Budgewoi

This morning I went back to Budgewoi to look for the Southern Emu-wren. I took John Doubikin (Sr) with me as he was interested in photographing the Rose Robin as well. We arrived at about 7:30 and were immediately impressed by the number of birds that were active. There were a lot of Yellow-faced Honeyeaters , that we have been told are migrating at the moment. 

In the Ocean St car park we were greeted by a Grey Shrike-thrush. I think it is an immature bird as it has a bit of rufous on its head and has stripes on its breast. It has not developed the characteristic white area between the eye and beak either. We saw them in several locations in the area later but I'm not sure whether they were the same or different birds.

The Superb Fairy-wrens were also active in the carpark area and also along the boardwalk. There were several males in breeding colours. They were quite interested in the clumps of grass along the southern side of the carpark, where I have seen them nesting before. I also saw a Variegated Fairy-wren male, also in colours but it was the only one I saw and only for a short time.

Having sighted a Southern Emuwren earlier in the week I was anxious to try and get a photograph of one. I heard them several times but they kept well hidden in the grass and undergrowth. The one in the photograph flew up and sat on the branch for a couple of seconds before flying across the boardwalk and into the scrub on the other side. We sighted it several more times but there was a lot of interference from the Fairy-wrens  and Grey-fantails and we eventually ran out of patience.

There were several immature/female Golden Whistlers in the area (I need to learn the differences) This one spent a lot of time cleaning under its wings. We did not see a male but we heard GoldenWhistler calls from birds that we did not see as well.

The Rose Robin put in an appearance and we got some more nice shots of it (not published here) It was quite active in the trees above us at the Weemala St end of the Boardwalk.

We walked up to the Weemala boardwalk and noticed a lot of small birds in the canopy. Most of them appeared to be Yellow-faced Honeyeaters but there were a lot of what appeared to be Brown Thornbills as well. In the scrub further up the path, there were several small dark birds active on the low branches and the ground. I thought they were White-browed Scrubwrens but I could not make out their white brow. I finally managed to get a photograph of one, and its white brow and white eye showed up clearly once I processed it on the computer. They were very hard to photograph as they were quiet active today.

We went back to the Budgewoi Bridge and turned down Natuna St where we had been told Nankeen Night-herons were roosting. We were told that there were three in the area, but only found two. They were hard to photograph because they were hidden among the branches and we had to photograph into the light (We cannot walk on water!) However the situation produced some interesting photographs because they insisted in staring at us.

Finally we called in at Bluff Point where the Caspian Terns often roost.

There were a few terns there today together with a lot of Darters and a mixture of Little Pied Cormorants and Little Black Cormorants. There was not a lot of movement so I was limited to mainly static photos.