Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 12 May 2013.

Sun 12 May	Freckled Duck Seaford Wetlands on Austin Road Two Freckled ducks have taken up residence beside the viewing platform and have been here for months. Alison Kuiter
	Freckled Duck, Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater Mill Park Lakes 6 Freckled Duck also of interest 2 Pink-ears and 2 Spiny-cheeked which I have seen only once before here. Andrew Corrick
	Little Eagle Missens Road, Cranbourne At 1300 today light morph Little Eagle seen quartering paddocks and occasionally 'dive bombing'. Unmistakable ID with white underwing 'M'. Whistling Kite seen only a few hundred metres down the road Andrew Martin
	Northern Shoveler, male Western Treatment Plant, Werribee First pond on right after Little River crossing. A bit flighty and moving between ponds with other shovelers. Mark Stanley & Annette Hatten
Sat 11 May	Australian Magpie (all white plumage) Mill Rd, Strathkellar Australian Magpie (1) pure white bird standing beside road flew into large pine tree when we stopped to investigate other normal magpies seen in same locality. Not quick enough to get photo or to see if the eyes where pink to make it an albino. Samantha Greiner
	Spotted Harrier Warringa Marina, Tyabb Bird seen at the end of Bungower Road near the entrance to the marina for about 3 minutes then moved on towards Hastings. Also, four separate sightings of Hobby over the day. Keith Caldecott
	Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo Whitcombes Rd, Drysdale 1' Cell Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo (133) First sighted at Founds Rd at 8.00 am. Estimated ~100. Sighted again at around 4.00 pm at Drakes Rd, approx a mile and a half from morning sighting. They were feeding in a stretch of pines that runs for a couple of hundred yards. They left in dribs and drabs and headed towards some pines in Martins Rd, this happened over a 10 minute period so it was easy to count them. Biggest group I've seen. David Fleming
	Spotted Harrier Strezlecki Hwy 5km south Morwell, approx. at junction of Golden Gully Rd. Seen first at 11am. Then on return trip about 12:15pm. Fine, warm weather. Seen over grasslands by the new Morwell River channel. David Mules
	Spotted Harrier Truganina Swamp (Altona) Adult seen several times between 14:15-15:15hrs quartering rank grassland inside fenced area of swamp. David A Richardson
	Bassian Thrush Bolin Bolin Billabong, Bulleen Bassian Thrush (2) Located the same bird as yesterday, then saw another in the same vicinity. Also managed some ID photos. Owen Lishmund
	Ruddy Turnstone,Double-banded Plover, Rhyll Inlet, Phillip Island On the Observation point sand bar were 80 plus Double- banded plovers accompanied by a Ruddy Turnstone.The last recorded sighting of a Turnstone on the Island was at Kitty Miller Bay in 2005.The Nature Park has recorded sightings at Kitty Miller,Cowries and Seal Rocks in the past, all rocky areas with plenty of seaweed.It is the first observation in the Inlet and unusual because of the sand spit.Also in attendance were (30) Bar-tailed Godwits and (10) Red Knots with (4) Whimbrels. Derek Whitehead
	Freckled Duck Nowa Nowa By the Nowa Nowa arm of Lake Tyers Freckled Duck (2) A pair in the water around the jetty. William Paul
Fri 10 May	Swift Parrot Yellow Gum Estate (Ocean Grove) A further update on Swift Parrot numbers in the estate. After an early morning visit today,i observed high numbers preening in gum die back. Also large flocks in flight, which were spooked by Noisy Miners alarm call. I estimate upwards of 100 birds still present. (Quite a sight)! Denis Sleep
	Hooded Plover East of Whites beach Torquay Seven Hooded Plovers seen towards nudist beach. In five years have seen none here, but on Monday this week I sighted three and today seven were flitting amongst the seaweed and the waves at low tide about 4.30pm. Ian McConchie
	Bassian Thrush Bulleen Great views of lone bird on northern edge of Bolin Bolin Billabong. A nice record for the area. Also seen yesterday by my dad. Owen Lishmund
