The Whistler is the occasionally issued journal of the Hunter Bird Observers Club Inc. ISSN 1835-7385 The aims of the Hunter Bird Observers Club (HBOC), which is affiliated with BirdLife Australia, are: To encourage and further the study and conservation of Australian birds and their habitat To encourage bird observing as a leisure-time activity HBOC is administered by a Committee: Executive: Committee Members: President: Michael Roderick Paul Baird Vice-President: Allan Richardson Lucas Grenadier Secretary: Hayley Boyce Rob Kyte Treasurer: Joy Nicholls Greg Little Lorna Mee Kristy Peters The Whistler is produced by: Mike Newman (Joint Editor) Harold Tarrant (Joint Editor) Liz Crawford (Production Manager) Chris Herbert (Cover Designer) Printed in Newcastle by Print National Authors wishing to submit manuscripts for consideration for publication should consult Instructions for Authors on page 63 and submit to the Editors: Mike Newman [email protected] and/or Harold Tarrant [email protected] Authors wishing to contribute articles of general bird and birdwatching news to the club newsletter, which has six issues per year, should submit to the Newsletter Editor: Liz Crawford [email protected] © Hunter Bird Observers Club Inc. PO Box 24 New Lambton NSW 2305 Website: www.hboc.org.au Front cover: Pink-eared Duck Malacorhynchus membranaceus - Photo: Rod Warnock Back cover: Pacific Black Duck Anas superciliosa - Photo: James Smart Editorial The Whistler 6 (2012): i The Whistler – Editorial This volume of The Whistler features three major Honeyeater Anthochaera carunculata; based on papers. The first two document long-term studies 2012 numbers the dry open forest of the lower of important wetlands. Both these studies provide Hunter Valley is extremely important to this valuable information to land managers which will critically endangered species. Another type of help shape the actions needed to sustain these areas vegetation, olive groves, is shown to be as prime waterbird habitat. They also provide surprisingly good habitat for birds, especially for baseline data against which the success of those the Speckled Warbler Chthonicola sagittata. Other actions can be judged. The Tomago Wetlands is a notes concern Australian Pelicans Pelecanus work in progress involving the restoration of conspicillatus, Cattle Egret Ardea ibis, Variegated saltmarsh habitat, a declining natural resource Fairy-wrens Malurus lamberti, White-throated which is particularly important to migratory Nightjars Eurostopodus mystacalis, Jacky Winter shorebirds. The success of this project is critical to Microeca fascinans and White-faced Heron the future of shorebird populations in our region Egretta novaehollandiae. given the loss of other areas of suitable habitat in the Hunter Estuary to industrial development. The For the first time The Whistler contains a regional other study involves the Walka Water Works in the overview of a single species, the Pink-eared Duck rapidly expanding city of Maitland. Here the goal Malacorhynchus membranaceus, summarising all is to effect a compromise which affords the available information in the Hunter Region on recreational opportunities, including bird- this fascinating species. The wealth of information watching, to the local community while preserving available is a tribute to all Hunter Bird Observers the bird species diversity of its unique deep Club members who contribute observations to the freshwater lake. The paper suggests that the Great club’s records, to the Hunter Region Annual Bird Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus is a suitable Report and to the BirdLife ongoing Atlas. We hope indicator species. Manage its numbers and that similar single species accounts will be a breeding success and the wetland should be feature of future volumes of The Whistler. suitable for other waterbird species, particularly deep water specialists which have few other It is particularly rewarding to welcome a number options in the Hunter Region. of new authors to The Whistler; for many of them it is the first time they have been involved in a Hunter Bird Observers Club members are involved demanding adventure of this type. It has been a in monitoring the status of the Rufous Scrub-bird privilege to work with the authors of the Atrichornis rufescens in the Gloucester Tops. The oystercatcher paper who are of aboriginal descent. final major paper deals with the calling patterns of Developing their paper resulted in a parallel territorial scrub-birds, a topic central to the understanding of the importance of the Worimi monitoring program. While the paper provides Lands to their cultural heritage and an intriguing valuable insights it also poses unanswered link in which the conservation of their middens questions; but