Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 7 Apr 2013.

Sun 7 Apr	Rufous Fantail Outlook Drive, Eaglemont (part of Heidelberg) A brief sighting of a Rufous Fantail flying across Outlook Drive - it dived into a Pittosporum hedge and a garden full of ferns. Two Silvereyes followed it. Locally seen only as a spring and autumn passage migrant. Anthea Fleming
	Scaly-breasted Lorikeet Gresswell Habitat Link Several Scaly-breasted Lorikeets in old red gum beside track. Also a single Pink-eared Duck in a dam. P Peter Bennet
Sat 6 Apr	Black Falcon, Black Kite Homerton, East of Heywood 10 Black Falcons and 6 Black Kites feeding in smoke over a DSE forest burn. Spectacular and very unusual for far SW Victoria. Richard Hill
	White-Throated Needletail Rowsley Valley A flock of approx 30 WTN's hawking insects amongst soaring Wedge-Tailed Eagles, Nankeen Kestrels, and a Brown Falcon were some of the highlights at the Rowsley Valley this morning. David Whelan and Bernie McRitchie
Fri 5 Apr	Striated Pardalote, Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Flame Robin Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Half Day visit for photography with Geoff and Anne from Cape Paterson. Beautiful sunny morning with light cloud and no wind. Western Lagoons and T-section not visited. Brief view of 3 Yellow-faced Honeyeater passing through trees at corner of Pt Wilson Rd & Paradise Rd, most likely passage migrants. Also here we heard the short trill of a Striated Pardalote in the Sugar Gums; I've not seen one at the plant before. A Flame Robin female was seen along track north side of Little River near Walsh Lagoon, first for autumn. Around 50 White-winged Black Tern looking fantastic as are some of the remaining Red-necked Stint in full breeding regalia. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
Fri 5 Apr	Flame Robin French Island Two males and one female. First for this season. Also Hobby seen in the morning near the SW coast (The Slipway). White-bellied Sea-Eagle adult in the area near Point Leschenault - this is close to the breeding site. Chris Chandler
	Lewin's Rail, Banded Lapwing Overpass Rd, French Island Lewin's Rail flushed in dense heathy understorey of messmate forest. Unusual habitat, but had great views as it flew in a wide arc. A single Banded Lapwing with 44 Masked in short grass paddock - first record for the island since 1980s. Also 127 Cape Barren Geese in the same paddock. A nearby resident told me there were "about 300" there on 3 April. First Straw-necked Ibis this summer! They've been absent. Chris Chandler
	Swift Parrot, Black Honeyeater, Rainbow Bee-eater Goorambat Hills Short morning visit to check if the ironbarks were flowering which they were well. I have checked this site many times for Swift Parrots and was so pleased to today to finally find them here. Four birds were over a ridge to the south. Also 3 Black Honeyeaters, appearing in many sites over NE Victoria lately. Also 3 Rainbow Bee-eaters, quite a late record here. Michael Ramsey
	Freckled Duck Mill Park Lakes Two seen this morning. Bird numbers down compared to earlier in the year. Matthew Vinicombe
Thu 4 Apr	Swift Parrot Ironbark Basin ( Pt Addis) 3 Swifties feeding in Ironbarks. Good to see them again! Denis Sleep
	Swift Parrot Trudgeon's Road, Welshmans Reef Flock of 11 birds feeding in Yellow Gum on private property. My first local sighting for the season. Geoff Park
	Plumed Whistling-Duck Lilliput A massive flock of 350 Plumed Whistling-Ducks roosting by a farm dam, great close views. Also notable was a leucistic (white coloured) whistling-duck, never seen anything like this before. It was mainly white with a hint of the plumage pattern showing through, it clearly stood out among the rest of the flock of ducks. Photo attached (thanks to Sarah Higman). Michael Ramsey - Bronzewing Birding Services
	Double-barred Finch, Painted Honeyeater, Black Honeyeater, Scarlet Honeyeater Chiltern-Mount Pilot National Park (Chiltern) Thrilled to see 2 Double-barred Finches just west of the No.2 dam gate along the Chiltern Valley Road. A few records from Chiltern in the past but this is the first time I have seen them here, nearest population is north at Wodonga. Also a single Painted Honeayeater flying over Bartleys Block along with a gorgeous male Scarlet Honeyeater. Black Honeyeaters at a few sites. No Regent Honeayeaters here yet! Michael Ramsey - Bronzewing Birding Services
	Grey Goshawk (white morph) Grossmans Road, Torquay Just had a Grey Goshawk fly over, then settle in eucalypts for a short time. Was chased by 6 Gang-gangs. It was their squawking that alerted me. Robin Irwin
Wed 3 Apr	Black kite Plenty Gorge Park First sighting of black kite I've seen here, it was being mobbed by Australian Magpie Lark. Robert C. Kedge
	Collared Sparrowhawk Warranwood Late this afternoon, alerted by the attention of our fox terrier, I found a Collared Sparrowhawk entangled in a wire fence in our garden. Once extricated, it appeared to be unharmed and flew up into a tree and composed itself before heading off, apparently unscathed. Steven Creber
Tue 2 Apr	Black Falcon Bannockburn Bushland Reserve Dawn walk mainly through the northern section of the bush. Light drizzle virtually constantly. Black Falcon (1) Flying slowly about 1km. east of the bush, close to Bannockburn township. Clear view for a minute or two. Bernie McRitchie