	Pink-eared Duck Fisher's Wetland, Newhaven, Swan Lake Phillip Island The first recorded sighting of a Pink-eared Duck on the Island was in Sept 2012, this duck has resided at Fishers since then,it has now been joined by (10) others at Fishers and another (6) at Swan Lake.(A first recording for this site) Derek Whitehead
	Tawny-crowned Honyeater & White -fronted Honeyeater Dunach conservation reserve, Clunes (private block adjoining) At least two White-fronted and several Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters. Yellow Gums in flower, 9 species of Honeyeater in total. Ian Ashton, Murray Grant
	Pink Robin Banyule Flats Reserve, Heidelberg Two brown Pink Robins in low hawthorns beside muddy billabong. 10 Whistling Kites feeding on the last dead carp in the drying mud (14 kites on 4 May). Scarlet Robin pair still present (first seen 24 April). Striated and Yellow Thornbills. Guy Dutson
Thu 9 May	Diamond Firetail Boundary Road - Lindenow South, East Gippsland Family of five Diamonds hopping about foraging in grass on my property. Appear to be regular visitors now. Faye Bedford
	Scarlet Robin Banyule Flats Reserve, Heidelberg A single male Scarlet Robin feeding on the damp mud, which is what remains of the Billabong - seen at the Billabong bend nearest the main Yarra Trail. It frequently perched on upright dry weed stems in the Billabong bed. Now an uncommon winter visitor. Anthea Fleming
	Whistling Kites Banyule Flats Reserve, Heidelberg Two Whistling Kites sailing about, sometimes as low as tree-tops, often very high. They called occasionally. As they circled over the Eastern Paddock, they circled closer and closer together and turned vertically to face each other - one bird tried to catch the other's claws with one foot, but the second bird turned away and any contact was momentary. They sailed off westward and were heard calling over the Swamp. Anthea Fleming
	Zebra Finch Keilor Golf Course 15 Zebra Finch, plus a few Red-browed Finch, observed at the pond near the third tee. Liz Benton. report by Roger McGlashan
	Brolga Green Hill Lake (Ararat) Two adults sighted Northern end of lake. Flew a short distance after being disturbed. Then seen feeding, in shallows, amongst reeds. Deidre Andrews
	Pink Robin Studley Park, near Dight's Falls Good, close views of a single adult female Pink Robin in company with Silvereyes, Red-browed Firetails, Thornbills, and a Grey Fantail. Dave Dickson
	Freckled Duck, Pink-eared Duck Spavin Drive Lake Freckled Duck (2) Pink-eared Duck (2) seen mid-morning. The Pink-eared seemed unafraid, and moved toward a family feeding "ducks" Roger McGlashan
Wed 8 May	Rose Robin Pound Bend (Warrandyte State Park) Gradually clouding over. Warm for May and almost still. Rose Robin (1) A male in almost exactly the same spot as seen in autumn last year. Only there for a couple of minutes, but unsharp photo confirms id. Sonja Ross
Wed 8 May	Spotted Quail-thrush Fairhope (12 Km N of Bairnsdale) Over last few days two male and one female Spotted Quail-thrush have moved into our garden and nearby shelter belts. While the species is fairly common in nearby bush, this is the first time in our10 years here that they have crossed open paddocks to the garden. Chris & Felicity Healey
	White-bellied Sea Eagle Western Treatment Plant, Werribee 2 adults perched on antenna near bird hide. Raoul Symons
	Black-faced Woodswallow Boort 10' Cell 8 Black-faced Woodswallows: Grey-brown plumage, no white wing streak. Seen with binoculars perched and flying on Barraport South Rd near Boort-Wycheproof Rd Malcolm Cousland
Tue 7 May	Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo, Freckled Duck Nelson (4 kls up Glenelg River) An enormous flock crossed river just before dusk. Travelling From East to West l counted around 300 birds. Also 3 Freckled Duck at township boatramp. Trevor Lumb
	Grey Goshawk white morph Cardinia Reservoir Clearly seen in the Melbourne Water restricted access area during a Birdlife Australia survey. Chris Purnell, Arthur Carew, Jill & Ian Wilson, Robert Walker
	Barking Owl Earlston One adult perched in tree along roadside. Observed with spotlight for a few minutes. Doug Robinson
