Sparrovale Wetlands – 6 December 2025

The great run of weather for the monthly bird walk stopped abruptly in November, and the walk to Sparrovale had to be cancelled due to rain and strong winds. We tried again in December and although the weather was threatening, we managed a couple of hours rain free. GFNC members Karyn Brown, Troy Zanker and Brad Ferrier (who is also a plant expert) came along.

An early highlight was a Brown Falcon sitting at the top of cypress tree close to the parking area.

Brown Falcon

The grass is quite long these days at Sparrovale and surrounding paddocks. There were Stubble Quail calling from the grass but they remained unseen. We also saw a Brolga flying, but it kept going and no further sighting.

We walked along the path in a south easterly direction. The path provides good viewing of both the wetlands on one side and the farm paddocks on the other side. There were plenty of White-fronted Chats and Australian Pipits near the fences, and amongst the low level vegetation.

White-fronted Chats

Also a couple of Red-Capped Plovers sitting in the mud, and Black-fronted Dotterels busy on the paddock side. Other highlights were pairs of Yellow-billed Spoonbills and Royal Spoonbills.

The rain started, and was sufficiently heavy to discourage morning tea. A few birdwatchers remained and walked out to another area where there were some waders working. There were two Common Greenshanks, some Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, and lots of Red-necked Stints and Curlew Sandpipers. And also a group of Pied Stilts, elegant as ever.

Curlew Sandpiper

Fifty species were seen and/or heard, and Sparrovale proved again that it a great spot for birdwatching. See bird counts in the section below.  Thanks to Karyn, Troy and Brad for coming along. And that’s it for 2025!

James Orton
All photos by Karyn Brown

Bird List

The table below (from eBird) shows the names and count of birds seen and/or heard. eBird recording done by Troy Zanker – comments in table below also recorded in eBird. Also 13 photos by Karyn Brown attached to the bird list, and eBird list shared with Angair eBird account.