Check my birding map for specific location.
Abbatoir Swamp and Hunter Creek Park are within a kilometre of each other along the Mount Molloy - Julatten road. I find it quite amazing that 2 small areas can host a completely different set of birds, because one is dry and one is rainforest. I have visited Abbatoir Swamp many times over the years but this was my first time at Hunter Creek.
At Abattoir Swamp, you pull in to a small circular track and you can just pull onto the side to park. It is a well looked after area with lovely touches like a sign to leave the tap dripping for the birds. It is a very small area, only a few metres of forest surrounding the track and a path leading to the swamp. In previous years, I have found the swamp to be the best part but it is grown over now and you can't really see any birds from the hide. Good for the environment I suppose and there is still much to see on the short boardwalk to the swamp hide and the rest of the area. The Brown Honeyeater dominates the trees around the boardwalk with a call that is surprisingly loud given how small they are.
Azure Kingfisher (ceyx azureus)
On one visit I was very lucky to catch an Azure Kingfisher darting amongst the trees outside the hide. I waited patiently and eventually it came back and spent around an hour fishing. I must have taken 100 shots of it and all except 2 had something obscuring this beautiful, tiny bird. I was thrilled to get a clear shot of it and it remains one of my favourites.
Eastern Yellow Robin (eopsaltria australis)
Northern Fantail (rhipidura rufiventris)
Also in the bush was a pair of Brown Cuckoo-Dove which are normally very shy. I had to creep around a lot to get close to them and was surprised by how beautiful their plumage really was.
Brown Cuckoo-Dove (macropygia phasianella)
On two visits I found a family of Varied Sittella. I always think of them as upside down treecreepers as they work down the tree rather than up. Varied is a very apt name as their plumage seems to be a wide range of colours and striations.
Varied Sittella (daphonositta chrysoptera)
The highlight of my visits was the Yellow-breasted Boatbill. It has a distinctive, almost electronic warble and it is such an unusual bird you always want to photograph it. I heard it and glimpsed it several times before I eventually got in the right place at the right time to shoot it. Marvellous.
Yellow-breasted Boatbill (machaerirhynchus flaviventer)
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