Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 10 Feb 2013.

Sun 10 Feb	Hooded Plover Port Fairy Walking west from the town along the beach l came across three pairs of Hooded Plover over about two kilometers. One pair were shepherding four chicks between them, all too young to fly. Gary Oliver
	Common Sandpiper Tambo River between Bruthen and Ensay One Common Sandpiper feeding among the rocks along edge of Tambo River 23km from Bruthen at Collins Road crossing (access road to Mt Elizabeth Flora and Fauna Reserve, East Gippsland). John and Pam Hutchison
Sat 9 Feb	Grey-tailed Tattler Reef Island Grey-tailed Tattler (3) spotted on the rocks with a group of PG Plovers on the Northern side of the island. We were able to get some good photos. to help with the id of the bird. Steve & Judi Duke
Sat 9 Feb	Masked Owl, Wedge-tailed Shearwater Cape Conran Coastal Park A quick look offshore this morning between rain squalls revealed a power of Wedge-tailed Shearwater just offshore at Cowrie Bay, Cape Conran and Salmon Rocks, some as close as just past the breakers. Lots of beachwashed Fluttering Shearwater along the beach here also. Last night we had a smallish male Masked Owl on the edge of farmland along Cape Conran Rd at around 20.40 hrs. Light chestnut collar, strong black border to facial disc, huge talons and fully feathered legs. Was initially heard in forest then an imitation of his call brought him in very close indeed for prolonged views. He wasn't much bigger than a Barn Owl. Another bird presumably the female(?) was heard some distance off and they both chatted for a while. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Freckled Duck Swan Lake, Phillip Island I had close views of 8 Freckled Ducks in front of the bird hide at Swan Lake today. There were 9 species of ducks altogether including Musk Duck and Australasian Shoveller. The lake is fast drying up. Geoffrey Russell
	Plumed Whistling-Duck, Bush Stone-curlew Cohuna (VIC) Block Plumed Whistling-Duck: Hundreds on two farm dams, Majors Rd Bush Stone-curlew: Brays Rd. 2 adults with 1 young (about half adult size). Also some Glossy Ibis on McDonalds Swamp. Malcolm Cousland
	Grey-tailed Tattler Barralliar Island & NW French Island, Western Port 3 Grey-tailed Tattlers perching on isolated mangroves between Barralliar Island and the NW French Island shore, during the Western Port survey. This was the main roost used by 60-80+ tattlers when the survey began in the 1970s, but they have not been seen on those mangroves for 25 years. Other notable birds today included 2 White-bellied Sea-Eagles and 51 Greenshank (French Is coast), a Black-tailed Native-hen and 26 Cape Barren Geese (Bullock Swamp), and a Lesser Sand-Plover and a Nankeen Night-Heron (Barralliar Is). Richard Loyn & Andrew Silcocks
	Fork-tailed Swift Port Phillip Bay (Mud Islands Reserve) Approximately 50 seen circling over Mud Islands. First spotted by Tania Ireton on the South Bay Eco Adventures tour today. Nicole Spillane & Paul Jacobson
	Spotted Harrier,Wedge-tailed Eagle, Rufous Night Heron Swan Lake Phillip Island Excellent birding, with 3 Wedge-tailed Eagles harassing a Swamp Wallaby, the Spotted Harrier reported in early January appears to have taken up residence, 7 Night Herons, 8 Red-kneed Dotterels ( both unusual at this site) mixing it with both Yellow and Royal Spoonbills, capped off with 4 Latham's Snipe. Derek Whitehead
Fri 8 Feb	Grey Goshawks [grey morphs] Private property/ Brodies Lane Coldstream 3 Grey Goshawks perched in dead tree very vocal and chasing & hunting the resident swallows. Lovely to watch, never seen them here before.They were here for the morning never had a camera on hand bugger. Ken Oakley
	Fork-tailed Swift Bend of Islands 3-4 Fork-tailed Swifts observed in large loose flock of needletails this evening. Gavin and Mal
	Broad-billed Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee A Broad-billed Sandpiper was seen at the T-Section lagoons pond 7 at around midday today. Also present at this pond were six Red Knots and one Black-tailed Godwit. Within the T-section lagoons system, a total of 36 Marsh Sandpipers were also seen. Early returns of Double-banded Plovers were seen at western lagoons 4/5 and pond 9 and also at 85WC lagoon pond 9. Along the foreshore at Kirk Point and north of Beach Rd, a total of 116 Common Terns, 26 Little Terns, 46 Fairy Terns and three Red Knots were seen roosting and feeding. Four Brolgas were seen in the swamped paddocks west of the western lagoons and another another two adult Brolgas were seen at 85WC lagoon pond 9. The Wood Sandpiper is still present at conservation lagoons. Maarten Hulzebosch
	Grey Goshawk Harkaway At Jessie Traill Reserve, corner Harkaway Rd and King Rd two birds were present. Very vocal through the morning and some contact calls through the afternoon. Observed 1 briefly overhead, grey form. Greg Cobern
Thu 7 Feb	Wood Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant A big thank you to Hedley Earl who reported this bird yesterday. His precise and accurate advise on where to locate the bird was exactly where I found it( north west section of conservation pond 35-8) It was close to the road which enabled great photo opportunities. Thanks Hedley for a bird I have trying to photograph for so long! Bernie O'Keefe
	Emu Providence Ponds Fauna and Flora Reserve Emu (2) Was not expecting to see these, driving along the Zieria Trak, definitely startled me and them, tried to get a photo but they darted off pretty quickly Brett Harman
