Hi birdo's,
The last few weeks (holidays for me) were fairly uneventful. I had planned to
get away i.e. Lamington (I wish!), but for various reasons it didn't happen. I
did however manage a few local trips and to see some good birds:
* Crescent Honeyeater (5/7/02) on the edge of the Wombat State Forest
near Mollonghip /Barkstead. This is an interesting part of the world: wet,
green central highlands which some describe Victoria's forgotten pocket.
* An enormous flock of over 200 Pelican (7/7/02) flying over Geelong Rd
near Altona. It's interesting to reflect on why these birds were flocked and
where had they come from? Presumably they were grouping for breeding etc, but
had they arrived from inland/central Australia or were they flocking locally?
* A visit to Werribee produced the well-publicized Cape Barren Geese, a
number of Striated Calamanthus, 3 Black Kite on Avalon Rd (near Lara), some
Wedgies, excellent and very close views of an Australasian Bittern on the Spit
- and some Curlew Sandpiper and Red-necked Stint have over-wintered.
Interestingly Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo is quite common at both the Spit and
the Werribee foreshore. (10/7/02) No OPB this time, despite looking.
* A trip to Lake Mountain - nothing seen (except Grey Currawong and some
Crimson Rosella) but good fun!
* Finally a visit to the 'Long Forest' (12/7) - an interesting
patch of Bull Mallee near Melton. Birds seen included Speckled Warbler,
Buff-rumped and Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Weebill, plenty of Scarlet and Yellow
Robin, a very gold Golden Whistler, Common Bronzewing, White-winged Chough,
White-throated Treecreeper, White-eared and several families of Brown HE, and
perhaps most unusual a White-necked Heron at the bottom of Happy Valley. (Ps -
I look forward to the BA VicGroup trip report!)
Looking forward to Spring!
Cheers,
Tim
Tim Dolby
Dept of Business and E-commerce
Swinburne Univerity of Technology
Ph (03) 9214 6722
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
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