Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 24 Mar 2013.

Sun 24 Mar	Wood Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Excellent afternoon with the highlight being a Wood Sandpiper in stunning breeding plumage at the northern fringes of the Conservation Ponds. Other highlights around the plant included Freckled Ducks, Brolga, Little Eagle, Cattle Egret and the white-breasted Chestnut Teal that must be setting a few pulses up momentarily. Just one Greenshank and Marsh Sandpiper still hanging around the Western Lagoons. The rest appear to have headed north. Ed Williams & Mike Honeyman
	Painted Button Quail Hamlyn Heights Arrived home after a days birding in the Otways, looked out the kitchen window and couldn't believe my eyes. Here was a Painted Button Quail casually strutting around our back yard which is a regular suburban block! Must have been blown off course by the recent storm and may have been in our yard since last Friday as I mentioned to Irena that for the past couple of mornings I had heard a timid bird call and forgot to investigate once I arose from bed. Hedley and Irena Earl
	Freckled Duck Coolart 2 females feeding in front of Windemere Hide. Owen Lishmund
Sat 23 Mar	Pectoral Sandpiper (3), Freckled Duck (14), Brolga (2), Intermediate Egret Western Treatment Plant, Werribee 3 Pecs together at the Borrow Pits around 10am, with only a few extra Sharpies and some nice Curlew Sands coming into breeding plumage, 14 Freckled at eastern conservation pond, 2 Brolga just southwest of 85W C-9 conservation pond and an Intermediate Egret photographed at T-section. P S Lansley & Teet Sirotkin
	Ruddy Turnstone Boat Ramp at Tankerton, French Island 15 Ruddy Turnstones, 103 Pied Oystercatchers. Only about eight Oystercatchers with leg flags, and about 6 with old colour band combinations. Chris Chandler
	Black Honeyeater Bartleys Block, Chiltern Sensational views of a male hawking off dead branches at Bartleys Block in the early morning light. A great find, a little surprised to still see so late in the season. Michael Ramsey - Bronzewing Birding Services
	Freckled Duck Boat Ramp at Lake Colac App. 100 Freckled Duck resting with large numbers of Pink-eared Duck and Australian Shelduck. Also large groups of Rd-necked Avocet and Black-winged Stilt. Arthur & Denise Carew
Fri 22 Mar	Major Mitchell Cockatoo Hodigins Road, Tuerong Visited the house from around 4 pm to 6 pm exploring the pool area and surrounding trees. Allowed approach to 3m to photograph. Was relaxed in the company of the dogs! Possible escapee. Roger Turner
	Diamond Dove Dookie A sharp looking male foraging on a lawn with House Sparrows at the school. Michael Ramsey
	Spotted Quail-thrush Brisbane Ranges National Park Midday visit concentrating on Thompsons Rd, Aeroplane Rd, Fairleys Tk, Reid's Rd. Spotted Quail-thrush (1) Female flushed 300 meters along Fairleys Tk at the junction where the track divides into two. This is the area where there were multiple sightings a couple of years ago. Hedley Earl & Irena Earl
	Cattle Egret Banyule Flats Reserve, Heidelberg Three Cattle Egrets perched on fence-posts in the water at Banyule Swamp - two flew off to a fallen tree on the west edge of Swamp, where a Great Egret (resident for months) was perched. Great Egret tried to drive them off without success. First Cattle Egrets seen this autumn. Regular winter visitors in Yarra Valley. Anthea Fleming
Thu 21 Mar	Fork-tailed Swift Bacchus Marsh Just had a decent shower of rain. Warmish for an overcast, cloudy day. Fork-tailed Swift (50) About 50 rapidly flew over our house fairly low. Went to the north west. Just enough time to get some ID photos. Bernie McRitchie
Thu 21 Mar	Fork-tailed Swift & White-throated Needletails Greater Bendigo National Park (Kamarooka Section) 2 Observers. Fork-tailed Swifts seen along southern section of Tennyson Road. White-throated Needletails seen flying over Cambells Road. Photos taken of both species Very overcast with intermittant showers and storm approaching Marlene Lyell & Sue Thompson
	Barn Owl Merri Creek, Merri Concourse, Cambellfield Barn Owl sighted sitting in young Acacia melanoxylon in industrial estate, after being disturbed by passersby it moved amongst old redgums along Merri Creek. 8.30am Greg Maher, Habitat Land Management
	Fork-tailed Swift South Morang Continuing the trend for the day, at least 70 Fork-tailed Swifts cruised overhead in the half hour before sunset, heading north-east. Dean Ingwersen
	Fork-tailed Swift Newport At least 470 FTS seen late afternoon and evening over suburb of Newport. Large and very loose congregation of birds slowly heading north, quite low mostly, some as low as rooftops. All birds were silent. A spectacularly spectacular spectacle with a particularly picturesque sunset. Another 70 were also seen over nearby Altona by a reputable observer. Steve Davidson
