> Received: by mail.vicnet.net.au (Postfix, from userid 998)
> id E583E9AF0D; Mon, 18 Aug 2003 10:42:28 +1000 (EST)
> Received: from mta01bw.bigpond.com (mta01bw.bigpond.com [139.134.6.78])
> by mail.vicnet.net.au (Postfix) with ESMTP id B252F9A79D
> for <>; Mon, 18 Aug 2003 10:42:20 +1000 (EST)
> Received: from Sony ([144.135.24.81]) by mta01bw.bigpond.com
> (Netscape Messaging Server 4.15 mta01bw Jul 16 2002 22:47:55)
> with SMTP id HJSHZ700.2H3; Mon, 18 Aug 2003 10:42:43 +1000
> Received: from 144.139.99.161 ([144.139.99.161]) by
> bwmam05.bigpond.com(MailRouter V3.2g 38/15345603); 18 Aug 2003 > 10:41:53
> From: "John Barkla" <>
> To: "Birding-Aus" <>
> Cc: "Karan Kapitan" <>,
> "David & Helen Kelly" <>
> Subject: Another day at Werribee
> Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 10:41:42 +1000
> Message-ID: <>
> MIME-Version: 1.0
>
> Fred Smith and I spent another enjoyable day at Melbourne Water's
> Western Treatment Plant at Werribee yesterday.
>
> We hoped and expected to see our first Sharp-tailed Sandpipers for the
> season, but surprisingly, could not find any. They usually return
> around the end of the first week, or in the second week, of August. We
> saw new arrivals in Curlew Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints, but no
> Sharpies. Amongst the spring migrants, we found our first Shining
> Bronze-Cuckoo and a Grey Fantail on Farm Road (the old road not New
> Farm
> Road) and a Clamorous Reed-Warbler in the cumbungi reed beds on Lake
> Borrie. Reed Warblers occasionally over-winter, but I don't think any
> did this year.
>
> We saw around 50 Tree Martins along the coast from Beach Road to The
> Spit. They caused me to stop suddenly because my first thought was
> that
> they may be Fairies, which we normally do not see until early
> September.
>
> A single Black Falcon was hunting over the samphire along The Spit
> (hopefully on the Goldfinches and not the OBP's). This confirms that
> there must have been 2 separate Black Falcons at Werribee, with the
> second one being found dead (recent reports on Birding-aus). Nankeen
> Kestrels are generally present in winter and become very scarce in
> summer (we went 16 years from 1979 to 1989 before we saw one on a BOCA
> December bird count, but we have recorded them in about half our counts
> since 1990). We managed to see 3 for the day, more than the 1 or 2 we
> might normally expect. One of the Black Kites was floating along the
> Geelong Road near the New Farm Road overpass and we saw a small male
> Collared Sparrowhawk hunting along the cypresses on Farm Road. We did
> not see the White-bellied Sea-Eagle or the Wedge-tailed Eagle we saw 2
> weeks ago.
>
> There are still a few Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters on the Farm. They are
> regular winter visitors and should leave soon. The Flame Robins seem
> to
> have left already and we could not find the Great-Crested Grebes;
> perhaps they have gone too. The Australasian Bittern was still hanging
> around the 270 South Conservation Lagoons (seen by 2 other groups but
> not by us) and the 10 Glossy Ibis were still at Paradise Road. We
> searched for a Freckled Duck, without success. They seem to have left
> to breed. There were Double-banded Plovers at Paradise Road and most
> were in full, or near to full, breeding plumage.
>
> The Brolgas that I reported 2 weeks ago do appear to be nesting and I
> would urge other birders not to approach them too closely. You can
> view
> them from the hill on the Point Wilson Road (you do not need to go as
> far as the gate) or from the road through the T Section Lagoons.
>
> Our most exciting sighting for the day was a line of Fluttering
> Shearwaters on Corio Bay which stretched for almost 2 kilometres. It
> was extraordinarily difficult to count them. We attempted it
> independently and by some strange coincidence we both got the same
> total
> - around 3,000 birds. We watched them for over an hour. They were
> feeding and loafing on the surface. When feeding, they would fly low
> over the surface (never much higher than about 5 - 10 metres), landing
> with their wings raised. They would then drop their heads and most of
> their bodies below the surface to catch whatever they were eating
> (whitebait?). Only the wing tips and the rear of the bird would remain
> visible. As each bird passed another that had landed, they gave the
> impression of a wispy rolling cloud. Marvellous! Around 100
> Australasian Gannets (an exceptionally high number for Werribee), 20 or
> so Crested Terns, 10 Pied Cormorants and a few Fairy Terns joined in to
> make it a great spectacle. When the Shearwaters passed close to the
> end
> of Beach Road, we had the opportunity to study their underwings from a
> respectable distance. We called out "Hutton's Shearwater" in unison,
> as
> a bird flew directly towards us, landing with its wings raised. It was
> a new bird for both our Farm lists. We looked carefully for others and
> may have seen one or two, but we could not be absolutely certain. We
> had seen as many as 1,500 Little Black Cormorants earlier in the
> morning, so Corio Bay must be extraordinarily rich at the moment.
>
> Who said winter birding around Melbourne is quiet?
>
> John Barkla
>
Sender:
X-Loop:
Precedence: bulk
Birding-Aus is on the Web at
www.shc.melb.catholic.edu.au/home/birding/index.html
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message
"unsubscribe birding-aus" (no quotes, no Subject line)
to
|
