Bush Stone-curlew

The Bush Stone-curlew is a large, unusual, endemic, nocturnal, ground dwelling shorebird/wader that is mostly heard when making its eerie wailing calls at night. By day it loafs and sleeps, usually in the shade of a tree, alone, in pairs, or after the breeding season, in small flocks, using its cryptic plumage as camouflage which can make them hard to find. Being ground dwelling they are particularly vulnerable to fox and cat predation.

With a wide distribution across mainland Australia they prefer open woodland and forest near watercourses and wetlands and perhaps somewhat surprisingly they can be found in urban and semi urban areas, especially on the margins, though I have even found them on nature strips in densely built up areas. 

 Recently while driving in Byron Bay, roadside temporary signage and a cordoned off area using stakes and plastic tape around a mango tree alerted me to the presence of four Bush Stone-curlews. The following photos were taken of two of the birds as they loafed/slept in the shade of the mango tree. The birds rest/sleep either standing, semi standing with legs bent at right angles at the knees or fully prone as seen in the photos.

NOTE: You can left click on any photo to open a slide show of the photos free of text or a right click enables one photo at a time to be opened in a New Tab where an enlarged version can be viewed.

Being a member of the shorebird/wader family and having very long legs the Bush Stone-curlew must have evolved in watery habitats. However it has gone bush, on an evolutionary time scale, as its name suggests and now lives a terrestrial life. A number of other endemic shorebirds have also done this, for example the Banded Lapwing and Inland Dotterel.

Pheasant Coucal - non-breeding

A previous Avithera post in December 2021 featured a Pheasant Coucal in breeding plumage – see the following photo and the link to the 2021 post below for more information and photos. 

This post shows a Pheasant Coucal in mostly non breeding plumage though there are some black feathers on the legs and lower belly. 

Coucals are sedentary and common however they are more often heard then seen given they frequent dense vegetation. The breeding season is from October to April when they can be seen in breeding plumage.

Just like the bird in the 2021 blog, this one visited our daughter’s NSW  Northern Rivers  garden where it foraged in the densely planted garden beds. As for a number of ground dwelling birds, their plumage offers good camouflage.

NOTE: You can left click on any photo to open a slide show of the photos free of text or a right click enables one photo at a time to be opened in a New Tab where an enlarged version can be viewed.

Link to December 2021 post:

https://avithera.blogspot.com/2021/12/pheasant-coucal.html

Noisy Pitta at Victoria Park Nature Reserve

Pittas inhabit rainforest habitats where they exploit invertebrates living in the leaf litter. While they may call from high in the canopy they are essentially ground dwelling birds.

We recently visited Victoria Park Nature Reserve near Alstonville in Northern NSW. This park protects one of the last surviving remnants of original rainforest known as Big Scrub. Booyong Nature Reserve near Bangalow is another similar rainforest/Big Scrub remnant. These patches are popular with birders because they are good places to find rainforest species such as Brown Cuckoo-Dove, Topknot Pigeon, Brown-capped Emerald-Dove, Rose-crowned Fruit-Dove, Superb Fruit-Dove, Wompoo Fruit-Dove, Wonga and White-headed Pigeon, Green Catbird, Regent Bowerbird, Spectacled Monarch, Black-faced Monarch, White-eared Monarch, Russet-tailed and Bassian Thrush, Paradise Riflebird and Noisy Pittas.

Being winter, Noisy Pittas have come down from higher altitude rainforest in the nearby Great Divide so it was not surprising that we soon heard the distinctive call of this bird and then found a bird foraging in leaf litter beside the boardwalk which loops through a section of the forest. 

Photographing birds in rainforest has two significant challenges. One, the birds are often heard calling high in the canopy where it is both difficult to see them and photos are near impossible, and two, on the forest floor light is very low making full open aperture and high ISO necessary to achieve reasonable shutter speeds to avoid image blurring.

The camera was set at ISO 12,800 and f5.6 and even then, shutter speeds were 1/60s and 1/100s which for a 600mm lens is really too slow. Never the less the results after culling half the shots and some sharpening were acceptable enough to post here.

NOTE: You can left click on any photo to open a slide show of the photos free of text or a right click enables one photo at a time to be opened in a New Tab where an enlarged version can be viewed.