	Banded Stilt,Australasian Shoveller,Musk Duck Kitty Miller Rd Phillip Island On the east side of the road,the rapidly shrinking, main holding dam produced (28) Banded Stilts, (20) Australasian Shovellers and (7) Musk Ducks. From only the second recorded sighting of Banded Stilts on the Island in March, the colony has grown from 3 to 27 in two months. While Shovelers and Musk Ducks are residents on the Island, these are high numbers for any one area, and probably reflect the shrinking water levels at Swan Lake nearby. Derek Whitehead
Mon 6 May	Red-kneed Dotterel Sale Wetlands About 20-30 Red Kneed Dotterels at the fourth bridge along with a great number (200) or more Grey Teal. Water levels were good for waders having much muddy edge Bob Tate
	Blue-winged Parrot Ricketts Point, Beaumaris One seen and another heard flying over Rickett's Point, heading generally south over the water. Lost sight of it before I could determine if it headed back to shore or continued on across the bay. Last seen heading in the direction of St Leonards! Sean Dooley
	Swift Parrot Whroo Information Centre car park 3 silent birds feeding in a flowering iron bark. Yellow-faced and Fuscous were most numerous Honeyeaters. No lorikeets or friarbirds here. Andrew and Leonie Corrick
	Whistling Kite Banyule Flats Reserve Three Whistling Kites (2 adults and 1 juvenile) perching on fence posts and large dead trees in main swamp - taking unseen prey from surface of the water. Peter Thomson
Sun 5 May	Sooty Albatross, Antartctic Prion South of Portland On the BirdLife Victoria Portland Pelagic Trip for May, we saw 3 Sooty Albatrosses (the first for a few years), an Antarctic Prion (which we initially thought might have been a Salvin's), 4 Wandering Albatrosses, a White-fronted Tern and 2 Brown Skuas. Quite an interesting day. Chris Lester, Paul Dodd et al
	Australasian Shoveler, Sooty Oystercatcher Elster Creek, Elwood/Brighton 1 female Australasian Shoveler was seen in the Elsternwick Park Lake. This is the only record I could find of an shoveler in the City of Bayside. There is not even any mention of the species in the 'Local Birds of Bayside' book which has records dating back to the late 1800s. A Sooty Oystercatcher was feeding on Limpets between the mouth of the Elwood Canal and Point Ormond. This is the first record of this species in the City of Port Phillip even after more than 30 years of observations by numerous local naturalists. Other locally significant birds that have turned up at Elster Creek recently include Red-browed Finch (2), Darter (2), Great Egret (2), New-holland Honeyeater (1), Flame Robin (1) and Short-tailed Shearwater (2). Gio Fitzpatrick
	Spotted Harrier, Black Kite, Black Falcon Exford Overcast afternoon. We sussed out a paddock that had just been burnt off. With David Whelan. Spotted Harrier (1) Adult. Black Kite (2) One ate a mouse on the wing. Regularly chased by Black Falcons. Black Falcon (4) 2 pairs working the burnt paddock. One caught a mouse. They harrassed Black Kites and were themselves targeted by a Black-shouldered Kite. Bernie McRitchie
	Pink-eared Duck Banyule Flats Reserve There was one Pink-eared Duck amongst a large flock of Pacific Black Ducks. A Whistling Kite flew over the water a bit later on. Vincent Knowles
Sat 4 May	Barking Owl Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park Barking Owl heard at about 6am at Chiltern NP. However was not sighted. Matthew Vinicombe
Thu 2 May	Swift Parrot Werribee Open Range Zoo Two birds seen flying over trees at entrance to zoo. Carol Abbott
	Lesser Sand-Plover Port Phillip Heads Marine Nat Pk (Point Lonsdale) A Lesser Sand-Plover on rocks in front of lighthouse (low tide) Grey with partial grey breastband (non-breeding plumage). Too big to be a Red-capped Plover (there were Red-necked Stints for size comparison nearby). Not a juvenile Double-banded Plover (all grey, no grey-brown plumage). Not a Greater Sand-plover, it had 'short' legs in relation to body size. Excellent viewing (bright sun behind). It was 'resting', observed from about 80 meters through Scope for about 5 minutes, then it flew off in a Westerly direction. Some white around eye, probably nominate race (Pizzey and Knight 9th Ed) Angus Hartshorn
Sun 28 Apr	Black Kite Tylden, Victoria One bird soaring low over the Woodend-Tylden Road. Very scarce bird in the uplands (~600m ASL at this point). Lawrie Conole

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