tailed Sandpiper | Calidris acuminata | Long Reef |
39 | Red-necked Stint | Calidris ruficollis | Long Reef |
40 | Little Buttonquail + | Turnix velox | Deniliquin |
41 | Silver Gull | Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae | |
42 | Caspian Tern | Hydroprogne caspia | Long Reef |
43 | Great Crested Tern | Thalasseus bergii | Long Reef |
44 | Australasian Grebe | Tachybaptus novaehollandiae | |
45 | Hoary-headed Grebe + | Poliocephalus poliocephalus | Deniliquin |
46 | Great Crested Grebe | Podiceps cristatus | Lake Wallace |
47 | Black-browed Albatross + | Thalassarche melanophris | Long Reef |
48 | Short-tailed Shearwater | Ardenna tenuirostris | Long Reef |
49 | Australasian Gannet + | Morus serrator | Long Reef |
50 | Australasian Darter | Anhinga novaehollandiae | |
51 | Little Pied Cormorant | Microcarbo melanoleucos | |
52 | Great Cormorant | Phalacrocorax carbo | |
53 | Little Black Cormorant | Phalacrocorax sulcirostris | |
54 | Pied Cormorant | Phalacrocorax varius | |
55 | Australian Ibis | Threskiornis molucca | |
56 | Straw-necked Ibis | Threskiornis spinicollis | |
57 | Royal Spoonbill | Platalea regia | Deniliquin |
58 | Yellow-billed Spoonbill | Platalea flavipes | Wagga Wagga, Deniliquin |
59 | White-faced Heron | Egretta novaehollandiae | |
60 | Eastern Cattle-Egret | Ardea coromanda | |
61 | Pacific Heron | Ardea pacifica | |
62 | Great White Egret | Ardea alba | |
63 | Australian Pelican | Pelecanus conspicillatus | |
64 | Osprey | Pandion haliaetus | Long Reef |
65 | Black-shouldered Kite | Elanus axillaris | |
66 | Square-tailed Kite + | Lophoictinia isura | Murray Valley National Park |
67 | Wedge-tailed Eagle | Aquila audax | Deniliquin |
68 | Brown Goshawk | Tachyspiza fasciata | Royal National Park |
69 | Swamp Harrier | Circus approximans | Fivebough Wetlands, Deniliquin |
70 | Black Kite | Milvus migrans | |
71 | Whistling Kite | Haliastur sphenurus | |
72 | White-bellied Sea-Eagle | Icthyophaga leucogaster | |
73 | Powerful Owl + | Ninox strenua | Sydney |
74 | Australian Boobook + | Ninox boobook | Sydney |
75 | Rainbow Bee-eater | Merops ornatus | |
76 | Azure Kingfisher | Ceyx azureus | Royal National Park |
77 | Laughing Kookaburra | Dacelo novaeguineae | |
78 | Sacred Kingfisher | Todiramphus sanctus | |
79 | Dollarbird | Eurystomus orientalis | |
80 | Nankeen Kestrel | Falco cenchroides | |
81 | Australian Hobby + | Falco longipennis | Deniliquin |
82 | Brown Falcon | Falco berigora | |
83 | Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo + | Zanda funerea | Maroubra Beach |
84 | Cockatiel | Nymphicus hollandicus | Cocopara National Park |
85 | Galah | Eolophus roseicapilla | |
86 | Pink Cockatoo + | Cacatua leadbeateri | Cocopara National Park |
87 | Little Corella + | Cacatua sanguinea | |
88 | Long-billed Corella | Cacatua tenuirostris | Deniliquin |
89 | Sulphur-crested Cockatoo | Cacatua galerita | |
90 | Superb Parrot + | Polytelis swainsonii | Wagga Wagga, Deniliquin, Chiltern |
91 | Australian King-Parrot | Alisterus scapularis | Royal National Park |
92 | Turquoise Parrot + | Neophema pulchella | Chiltern |
93 | Australian Ringneck + | Barnardius zonarius | Coleambally |
94 | Crimson Rosella | Platycercus elegans | |
95 | Eastern Rosella + | Platycercus eximius | |
96 | Greater Bluebonnet + | Northiella haematogaster | Deniliquin |
