Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 15 Jan 2012.

Sun 15 Jan	Spotted Harrier, Barn Owl, Southern Boobook, Southern Whiteface Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre 2 Spotted Harrier, 2 Barn Owl, 2 Southern Boobook and 15 Southern Whiteface were the highlights of an initial BirdLife survey at this private property. Dave Torr
	Speckled Warbler, Diamond Firetail You Yangs Regional Park Speckled Warbler seen again after many visits to the area, also 2 Diamond Firetail. Angus Hartshorn
	Painted Button-quail, Sooty Owl, White-throated Nightjar Bunyip State Park A male and juvenile Painted Button-quail were seen crossing Tynong North Road near Camp Rd. Right on dusk at the Helipad 2 White-throated Nightjar landed just metres away and sat briefly for great views After dark we had superb views of a Sooty Owl at Mortimer's Picnic Ground. In addition 9 native mammals were seen (including a beautiful Bobuck), or heard (Sugar Glider). A great night.. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
Sat 14 Jan	Pomarine Jaeger, Shy Albatross, Satin Flycatcher, Rufous Bristlebird Point Addis One dark morph Pomarine Jaeger seen first gliding over the sea & then soared high up in the sky for ages until I got sick of looking at it. Had big white wing flashes, tubby thickset body & short central rectrices that had the distinctive blunt tips. Very little else at sea (no shearwaters!), but saw 1 adult Shy Albatross a few times. 2 Crested Terns the only other seabird. Rufous Bristlebird, very easy to see as usual at the carpark at the point. A pair of Satin Flycatchers at the Ironbark Basin, at the carpark there. Great views of male & female (see photo). Also Wedge-tailed Eagle, Swamp Harrier & Scarlet Robin. Kevin Bartram
	Tawny Frogmouth Yarra River Fairfield I sighted 2 Tawny Frogmouths along the river late this afternoon. I noticed one yesterday and returned today with my camera today and fortunately was able to find two birds to photograph again today. I'll send another photo in a separate report. Mary Murphy
Fri 13 Jan	Spotted Harrier Lake Modewarre Single adult flushed from scrub adjacent to dry lake. Paul Rose
	Beautiful Firetails Old Carlisle Track, Carlisle River Tks to further info supplied by John Newman we found and photographed a pair of BFs today. They appeared only briefly about 500 meters along the track before the road starts to ascend. Although it was not a good day for sighting emu wrens we continue to see Blue Winged Parrots on most forest tracks. Egans track is reliable for BWPs, scarlet and Eastern robins and white eared and yellow faced honeyeaters. Hedley and Irena Earl
Thu 12 Jan	Plumed Whistling-Duck Grassy Lake, near Donald 26 in one flock Chris and Christine Doughty, and Kevin and Elaine Miller
	Common Sandpiper, Caspian Tern Kororoit Creek Mouth, Williamstown North A couple interesting species seen around the creek mouth just after noon. Michael Ramsey
	Freckled Duck Western Treatment Plant, Werribee One bird roosting in a tree opposite the blue Lake Borrie Wetlands sign. Michael Ramsey
	Elegant Parrot, Brown Quail, Spotted Harrier, Rufous Fieldwren, Slender-billed Thornbill Little Desert National Park Brown Quail 2 flushed in Merritts reserve Spotted Harrier 1 near Merritts Elegant Parrot 2 ad and 1 imm Merritts bushland reserve, Nhill Harrow road Rufous Fieldwren west of Merritts, access difficult Slender-billed Thornbill west of Merritts, access difficult Simon Starr
	Spotted Harrier Robsons Rd, Hamilton Gliding and swooping in an easterly direction over hobby farms in Robson's Rd headed towards Tarrington at 7pmish, watched for about 15min. Robsons Rd area continues to deliver good birds, also have Brown-headed Honeyeaters, Eastern Rosellas, Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos, Galahs, Long-billed Corellas, Restless Flycatchers, Willie Wagtails, Wood Ducks etc Samantha Greiner
	Diamond Dove Mt Korong Scenic Reserve Diamond Dove (2) 1 seen , 1 heard, west side of the reserve. Also Painted Honeyeaters, Varied Sitella, Gilberts Whistler and many Mistletoebirds (adults and young). Malcolm Cousland
	Turquoise Parrot Cape Conran CP ( Old Coast and Gravel Road Xing ) Turquoise Parrot (3) were flushed from a slashed roadside grasstree plain and another one was located adjacent to the Yerrung River ( west branch ) this morning. Len and Jacquie Axen
Wed 11 Jan	Banded Stilt Great Salt Swamp (Lake Connewarre State Game Reserve) Barwon Heads Rd At least 3000 Banded Stilt have arrived at this amazing wetland as it starts to dry out and becomes more saline. Barry Lingham
	Nankeen Night-Heron, Southern Whiteface, Diamond Firetail Eynesbury Nankeen Night-Heron (2) at dam in the bush Southern Whiteface (1) A first for me; with Speckled Warblers and Fairy-Wrens. Diamond Firetail Bernie McRitchie
Tue 10 Jan	Red-browed Treecreeper Cabbage Tree Creek Flora Reserve Red-browed Treecreeper (1) about 10m up trunk of tall Mahogany Gum near road. One good clear sighting Janine Duffy
	Glossy Ibis, Latham's Snipe, Banded Stilt, Australian Spotted Crake Lake Goldsmith Wildlife Reserve Stopped very briefly along Skipton Road, about half a kilometre north of the intersection with Carngham-Lake Goldsmith Road. Glossy Ibis (24), Latham's Snipe (9), Banded Stilt (4) - with Black-winged Stilts, Australian Spotted Crake (18) - foraging in the open on eastern side of the road. Also Red-kneed Dotterel (60+), Grey Teal (1000+). Dan Weller and Bryan Roberts
