Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 2 Mar 2014.

Sun 2 Mar	Red-backed Kingfisher Murray Valley Highway between Rutherglen and Yarrawonga Single bird seen perched and then in flight along the Murray Valley Highway between Rutherglen and Yarrawonga near the turnoff to East Peecheelba Tim Bawden
	Square-tailed Kite Trentham Railway Station One bird circling around near tree rows to the north of the old railway station in Trentham, c11am. Regular in Trentham/Blackwood area, but not common. Lawrie Conole
Sat 1 Mar	Beach Stone-curlew Motts Beach, Marlo The Beach SC was on the inlet at 1930 hrs directly below the viewing platform from the Conran road just past the Motts Beach carpark. Very flighty and soon flew west toward the river mouth. Managed a shot. Steve Davidson
	Pilotbird, Cicadabird, Spotted Quail-thrush Mt Samaria State Park Pilotbird heard then seen in thick understorey by the Mt Samaria Rd near the summit. I have visited Mt Samaria many times and this is my first record of this species here. Cicadabird also heard calling, somewhat late now. Great views of a female Spotted Quail-thrush as well by the road up to the summit. Michael Ramsey
Fri 28 Feb	Cape Barren Geese Mornington East A pair of Cape Barren Geese feeding in a farm paddock located in the NW corner of the Bungower Road - Moorooduc Road intersection. The dam in this paddock is always worth observing as it also attracts Magpie Geese at times. First time that we've observed Cape Barren Geese at this location. Keith & Judy Humphreys
	Ground Parrot Frenches Narrows, Marlo I flushed from edge of reeds/samphire. Alex Kutt via Lawrie Conole
	Beach Stone-curlew Frenches Narrows, Marlo One BST observed this afternoon by extremely experienced observer. Alex Kutt via Lawrie Conole
Thu 27 Feb	Grey Fantails Sorrento A large number of Grey Fantails were in my garden for a short time. As I live 650 metres from Bass Strait I assume they had just arrived from Tasmania. Val Ford
	American Golden Plover Point Cook homestead Single American Golden Plover in company with two Pacific Golden Plovers around 3:30 pm (ie, fours after high tide on westernmost rocks past the homestead. thanks Paul D and Ruth W) Dave Dickson
	Fairy Prion(dead), Double-banded Plover Black Rock Reserve, Barwon Heads 1 beachwashed Fairy Prion, 1 Double-Banded Plover. Also 1 Ruddy Turnstone and 30 Golden Plover on the rocks and beach Angus Hartshorn, Colin Foreman
	Pectoral Sandpiper, Broad-billed Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee A good day at WTP. Located a single Pectoral Sandpiper in the easternmost of the Western Lagoons, which only has a small pool of water remaining. Searched for a considerable time in T-section lagoons, but no Pectorals or a Ruff. However, plenty of Marsh Sandpipers and Greenshanks and some nicely coloured Curlew Sandpipers. Also found a single Broad-billed Sandpiper roosting with Red-necked Stints just inside Gate 2. Several non-breeding Double-banded Plovers and one coming into breeding plumage seen in both T-section and Western Lagoons. Ian Miles, John Hill, Graeme Wood (photo)
	Double-banded Plover Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Single bird seen on Western Lagoons. A number of Red-capped Plovers were also present Richard Arnold
	Great Knot, Red knot, Ruff and Double-banded Plover Western Treatment Plant, Werribee T-Section Lagoons, middle pond With the company of several keen birders we managed to sort out 2 or 3 Great Knots with their larger bodies and longer bills from the Red Knots and other roosting waders in the middle pond. The Ruff was feeding for the most part in the same pond. A couple of DBPs feeding on the muddy fringes. Hedley Earl
	Asian Gull-billed Tern Stockyard Point, Westernport Bay As reported by Tim last weekend there is an Asian Gull-billed Tern (race affinis) consorting with a large group of regular GBT (race macrotarsa) at Stockyard Pt. The bird was seen again this morning with 73 Gull-billed Tern on a rising tide. Smaller size and finer bill are obvious when compared to other GBT. Also there were 166 Far Eastern Curlew, a Whimbrel, 55 Aus. Pied Oystercatcher and 5 Caspian Tern. As I was walking back I also flushed a Lewin's Rail from under a lone mangrove out on the mud. Steve Davidson
Wed 26 Feb	Scarlet Honeyeater Mt Lonarch (between Beaufort & Amphitheatre), private property. Two female or juvenile Scarlet Honeyeaters feeding on two successive days in flowering Drooping Mistletoe on Yellow Box, with other honeyeaters. Frequent 'squeaking' calls. Ann and Bruce McGregor
