Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 20 Nov 2011.

Sun 20 Nov	Spotted Harrier, Brolga, Common & White-winged Black Terns Western Treatment Plant 2 Spotted Harriers near T-Section Lagoons, Brolgas still appear to be on nest, 6 Common Terns at Kirk Point, 4 White-winged Black Terns and 1 Little Tern plus Bar-tailed Godwits and Red Knots on coast near Beach Road, many crakes, Stubble Quail, Banded Stilt and Black-tailed Native-hen. John Barkla, Fred Smith & Kris Bernard
	Australian White Ibis Newells Paddock Wetlands Park Maribyrnong Gathering of 50 birds Frank Wallace
	Spotted Harrier Fairhope (12 km N of Bairnsdale) The immature first reported on the 10th of November has been seen every day since, regularly patrolling paddocks. Chris Healey
	Spotted Harrier Tarneit Immature seen over barley crop at corner or Tarneit and Leakes Rd - on the outer edge of Melbourne suburbia. On the way to the BOCA Western Woodlands survey where we had good numbers of Rufous Songlarks and White-winged Trillers. Dave Torr, Peter Gibbons
	Wedge-tailed Eagle Syndal (Glen Waverley) I went outside around 10:30 this morning and looked up in response to agitated alarm calls from Noisy Miners to see a Wedge-tailed Eagle circling and gaining height, under harassment from Little Ravens. It continued to climb for a couple of minutes, dropping off the ravens then, still without a wingbeat, headed very directly away east towards Dandenong Creek. First one seen here since we moved in almost 16 years ago. Jack Krohn
Sat 19 Nov	Pacific Golden Plover Winton Wetlands Pacific Golden Plover (2), amazing sighting. Completely unexpected in North East Victoria. The first record I know of in this part of the state, at least in recent times. Two birds roosting on a gravel road, at the outlet channel by the old dam wall. Later seen in foraging around rocks by the channel as well. Seen by over 20 people attending the Winton Wetlands open day. They were quite amazed by the birds journey from the northern hemisphere. Many other interesting birds around including Latham's Snipe, Black Falcon, Spotted Harrier, Intermediate Egret, Painted Button-quail and two Great Crested Grebes. Sensational day! Michael Ramsey - Bronzewing Birding Services
	Latham's Snipe, Stubble Quail WTP, Werribee A search for the Painted Snipe at Pond 24 this morning in the rain proved unsuccessful but there was one Latham's Snipe still present at the Beach Road end of the pond among the stints and sharpies. Lots of birds at the Western Lagoon including very close-up views of a male Stubble Quail on the road verge, at least 5 Greenshank and a dozen Cape Barren Geese. Ed Williams
Fri 18 Nov	Banded Stilt RAAF Lake Point Cook About 500 Banded Stilt. Masses of them. John O'Meara
	Eastern Koel Marlo A Common Koel was heard repeatedly calling during the early hours of this morning from the outskirts of the Marlo township. Our first record for this year. Len and Jacquie Axen
	Baillon's Crake Royal Park, Melbourne Baillon's Crake east side of the Trin Warren Tam-boore Wetlands, seen from the central boardwalk. Also here were Sacred Kingfisher and Black-shouldered Kite. Tim Dolby
Thu 17 Nov	White-winged Triller, Superb Lyrebird Bike trail west of East of Nowa Nowa One male Triller l in breeding plumage trilling and visible for sustained period. One male Superb Lyrebird running along track not far from Nowa Nowa. Michael and Gwen Bird
	Hooded Plover Lake Tyers Beach A pair of Hooded Plovers were observed sheltering on the ocean beach near the entrance in late afternoon sunshine today. Len and Jacquie Axen
	Turquoise Parrot, Diamond Firetail Canni Creek 46 species were observed during today's visit to Canni Creek. Of note were single sightings of a Turquoise Parrot flushed in a patch of eucalypt woodland and a Diamond Firetail carrying nesting material adjacent to the saddling enclosure of the picnic racecourse. Len and Jacquie Axen
	Blue-faced Honeyeater Chifley Av Bendigo Spotted around 7pm sitting on the antenna of a house along Chifley Av. Brett Whitfield
	Grey-tailed Tattler Reef Island At least 3 grey-tailed tattlers at far end of island with 3 pacific golden plovers and 10 ruddy turnstones. Also observed 2 eastern curlews feeding on the southern mudflats and more than 50 red-necked stints. Wayne Butterworth
	Eastern Koel Pallet Street, Golden Square, Bendigo Koel heard calling around 8.30pm in the same location from previous years. First heard calling about three weeks ago. Possibly same bird heard calling in Old Voilet Street area closer to Bendigo CBD in an earlier report. Adrian Martins
	Chestnut-rumped Heathwren. Turquoise Parrot Reef Hills. Benalla Juvenile Chestnut-rumped Heathwren close to the junction of Roes Road and Baines Road (the south-eastern extremity of the forest) and a male Turquoise Parrot close to Reef Hills Road/ Indians Road. Surprised to find either species here. Bill Morecraft