Tue 2 Apr	Black Falcon Bacchus Marsh 10' Cell Driving north along Bacchus Marsh-Balliang Rd approaching Bacchus Marsh. Cloudy. Black Falcon (1) Circling leisurely over Rowsley Station Rd. Deceptively covered a lot of ground. Photos hampered by fogged up lens, but clear enough for ID. Bernie McRitchie
	Banded Stilt, Freckled Duck Lake Murdeduke, Karngun Bridge Swamp, Winchelsea Several hundred Banded Stilts seen around the edge of the lake. Single Freckled Duck seen on Karngun Bridge Swamp Rodney Long and Pamela Rae
	Swift Parrot, Black Honeyeater Warby-Ovens National Park (Boweya Forest) Swift Parrot (3) first returns for this year. A small number briefly heard then seen in lightly flowering ironbarks by Keenan Rd. Also several Black Honeyeaters still in the forest. Michael Ramsey
	Spotted Quail-thrush Rintoul's Creek, North of Tyers Pair observed, by the Latrobe Valley Field Naturalists' Club Bird Group, feeding in grassy scrubby area on Burnett's property. First record in area. Alix Williams for the LVFNC
	Blue-billed Duck, Red-capped and Flame Robins Newport Lakes Park Single females of all 3 seen - my first sightings of the first two species at this park. Also two immature Golden Whistlers. Dave Torr and Werribee birding group
	Arctic Jaeger Kororoit Creek Mouth, Williamstown North Single bird attacking Silver Gulls Dave Torr and Werribee birding group
Mon 1 Apr	Spotted Harrier, Pacific Golden-Plover, Black Falcon Black Rock Reserve, Barwon Heads Spotted Harrier (1) Over paddocks and along bike path, around intersection of Black Rock and Barwon Heads-Torquay Road. Pacific Golden-Plover (2) One in breeding plumage, the other not. Initially with a flock of Silver Gulls, then seen further west, before taking off and flying away to the west as the tide rose. Black Falcon (1) Initially seen along Black Rock Road whilst observing the Spotted Harrier - seemed to be shadowing the Harrier - seeing what it flushed perhaps? Adam Edmonds
Mon 1 Apr	Glossy Black-Cockatoo Genoa Peak A family party of three Glossy Black-Cockatoos were seen feeding in She-Oaks about 4 km up Genoa Peak Road near Roger Track. They were given away by their "rusty gate" call and were holding the cones and munching all the seeds off them. Richard Case
	Brown Quail Jawbone Marine Reserve Three Brown Quail seen walking from the native grassland at the back of Williamstown High School to Jawbone Reserve. Also seen were 5 Blue-billed Ducks, one Pink-eared Duck and about a dozen Black-tailed Native-hens feeding with Eurasian Coots and Purple Swamphens Brian Bending
	Brolga Blackwood Lake, Penshurst Afternoon tour with Gran for Easter Monday activity, with excellent arvo tea at the Bagdad Cafe, Penshurst afterwards Brolga (150) Brolga were split into two groups at each end of the drying lake, 150 counted at nth end and possibly another 100 at sth tip, local Penshurst Birder counted 208 also present swans, cormorants, lapwings, egrets and 1 pelican Samantha Greiner
Sun 31 Mar	Gang Gang Cockatoo, Darter Queens Park Bridge (Geelong) Quite a lot of Gang Gangs seen and heard at the Queens Park Bridge also a group of Darters with several young that can be seen from the Highton/Belmont bridge.(Geelong) Rodney Long
	Magpie Goose Windermere Rd, Lara (Melway Map 423, B2) 2000+ Magpie Geese (and 40 Cape Barren Geese) in stubble fields opposite Serendip Sanctuary - between Caddy's Rd and Forest Rd North. Who has ever seen Magpie Geese in such numbers in Victoria?! (Note: They may be roosting overnight at Serendip.) Richard Nowotny
Sat 30 Mar	White-throated Needletail Anglesea 40+ gathering around dusk, many of them spiralling up in a column, above the hill at the top of Noble Street. Sean Dooley
	White-winged black tern Western Treatment Plant, Werribee 43 white -winged black terns (Chlidonias leucopterus) in breeding plumage, near Lake Borie Alek Kwiatkowski
	Freckled Duck (6), Spotted Harrier, Black-tailed Native-hen, Restless Flycatcher Camperdown Sewage Treatment Ponds, Old Geelong Rd, Camperdown Other interesting species at this probably little-visited site included Pink-eared Duck (hundreds), Red-necked Avocet and Red-kneed Dotterel. Total of 32 species seen. Richard Nowotny
Fri 29 Mar	Crimson Rosella Beaumaris A single adult seen feeding on Coast Tea-Tree seeds. Sean Dooley
	Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo 18 Km west of Casterton Up to 70 red tailed blacks flashing their beautiful tail-panels flew over the road and settled on trees beside a cattle trough to takes turn drinking. We watched spell-bound for 30 minutes. Greg Hunt and Carolyn Layton
	Barking Owl Everton 10' Cell Camped on private property on the Ovens River at Whorouly. Barking Owl, possibly 4 individuals present calling morning and night for 3 days in River Red-gums. Also a White-bellied Sea-Eagle. Ivor Preston
Tue 19 Mar	Red-kneed Dotterel Linleys Swamp, French Island Just one found, after searching the edges. This species also recorded here in February. Also 3 Black-fronted Dotterel, one juvenile. Chris Chandler
Tue 12 Mar	Brown Quail Coast Road, French Island After a particularly hot day, 3 were standing in the shade on the road edge at 6.30 pm. Had good views, before they walked off into the heath. I quickly got out of the car and managed to flush one. Half an hour later, I saw 3 more on the road edge 1.5 km further north. I doubt they were the same birds. Could these be passage migrants? Chris Chandler

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