Note the powerful thrush-like bill which is used to move leaf litter and probe underlying soil for food. The long legs, needed to walk around in deep leaf litter are buried in the litter or behind a fallen limb so are not fully visible.

An earlier post from 2021 featuring an immature Noisy Pitta in littoral rainforest beside an ocean beach at the Brunswick Heads Nature Reserve can be viewed here: 

https://avithera.blogspot.com/2021/07/noisy-pitta.html

Beach-stone Curlew – rare visitor Lakes Entrance

To the date of this post, from when one bird was first recorded at Port Albert in 2013 (1), Birdata has recorded a total of 122 Beach Stone-Curlew sightings on the Victorian and South Australian coast for this strictly coastal shorebird species, at only 12 locations and always for just one bird for each record.

Since 2013 there has been a relatively large number of Birdata BSC sighting records including a single bird appearing to take up residence in the Snowy River Estuary at Marlo in East Gippsland for a number of years between 2014 and 2018. During the same period there were a number of sightings in the west of the State near Apollo Bay and Cape Otway and even five records in South East South Australia near Port Macdonnell. 

At the time some of us pondered if the westerly sightings were either due to the Marlo bird ranging further west or a second bird present in Victoria during the same time period. 

Since 2018 there has been one bird recorded in SA in 2019, one near Cape Otway in 2021 with a gap until late 2024 when a bird was recorded at Mallacoota on the 1st of October, then one bird at Lakes Entrance on the 8th of November, which was most likely the Mallacoota bird ranging further west. There have been no more sightings of BSC recorded in Victoria to mid-July 2025.

The surprise Lakes Entrance visit prompted me to make a detailed assessment of the Birdata records to determine if during the 2014 – 2018 period we had just one or perhaps two BSC’s in Victoria. The assessment revealed overlapping dates in February and March 2014 that confirmed there were in fact two birds in Victoria at that time.

NOTE: You can left click on any photo to open a slide show of the photos free of text or a right click enables one photo at a time to be opened in a New Tab where an enlarged version can be viewed.

The following photos are of the Lakes Entrance bird which made a brief visit in November 2024.

Of course without being able to identify individual birds, or records more than one bird in different locations simultaneously, we cannot be sure exactly how many individual BSC's have visited Victoria since 2013. It is possible however and even likely that the bulk of the 122 records are for just two individual birds during the 2013 to 2018 period, and the four records since 2018 possibly include one or two additional birds. If so this makes visits to Victoria by BSC's very rare and therefore applying the term vagrants (2) to BSC's sighted in Victoria is justified.  

More information on BSC’s - this link will take you to a 2021 Avithera post featuring three BSC’s in the Marshall’s Creek Reserve at Brunswick heads in northern NSW.

http://avithera.blogspot.com/2021/07/beach-stone-curlew.html

NOTES

(1) There may well have been unrecorded sightings or recorded sightings in other databases prior to 2013 – only Birdata, which includes eBird data imports up to 2022, has been searched for this post.

(2) Sean Dooley in his excellent book Anoraks to Zitting Cisticola defines a vagrant bird as “a bird that turns up in a region where it shouldn’t normally be”.

Tawny Frogmouth family

Tawny Frogmouths are our most often encountered and reported terrestrial nocturnal bird species (1). The reason they are so often found is they often roost during the day in plain sight, relying on their brilliant feather colouring to blend in but also on their “dead branch” imitation while perching very still with eyes closed (2). 

As Frogmouths present no threat to other bird species, they are left to roost in peace, whereas predatory owl species must hide away to avoid being mercilessly harassed by birds they may prey on, making them much harder to find by day when most of us are out birding.

Recently at the Broken Hill Desert Park we were asked by a lady if we would like to see something very special. Of course we said we would and were then shown three Tawny Frogmouths roosting together in the open on a branch about head height beside picnic facilities. It was great to see her excitement and clear delight in seeing these beautiful birds, eyes shut and motionless, on their perch bathing in full morning sunlight after a very cold night.

As I took a few photos I thought this is a family group – mum, dad and a young one.

