Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 3 Mar 2013.

Sun 3 Mar	Square-tailed Kite, Spotted Quail-thrush Cabbage Tree Creek Flora Reserve Square-tailed Kite low over the reserve, a very dark bird with pronounced white wing markings. A pair of Spotted Quail-thrush seen along Palm Track about half way between the reserve and the Princes Hwy. Bill and Jackie Morecraft
	Sanderling Yambuk Ocean Beach ( near Port Fairy) 100+ feeding along shoreline. Corrie and Ian Macartney
	Rufous Fantail Blue Waters Lake Reserve, Ocean Grove One bird bathing in last bit of water next to reed beds at Cuthbertson St entrance. This is near where the Little Bittern has been, but wasn't today. Other species included Great Crested Grebe, Spotless Crake, Latham's Snipe, Little Grassbird (at least 4). Russell Woodford
	Satin Flycatcher Victoria Street, Williamstown There was a Satin Flycatcher outside the Croquet Club at 11:30am (Moderator's note: probably on passage at this time of the year, MR) Colin Clark
Sat 2 Mar	Pacific Golden Plover Point Cook Homestead, Point Cook 30+ birds on beach rocks just west of the homestead. Paul Randall (wingsonwire.com)
	Red-necked Avocet, Banded Stilt, Red-necked Stint Lake Reeve - The Lakes National Park 200+ Red-necked Avocets, 300+ Banded Stilts & 300+ Red-necked Stints adjacent to a flock of 100+ Red-capped Plovers. The highlights of a fantastic mornings birding. Keith & Judy Humphreys
	Brolga Calivil Creek Brolga Wetland, Hampsons Road Brief mid-afternoon visit, sunny with light breeze. Two Brolga in a paddock being irrigated near floodway on Hampsons Rd. Malcolm Cousland
	White-winged Triller, White-backed Swallow Axedale/Knowsley Box Ironbark Forest White-winged Triller (3) Feeding young...this appears to be very late. White-backed Swallow (10) At least 10 but difficult to count. Marlene Lyell
Fri 1 Mar	Brolga 200+ Blackwood Lake, Penshurst after receiving a second report about the number of birds on this lake, I took a drive with two other local birders to experience the wonder myself, when we were there most birds where down by the waters edge feeding, resting and practising their dance moves, we had good views from the small crest above the lake on the road side verge with binoculars and telescope Samantha Greiner
Thu 28 Feb	Short-tailed Shearwater Port Phillip Heads Marine Nat Pk (Point Lonsdale) At the lighthouse. Tide running out strongly. Strong SSW wind. Short-tailed Shearwater (2000) probably more, from close in and stretching away to the horizon Angus Hartshorn
Thu 28 Feb	Kelp Gull Kirk Point, Western Treatment Plant An adult Kelp Gull roosting with Pacific Gulls, Crested Terns and cormorants on rocks at Kirk Point. Sean Dooley
	Short-tailed Shearwater, Fluttering Shearwater, Shy Albatross, Kelp Gull Point Lonsdale Lighthouse. After tip-off from Angus Hartshorn, paid a visit about 2 pm today. Extraordinary numbers of Short-tailed Shearwaters streaming past to the E. In an hour total of > 8,500 birds passing a single line of sight (in 40 one minute samples). ~ 40 Fluttering Shearwaters in total, closer in, dark above and stark white underparts (largest flock 20). Also 6+ Shy Albatross. Single adult Kelp Gull drifted past lighthouse. Also immature Pacific Gull. Heard Musk Lorikeets overhead and looked to see 3 change course at right-angles and fly off and drop out of sight over township of Point Lonsdale. Had they been navigating along the dunes and turned "hard left" when they reached the Heads? Craig Morley
	Blue-billed Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Hardhead, Musk Duck Swan Bay Reservoir. Swan Bay Rd, Wallington. At least 28 Blue-billed Ducks (at least 4 males with bright blue bills), amongst an interesting array on this water storage, where it is difficult to get a clear view across the full expanse of water, so may have been more. 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Hardhead and 1 female Musk Duck. Also 4+ Hoary-headed Grebe, 4+ Eurasian Coot, 10 Pacific Black Duck. Craig Morley
	Freckled Duck Lake Lorne, Drysdale At least 300 Freckled Ducks spread across southern section in cool overcast conditions earlier in morning. Possibly more when one considers how well these birds get in under cover on the islands. Also 3 prs Blue-billed Ducks, ~50 Hardheads, flock of ~ 70 Masked Lapwing along E shore, 5 Black-winged Stilts and, tucked away in NW cnr, 3 Red-kneed Dotterels and 2 Black-fronted Dotterels found after the excursion. Also McLeods Holes: 2 Little Eagles (light and dark) and at least 1 Australian Hobby seen and heard around pines to E. Craig Morley for Geelong Field Naturalists Club Bird Group Excursion
	Freckled Duck Lake Lorne 100+ Freckled Duck sheltering under willows in middle of the lake. Corrie & Ian Macartney
Wed 27 Feb	Beautiful Firetail, Olive Whistler, Rufous Fantail, Gang-gang Cockatoo Cape Liptrap Coastal Park At the Bear Gully Campground over three days. The Firetail was more photo friendly than I have ever encountered before (see pic). Others there included Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo, Brush Bronzewing, King Parrot, Eastern Yellow Robin and several thousand Short-tailed Shearwaters just off the rocks each morning. Spotted a Bassian Thrush along the road in and Latham's Snipe at Venus Bay side of Anderson's Inlet. Bald Hills Wetland Reserve near Tarwin Lower was a delightful little birding oasis amid all the surrounding farmland. Bob Cook
