Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 13 Oct 2013.

Sun 13 Oct	Caspian Tern Yarrawonga Foreshore Caspian Tern (3) a good local record, three birds seen over Lake Mulwala heading west, first time seen here. Michael Ramsey
Sat 12 Oct	Black Kite Private property near Nicholson (east of Bairnsdale), East Gippsland Single bird seen on private property beside the Nicholson River - a rare visitor in Gippsland. John Hutchison
	Short-tailed Shearwater St Kilda Found during Beach Patrol 3182 clean-up 9-10am: Short-tailed Shearwater. Dead, on beach north of marina. Notified wildlife health surveillance. Debbie Lustig
	Terek Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Fine but windy conditions at the farm today. There was a Terek Sandpiper & a Red Knot in the first lagoon from Beach Rd gate (later 2 Red Knot on the beach), 3 Baillons Crake & 1 Glossy Ibis at T-section, 6 Golden Plover roosting at Kirk Pt, 16 Ruddy Turnstone on 280 South Rd & 1 Blue-winged Parrot opposite the hide. 89 species for the day. Brian Johnston
	Dollarbird Rutherglen Dollarbird (1) first return this spring, over Cornishtown Rd near Rutherglen. Michael Ramsey - Bronzewing Birding Services
	Australian Koel Quarry Hill, Bendigo Early morning visit to sight the Eastern Koel. It has changed locations but residents wish it would find a mate! Australian Koel (1) Calling from a cypress pine tree in suburban Bendigo, a couple of blocks east of Peel street. Hedley and Irena Earl
Fri 11 Oct	Brown Gerygone, Satin Flycatcher Yarra Ranges National Park (Badger Weir Park) Early morning visit with Joe and Sylvia from California. Calm and cool. 2 Brown Gerygone were seen mid-canopy on edge of picnic area, and a Satin Flycatcher pair has returned to the same territory as last year; just inside entrance gate to reserve. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
Fri 11 Oct	Rainbow Bee-eater Woodlands Historic Park (Greenvale) Single bird flying overhead in open area near Somerton rd entrance. White-winged Triller and Little Lorikeet also observed. Scott Baker and Maria Valencia
	Cockatiel Castlemaine Single bird in an elm tree near the school crossing at the intersection of Johnstone St and the Castlemaine Maldon Rd. My thoughts were a young escape. Was constantly calling which drew my attention to it in the first place. Greg McKay
	Cockatiel DEPI Hamilton offices, 10 km s of Hamilton One Cockatiel noisily circling the buildings for a few laps before heading off to a nearby eucalypt plantation. Natural plumage but could be an escapee. Not normally found this far south. -37.821216 142.065307 Steve Clark
	Red-Whiskered Bulbul Clifton Springs, Bellarine Peninsula Neil and Peter Hickman per Tom Fletcher / Tim Dolby
Thu 10 Oct	Blue-winged Parrot, Tawny Frogmouth, Nankeen Night Heron Elster Creek, Elwood A single Blue-winged Parrot was feeding in the lawn around the playground near Point Ormond hill this species is rarely seen on the ground in the area (first time for me). A Nankeen Night Heron has returned to the usual spring to autumn White Poplar roost on the canal near Broadway St just in time for the Short-finned Eel migration. Found an active Tawny Frogmouth nest about three metres above the bicycle track beside the canal. Unfortunately a Black-faced Cuckoo Shrike nest nearby was lost in the storm a couple of weeks ago. Gio Fitzpatrick
	Black Kite Becks Rd, Drysdale At 1520hrs at the Drysdale Resourse Centre there was 11 Black Kites, 3 Whistling Kites and 1 Little Eagle Peter Bright
	Leaden Flycatcher Moorabbin Railway Station Male, sallying from a eucalypt on the verge of Nepean Highway near station, calling incessantly. Bird was harassed by White-plumed Honeyeaters (Moderator's note: quite an unusual location, perhaps overshot on migration). Lewis Hiller
	Caspian Tern, Brown Songlark Karkarook Park Caspian Tern (1) On sandbar near birdhide, with Silver Gulls and Great Cormorant. Only the 2nd Eremaea record here, previous August 2011. Brown Songlark (1) Male David Fleming