	Little, Cattle and Intermediate Egrets, Royal Spoonbils. Lake Tyers - East Gippsland, near number 2 Boat-ramp Seven Little Egrets (two, with a hint of breeding plumes on back) and eight Intermediate Egrets (three with a hint of breeding plumes on back) feeding in shallows and resting on exposed mud flats along with thirty Cattle Egrets mostly in breeding flush, seven Royal Spoonbills and two Bar-tailed Godwits. Faye Bedford
	Sacred Kingfisher, White-browed Woodswallow, White-winged Triller Bannockburn Township and Bushland Reserve These birds along a quick drive along main tracks that go past the main water points (for fire control) in reserve. Chris Pitfield
Wed 16 Nov	White-winged Triller Yarra River (opposite Collingwood Childrens Farm) First White-winged Triller I have seen here in 8 years—an adult male foraging in foliage near a Magpie-lark nest. David Dickson
	White-throated Gerygone Greater Bendigo National Park, Kamarooka section When hearing a gerygone call in a section of mallee just east of the Bendigo-Tennyson Road I was expecting Western, having seen it here before, but a beautifully plumaged adult White-throated popped up in front of us. There was another gerygone calling further off which I suspect was Western, but who knows? Sean Dooley, Stephen and Geoff Short
	Plumed Whistling-Duck Broken Creek, Youarang A pair of Plumed Whistling-Ducks were observed roosting on a log by the north side of the creek. Michael Ramsey
	Glossy Ibis, Brolga Moodie Swamp Five Glossy Ibis were seen this afternoon foraging in grassy shallows with Purple Swamphens. A pair of Brolga with a 3/4 grown chick were also observed. Michael Ramsey
	Pallid Cuckoo, Black-eared Cuckoo Mt Egbert Pallid Cuckoo (1) Immature mottled and streaked back and front (imm-1 in Pizzey & Knight). Following, begging, fed by young adult male Hooded Robin. Also Black-eared Cuckoo (1) Seen well for a minute through binoculars perched on dead tree. Malcolm Cousland
Tue 15 Nov	Peaceful Dove, Blue-winged Parrot, Southern Whiteface, Rufous Songlark Grampians National Park A pair Peaceful Doves, 2 small flocks of Blue-winged Parrots (8 in all) also pairs of Southern Whiteface and Rufous Songlark. West of Pomonal quite close to the Grampians Angus Hartshorn
	Freckled Duck Blackburn Lake Freckled Duck (5) At the NE end of the lake, opposite the landing, loafing. 1 with red base to bill. Richard & Margaret Alcorn & Simon Starr
	Great Egret Loch Sport A flock of sixty birds at the Track 10 Causeway. Duncan Fraser
	Sacred Kingfisher Royal Park, Parkville We saw two Sacred Kingfisher in the old nursery site near the zoo on our walk to work this morning. One was vocalising loudly and the other flew up from the 'creek' that runs beside the railway line. Nicole Spillane & Paul Jacobson
Mon 14 Nov	Rufous Songlark Milkmaid Flat, Castlemaine A single adult male singing from top of dead blackberry thickets. Observed over 3 mornings—the first I have seen in 4 years at Milkmaid Flat. David Dickson
	Straw-necked and Australian White ibis Macleod Morass During today's EGBOC outing 2000+Straw-necked and 500+ Australian White Ibis were counted in a breeding rookery along with 20 nesting Royal Spoonbills. Other observations of note included 3 Blue-billed Ducks, a Musk Duck and a Spotted Harrier. 16 EGBOC members per Len Axen
	Grey Goshawk (white morph) Channel Rd, Silvan Flew over-head across paddock being harassed by 2 magpies, landed in Euc for a few minutes before taking off along the Melbourne Water channel Greg Cobern
	Black-eared Cuckoo, Pied Honeyeater, Black Honeyeater, Budgerigar Goschen Bushland Reserve Called in at Goschen on the way back from a very successful Gluepot trip. The little reserve was buzzing, well worth a visit at the moment. Highlight was a Black-eared Cuckoo calling from the treetops. Lots of Black Honeyeaters, and a single Pied Honeyeater found in the grassland area along Woorinen-Goschen Road. Small groups of Budgerigars around - no Cockatiels although we did catch a small group flying along the Ultima-Lake Boga Road shortly after leaving. Mike Honeyman, Ed Williams, Tony Keene
	Australian Painted Snipe Western Treatment Plant (pond near Beach Rd gate) At 6pm this evening we were pleased to see the APS that others have seen. In trying to locate it we saw a single Latham's Snipe resting with a large flock of Sharp-tailed sandpipers and terns. In the same vicinity we saw a single Marsh sandpiper and several Australian Spotted Crakes. Hedley and Irena Earl
	Nankeen Night-heron Blackburn Lake Three birds (2 adult, 1 immature) flying around lake for several minutes. At least 4 others (3 immature, 1 adult) roosting on east side of lake edge. (Thanks, Peter S.) Trevor Kerr
	Brolga Lake Connewarre Pair observed less than 10m adjacent to the Geelong-Barwon Heads Road, a very busy road especially at 8:15am when the birds were spotted this morning. Chris Pitfield