97 | Red-rumped Parrot | Psephotus haematonotus | |
98 | Mulga Parrot + | Psephotellus varius | Cocopara National Park |
99 | Little Lorikeet | Psitteuteles pusillus | Chiltern |
100 | Rainbow Lorikeet | Trichoglossus moluccanus | |
101 | Superb Lyrebird + | Menura novaehollandiae | Royal National Park, Mt York |
102 | Green Catbird | Ailuroedus crassirostris | Royal National Park |
103 | Satin Bowerbird | Ptilonorhynchus violaceus | Royal National Park |
104 | White-throated Treecreeper | Cormobates leucophaea | |
105 | Brown Treecreeper + | Climacteris picumnus | Deniliquin |
106 | Southern Emuwren + | Stipiturus malachurus | Maddens Plains |
107 | Purple-backed Fairywren + | Malurus assimilis | Griffith |
108 | Variegated Fairywren | Malurus lamberti | Sydney, Royal National Park |
109 | Splendid Fairywren + | Malurus splendens | Cocopara National Park |
110 | Superb Fairywren | Malurus cyaneus | |
111 | White-winged Fairywren + | Malurus leucopterus | Deniliquin |
112 | Eastern Spinebill | Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris | |
113 | Lewin's Honeyeater | Meliphaga lewinii | Royal National Park |
114 | Yellow-tufted Honeyeater + | Lichenostomus melanops | Chiltern |
115 | Noisy Miner | Manorina melanocephala | |
116 | Yellow-throated Miner + | Manorina flavigula | Griffith |
117 | Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater + | Acanthagenys rufogularis | Griffith, Deniliquin |
118 | Little Wattlebird | Anthochaera chrysoptera | |
119 | Red Wattlebird + | Anthochaera carunculata | |
120 | Singing Honeyeater + | Gavicalis virescens | Deniliquin |
121 | White-plumed Honeyeater + | Ptilotula penicillata | |
122 | Fuscous Honeyeater + | Ptilotula fusca | Chiltern |
123 | New Holland Honeyeater + | Phylidonyris novaehollandiae | Royal National Park |
124 | Blue-faced Honeyeater | Entomyzon cyanotis | |
125 | Brown-headed Honeyeater + | Melithreptus brevirostris | |
126 | Black-chinned Honeyeater + | Melithreptus gularis | Chiltern |
127 | Striped Honeyeater + | Plectorhyncha lanceolata | Cocopara National Park, Griffith |
128 | Painted Honeyeater + | Grantiella picta | Griffith |
129 | Little Friarbird | Philemon citreogularis | Griffith |
130 | Noisy Friarbird | Philemon corniculatus | |
131 | Spotted Pardalote | Pardalotus punctatus | |
132 | Striated Pardalote | Pardalotus striatus | |
133 | Speckled Warbler | Pyrrholaemus sagittatus | Cocopara National Park |
134 | Weebill + | Smicrornis brevirostris | Griffith |
135 | Rockwarbler + | Origma solitaria | Mt York |
136 | White-browed Scrubwren | Sericornis frontalis | |
137 | Southern Whiteface + | Aphelocephala leucopsis | Griffith |
138 | Yellow-rumped Thornbill + | Acanthiza chrysorrhoa | Murray Valley National Park |
139 | Yellow Thornbill + | Acanthiza nana | |
140 | Striated Thornbill + | Acanthiza lineata | |
141 | Inland Thornbill + | Acanthiza apicalis | Cocopara National Park |
142 | Brown Thornbill | Acanthiza pusilla | |
143 | Chestnut-rumped Thornbill + | Acanthiza uropygialis | |
144 | Buff-rumped Thornbill + | Acanthiza reguloides | |
145 | Brown Gerygone | Gerygone mouki | |
146 | Western Gerygone + | Gerygone fusca | Cocopara National Park |
147 | Grey-crowned Babbler | Pomatostomus temporalis | Cocopara National Park |
148 | White-browed Babbler + | Pomatostomus superciliosus | Cocopara National Park |