Wed 9 Oct	Masked Woodswallow & White-browed Woodswallow Warrandyte State Park At approximately 10:45 am 6 White-browed Woodswallows, accompanied by a single Masked Woodswallow, passed high overhead, cruising on the thermals Tim Nickholds
Wed 9 Oct	White-browed Woodswallow, Dusky Woodswallow, Yellow-tufted Honeyeater Brisbane Ranges National Park Birds, including at least three White-browed Woodswallows, seen in dead saplings in swamp off Stieglitz Road, east Durdidwarrah, near reservoir. Tom Fletcher, Hugo Phillipps
	White-browed Woodswallow Viewbank Flock of 60+ drifted west at ~1600, calling. Richard Loyn
	Channel-billed Cuckoo Wilson Botanic Park (Berwick) Observed flying east over valley at northern end of park above Lake & Bird hide from big Pines on western side being chased by Little Ravens. Shortly after heard calling & seen exiting tree's on eastern ridge heading in a southerly direction. Brendan McDonald & James Mustafa
	Channel-billed Cuckoo Wilson Botanic Park (Berwick) Went after the Channel-billed Cuckoo this morning after the report on BirdLine and to great success! Channel-billed Cuckoo (1) One massive bird seen flying over the lake furthest away from the car park being harassed by Little Raven's. It dived into the eucalypt on the opposite ridge, before we heard it calling again within the trees. James Mustafa (3042)
	Australian Koel Clematis Heard calling at 6.30 this morning. First record for our property (been here 331/2 years) Arthur Carew
Tue 8 Oct	Sooty Owl, Powerful Owl, Australian Owlet-Nightjar Bunyip State Park Spotlighting trip with James, Tim & Hanna from Sydney. Visited Helipad initially to see if White-throated Nightjar have returned from migration; none were seen or heard so possibly not back just yet. Stopped at one point along Link Track we heard a Sooty Owl call once a long distance away at around 2100hrs, after which we then concentrated on spotting a close Aus.Owlet-nightjar. After 20 minutes we saw a silhouette fly in and land on a branch not 10m metres away. Illumination of the bird revealed it to be none other than a Sooty Owl that quietly watched us for a full 3 minutes before gliding off again. We saw it again 5 minutes later a little further down the track stalking a vocal Sugar Glider. Again we had long and uninterrupted views. I've never witnessed such a calm and confiding Sooty Owl; at no point did this bird call. Also in this location we heard male & female heard Powerful Owl calling from some distance away, and 2 Australian Owlet-Nightjar uttering single and double-note contact calls at interval. As per usual they didn't come close enough for a viewing. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
Tue 8 Oct	Oriental Plover Point Norman - Inverloch Victoria A solo bird resting quietly on one of the areas Hooded Plover territories at the entrance to Anderson's Inlet, Inverloch South Eastern Victoria. Photo taken 3.33pm on 8.10.13. It had been in the locality for around 5 days. Could not find it on 11.10.13 Stephen Johnson
	Channel-billed Cuckoo Berwick I also saw the cuckoo at approx.10.30 a.m, being chased by ravens calling and flying east over Berwick High Street (away from Wilsons Botanical Park).This is the 5th consecutive year in a row that I have recorded them in this area. Graham Beal
	Channel-billed Cuckoo Wilson Botanic Park (Berwick) Single bird heard calling from deciduous trees along entrance drive. Sighted high up tree getting some attention from Ravens. James Peake
	Ruddy Turnstone Ricketts Point, Beaumaris Presumably the same bird as reported Sunday. Looks like it is still predominantly in breeding plumage. Sean Dooley
Mon 7 Oct	Cape Gannet Point Danger Portland At about 1200 a male Cape Gannet seen mating with an Australian Gannet at left hand edge of colony. During and after mating both birds spent time re-arranging seaweed in nest scrape. Jenny Spry
	Olive Whistler Livingstone's Island & Glenelg Estuary Three birds calling and seen along first 500 metres of the Livingstone's Island Nature Walk, south of Nelson. Jenny Spry
