Hi all,
I've just returned from a two week birding trip around northern Victoria. This
was the first time that I'd ventured into inland Victoria during 2009. The
basic route of a journey followed:
* From Melbourne via Greater Bendigo NP to Terrick Terrick NP to link up with a
Birds Australia survey.
* From Terricks I traversed central Victoria (via Boort, Wedderburn, St Arnaud
and Stawell) to the Grampians to camp with family and friends.
* Then joining up with friend Greg Oakley went birding to the Little Desert NP,
Telopea Downs (near the South Australian border and just south of the Big
Desert), Wyperfeld NP, Bronzewing FFR, Timberoo FFR, Murray Sunset NP,
Hattah-Kulkyne NP, and then finally down to Lake Tyrrell and back to Melbourne.
Approx. 3000 km, great fun, fantastic habitats and completely crazy.
Some of the birding highlights included Swift Parrot, Purple-gaped,
Black-chinned & Striped Honeyeater, Crested Bellbird, Plains Wanderer, Little
Button-quail, Black Falcon, Grey-crowned & Chestnut-crowned Babbler, Spotless &
Baillon's Crake, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Speckled Warbler, White-backed
Swallow, Slender-billed Thornbill, Spotted Nightjar & a daytime Owlet Nightjar,
Redthroat, White-browed Treecreeper, Chestnut Quail-thrush, White-winged,
Splendid & Variegated Fairy-wrens, Mallee Emu-wren, Striated Grasswren and
Rufous Fieldwren.
In terms of the VicTwitch 2009 (a competition to see as many species of bird in
Victoria during 2009) I added 55 new species, taking my 2009 total for Victoria
to 304. See http://tim-dolby.blogspot.com/ to see this report with images (and
scroll down the webpage for full 2009 Vic bird listing). My main aim is raised
money through sponsorship for the Healesville Sanctuary's Australian Wildlife
Health Centre. Reflecting optimism things are looking fairly rosy.
Greater Bendigo National Park
Birds of note included Crested Bellbird, Swift Parrot and Peaceful Dove along
Angle Rd, Inland Thornbill, Yellow-plumed and Purple-gaped Honeyeater along
Boundary Rd, and Fuscous and Yellow-tufted Honeyeater along Diamond Hill Rd
(south Greater Bendigo). Despite looking long and hard I couldn't track down
Chestnut-rumped Heathwren. (VicTwitch ticks: 8)
Terrick Terrick National Park
As part of the Birds Australia Easter Campout, some of the birds seen included
Plains Wanderer, Little Button-quail, Stubble Quail, Singing Bushlark and
Banded Lapwing in the grassy area north east of the park, and in the grassy
woodlands large numbers of Southern Whiteface, White-browed Woodswallow, Hooded
and Red-capped Robin, Tree Martin, Mallee Ringneck, 10 Swift Parrot, Crested
Shriketit, Varied Sitella ('black capped' ssp), good numbers of Gilbert's
Whistler, Black-chinned Honeyeater, Restless Flycatcher, Peaceful Dove, Varied
Sittella, Chestnut-rumped and Yellow Thornbill. I also had close views of a
glorious pair of Black Falcon along Leahys Rd, 2 happy families (numbering 6 &
3) Grey-crowned Babbler along Bendigo Creek near Wasons Rd. (VicTwitch ticks:
15)
Lake Tutchewop
White-winged Fairy-wren and Black-faced Woodswallow. (VicTwitch ticks: 2)
Goschen Flora & Fauna Reserve (Lake Boga and Kerang)
Expectedly fairly quiet, with no flowering Eremophila (Long-leafed Emu-bush).
Birds seen included Blue Bonnet, Pied Butcherbird, and a Owlet Nightjar seen
during the day, sitting nicely in it mallee tree hole. Nearby Lake Boga was
complete dry. There were several White-breasted Woodswallow on powerlines in
the main street of Lake Boga, and earlier I saw Blue-faced Honeyeater in
Kerang. (VicTwitch ticks: 4)
Little Lake Boort
Spotless and Baillon's Crake. (VicTwitch ticks: 1)
Grampians National Park and Wartook State Forest
On the west side of the Grampians I recorded large numbers of Emu, Gang-gang
Cockatoo, Rose Robin, White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, possible Square-tailed Kite,
Speckled Warbler, Red-capped and Hooded Robin. Also Red Deer several times.
