Dear Bird Lovers,
Apparently a few people had trouble with my posting of yesterday, so I will try
again.
Here goes -
A few observations which may be of interest:
Lake Cowal, near West Wyalong, NSW, 21/Oct/00: a (male) Painted Snipe and two
Freckled Ducks (sorry for the delay in posting, although neither species was
realistically '
twitchable'). Also, while at Lake Cowal we heard from a farmer
whose farm abuts the lake, that he had Magpie Geese breeding there a few years
ago. He said he has photos, but we didn't see them. I have seen Magpie Geese
at Lake Cowal once (not breeding) in about 25 visits.
Springdale area NSW, about 150 km NW of Canberra, 21-22/Oct/00: about 20 Superb
Parrots in four groups.
Yarra Bend Golf Course, Fairfield, Vic (about 5 km NE of Melbourne CBD): I heard
the Common Koel still there last night (19/Nov/00) until about 9.30 pm.
Hattah area, NW Vic: I understand that Friends of Chiltern National Park were up
there over Cup weekend (4-7/Nov/00) and saw what sounded like reasonable numbers
of Pied, Black, and White-fronted Honeyeaters in several places centred on
Ouyen. During the Twitchathon (29/Oct/00) our team recorded only one or two
Black Honeyeaters in an exceptionally brief visit to Goschen Bushland Reserve
near Swan Hill (about 150 km SE of Hattah), and none of any of these three
species in three visits to the Swan Hill area in the preceding month. Has
anybody else recorded Pied Honeyeaters in Victoria this spring?
Along the Benalla-Tocumwal Road just NW of Moodies Swamp (about 30 km NW of
Benalla, NE Vic): a couple of work colleagues found a pair of Spotted Harriers
nesting 15/Nov/00.
Corner of Gertrude and George Streets, Fitzroy (about 1 km NE of Melbourne CBD):
a female Painted Button-quail, just sitting on the footpath 1/Nov/00, seemingly
in good physical condition, but did not move when I walked up to it and picked
it up . The next day I released it in Studley Park, Kew (just across the river
from Yarra Bend Golf Course - see above) where a work colleague had seen a
female in the preceding month).
Finally, my two bobs' worth on the shearwaters: I've seen lots of dead
Short-tailed Shearwaters washed up on beaches on many occasions over the years,
but nothing like the numbers we saw along Woolamai Beach, Phillip Island (about
80 km SE of Melbourne) on an exceptionally brief Twitchathon visit (28/Oct/00)
Cheers,
Paul Peake
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
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