Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 25 Dec 2011.

Sat 24 Dec	Common Koel Marlo A Common Koel was heard calling from the tree lined Old Marlo Road early this morning. By this afternoon it had moved about a number of quiet suburban gardens and began to incessantly call from mid afternoon. Len and Jacquie Axen
Fri 23 Dec	White-throated Needletail Bunyip State Park 7-8 White-throated Needletail heard then seen overhead on Camp Rd at Diamond Creek, Bunyip SP. A magnificent few hours in the forest with superb views of a pair of Beautiful Firetail, male Southern Emu-wren, Red-browed Treecreeper family, Bassian Thrush, male Satin Flycatcher, Gang-Gang Cockatoo and two male Spotted Pardalote in an epic and vicious duel. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Brush Cuckoo Wombat Forest (near Daylesford) One calling in forest near headwaters of Werribee River Richard Loyn
	Nankeen Night Heron, Glossy Ibis, Black-tailed Godwit Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Nankeen Night Heron in pines along 280S (my first record for this bird here), 3 Glossy Ibis in one of the northern Walshes Lagoon ponds, Black-tailed Godwit in 5W19. Lots of Banded Stilt still. 4+ Baillon's Crake in T-Section Pond 4. Spotted Harrier on Pt Wilson Rd. Lots of Banded Lapwing on Beach Rd. No Broad-billed Sandpiper! Dave Torr, Chris Watson, Bob and Adrienne from Portland
	Banded Stilt Laverton Creek, just north of Queen Street, Altona 3018 At 1600 hours, observed 60+ Banded Stilt feeding in the creek with an equal number of Red-necked Avocet. Also 25 Banded Stilt observed with a few Red-necked Avocet at the nearby Truganina Swamp. Also present at the swamp were a few Common Greenshank and a good number of Curlew Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Red-necked Stint. Peter Gibbons
	Musk Duck Lake Tyers A single female Musk Duck hanging around Long Point, Lake Tyers, for most of the morning Rohan Bilney
	Black-shouldered Kite Dandenong Valley / Wellington Road 1' Cell Black-shouldered Kite (1) warm, sunny, mid-afternoon, took off from dead tree amid patch of remnant Swamp Gum (Eucalyptus ovata), circled a few times, landed, then circled and flew off. Half way between creek and Eastlink, just south of Wellington Road. Could be the same bird seen several times upstream (from Ferntree Gully Road). Peter Booth
	Banded Lapwing Youanmite A small flock of 5 birds was observed roosting around a small farm dam by the roadside. Michael Ramsey
Thu 22 Dec	Common Koel Lower Plenty (Heidelberg Golf Club) One calling in evening. Richard Loyn
	Nankeen Night Heron, Banded Lapwing, Arctic Jaeger and Broad-billed Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee. One of the Broad-billed Sandpipers was still present at the Western Lagoons in the same location as reported previously. The number of Banded Lapwings at Beach Rd has grown to 154 birds, nearly record numbers for this paddock. The 17 Masked Lapwings also present are a record for this site. My largest recording of Nankeen Night Herons, a minimum of 72 birds roosting at Ryans Swamp, must be a record. As reported by Steven Davidson on the 10th December, I also found approx. 110 Australian Gannets and many Crested Terns feeding off Kirk Point at 6pm. Among those birds I found 11 Arctic Jaegers, 4 pale morph and 7 dark morph, or imm. birds. Along the foreshore at Kirk Pt and Beacon Pt I also recorded 72 Common Terns roosting on the rocks. Maarten Hulzebosch
	Eastern Koel Northcote, Melbourne An Eastern Koel was heard calling at night for several minutes, Westgarth backyard (Northcote), 11:00 pm. Tim Dolby
	Painted Button-quail Mentone Parade, Mentone. A recently roadkilled bird on Mentone Parade out the front of Mentone Girls Grammar. I was surprised to see this species in such a disturbed habitat but it may have come across Beach Road from the foreshore scrub. Chris Watson & John Watson
Wed 21 Dec	Spotted Harrier Anakie East, Carrs Road (eastern end) Single adult Spotted Harrier observed feeding on its prey at the side of road. Momentarily harassed by Black-shouldered Kite. Chris Lindorff