Cherrypool (part of the Glenelg River system) was just that - a swimming pool
sized area of water. Cherrypool is a well known aboriginal swimming hole, with
aboriginal people swimming and living there for the last 10,000+ years. It has
probably never been dry. Waterrat was aslo seen in the last remains of the
pool. (VicTwitch ticks: 1)
Little Desert National Park
White-backed Swallow, seen south of the Little Desert, on the Nhill-Harrow Rd,
and Slender-billed Thornbill (3), White-fronted and Tawny-crowned Honeyeater
were seen in the heathy areas around the intersection of the Nhill-Harrow Rd
and Dahlenburgs Tk. (VicTwitch ticks: 4)
Telopea Downs
A very brief visit to the area and nothing of note was seen. I was targeting
Australian Bustard, which breeds in the area, however I dipped. The area around
Telopea Downs was fascinating, with open paddock and grasslands interspersed
with Grass Trees and Triodia. This area is well worth further investigation and
serious birding time in the area. (VicTwitch ticks: 0)
Wyperfeld National Park
On the way into southern Wyperfeld (at night) Spotted Nightjar was flushed
along Park Rd into Wyperfeld, and on the way out (during the day) there was a
dozen or so White-backed Swallow approx. 5 km from the entrance to the park
(near a working quarry). Inside Wyperfeld was a single Striped Honeyeater next
to the rangers office, Redthroat and Southern Scrub-robin at the beginning of
the Lake Brambuk walk (southern base of Mt Mattingley), and along the Dattuck
Tk Splendid and Variegated Fairy-wren, Mulga Parrot, Mallee Ringneck and
Red-capped Robin were seen. In northern Wyperfeld near the Cassuarina
Campground Slendid Fairy-wren and Chestnut-rumped Thornbill were seen on the
hillside/sand-dune immediately east of the campground (VicTwitch ticks: 9).
Timberoo Reserve (or Timberoo Flora and Pine Log Tank Reserve)
White-browed Treecreeper seen along Mclivena Rd, next to (north side) Lake
Walpeup. (VicTwitch ticks: 1)
Bronzewing Reserve
Chestnut Quail-thrush was seen about 2 km into the reserve from the north side
i.e. via Merrett Rd (and 5 km west of the Sunraysia Hwy). (VicTwitch ticks: 1)
Murray-Sunset National Park
Targeted Red-lored Whistler along Honeymoon Hut Track, and dipped. The area was
extremely quiet birdwise, and Wymlet Tank was dry. (VicTwitch ticks: 0)
Hattah-Kulkyne National Park
Camped at Lake Hattah campground - the lake was dry. At night we heard Barn Owl
and Boobook Owl and Owlet Nightjar. In the morning there were large numbers of
parrots around the campground including Major Mitchell's (only 2) and
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Galah, Little Corella, Regent Parrot and Yellow
Rosella, and, of course, we were entertained by a 20+ family of Apostlebird,
who appeared magically second after we started breakfast. Along the Nowingi
Track we quickly got onto both Mallee Emu-wren and Striated Grasswren (in the
same place), with both species seeming to be having a good year. From the
Nowingi we headed down the Konardin (which had recently suffered fires) to the
Mournpall Track and saw Chestnut-crowned Babbler between Eagles Nest and Raak
Tks. (VicTwitch ticks: 7)
Lake Tyrrell
Rufous Fieldwren (2) were seen in Salt Bush plantation between the lookout and
the lake (near intersection on Baileys Rd and Lake Tyrrell Rd) - and there were
large numbers of Blue Bonnet in the south-east corner. (VicTwitch ticks: 1)
In summary, stating the obvious, conditions in northern Victoria are extremely
dry. There was virtually no natural water in Victoria's northern lakes, bores,
dams, streams or rivers. Literally the only water I encountered was through
irrigation and water allocation - such as a few dams and channels. Despite
fantastic views of a pair of Black Falcon (at Terricks) there was a general
lack of raptors throughout the state; for example I saw no Spotted Harrier and
very few other birds of prey (such as Black Kite). Diversity of woodland birds
was fairly good, however numbers were often low. I also saw no Chestnut-rumped
Fieldwren or Red-lored Whistler at my usual sites.
On a positive note the robins appeared to be doing reasonably well, for example
I recorded more Scarlet Robin than I've done in years, and further north both
Hooded and Red-capped were regularly seen. White-backed Swallow also seem to be
in good numbers, and both Mallee Emu-wren and Striated Grasswren appear to be
doing well at Hattah.
Cheers,
Tim Dolby
==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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