Hi all,
Have been in Melbourne for work for the last week, and was able to spend a few
days before what I had to do to go birding. Picked up my hire car early Sunday
morning 7/10 and drove around Geelong, finding a likely looking place at Lake
Lorne. Good numbers of ducks here, with the highlight being 2 Freckled, 1 Blue
Billed and 2 Pink eared Ducks. Also a Swamp Harrier harrassing a pair of Black
Swans and their chicks. It looked like it was trying to swipe a chick, and was
quite interesting to watch. A Brown Falcon also did a flyby. A good start to
the trip. After I'd had my fill, I decided to head over to Barwon Heads - there
wasn't much about, apart from hundreds of people, but I did waste a lot of time
chasing down a Pacific Gull to get a decent photo. A few Stints and Red-capped
Plovers on the beach, and not alot in the lake. Headed over to Belmont Common
after that, where the highlight was a Purple Swamphen flushing a Latham's Snipe
immediately in front of the hide! The Common is very full at the moment, and
I'm looking forward to a return visit in a couple of months when it will
hopefully have a bit more mud about the edges. Off to Hospital Swamp after
that, and as it was really full, and getting late I just went down the public
access road to see about 2000 Black Swans, and that was about all I could
easily make out on the water. There was a Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo calling off
to the east. I know it was a Horsfield's as I saw the diagnostic red spot on
the tail - just jokes. It allowed me good extended views through the scope.
Good book by the way Mr Dooley.
Next day was off to Lock Ard Gorge to try for Rufous Bristlebird, and despite
the belting rain on the way, as I pulled the car in at the carpark, there was
one on the edge. Great views of it with bins, but as soon as the camera was
out, it took off. Walked around to the Arch and once again, as I came back to
the car there was one on the path, but as soon as the camera was up, it
disappeared. There was also a Peregrine Falcon and Singing Honeyeaters about at
Loch Ard Gorge. Off to Lake Gherang to see the Brolga, which I didn't see.
There were Gull-billed and Whiskered Terns there, some Sharpies, Curlew Sands
and a couple of other waders that I couldn't ID, they were just a little bit
too far away. In my mind I was turning them into all sorts of fantastic birds,
but in all reality, they probably weren't. I suspect that there was at least
one Pectoral Sandpiper there, and I have no idea what the other 6 were. I
digiscoped them, but very poorly, and you can't make out what they are.
Last day saw me out at the Swan Island mudflats at about 5.30 am with the low
tide. Birds out and about feeding included Eastern Curlew, both Bar-tailed and
Black-tailed Godwits, Royal Spoonbill, and a possible Greenshank. It was a good
100 metres away, but took to bobbing its head in alarm when I trained the scope
on it. I stooged around trying to get the camera out to take a digi shot of it,
and by the time I was ready to take more (poor) photos, it was gone. Anyway -
off to Point Cook to see the Blue-winged Parrots at Spectacle Lake, and see
them I did. Magnificent birds. They all got scared and flew away as I drove in,
and I was a bit disappointed to think that that was going to be my only,
fleeting view of them, however as I walked in to the hide, they started to
flyby and perch in nearby trees, and stayed around for the rest of the morning.
There was a pair of White-fronted Chats near the bird-hide - a tick for me and
one I hadn't even thought about before going there, and inside the hide, on the
right hand slot under the swallow nest, a Black-tailed Native-Hen put in a
show. There wasn't much else going on at the hide, so I headed off to Cheetham
Wetlands. On the circuit there were Rufous Songlark, Singing Honeyeater, a
Striated Fieldwren, and a pair of heart-attack inducing Brown Quail. It had
been so peaceful just walking along listening to the birds that the explosion
of them flushing nearly killed me. At the tower were 3 Pallid Cuckoos, and lots
of Whiskered Terns feeding. There was also a huge flock of waders that got up
and did a circuit, but they were too far away to ID.
Off to Altona after that. There was around 30 Whiskered Terns at the creek
mouth at the southern end of Apex Park (I don't know the name of the creek
though!), 3 Pacific Gulls, 10 Royal Spoonbills and 3 Little Egrets, among the
Crested Terns and Silver Gulls. Also saw a Spotted Pardalote on the walk to the
creek mouth. At Cherry Lake, Altona, there wasn't much of anything, although
there was a pair of female Zebra Finches - would these be escapees or
"legitimate", wild birds? On the more wooded NE side of the lake was a single
male White-winged Triller. That was the end of the trip.
I would like to thank everyone for reporting their sightings and trip reports
to birding-aus and the local birdlines, as it gave me something to base my
visit around.
All up 102 species over 3 days, including 5 ticks made for a great few days
birding. If anyone wants a full species list, feel free to email me and I'll
send something on.
Cheers
Troy
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