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Byron Bird Buddies

BELONGIL ESTUARY AND BIRD OBSERVATIONS
For 1st November to 31st December 2006 - Jan Olley

Everything seemed to be perfect this year for the Little Terns to visit the Belongil. The dog numbers were down, there was camouflage debris everywhere just as they like it, the fence was positioned to give ample room, the signs were up and people numbers were down as it was difficult for people to access the spit from the Becton-side of the creek. But they did not come!

As stated in the last report, Dave reported ten Little Terns on October 21st and Heather reported 20 small Terns about the same time but it was uncertain if they were the Little Tern. I saw 64 Common Terns a couple of weeks later but no little Terns. When I visited Flat Rock in Lennox Head in November there were a small number there.  Last year the Common Terns visited Belongil in their hundreds and always the Little Terns were with them, not so this year.  Maybe next year will be the year!

The creek is still flowing out to sea and a new sign has been erected. The sign very prominently says the area is a bird sanctuary and no dogs are allowed. The National Park rangers have been on the job and this has obviously made a difference to the dog numbers.

The Terns may have decided not to visit but a number of migratory birds have again taken up residence over the summer.
On Saturday I counted 38 Pacific Golden Plovers which is about the same number as last year.

A small number of Bar-tailed Godwits, Red-neck Stints and Sharp-tail Sandpipers have also been seen regularly at the creek (Photo below left). The Common Greenshank that usually wanders around the estuary on its own has a couple of mates. An Eastern Curlew and the occasional Whimbrel have also been observed.

The Pied Oystercatcher chick with the yellow tag left the protection of its parents sometime in the first two weeks of December. The Red-cap Plovers obviously nested again, as I spotted a chick just before Xmas, I only hope it survived as I did not see it on my next visit a week later. The second pair of Oystercatchers continues to occupy the island in the inner creek. The number of Rainbow Bee-eaters that were quite prevalent during spring seem to have moved on, as I didn’t see any on my last visit, only the occasional sound could be heard.    

The sound of the Figbird has dominated the bush over the past three months; they seem to be enjoying the fruit on the Tuckeroos.  In November I spotted a Rufous Fantail, a bit late in the season, as an altitudinal migrating bird I thought they would be moving back to the mountains and the cool wet and dense rainforest by November. I guess there is always the exception but they are a delightful bird so I didn’t mind.
I was not able to check on all the nesting birds that I mentioned in the last report, for two weeks and by the time I did most of  the nests were deserted or destroyed and the chicks had flown the coop. The Latham Snipe could still be seen around the ponds in the modified area.

I observed 86 birds over the past three months including some of the following.

Australasian Grebe, Australasian Gannet, Australian Darter ,Little Black Cormorant, Little Pied Cormorant, Pied Cormorant, Great Egret, Little Egret, White-faced Heron , Striated Heron,  Royal Spoonbill, Australian Wood Duck, Pacific Black Duck, Brahminy Kite, Whistling Kite, Osprey , Buff-banded Rail, Purple Swamphen, Pacific Golden Plover, Red-capped Plover, Red-neck Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Latham's Snipe, Bar-tailed Godwit, Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel, Common Greenshank, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Oystercatcher,, Crested Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Common Tern, Little Tern,  Bar-shouldered Dove, Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Corella, Rainbow Lorikeets, Eastern Rosella, Common Koel, Pheasant Coucal, Sacred Kingfisher, Azure Kingfisher, Dollar-bird, Rainbow Bee-eater, Tawny Frogmouth, White-throated Needletail, Varied Triller, Eastern Yellow Robin, Rufous Whistler, Little Shrike-thrush, Grey Fantail, Rufous Fantail,, Superb Fairy-wren, Variegated Fairy-wren, White-browed Scrubwren, White-throated Gerygone, Brown Thornbill, Little Wattlebird, Blue-faced Honeyeater,  Brown Honeyeater, Stripe Honeyeater, Silvereye, Striated Pardalote, Figbird,  Spangled Drongo, Grey Butcherbird

Our feature bird

Pacific Golden Plover  (Pluvialis fulva)

The Pacific Golden Plover is listed on both the China Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (CAMBA) and the Japan Australia Migratory Bird Agreement (JAMBA1998/99.  Apparently about 9000 birds migrate to the beaches and mudflats of Australia's coastline from the arctic tundra of western Alaska and far northern Russia where they breed.  About 1800 arrive in New South Wales each year. Generally    arriving in August-September and leaving April-May, some birds over-winter in Australia.  The non-breeding birds that are seen in Australia have a mottled grey-brown to pale-yellow speckled plumage, with white, streaked brown, underparts.  There is a broad white eyebrow above the large eye and the bill is short and black. The plumage changes to black and gold when breeding, which makes them one of the most colourful migrant waders. Some individuals display varying intensities of these breeding colours while they are on our shores both on arrival and before departure..

Bird size is about 24-26cm and they feed on insects, small crustaceans and worms. They are usually seen in small flocks, inhabiting coastal and sub-coastal wetlands, fields and inland swamps. At Belongil over the past three years up to sixty birds have been sited at one time, but the usual number is about 38. They congregate on the sand and grassy dunes at the mouth of the creek during high tide and feed on the mud flats in the inner creek at low tide.   

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