	Fork-tailed Swift Gilpin Park, Brunswick Fork-tailed Swift (40) Saw the first one in Brunswick West while driving home at 6.15pm later saw more over Gilpin Park until about 7.15pm about 40 in total but probably many more as they were flying northward in small groups over a period of time. Nicole Spillane & Paul Jacobson
	Fork-tailed Swift Bacchus Marsh Saw several from the car window while driving from Bacchus Marsh to Diggers Rest. Nicole Spillane and Paul Jacobson
	Fork-tailed Swift Kingsville, Melbourne 8 or so Fork-tailed swifts repeatedly circling low and putting on a great show over the backyard here in Kingsville this evening. First sighting I've had of them here. Ed Williams
	Fork- tailed Swift Rye Ocean Beach Just two swifts feeding along coast line during strong winds. Corrie & Ian Macartney
	Noddy sp. Station Pier, Melbourne Tom Fletcher from Geelong who is aboard the Queen Mary berthed at [Station Pier] Melbourne reports that a Noddy Tern is flying around the ship being battered by the current wind storm. He is not able to determine which species so if someone could have a look-see and tell us that would be great. Both Common and Black Noddy are very rare anywhere in Victoria. Tom Fletcher per Mike Carter
Wed 20 Mar	Fork-tailed Swift Lake Lascelles, Hopetoun Stopped at Lake Lascelles for a while on the way from Wyperfeld to Melbourne, saw about 10 Fork-tailed Swifts. Then saw them in several locations on the way back to Melbourne. Strong winds and a huge dust storm all the way from Hopetoun to Melbourne. Nicole Spillane & Paul Jacobson
	Banded Stilt. Truganina Swamp, Altona 3018 At 1235 hours, observed 87 Banded Stilts in a loose flock in the main pond west of the bird hide off Bell Avenue. Most of the birds were in adult breeding plumage. There were a few Black-Winged Stilts present and also hundreds of Grey Teal. Peter Gibbons
Tue 19 Mar	Grey-crowned Babbler Bendigo Creek, Wason Rd, Mitiamo district A few babblers were briefly observed, mostly heard. Grey-crowned Babbler was confirmed and identified by checking audio calls (the typical 'yahoo' call). Also one White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike observed in tree canopy, white belly with 'bandit' mask. Greg Cobern
	Grey Goshawk (white morph) Princes Highway, Berwick (near Beaconsfield) I wondered why a flock of approx. 20 S.C.Cockatoos were making a commotion and after a while spotted a white morph Grey Goshawk that they were flying above. Graham Beal
Mon 18 Mar	Royal Spoonbill Lake Tyers Beach An unusually large, scattered feeding flock of 92 counted in the area of the boat ramp. A flock of 31 Pied Oystercatchers, some flagged or with leg bands, in the same area. 35 Red-capped Plovers also counted.(Moderator's note: report published as a high number of spoonbills at one location, MR). Ken Sherring
	Rufous Fantail Woodlands Historic Park (Greenvale) Cloudy and overcast morning with temperature around 15C. Following up a sighting of a Rufous Fantail by a colleague I sighted one about 200 meters down the main track from the back paddock (cemetery) car park in the scrub just next to the power line which runs east west. Haven't seen one in the park for over 15 years.(Moderator's note, there is a record for the park around the same time last year in Eremaea, this bird would be on passage during migration, MR). Richard Arnold
Sun 17 Mar	Crested Shrike-tit, Silver-eye Banyule Flats Reserve, Heidelberg A large flock of Silvereyes was moving through the Red Gum/Silver Wattle bush on the banks of the Yarra. (This was the day after the first autumn cold change and rain-storm). The birds were very active, moving in large numbers from one clump to another, calling continuously. They were very shy compared to the birds present over summer. I believe them to have been recently-arrived migrants. With them were numbers of Grey Fantails - those seen were very dark in colour - and a pair of Crested Shrike-tits. Shrike-tits used to be be reasonably common but not numerous along the Yarra in the 1970s-80s. They are now seldom seen. (Moderator's note: large numbers of Silver-eyes and dark (Tasmanian) fantails indicate some first autumn migrants, MR). Anthea Fleming
Sat 16 Mar	Red-kneed Dotterel Lake Bael Bael Large numbers of birds on this drying wetland on the opening morning of duck-shooting season, including 200+ Red-kneed Dotterel, many Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt, Red-necked Avocet. Pink-eared Duck the only game species - impossible to guess how many shot. Debbie Lustig
Thu 14 Mar	Little Egret Berwick Springs Lake, Berwick One bird resting on a floating structure with Cormorants early afternoon. Graham Beal

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