	Barbary Dove Brighton Beach A single bird around 8:30 AM on power lines on South Road 50 metres up from Brighton Beach Station. Sean Dooley
Tue 26 Feb	Rufous Fantail, Yellow-billed Spoonbill Jells Park Lake, Wheelers Hill Unfortunately couldn't find the Freckled Duck Tony Bushell saw on Sunday. Did see a single Rufous Fantail, and rain from the past few days brought in a Yellow-billed Spoonbill (I have never seen at site before) and a single Australian Pelican which I have not seen present for some time. Also great views of Juv. Brown Goshawk. Nick Bradsworth
	Little Bittern Blue Waters Lake Reserve, Ocean Grove Was out in the open very briefly then hid in the reeds after it saw me Jennifer Carr
	Magpie Geese Serendip Sanctuary, Lara 8 am Tuesday 4 - 5 large flocks leaving Sanctuary. Birds climbed high and headed NNW. Around 300 to 450 birds in total. Jeff Dagg
	White-winged Triller Elster Creek White-winged Triller (2) On island in middle of Elsternwick Park lake. Debbie Lustig
	Black Honeyeater Greater Bendigo National Park (Kamarooka Section) South of Campbell Rd, not far west of Bendigo-Tennyson Rd. At least 30, probably more. In amongst flowering ironbarks. The dominant honeyeater there. Other species of interest included Crested Bellbird, Variegated Fairy-wren and White-fronted Honeyeater. Rustem Upton
	Brolga In a paddock on the Glenthompson-Ararat Rd, approximately 10km from Glenthompson. While heading home from the fires in the Grampians this morning I spotted more than 20 Brolgas in a paddock about 50 metres from the roadside. Awesome to see such a large flock together. Joe Park
Mon 25 Feb	White-bellied Cuckooshrike Eynesbury Forest and Grasslands At the southern side of the wetlands I was very surprised to see a White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike in some Grey-box. A completely black bill and a 'cleaner' black face, as opposed to similar but smudgy looking face that juvenile Black-faced tend to have made it distinguishable. Tim Nickholds
Mon 25 Feb	Diamond Firetail Marlo A Diamond Firetail was observed on our balcony this morning before quietly feeding on the front lawn over the next 40 minutes. While frequently sighted in the drier areas around Bairnsdale, Buchan and along the Snowy River Valley north of McKillop's Bridge, only one other record along the Far East Gippsland coast occurs in our club records; namely a Bemm River sighting ( 29/11/1999 ) on a BOCA Xmas Camp. Our first observation after 25 years residence in Marlo and a significant regional recording. Len and Jacquie Axen
	Malleefowl. Purple-gaped Honeyeaters, Black Honeyeaters Ouyen-Patchewollock Rd We saw 35 Malleefowl along the Ouyen-Patchewollock Rd between 6:16 and 6:45pm. A wonderful birding experience, Many thanks to the Birdlife Mildura Club, Patrick Scully and others who have reported this special event. We also saw Purple-gaped Honeyeaters, Black Honeyeaters and White-fronted Honeyeaters at Gama Bushland Reserve. Philip Jackson & Russell Thomson
Sun 24 Feb	Broad-billed, Pectoral, Wood Sandpipers, Brolga, Magpie Goose, etc Western Treatment Plant Bumper afternoon with 107 species recorded between the 2 of us. 1 Pectoral & 1 Wood Sandpiper found in the second most easterly Western Lagoon which was full of waders. Broad-billed Sandpiper, at Beach Rd Rocks. 1 extra Wood Sandpiper at the Western Conservation Ponds. The usual 4 Brolgas in the flooded grassland next to the Western Lagoons, but surprised to see another 2 in 85W pond, totalling 6! The 2 Brolgas were joined by a juvenile Magpie Goose in 85W pond. Also a juvenile Blue-winged Parrot on the eastern side, near the mouth of the Little River & additionally heard on the Spit earlier. Spotless Crake heard, Baillon's Crake seen as well as an Intermediate Egret in the reedy pond on the T-Section Lagoons, only 1 Glossy Ibis present. 1 Black-tailed Godwit in the first T-Section Lagoon with 7 Red Knots. 1 juvenile Stubble Quail along track in Western Lagoon. The list goes on! Kevin Bartram & Scott Baker
	Freckled Duck Jells Metropolitan Park A single female feeding with Pacific Black Ducks, just offshore, 3m from observers. Tony Bushell
	Lewin's Rail Wonthaggi Heathlands 1 Lewin's Rail observed for 30 seconds on track. Also 5 Blue-winged Parrots, Beautiful Firetail, Horsefield Bronze Cuckoo. Mike Tesch
	Peregrine Falcon Bendigo Cathederal 2 falcons using the Cathederal as a roost. Sighted at 8.00pm. Not uncommon, some years they do some years they don't but they were back again tonight Greg and Janice McKay
Sat 23 Feb	Bassian Thrush Grampians National Park (Halls Gap) Bassian Thrush (1). This bird was in the Botanical Gardens, a planted area fenced to keep out kangaroos etc at the beginning of the walk to the Venus Baths. Just by the tennis courts in Hall's Gap. Susan Pepper
	White-winged Triller Wantirna 3 birds seen in a tree along Blind Creek Bike Path in Wantirna behind transfer station. Darren Wallace

Birdline Victoria is sponsored by BirdLife Victoria and hosted by Eremaea Birds.

===============================

To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to: 

http://birding-aus.org
===============================