Sydney Birding

Australian Painted Snipe is one of Australia's most cryptic, rare and unknown shorebirds. With only perhaps 300 birds remaining - and distributed across the entire continent - months or even years at a time go by without sightings of this species. 2023 has been a bit of a bumper year for sightings on this species. This male was filmed before dawn on 29 October 2023 at Richmond Lowlands. Huge shout-out to Brett and Martin who first discovered a pair at this site and shared their observations so that Sydney's birders could take an amazing opportunity to watch these birds. Remember, if you go birding - the bird's welfare must always come first ... especially for such an endangered species. Give them plenty space, don't be loud and noisy and respect all laws while capturing your memories. Sydney Birding - sydneybirding.com.au (note the 'dot au' ... someone has started using my business name to try and promote their own tours! Gah!)

Sometimes it isn't about the birds :)

Certainly the birding highlight for this weekend's birding - Torresian Imperial Pigeon at Kew, NSW! The species occurs across northern Australia from Western Australia through to Queensland - about halfway down the Queensland coast. From time to time the species has turned up as far south as NSW, where it is considered vagrant. The bird was first sighted by a local birdwatcher who shared a photo to Facebook. It was again relocated later in the week. When I arrived early on Sunday morning, there were about 200 pigeons present - over 100 White-headed and over 75 Topknots - all at the top of the eucalypt canopy, occasionally calling, often flying between trees. At one point they got spooked and a flock circa 125 strong flew off - I thought my chances were blown. Nevertheless, patience paid off and this bird flew in - at first landing relatively obscured from view, though thankfully visible enough to be certain who it was. After a few minutes it moved into the sunshine and started preening - long enough to go back to the car and get the tripod for this video. Not only was this beautiful bird a highlight, but such massive numbers of the other pigeons, as well.

It's not always only about the birds...

A Ruff at Crookhaven Heads in the Shoalhaven on the NSW South Coast. Ruffs are regular but rare migrants to Australia that nest in marshes in the low Arctic. Most of the world's Ruff population migrates to Africa each year, but a few turn up in Australia. This is the second Ruff to be reported in NSW this week - the first being at Ballina on the NSW North Coast. Ruffs are usually associated with marshy habitats and not really found in rocky habitats beside the sea - but both birds this week have turned up seaside. The other birds in this video are Pacific Golden-plovers.

Have a goose. Or forty. Forty spotted geese, I guess :D Domestic Geese with Greylag Goose ancestry - Centennial Park - Sydney, NSW, AU.

How cute is this Hooded Plover chick? :)

White-bellied Sea-eagles on Future Island - they spent about 20 mins there. One took a few sips of the estuarine water, then they spent about 10 minutes standing there, faces near each other. One left and then about 10 minutes later the second one left and flew up-river.

The resident pair of White-bellied Sea-eagles honking away. Although I have not seen them land on the island, they regularly fish beside it - typically flushing all the roosting birds which then circle around the island for a few minutes before settling back down - some more readily than others.

A bit of a feeding frenzy this morning. How many species can you pick? (It's only very distant phone video though!)