that is the essence of research. contributes to an opportunity for the oystercatchers to breed successfully. Short papers and notes provide intriguing insights into bird behaviour. One of these papers explains As The Whistler 6 goes to press we are in the how Australian Pied Oystercatchers Haematopus embarrassing position for the first time of having longirostris successfully adapted their breeding excess copy, amounting to almost half the next tactics in the Worimi Conservation Lands at volume. What a fantastic embarrassment. Another Stockton Beach to overcome the multiple hurdles unique feature of 2012 has been that following of king tides and excessive recreational vehicle Harold’s move to the UK in 2011 your Editors activity which usually causes failure. The other have worked shifts facilitated by overnight email paper delves into the interactions between a pair of exchanges. How the world has changed. Pacific Black Ducks Anas superciliosa in a suburban garden. Guess who rules the roost! In Mike Newman and Harold Tarrant addition there is exciting news on the Regent Joint Editors i Birds of Tomago Wetlands The Whistler 6(2012): 1-10 Birds of Tomago Wetlands, Hunter Wetlands National Park 2007 – 2012 Ann Lindsey and Neville McNaughton 37 Long Crescent, Shortland NSW 2307, Australia [email protected] 58 Wilkinson Avenue, Birmingham Gardens NSW 2287, Australia [email protected] As a result of a project to reinstate tidal inundation to the Tomago Wetlands in the Hunter Wetlands National Park, the Hunter Bird Observers Club commenced monthly surveys before and after tidal gates were opened to provide baseline data for waterbirds, in particular shorebirds, and to monitor changes in diversity and numbers. Tidal inundation had been cut off in 1976 which resulted in drying of the largely Coastal Saltmarsh habitat. The effectiveness of the project has been difficult to ascertain as, after initial opening of tidal gates, tidal inundation was interrupted on a number of occasions and consistent heavy rain fell during the study period. The gradual increase in diversity and numbers of waterbirds resulted from the constant presence of water whether saline or fresh. Small numbers of three shorebird species visited the two sites chosen for intensive surveying. The restoration of habitat requires a maturation period and ongoing monitoring will be required before its effectiveness can be quantified. INTRODUCTION collaborative project of the Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority with several For the purposes of this article, the story of the organizations, including NSW Fisheries and NSW Tomago Wetlands begins in the 1970s when, National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), was according to Clarke & van Gessel (1983: 117-144), formed and the Tomago site was incorporated into migratory shorebirds used the Tomago Wetlands the KWRP. From 1984 until 1993 the Tomago for diurnal and nocturnal roosting and as a Wetlands received little attention. Implementation secondary feeding area, but abandoned it sometime of the recommendation to open the tidal gates to after 1976 when saline water was prevented from restore saltmarsh did not occur until 2008 entering the Wetlands by the installation of tidal following a long and arduous approval process. In gates at the mouth of the North/South Drain October of that year a SmartGate system (SG (Figure 1). The tidal gates were part of a flood system) to automatically control the amount of mitigation scheme which saw a ring drain, levee water within a flood mitigation network based on and floodgates built around Fullerton Cove. This real-time environmental parameters was comm- action excluded tides and minor Hunter River issioned by the University of New South Wales floods and resulted in converting wetlands to Water Research Laboratory (WRL) and the plan to grazing land and drying out the saltmarsh. restore migratory shorebird and fish habitat finally (Brereton et al. 2010: 98). In 1983 a recomm- made progress. The SG system allowed tidal endation was made to restore saltmarsh behind flushing of approximately 100 ha of the Wetlands Fullerton Cove at Tomago by permitting full tidal (WRL website accessed May 2012). However, due flushing which would potentially reverse this loss to a breach in a levee protecting private land, the of important shorebird habitat (Moss 1983: 55). In SG system was closed in February 2009 and not 1985, 716.6ha of land at Tomago was donated by reopened until June 2010. Since then the SG BHP to be added to Kooragang Nature Reserve system has been periodically closed by the (KNR) gazetted in 1983 and listed as a Ramsar site managers, NPWS, due to various, unavoidable in 1984. In 2011, KNR (which includes parts of the circumstances. bed of