Note this trip is now full. To go on the waiting list, email the trip leader.
This mid-week trip is designed to give participants the opportunity to visit several birding spots in the Shoalhaven area. This is a chance to improve your wader skills with visits to Shoalhaven Heads and Lake Wollumboola. We will also do some forest walks in the Nowra and Bomaderry areas.
Registration is essential at smlashko@gmail.com asap. The trip will be limited to 14 people and accommodation or camping will be at Shoalhaven Heads Tourist Park, located between the Shoalhaven River and Seven Mile Beach – see http://www.shoalhaventouristpark.com.au/ Participants will be asked to book their own accommodation, but any wishing to share cabins will be matched up if possible. Please do not book accommodation until your registration is confirmed.
Fourteen COG members spent four very pleasant days exploring around Shoalhaven Heads, Nowra, Currarong and Culburra. A total of 120 bird species was recorded, along with 6 mammals, 16 butterflies, 4 reptiles and 1 frog species. Tuesday afternoon was spent around Shoalhaven Heads and Seven Mile Beach NP with Striated Heron and distant Lesser Sand-plovers being the highlights.
One of the target locations for the trip was Lake Wollumboola where there had been a number of rare wader sightings over the summer. The group spent Wednesday morning there and found plenty to keep us occupied with highlights being Pectoral Sandpiper, 150 Little Tern, 2 White-winged Black Terns, 100s of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints, Lesser Sand-plovers, and Red-capped Plovers with numerous cute little runners. Nice views of an Australian Hobby and a single White-fronted Chat topped off the morning. After all that serious scanning of hundreds of waders some of the group refuelled with fish and chips at a local café. The afternoon yielded a few more species such as Red-whiskered Bulbul and Pacific Golden Plover around Crookhaven Heads. After dinner we headed to Seven Mile Beach picnic area in the hopes of spotlighting a Masked Owl. Unfortunately we didn’t find any owls, but did spot a Sugar Glider and a number of Brush-tailed Possums.
We spent Thursday doing a couple of the walks around Nowra. In the morning we headed off to Bangalee Nature Reserve and walked the Forest Glen and River Trails. Spectacular views out over the forest and a fabulous fern grove were a highlight, prior to some athletic mountain goat skills over a rocky downhill trail back to the road. Brown Cuckoo-doves, Brown Gerygone, Black-faced Monarchs and a Brown Antechinus were highlights of the riparian and rainforest vegetation. Five Green Catbirds spotted by Ryu in the carpark topped off the morning. The afternoon was spent doing Bens Walk in Nowra, with assurances from Ryu and Sandra that a Rockwarbler was ‘guaranteed’! Unfortunately that was not to be, but the walk itself is spectacular and we found a Hairy Line-blue butterfly which turned out to be fairly unusual that far south.
On the last day the group split into two with the majority going to Abrahams Bosom, while a few hardy souls (ourselves included) went back to Lake Wollumboola to search for the Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Long-toed Stint. Those at Abrahams Bosom had success with Eastern Reef Egrets, Varied Sitella, White-cheeked Honeyeater and a surprise find of an Arctic Jaeger. Muriel had the luck by spotting an Eastern Bristlebird on her way to the car park. Those that ventured to Lake Wollumboola ended on a high even though we missed the Long-toed Stint, with great views of the Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper and Red Knots.
Thanks to Sue Lashko (who unexpectedly had to pull out from leading the trip) for detailed notes on locations to find some fabulous species.
John Goldie and Kathy Walter