	Broad-billed Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee In Western lagoon, seen from the car park between ponds 4 and 5. Fabulous views as the bird walked away from a mob of Red-necked Stints and then sat down for 10 minutes in front of us and then abruptly flew away. Richard & Margaret Alcorn
Tue 20 Dec	Grey-tailed Tattler Bemm River Two separate sightings of a small group of Grey-tailed Tattlers occurred along the ocean beach between Pearl Point and the Sydenham Inlet this afternoon. 16 were seen sheltering amongst rocks near Py Yoot Bay while 8 were observed on the ocean beach further to the east. David M Kenzie and Mike Irvine per Len Axen
	Latham's Snipe, Topknot Pigeon, Black-faced Monarch Cabbage Tree Creek Flora Reserve Latham's Snipe (1) flushed from casual water lying alongside the road near the bridge. Our first recording of this species at this site Topknot Pigeon (6) seen flying over the creek Black-faced Monarch (7) very vocal and inquisitive Len and Jacquie Axen
	Broad-billed Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee, lagoon 4-5 Bird observed initially sitting on island amongst roosting Red-necked Stints and Curlew Sandpipers. All birds flushed a few times thanks to some passing raptors, but eventually settled and foraged thereafter. Bird observed for over an hour and allowed close approach (more correctly, approached us closely!). Dean Ingwersen, David Parker, Chris Tzaros and 3 other observers
Mon 19 Dec	Eastern Koel Wonthaggi Single bird heard calling in town area at around 23:15 hours P S Lansley & Justin Sullivan
	Latham's Snipe Cherry Lake, Altona Single bird in flight at the west end of the lake 8:30am. Colin Clark
	Broad Billed Sandpiper Western Lagoons, Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Spotted a single Broad Billed Sandpiper feeding with Curlew Sandpipers, Red Necked Stint and Red Capped Plovers, at 11.45 am. It was at the end of the Centre Rd at Western Lagoons. Ian Davies and Kay Campbell.
Sun 18 Dec	Broad billed sandpiper (2) Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Most observers have been reporting a single bbs since Maartens report of seeing 2. I visited the area at 11.30 am Sunday and recorded one bird at pond 5 near the gate entrance whereas the 2nd bird was seen at the end of the centre track between pond 4&5. Hedleysmedley Earl
	Turquoise Parrot Canni Creek Racecourse, Buchan South Turquoise Parrot (6) maybe even more, located directly behind the stabling enclosures and toilets at the Canni Creek Racecourse. Feeding in amongst rank wallaby grass on seeding plants and shorter grasses. Approachable but somewhat skittish. A permanent water source in the form of a small dam is there as well. Look for birds roosting quietly in the eucalypts nearby. Mixed flock with at least 2 juveniles. Len and Jacquie Axen
	Topknot Pigeon 2 km west of Cabbage Tree At 5.30pm, 12 topknots flying across Princes Hwy in a north-easterly direction. Roger Bilney
Sat 17 Dec	Great Crested Grebe Royal Botanic Gardens (Melbourne) A single bird on the main ornamental lake. Sean Dooley
	Latham's Snipe Berwick Springs Lake, Berwick Following up on previous reports easily found at least 30 Latham's Snipe on the central smaller ponds and surrounding muddy area. They are very flighty from the long grass and weren't hanging around for easy views. Jackson Airey
Fri 16 Dec	Hooded Plover, Eastern Reef Egret Bastion Point, Mallacoota While staying here for the week I saw a pair of Hoodies on the beach just east of Bastion Point on three occasions the most recent being the Fri 16 Dec. The reef egret was briefly resting at Bastion Point during high tide on Wed 14 Dec. Also saw approx. 40 Bar-tailed Godwits on a distant sand bar inside the inlet, 30 to 40 Red-capped Plovers and about 20 Red-necked Stints. Dogs running loose on the beach are an issue here. Andrew McCutcheon
Thu 15 Dec	Common Koel Lakes Entrance, North Arm Two Common Koel heard calling during week in area, also great to see Grey Goshawk (white morph), Bassian Thrush, Brown-headed and White-eared Honeyeaters in lakeside forest. And Little Corella flock at Metung. Anthea Stubbs
Thu 24 Nov	Spotted Quail-thrush Wombat Forest (near Daylesford) One on nest with two eggs, under Daviesia shrub Richard Loyn

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