	Spotted Harrier Glenbrook Road, Glenorchy North Two juveniles north of Glenbrook Road - one flushed from windrow vegetation, another perched on the ground in adjacent paddock of recently harvested barley crop. Dan Weller and Bryan Roberts
	Nankeen Kestrel Between Southern Cross and North Melbourne train stations Nankeen Kestrel seen looking for food above overgrown area on train lines. Perched on power pole and species was confirmed. Raoul Symons
Mon 9 Jan	Turquoise Parrot Mooresford Track, Yalmy Turquoise Parrot (2) or maybe 3 birds flushed from recently burnt, open Brittle Gum forest with sedge understorey on north side of track. Birds were on ground or very low when first seen, flew up and perched long enough for a really good look (fantastic!), then flew off to south. Janine Duffy
	White-throated Needletail, Brush Bronzewing Kamarooka, Greater Bendigo NP Hundreds of Needletails soaring over Kamarooka. As many as 100 in a flock. Swifts seen in several locations in area during the morning & early afternoon. Also heard Brush Bronzewing in a few locations, 1 adult male seen calling from a top of a dead tree. Honeyeaters down in numbers generally from last time I was there. Kevin Bartram
	Dollarbird Babbler Lane, Tabilk Bird has visited a few times, sighted high in tree over drying creek bed. Seems to be on own but calling a lot right on dusk. Dollarbirds sighted most years at this time in the Womangal creek area. Jennifer Dean
	Blue-winged parrot Edgar's Track. Carlisle River Went looking for the birds John Newman reported last week but without specific locations to work on it can be frustrating. What we can advise is that anyone who drives up the Edgar Track just out of Carlisle River will be treated to numerous BWPs feeding on the track itself! Hedley and Irena Earl
	White-winged Triller, Jacky Winter, Diamond Firetail Werribee Gorge State Park White-winged Triller both male and female attending nest 10 ms. up, feeding nestlings and settling on them for warmth Jacky Winter on nest c. 4 ms. up, fed by mate. Contact call similar to Red-rump Parrot.Diamond Firetail at least 2 imm. birds present Bernie McRitchie
	Buff-banded Rail Blackburn Creeklands Used to be a good bird walk, now taken over with Rainbow Lorikeets and Noisy Miners, most of the small birds and Honeyeaters gone. Cecily Falkingham
	Nankeen Night Heron Brunswick East A beautiful pair of birds beside the pond at Jones Park, East Brunswick, 6am. Kathy Lothian
Sun 8 Jan	Black Honeyeater, Brown Quail Goschen Reserve Unfortunately no Pied Honeyeaters located, despite a good search. 6 Black Honeyeaters remaining, 5 adult males & 1 juvenile. Got good photos. A group of 6, then 2 Brown Quail flushed from the grassland where the Black Honeyeaters were. Lots of birds, still, woodswallows, bee-eaters. Got to see Noisy & Yellow-throated Miner in the same tree. Kevin Bartram
	Baillon's Crake The Sands, Torquay One on edge of new artificial wetland. Also Latham's Snipe, Whiskered Tern, etc. Lots of Fairy Martins, nesting on nearby houses (garage eaves). Richard Loyn
	Buff-Banded Rail Wattamolla Ave Werribee I was collecting rubbish out of the creek when I almost stood on this poor bird. It ran between my legs and stood away from me for about 20 seconds.(Adult) Neil PlayFord
	Cicadabird Macedon Regional Park (Woodend South) One female Cicadabird seen. One other bird heard (choink call). Lawrie Conole
Sat 7 Jan	Freckled Duck Lake Lorne, Drysdale 120 on lake, mostly on islands but gathered on water when mildly disturbed. Many males had bright red bill bases. Amazing range of ducks on this small suburban lake, including Blue-billed & Shoveler, but none more numerous than Freckled. Richard Loyn
	Square-tailed Kite Gembrook Rushed outside to the frantic alarm call of blackbirds suspecting a raptor nearby and observed a very, very low flying Square-tailed Kite circling just over our house and up & down the street for about 1/2 hour - magical & totally unexpected. Could this be the same bird that was previously reported in Kalorama a week ago? Very distictive wing pattern & white face indicating a mature bird. Claire Wolinski, Phil & Barbara Richardson
	Common Koel Mt Eliza Heard calling at 8:15pm and then seen in a garden near the corner of Canadian Bay Rd and Camborne Ave Ben Sinclair
Fri 6 Jan	Lewin's Rail Cape Paterson One bird observed amongst sparse Cumbungi (Typha spp) on a small wetland / drainage line in Coastal Scrub opposite the pub (which I hadn't been in!) Tim Barlow
Thu 5 Jan	Common Myna Arborline Nursery, Hamilton Unfortunately a single bird was seen flying over the growing area of the nursery heading towards Tarrington.I tried very hard to turn it into a Dollarbird, white eyes on underwing stood out, but the size comparisons between wattlebird, dollarbirds and mynas was compelling (bird was smaller than the wattlebird which was flying behind it). Samantha Greiner

Birdline Victoria is sponsored by Birds Australia - Victoria and co-ordinated and hosted by Eremaea Birds.

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