Wed 6 Feb	Freckled Duck, Spotted Harrier, Black Falcon Winton Wetlands Reconnaissance survey to set up Atlas sites. Freckled Duck. Pair in borrow pit no. 7. Spotted Harrier flying low over Yacht Club. Black Falcon seen in spotting scope, perched at eye level at The Spit. (Moderator's note: great to read the Freckled Duck are still here, first seen in early January, MR). BirdLife Murray Goulburn
	Square-tailed Kite, White-throated Needletail Nobelius Hill, Emerald A Square-tailed Kite was patrolling the treetops for a couple of hours around Nobelius Hill in Emerald this evening. Also a flock of White-throated Needletails, building to 50+. Mark Bennett
	Brolga Winter Swamp Cardigan Pair of Brolga, Intermediate Egret, many Spotted Crake and Black-fronted Dotterel among many other water birds The Swamp is drying out quickly. Colin Johnson
	Wood Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Wood Sandpiper Brilliant views of a single bird feeding with sharpies in the north west corner of conservation pond 35-8. I was very careful not to disturb this bird so others can obtain a sighting. If previous behaviour means anything this bird should hang around for a while. Hedley Earl
Tue 5 Feb	Common Sandpiper Sawtell's Inlet - Tooradin One solitary Common Sandpiper feeding on mudflats along waters edge this afternoon near lowtide. Haven't seen this species at this location before. Keith & Judy Humphreys
Mon 4 Feb	White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike Mooresford Track, Yalmy, East Gippsland White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike (3) at least one dark morph bird, another much paler around the face. Stayed around for some time, giving us great views Janine Duffy, Mervyn & Rosabelle Needham, Kathleen Galbow & Joe Fernandez
Mon 4 Feb	Spotted Quail-thrush Silvertop Track by Yalmy Rd, Yalmy Spotted Quail-thrush (2) on roadside just north of Silvertop Tk junction - first one male, later another. Later travelling south along Yalmy Rd we saw another 6 individuals, not together, all on roadside in late afternoon. Amazing to see so many, and so easily - I wonder what circumstances cause them to do this? I've seen this once before along a similar road in East Gippsland - Spotted Quail-thrush the most common roadside bird! Janine Duffy, Mervyn & Rosabelle Needham, Kathleen Galbo & Joe Fernandez
Mon 4 Feb	Square-tailed Kite Marlo Subsequent to recent reports of a Square-tailed Kite along the Marlo-Cabbage Tree Road ( Jenny Spry ) Jacquie and I observed an adult STK lazily flying over our house within the residential area of Marlo early this afternoon. An infrequent visitor to the Marlo township but another of the regular sightings from its apparent stronghold in the Far East Gippsland area. Len and Jacquie Axen
	Grey-tailed Tattler, Lewins Rail, Western Treatment Plant 2 Grey-tailed Tattler on the bank overlooking Cons. Pond 85WC-9, Two Lewins Rail feeding along the south bank of Little River up from the bird hide, Buff- banded Rail, Baillon's Crakes, Red & Great Knots in front of the Bird Hide. 89 species total. Tom Fletcher & Gordon McCarthy
	Lewins Rail Bird Hide, Western Treatment Plant, Werribee As I drove into the bird hide track I noticed a Lewin Rail cross over the track from left side to right. As I waited to see if it would cross over the little pool on the right side I got my camera ready just in case it would do what I had seen them do so many times before! Apologies for the quality of photo but an experienced birder once said "any photo of a rail is a good sighting". Hedley Earl
	Spotless Crake Balyang Sanctuary, Geelong This is the first sighting for me at this location. I was surprised at the boldness with which this crake ventured out from the cover of reeds. What makes the sighting special is that it is so close to the picnic area and the main car park and the area where i saw the bird has a seat that you can rest on whilst watching the birds feed. It fed with Spotted Crakes, Black-tailed Native-Hens and Grey Teals. Hedley Earl
	Freckled Duck Banyule Flat A Freckled Duck feeding in shallows and then roosting with teal in middle of drying wetland. Richard Loyn
Sun 3 Feb	Red-browed Treecreeper Yellingbo NCR App 6 White-throated Needletail seen on the BirdLife monthly outing to Yellingbo around 11.00 a.m. Other good sightings were Nankeen Night Heron (Needletail and NNH possible firsts for this regular outing), Rufous Fantail, Olive-backed Oriole, 4 Red-browed Treecreeper (appeared to be 2 adults and 2 juv), Brown Goshawk Arthur Carew and 15 BirdLife participants
	Royal Spoonbill Banyule Flats Royal Spoonbill (2), Great Egret feeding at Billabong. Don't recall seeing Royals here over the last few years. Two Yellow-billed Spoonbills on main swamp. Neil Murray
Fri 1 Feb	Banded Stilt, Brolga and Red-necked Avocet Lake Goldsmith Around midday we stopped on the lake edge just west of the roadside stop. Two Banded Stilts were amongst a large gathering of Grey Teal. A pair of Brolga stood close by the water's edge. Several Yellow-billed Spoonbills stood to the rear and slightly apart from the ducks. Pied Stilts were present in small numbers as were a few Avocets which flew in. Gary Oliver

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

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