Sun 13 Nov	Rufous Fieldwren Lake Tyrell A midday visit to this area surprised us with how few birds there were, but we had a good sighting of of Rufous Fieldwrens on the edge of the lake. On the lake itself there were 6 Banded Lapwings. The only other bird in sight of the viewing platform was a Singing Honeyeater. Hedley and Irena Earl
	Australian Painted Snipe Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Located and photographed APS at 7:20 A.M in Pond 24. I revisited site on and off for the next 4 hours and apart from blinking he did'nt move a muscle. Latham's Snipe still in same pond. 3 Cattle egrets in breeding plumage at T Section. 2 Foxes trying to bring down a Straw-necked Ibis beside road along from 85wc-9 pond. Also Sacred Kingfisher in this area. Warren Palmer
	Australian Painted Snipe, Singing Honeyeater, parrots, waders, etc Western Treatment Plant, Werribee The APS was on the bottom Lake Borrie pond adjacent to the Beach Road boat ramp (where it was reported on Friday). (It was kindly shown to me by others.) The Singing Honeyeater was adjacent to the rocks halfway down the road to Kirk's Point. There were Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos and Little and Long-billed Corellas on 29 Mile Road, a Lewin's Rail and a Golden Plover behind the spit and Grey Plovers out in the spit lagoon among a great profusion of birds - more than 100 in the day. Chris Lester
	Princess Parrot Westgate Park, Fishermans Bend An incredible site, obviously an aviary escapee. It hung around for about 15 minutes emitting a high pitched call then left the park. I managed to get a photo but not of very good quality. George Fotheringham
	Red-whiskered Bulbul Merri Creek Trail, Fitzroy North to Coburg Red-whiskered Bulbul (1) Good views of this rare exotic in vegetation alongside Merri Creek in between Ceres and golf course. Managed a few snaps with phone camera pressed against my binoculars. Also a Peregrine Falcon on pylon next to velodrome. Will Morris
	Buff-Banded Rail Churchill, Victoria. We have a Buff-Banded Rail taken up residence in our back yard near our large fish pond. Constantly calling for a mate. We think this one is a male. Tried to take photo with not much luck. Sue and Martin VanDyke
	Australian Painted Snipe and possible Red-chested Button-Quail Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Painted Snipe was easily located in the lagoon immediately to the right as you enter the Beach rd gate. Was standing in front of reeds approximately half way along where there is a cluster of small islands. Apparently had been standing in exactly the same position all morning although was not visible later in afternoon. Also of potential interest was a small quail flushed from wet grassland alongside the Conservation Lagoon - immediately noticed bright orange underparts, plain brown upperparts and small size -possible Red-chested Button-Quail. A search of the area was halted after a close encounter with a Tiger Snake. Scott Baker
Sat 12 Nov	Baillon's Crake Strathmerton district Baillon's Crake (6) at least, most likely more on a private wetland north of strathy Matthew Vinicombe
Fri 11 Nov	Freckled Duck Edithvale common 4 Freckled Ducks on "temporary" lagoon on west side of bike track to the west of Edithvale north swamp. (Melways 93 C7, (Lat -38.032, Long 145.119) Aidan Sudbury
Thu 10 Nov	Painted Button-quail Grandview Rd North Brighton My friend saw a painted button-quail in her backyard in North Brighton. It was walking on some brick paving and she saw it up quite close. I wonder if it's the same one reported from Elsternwick (potentially only 1km distant)? Alison Rowe
Tue 8 Nov	Brolga Dunkeld, Grampians Three Brolga pecking in a ploughed paddock on the south side of the Dunkeld-Cavendish road about 12-15 kms west of Dunkeld. Martin Norvick
Tue 1 Nov	Topknot Pigeon (2), Black-faced Monarch, Rufous Fantail (2) Cabbage Tree Reserve Great sightings of all three species. Michael and Gwen Bird
	Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, Shy Heathwren, Nankeen Night Heron Crusoe Reservoir 1 Chestnut-rumped Heathwren flushed and subsequently seen. Further around the reservoir a Shy heathwren hanging around with a juvenile E. Yellow Robin still being fed by its parents. Also black-tailed native hen, great crested grebe, white-browed woodswallow and 4 Nankeen Night Heron, 3 adults and 1 immature. Brett Whitfield
	Eastern Curlew Lake Lonsdale, Point Lonsdale An Eastern Curlew flew over the south east part of Lake Lonsdale about 1pm. Large numbers of water birds in the shallow water between the Emily road walking track and the golf course - see earlier report and list (12/11/11) of Angus Hartshorn. Peter and Lorraine Manly, Peter Thomson

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