NOTE: You can left click on any photo to open a slide show of the photos free of text or a right click enables one photo at a time to be opened in a New Tab where an enlarged version can be viewed.

However on checking the photos on the laptop later and verifying their sex after consulting field guides, it was clear the trio were all females as shown by the brown colour of some feathers. The males are all grey with no brown colouring. So this family group comprised mum, seen as the larger bird at the rear, and two advanced female young, which in the photos look smaller and are not perched in the head up dead branch stance so common in adult birds.

The following photos show there is not much action to capture when photographing roosting Frogmouths, their movements are slow and minimal.

Photo cropped for a close view of one of the young birds showing the extravagant rictal bristles and feather detail which provides camouflage by replicating dead wood.

NOTES

(1) It is claimed the Tawny Frogmouth is our most frequently encountered nocturnal bird. A check of Birdata sighting records on 16/07/2025 confirms this: Tawny Frogmouth (62,141), Southern Boobook (46,633), Owlet Nightjar (25,501), Powerful Owl (18,987), Eastern Barn Owl (9,635), Barking Owl (7,402). All the other nocturnal terrestrial species have much lower reporting rates.

(2) The following quote from Michael Morcombe’s excellent Guide to the Birds of Australia is a good description of Frogmouths: “Probably the best known Australian nocturnal bird; occasionally seen in camouflage pose on an exposed limb, stiffly posed to mimic a broken branch. The streaked and mottled plumage looks like old wood or bark, the bill and bristles like the jagged end of a broken branch, and the untidy white spots and dark streaks are like lichens and sap stains on old timber. Yellow eyes look through narrowed slits; the head turns almost imperceptibly to follow an intruder’s movements.” 

Sadly Michael passed away recently.

Black-breasted Buzzard

The Black-breasted Buzzard is a large impressive and distinctive endemic raptor which is mostly found in arid Australia and the tropical north.

NOTE: You can left click on any photo to open a slide show of the photos free of text or a right click enables one photo at a time to be opened in a New Tab where an enlarged version can be viewed.

While visiting a new NSW Parks property, Avenel Mt Westwood (1), about 130km NNW of Broken Hill, a Buzzard was encountered on Teilta Creek. The bird allowed close approach and seemed somewhat curious as, slowly and in stages, we approached the dead Redgum where it was perched. The late afternoon light afforded good light for photos. When the bird finally flew we noticed there was another one perched nearby. They both flew off together down the creek line. I suspect they do not encounter people very often as this is a remote area with few visitors, hence their confiding behaviour.

The following photos show an adult bird.

The following photo was taken just before the bird flew when it flattened its head feathers giving the bird a different appearance.

The following morning we encountered the pair perched along the creek line and when they flew one of the birds circled around us several times clearly checking us out and again indicating their curiosity. The following two flight shots were captured as the bird circled us.

Note: (1) 

The former sheep grazing properties were purchased by the NSW Government in 2021. This area is located in the Simpson Strzlecki Dunefields Bioregion which adjoins the Broken Hill Complex Bioregion to the south. Teilta Creek is a typical desert watercourse with a flat sandy bed and a narrow riparian area dominated by River Redgum. This is an extremely arid region so flows in the creek are few and far between.

The NSW Parks Service have recently developed the Teilta Creek Campground which is located just off the Sturt’s Steps touring route - an alternative route between Broken Hill and Tibooburra. The site features local history dating back to Sturt’s exploratory journey through the area in 1844 and subsequent grazing history since the mid 1860’s.

Wandering Tattler in breeding plumage

The Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana) is a migrant shorebird which breeds in Eastern Siberia, Alaska and NW Canada and migrates over the Pacific basin.  Most birds head south down the American west coast with some even reaching Peru in South America. 

Others migrate south and west across the vast Pacific Ocean to overwintering island destinations, including islands such as Hawaii and Fiji and, closer to home, the islands of Melanesia,  Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island and New Zealand with some birds reaching the Australian east coast. In Australia they winter on rocky ocean shores and islands in Queensland and NSW with a few rare birds found occasionally along the East Gippsland coast in Victoria. Their common name, Wandering, is derived from the widespread migration of this species.

In Australia they are mostly found in non-breeding plumage or partial breeding plumage when they are hard to differentiate from the Grey-tailed Tattler. 

