Birding Independently

Finally, the day has arrived. Max has his P's! No more restrictive parental driving, we are free birdwatchers! A celebratory trip was needed, though my parents refused to let us drive all the way to Botany Bay, so we had to stick with a Northern Beaches run.

I'd been up until 3:30 the night before, but I managed to rouse myself at 5:30 in the morning to meet Max out the front of my house. 40 minutes later we arrived at the Chiltern Trail, which was a bit brisk and windy to say the least. While the walk down the trail was relatively slow, the walk back provided some good birds brought out by some welcome sunshine, including Scarlet, Brown-headed, New Holland, White-cheeked, Yellow-faced, Yellow-tufted, Lewin's and White-eared Honeyeaters, plus Eastern Spinebill, Little Wattlebird and Noisy Friarbird - which was just about all of the regular Northern Beaches honeyeaters save two. A Bar-shouldered Dove back near the entrance completed our walk.

Next stop, Warriewood Wetlands, and almost as soon as stepping out of the car we were greeted by a pair of Powerful Owls, sitting in exactly the same spot (within a metre) of where we saw them late last year. 3 Varied Sittellas were seen briefly by Max while I was off in the bushes doing my best Lewin's Rail impersonation. Scarlet Honeyeaters were everywhere, and so were the lorikeets. Musk and Rainbow proved plentiful, but we couldn't get eyes on even one Scaly-breasted, even though we could hear them calling.

Pair of Powerful Owls and an unlucky Ring-tailed Possum

Across the road, the main wetlands were a little emptier than normal, but a high flying Grey Goshawk, an unseen Little Grassbird, and a Darter doing a very convincing Black Bittern impersonation helped break the monotony of hybrid Pacific Black Ducks x Mallards.

Not a Black Bittern, but a Darter... Damn

Over to Narabeen, where the resident Ospreys showed nicely for Max, as did Great, Intermediate, and 12 Cattle Egrets. More impressive however, was the group of 4 COMPLETELY PURE MALLARDS! Finding even one pure Mallard in Australia is a near impossible task, and to find 4 at once is essentially a miracle!

The miracle - ignore the dodgy bird second from the top

Nearby Deep Creek failed to give up it's Brush Bronzewings, but a pair of Rose Robins was a great way to brighten our spirits. A Dee Why sea-watch proved unsuccessful with only a few Gannets, but a very confiding Peregrine Falcon gave us both the best views we've had of this species.

Male Rose Robin

Peregrine Falcon in flight

Dee Why Lagoon had recently been emptied, so we decided to pay it a visit - which was a wise decision. Not only did we spot a Caspian Tern roosting with the Silver Gulls, but a Little Egret also surprised us with it's presence - a very good bird to see in Sydney. Long Reef was last, and with most of the waders gone for the winter, the best birds were Double-banded Plovers, 2 out of place Cattle Egrets, Sooty Oystercatchers and a flagged Red-necked Stint (banded in Bohai Bay, China, in 2009).

And so, our first day of independence ended, with a respectable species tally, some great birds, and no car crashes! All in all, a success.