Wrens and Cockatoos: Birding at Eden, NSW
Eden, south coast of NSW
One of the frustrations I felt on our holiday in New South Wales earlier this year was the lack of time to do some serious birding as we went along. We were on a tight time schedule because our daughter had to return home to go to work. It was great spending three weeks with our adult daughter, but the birding was limited. Despite that I did get to see a good list of birds and I also found some excellent spots to return to later when we are less rushed.
We travelled down the south coast of New South Wales from Bateman’s Bay to Mallacoota in Victoria. On the way we passed through the beautiful towns of Narooma, Bermagui, and Merimbula, all worthy of a stay for a week, not just a quick drive through.
Upon reaching the port of Eden we did stop for about a half hour. We found a picnic area with a great view out over the beach and bay, as shown in the photos on this page.
Eden, south coast of NSW
From our picnic spot we saw Silver Gulls and Whiskered Terns flying along the beach or just out a short way into the bay. A small flock of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos flew over head heading for the nearby coastal forest. Red Wattlebirds and Silvereyes were feeding in the bushes near our picnic spot and a family of cheeky Superb Fairy-wrens came close enough for a few good photos. The full coloured male came up close and posed for me.
Superb Fairy-wren, Eden, NSW
On the way through the town I was able to add Galah, House Sparrow and Rock Dove to my list. This area is well worth another, longer, visit sometime in the near future.
Lovely Fairy-wren, Trevor (not literally a LOVELY Fairy-wren, of course! Oh….you get what I mean).
We sometimes come across a colour variation of Superb Fairy-wren where all brown is virtually replaced by black – makes the bird blue, black and white. Makes for a very stunning bird, and gave us some ID headaches the first time we saw one! Probably seen two on the mainland, and three here in Tassie.
It would be LOVELY to see a LOVELY Fairy-wren, John. It is one species – one of many – still on my must see list, a list that is too long. (Sigh) In fact, ALL Queensland birds are still on my to see list. (Bigger sigh).
that bird you would be talking about would be a male superb wren they would just be in breeding colour and showing their place as dominant male as we regularly watch some of the local eyre peninsula birds in the same colours
Thanks for your comments Jordon. We are years overdue for a return visit to your lovely part of the world. Enjoy your birds.
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