	American Golden-Plover Point Cook Coastal Park Following up previous sightings and tips from other birders we found the bird on the rocks in the coastal park close to the homestead. First observed on its own, we flushed it to the further western rocks where it joined a group of 20+ pacific golden plovers. Very average iPhone scoped photo attached. James Mustafa, Owen Lishmund
Tue 25 Feb	Black Honeyeater Wirrate, west of Nagambie, Vic Two males observed sallying for insects from atop a tall dead tree in the warm evening stillness. Follows on from my sighting of two females two days earlier Manfred Ruff
	Wood Sandpiper Braeside Park Located late this evening feeding with Sharp-tailed Sandpipers. Viewed from platform on southern ponds along Governor Rd side. Mel Mitchell & Joy Sanderson
	Common Sandpiper Racecourse Rd crossing of Kororoit Creek, Altona In my experience Common Sandpiper has become a most uncommon species in the Melbourne area, This being my first sighting for some years. (This is a regular and well know spot for this species in Melbourne but we published it to inform the biridng community it is still at this locaton). Richard Nowotny
	Freckled Duck Kennington Reservoir, Bendigo 52 Freckled Ducks sighted this morning at 8:30. Phil Robertson and Richard Hodgson
Mon 24 Feb	White-throated Needletail North of Benambra Close to one hundred heading NW. Steve Berry
	Rufous Fantail Lower Glenelg National Park (Moleside) A short walk into the forest from picnic area at Moleside provided a good 30mins of superb fantail watching. It was heard calling first, sounding very much like the alarm call of New Holland HE but on return to camp shelter we were rewarded with excellent views of a Rufous Fantail. Samantha & Marlene Greiner
Sun 23 Feb	Grey Teal Winton Wetlands Though not a rare species approximately 10,000 were seen in long lines hundreds of metres long in the drying Winton Swamp. Michael Ramsey
	Black-faced Monarch Burnt Bridge, on Toorloo Arm near Lake Tyers A group of four birds, including at least one juvenile being fed by an adult. Ian & Jill Wilson
	Black Honeyeater Wirrate (west of Nagambie) Female bird observed on two separate occasions on same day feeding on flowering Mistletoe in Ironbarks Manfred Ruff
	Pectoral Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee After having dipped a few times in the past ten days, big thanks to the gent with Kev yesterday - Scott Baker(?) for calling me over to finally get my eyes on a Pectoral Sandpiper! Michael Gooch
	Pectoral Sandpiper (6) Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Obviously lots of Pecs around! We found 6 birds around the farm: 2 at Western Conservation Ponds, 1 at Paradise Rd feeding in the flooded grass next to the road, 1 at Beach Rd Lagoon, & 2 at T-section Lagoons, one in the middle pond next to the road & the other on the end pond which overlooks the saltmarsh. Also Brown & Stubble Quail on the track between the T-Section ponds & the 29 Mile Rd, a few dark morph Arctic Jaegers chasing gulls at the eastern end of the farm & Beach Rd area, 5 Brolgas, 1 Black-tailed Godwit in 85W pond & 1 juvenile Peregrine in same area. Plenty of White-winged Black Terns around. Kevin Bartram, Scott Baker, Merv Marsh
	Beach Stone-curlew Point Franklin, Otways Rock platform between Pt Franklin and Parker River inlet. 1 individual seen. Sighted at around 9 am. Michele Kohout
	Banded Lapwing Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Although not uncommon at WTP, it was great to see 19 Banded Lapwings together at Western Lagoons. I have never seen them here before and were showing very close views. They were located on the right hand side as you enter the gate(the short road in the middle of the ponds, not the one that goes by the fence line). Bernie OKeefe and Glen Pacey
Sat 22 Feb	Black Kite Drysdale Resource Recovery Centre Took a load of rubbish to the tip, while unloading I noticed a large number of Black Kites flying around. I counted 23, but sure there was more in another area not open to the public. Peter Bright
	Gull-billed Tern, Far Eastern Curlew, Whimbrel Stockyard Point, Westernport Bay Although a regular site for these species, reported for significant Victorian numbers. 42 Far Eastern Curlew came in on a rising tide. At least 60 Gull-billed Tern in breeding plumage aside from a single non-breeding bird that was noticeably smaller and finer with just a small smudge behind the eye - be worth a followup as possibly race affinis Tim Bawden
Wed 19 Feb	Erect-crested Penguin The Skerries, East Gippsland Single bird observed on the rocks within the seal colony. A single Little Penguin also observed. Tony Mitchell

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

_______________________________________________
Birding-Aus mailing list

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org