On the 7th of May 2025 I found a solitary Wandering Tattler on the rocky headland of the Brunswick Heads Nature Reserve. I have found this species in this location before – links to two earlier posts are provided at the end of this post – however these birds were in non-breeding or partial breeding plumage whereas the subject of this post was in full breeding condition. Will this bird migrate or over-winter in Australia? Early May seems to be late to migrate?

NOTE: You can left click on any photo to open a slide show of the photos free of text or a right click enables one photo at a time to be opened in a New Tab where an enlarged version can be viewed.

Non-breeding plumage Wandering Tattler (Brunswick Heads July 2021)

Subject Wandering Tattler in breeding plumage May 2025.

Front view.

It was late afternoon and the tide was nearly full, forcing the bird close to shore where it foraged across the rocks in the later afternoon light. I observed the bird from 4 to 4.30pm and took advantage of the ideal photo opportunity with the sun behind me.

The bird expertly avoided breaking waves.

The bird foraged across the rocks picking up and swallowing tiny food items which I could not see. 

Wandering Tattlers eat polychaete worms, molluscs and small crabs. In this case I suspect the bird was picking up very small molluscs.

The Australian Bird Guide (Menkhorst et al) points out a number of ID clues to help separate Grey-tailed and Wandering Tattlers including scaling of the tarsi and the nasal groove. However in the field these features are only visible up close. The following photos show both ID clues.

Scaling of tarsi in Wandering is reticulate and in Grey-tails overlapping rectangular.

The nasal groove is longer in the Wandering – about three quarters the length of the bill.

Other ID guides include differing flight calls and as it forages the Wandering often bobs its tail and teeters like a Common Sandpiper.

To finish the post the following is a selection of photos taken as the late afternoon light intensified.

Previous posts referred to above:

July 2021 Non breeding plumage WT 

https://avithera.blogspot.com/2021/07/wandering-tattler.html

May 2024 partial breeding plumage WT

https://avithera.blogspot.com/2024/05/wandering-tattler-at-brunswick-heads-nsw.html

In addition here is a link to a post featuring the Grey-tailed Tattler (Tringa brevipes), a closely related species.

https://avithera.blogspot.com/2019/01/grey-tailed-tattler.html

Silvereyes feeding on lerp

On a recent BirdLife East Gippsland Monday morning outing to Log Crossing in the Colquhoun Forest near Lakes Entrance a few of us came upon about six Silvereyes feeding on the common reed (Phragmities Australis) growing beside Mississippi Creek. The birds were very intent on gleaning something from the underside of the large leaves. 

Silvereyes have a broad diet including fruit, seeds, insects and nectar. We were intrigued to know exactly what these birds were feeding on which was not obvious as the birds were foraging on the underside of the leaves which were not visible to us.

After taking some photos we checked the underside of the Phragmities leaves and found large amounts of the telltale white sugary coating commonly called lerp (1). Under the coating we found small – not much larger than a pin head – green psyllid bugs (or their larvae?) which make the starchy protective coating. We could not tell if the Silvereyes were eating the sugar rich coating, the larvae or both. I suspect both, given both fit within the known diet of Silvereyes – a rich food source containing proteins and sugar.

Checking the photos later at home on my laptop I could see fragments of the white sugary coating on the bird’s bills and in one case, its back. Also one photo captured some of the lerp on the leaves. An indication of the value of this food source may have been displayed by an altercation between two birds over feeding access to a reed stem – see photo below.

Please click on photos to enlarge.

Note lerp on the tip of bill and the back in the next photo.

The white lerp is visible in the following photo. There were larger pieces forming protective coatings over psyllid bugs on the underside of many of the leaves.

The bird in the following photo is picking lerp off the underside of a leaf – a fragment of lerp is visible on its back.

A feeding area dispute.

There are about nine subspecies of Silvereye across their range in Australia. The birds we found were Zosterops lateralis lateralis (note the rich brown flanks), the Tasmanian sub species, many of which make seasonal migrations across Bass Strait to winter on the mainland. 

Note (1) The word lerp comes from the Wemba Wemba lerep. Lerps are a traditional food source for Indigenous people.