Fore! Four Rallidae at Eastlakes

A nice and early 5am start saw me meet Ashwin at Eastlakes Golf Course at 6:00. The primary aim today was to spot some crakes and rails. No golfers had arrived yet, so we staked out a small pond (which was really more of a muddy rubbish-filled depression in the ground) and waited. In no time at all, we had great views of a single Australian Spotted Crake, and brief views of a single Spotless Crake, disappearing into the reeds as quickly as it had appeared. A possible Lewin's Rail seen for less than a second was frustrating, but a Buff-banded Rail on the green was nice (and a Sydney tick for Ashwin). Max arrived at 7, and we showed him the Spotted Crake before moving on. A male White-winged Triller reinforced the fact that spring is in the air, and Ashwin was the only one to see a Lewin's Rail flush across a pond. A Latham's Snipe and two superb Baillon's Crakes were excellent nonetheless!

Australian Spotted Crake

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Baillon's Crake

The same Baillon's Crake

Heading back to the cars, we heard a Skylark calling, which would be a Sydney tick for everyone, so we headed over to have a look (trying to not interfere with the golfers using the green at the time!). Before we found the Skylark, another buzzing call was heard, and out of a pine tree flies a lovely Common Greenfinch - a really beautiful bird (despite being feral!), and a tick for me! We saw the Skylark doing a display flight, and then headed off, not before flushing a Brown Quail next to the path.

Pretty Feral: Greenfinch

In all, 71 species here, an excellent morning, only marred by my muddy pants from stepping into a knee-deep patch of gunk which had looked like solid sand, and the lack of Lewin's Rail for Max and I. Even so, "fore" other Rallidae (Spotted, Spotless, Baillon's Crakes plus Buff-banded Rail) made the day well worth it indeed! A quick trip to Mistral Point was comparatively fruitless, although we did enjoy seeing the migration of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters on their way south, and the amazing spectacle of a pair of humpbacks breaching and playing around really close to shore.