We will stay at the NRMA Shellharbour Beachside Holiday Park, Shellharbour Village, (https://www.nrmaparksandresorts.com.au/shellharbour-beachside/) which offers villas, cabins and powered sites. Note that NRMA Blue members receive a discount. Numbers will be limited to 16, so please register early as bookings should be made soon. Advise me if you would like to share. DO NOT book accommodation until I have confirmed your registration.
We will explore nearby Killalea State Park, Lake Illawarra, Minnamurra and other sites recommended by members of the Illawarra Bird Observers Club who have offered to join us on walks and a joint dinner one evening. Visit their website – https://www.iboc.com.au/ – for a list of their walks and bird species observed. We will encounter a range of waterbirds and shorebirds as well as bush birds and if we are lucky, an Australian Logrunner.
To register contact Prue Watters prue.watters@gmail.com
This trip is now full but if you wish to go on the waiting list, there is always the possibility that some people will cancel.
Prue Watters led 14 COG members on a very successful trip to the Illawarra, where we were based at Shellharbour. Special thanks also to Ralph Stadus of Illawarra Birders who prepared our itinerary and gave very generously of his time to lead us to various local hotspots over the following three days. A couple of other IB members also joined us for various walks, and dinner at a local club one evening.
Our first site on Tuesday was Killalea Regional Park at Shell Cove, where we walked around a very picturesque freshwater lagoon adjacent to Killalea Beach. The lagoon held an array of common waterbirds with bush birds in the surrounding coastal vegetation. The pick of the 60 species seen were Tawny and Little Grassbirds, Swamp Harrier, with Grey Butcherbird and Brown Gerygone on nests. We also had good views of breaching and fin-slapping Humpback Whales offshore.
The following day we visited Jerrara Dam near Jamberoo, where we scouted the littoral rainforest patches along the creek lines leading to the disused reservoir. The forest was very productive of bush birds, and we had great views of Topknot Pigeon, Brown Cuckoo-dove, Black-faced Monarch, Brown Gerygone, Lewin’s Honeyeater, and glimpses of Green Catbird. A Baillon’s Crake at the Reservoir, seen in poor light, kept us guessing until the photographers allowed a definitive diagnosis. The tally here was 58 species.
In the afternoon, we concentrated on ducks and other waterbirds at Tallawarra Ash Ponds, a large closed fenced area, with key access only, owned by Energy Australia, containing long disused ash settlement ponds for coal-fired power stations. Again, a good tally of 60 species was seen, the pick being 32 Pied Stilt, a Latham’s Snipe, 20 Royal Spoonbill, an Australasian Spotted Crake, and good views of 2 Dollarbird.
Thursday morning was all waders at Shoalhaven Heads, where plenty of spotting scopes, the wader expertise of Ralph and Sue Lashko, good light and a convenient 8am high tide, allowed great views of 42 Eastern Curlew, 2 Whimbrel, 220 Bar-tailed Godwit, 18 Red-necked Stint, 30 Red-capped Plover and, the bird of the trip, a very uncommon Broad-billed Sandpiper. We also saw four tern species: Crested, Caspian, Gull-billed and the beautiful Little Tern, the latter breeding at the Heads. Another highlight was the Shoalhaven Heads bakery and their A1 pies.
After rain overnight abated, our luck with the weather continued into the final day when we stopped on our homeward journey at Minnamurra Rainforest. The short loop walk added four good birds to our final trip tally of 125 species: Superb Lyrebird, Yellow-throated and Large-billed Scrubwren, and Bassian Thrush.
Thanks to Prue and Ralph for putting together a very successful trip to a lovely part of the coast, Sue for bird identification assistance and Lia Battisson for entering all our sightings into eBird. We hope to reciprocate by hosting Illawarra Birders in Canberra in the next year or two.
Julie McGuiness