149 | Black-faced Cuckooshrike | Coracina novaehollandiae | |
150 | White-winged Triller + | Lalage tricolor | Cocopara National Park, Deniliquin |
151 | Varied Sittella | Daphoenositta chrysoptera | Mt York |
152 | Eastern Whipbird | Psophodes olivaceus | Royal National Park |
153 | Eastern Shrike-tit | Falcunculus frontatus | Murray Valley National Park, Chiltern |
154 | Grey Shrikethrush | Colluricincla harmonica | |
155 | Golden Whistler | Pachycephala pectoralis | |
156 | Rufous Whistler | Pachycephala rufiventris | |
157 | Olive-backed Oriole | Oriolus sagittatus | |
158 | Australasian Figbird | Sphecotheres vieilloti | Sydney |
159 | White-breasted Woodswallow | Artamus leucorynchus | |
160 | Masked Woodswallow + | Artamus personatus | Deniliquin |
161 | White-browed Woodswallow + | Artamus superciliosus | Deniliquin |
162 | Black-faced Woodswallow + | Artamus cinereus | Deniliquin |
163 | Dusky Woodswallow + | Artamus cyanopterus | Murray Valley National Park, Chiltern |
164 | Grey Butcherbird | Cracticus torquatus | |
165 | Pied Butcherbird | Cracticus nigrogularis | |
166 | Australian Magpie | Gymnorhina tibicen | |
167 | Pied Currawong | Strepera graculina | |
168 | Willie-wagtail | Rhipidura leucophrys | |
169 | Australian Rufous Fantail | Rhipidura rufifrons | Royal National Park |
170 | Grey Fantail | Rhipidura albiscapa | |
171 | Black-faced Monarch | Monarcha melanopsis | Royal National Park |
172 | Magpie-lark | Grallina cyanoleuca | |
173 | Leaden Flycatcher + | Myiagra rubecula | Mt York |
174 | Satin Flycatcher + | Myiagra cyanoleuca | Chiltern |
175 | Restless Flycatcher + | Myiagra inquieta | Chiltern |
176 | White-winged Chough + | Corcorax melanorhamphos | |
177 | Apostlebird + | Struthidea cinerea | Cocopara National Park |
178 | Australian Raven + | Corvus coronoides | |
179 | Little Raven + | Corvus mellori | |
180 | Red-capped Robin + | Petroica goodenovii | Cocopara National Park |
181 | Scarlet Robin + | Petroica boodang | Deniliquin |
182 | Jacky-winter + | Microeca fascinans | Deniliquin, Chiltern |
183 | Hooded Robin + | Melanodryas cucullata | Deniliquin |
184 | Eastern Yellow Robin | Eopsaltria australis | |
185 | Golden-headed Cisticola | Cisticola exilis | |
186 | Australian Reed Warbler + | Acrocephalus australis | |
187 | Little Grassbird + | Poodytes gramineus | Fivebough Wetlands |
188 | Brown Songlark + | Cincloramphus cruralis | Deniliquin |
189 | Rufous Songlark + | Cincloramphus mathewsi | Wagga Wagga, Deniliquin |
190 | White-backed Swallow + | Cheramoeca leucosterna | Deniliquin |
191 | Welcome Swallow | Hirundo neoxena | |
192 | Fairy Martin | Petrochelidon ariel | |
193 | Red-whiskered Bulbul | Pycnonotus jocosus | |
194 | Silvereye | Zosterops lateralis | |
195 | Common Starling | Sturnus vulgaris | |
196 | Common Myna | Acridotheres tristis | |
197 | Bassian Thrush + | Zoothera lunulata | Royal National Park |
198 | Eurasian Blackbird | Turdus merula | |
199 | Mistletoebird | Dicaeum hirundinaceum | Deniliquin |
200 | Red-browed Firetail | Neochmia temporalis | |
201 | Zebra Finch | Taeniopygia guttata | |
202 | House Sparrow | Passer domesticus | |
203 | Australian Pipit + | Anthus australis | Deniliquin |
204 | European Goldfinch | Carduelis carduelis
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