	Grey Goshawk Portland cnr Henty Hwy and Caledonian Hill Rd White morph bird chasing a small flock of corella from pine trees at the intersection Jenny Spry
	Baillon's Crake Western Treatment Plant, Werribee At least 8 Baillon's Crakes were present at Pond 4, T-Section Lagoons on Monday - possibly more (life-time high for me). Also a single Australian Spotted Crake and a single Black-tailed Native Hen at the same location. Elsewhere at the WTP a single Caspian Tern was the best of the rest. Richard Nowotny with John Van Der Woude & Nollie Marissen (Netherlands)
	Striated Grasswren, Mallefowl, Chestnut Quail-thrush Murray Sunset National Park. Five separate sightings of Mallefowl along Meridian and Honeymoon Hut tracks. Eight separate sightings of CQT and our very first photo of the elusive grasswren. hedley and Irena Earl
	Australian Wood Duck Elkington Rd, Bellbrae Near Great Ocean Rd. Pair protecting and shepherding at least 18 very small ducklings through grassy paddock on the edge of woodland. Usual clutch 9-11 (Pizzey & Knight 9th edition). HANZAB records that large broods (17, 18) result from dump-laying. Extraordinary! Barry Lingham, Craig Morley
	Australian Koel Quarry Hill (Bendigo) He's back. Hopefully not to stay for 3 months again with that incesant calling. Especially iof he adopts last years habits of starting at about 2.00am. Male Koel heard calling form Fig tree Peel Street near Quarry Hill Primary School 7.15am this morning. Greg and Janice McKay
	Ruddy Turnstone Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Flock of 11 on 260S road through old lagoons, ~1 km inland from Little River estuary. Whiskered Terns and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers etc also resting on the road. Richard Loyn, Will Steele
	Eastern Koel Peel Street, Quarry Hill Koel calling from the Moreton Bay Fig in Peel St, near the Harkness St roundabout; same place as the last 3-4 years. Alistair Stewart
Sun 6 Oct	Brolga 40 k east of Portland on the Portland-Nelson Rd 1 solitary Brolga seen flying west over pine forests at around 6.30 PM. Unusual to see one in this kind of habitat. Didn't seem much good habitat around, although there are some swamps near the coast. Kevin Bartram, Scott Baker
	Flesh-footed Shearwater, White-chinned Petrel, Southern and Northern Giant-Petrels BirdLife Victoria Portland Pelagic 10 Flesh-footed Shearwaters along with a White-chinned Petrel and several Southern and Northern Giant-Petrels on a serviceable pelagic trip. Chris Lester, Paul Dodd et al
Sat 5 Oct	Caspian Tern Monash Freeway, near Officer South Didn't report this earlier but wondered if could be the same bird seen at Karkarook that was perhaps making its way there, or blown off-course inland by the wind earlier this week. Seen just over the top of my car as I cruised along the freeway. It went northwest as I headed east. Huge, with red-orange bill and unmistakable. Claire & Eva Wolinski
	Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo Nangeela State Forest About 50 Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo, well inside Nangeela State Forest in an area abutting an open area. Seen feeding on Brown Stringybark nuts. Kevin Bartram, Scott Baker
	Pied Currawong (race ashbyi) Great Otway National Park (Blanket Bay) Small numbers of birds answering the description of this subspecies were all around the camping ground. They were quite variable in shade and extent of white in wings and tail but trended strongly to overall darker birds. I assumed at first that they were the dark plumaged Grey Currawong subsp melanoptera only to be proven wrong by the call. This confusion is also likely in the Lower Glenelg area where dark forms of both species occur. George Appleby
Thu 3 Oct	Brolga Race track on Remembrance Drive, Ballarat Drove past again on the 6/10/13 and the the brolgas weren't there anymore. Brolga (2) Pair observed from the road Jordan de Jong
Thu 19 Sep	Diamond Firetail Broken Boosey State Park 2 Diamond Firetails seen along the Nine Mile Creek close to the old homestead Brookfield Catarina Gregson

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