Happy holidays to you all...HereUs the trip report in several parts for
my wanderings around Victoria. Some of you may know me my alias I use on
the internet, Peregrine. This of course is my favorite falcon, but it
originally meant RtravelerS or Rwanderer.S It occurred to me several
times during my travels that I have lived up to this name recently
because, as you will soon see, my trip follows no particular rhyme,
reason, or vaguely logical progression. People with more reliable
transportation than I had would certainly find a more efficient order to
this excursion. However, backpacking is an adventure and things almost
never come out quite the way you planned them, and birding makes things
even more interesting (real backpackers wouldnUt carry all these heavy
things like field guides and spotting scopes around.)
In any case, I arrived in Melbourne from Sydney on November 29th,
and spent the day recovering from the train ride by wandering around the
city. I stayed in the Nunnery hostel, which turned out to be very nice,
centrally located near useful tram lines, and the people there were very
friendly. A bit more expensive then the others, but worth it. I visited
the zoo to see the Great Flight Aviary. There are of course quite a lot
of native birds in there, the best of which were the Blue-faced
Honeyeaters. I was reminded why I donUt really like to see animals in
cages in zoos. However, the nests and baby animals reminded me perhaps
zoos do provide some benefit to wildlife through captive breeding
programs, so I enjoyed the Butterfly House the most before returning to
the hostel to plan my next two weeks.
Sat, 30 Nov. Phillip Island Penguins
I have mixed reviews of the Penguin Parade. On one hand, since
it is the second biggest natural tourist attraction in Australia besides
Uluru (supposedly, what about the reef?) it is really very touristy. On
the other hand, think that for an American the penguins were worth seeing
anyway. I had been told that if I was ever planning to go to Kangaroo
Island, I should see the penguins there instead. Well, with no trips to
Kangaroo Island planned for anything resembling the near future,
curiosity won out, and I signed up with Autopia Tours for a trip out to
see the Penguins. It was in fact very touristy, the tour involving a
trip to a small wildlife park (photo opportunity with kangaroos
basically). Flying over the park were some interesting large birds which
I was convinced were hawks of some sort, but on closer inspection turned
out to be Pacific Gulls. Much larger than the Silver Gulls which I have
grown accustomed to seeing, and with a black band on their tail. Also
the usual Australian Magpies and Noisy Miners. All of the magpies IUll
see on this trip are the leuconta race...where geographically do these
change to race tibicen? But I digress...
The tour then goes to the PI Koala Sanctuary, which I found to be
more informative and worthwhile than the first park. In the wooded area
were a number of birds including my first Striated Pardalote, Superb
Fairy-wrens, Gray Shrike-thrush, Golden Whistler, and Eastern Rosellas.
One of the ponds nearby held a few Pacific Black Ducks, Dusky Moorhens,
and a White-faced Heron. A trip out to the Nobbies to see the big surf
on the rocks was nice, although I wished we could have had more time
there (you never get enough time on tours, really) because I was enjoying
the antics of the resident gulls. I checked for seabirds, but it was so
windy and hazy and the light so bad that we couldnUt even see the fur
seals on the rocks just offshore as anything more than smooth shiny
lumps.
The Penguin Parade is designed to accommodate as many people as
possible, but the information center is well done, and they seem adamant
about preventing disturbance to the birds. Fortunately we didnUt have to
go sit on the giant concrete grandstand. They have built a boardwalk
which leads off to a side viewing area which can comfortably hold about
50 people. Most of the penguins actually come out of the water out of
view of the floodlights and people and walk up the beach, past the
boardwalk and up the hill to their burrows. So, if you go down the
boardwalk you avoid the crowds of people, and you can follow the
penguins almost from the water to their nests. You canUt help but think
how hardy these birds must be to tolerate all these people every night.
In addition to the Penguins, Short-tailed Shearwaters nest in the same
area, and these can be seen flying around in the dark.
Sun. 1 Dec. Great Ocean Road
Another tour. But this one was much better for wild mammals than
the day before. We had wild Koalas, 5 echidnas and gray kangaroos.
Birds were scarce otherwise, except for an Australian Kestrel, and a
Singing Honeyeater near the 12 Apostles site. Otherwise it was pouring
down rain all day and not much was out and about. I wish I was with the
geology class that was learning about the shoreline, since I was
interested in it, but never got a satisfactory story from the plaques
they put up in explanation. As it turns out, the smell of the Werribee
Sewage Farm on the way home would be as close as I would ever get to it.
Mon. 2 Dec. Phillip Island Peregrine Falcons?
Went with Victor Hurley of the RAOU as a volunteer for the
Peregrine Falcon project. Unfortunately the nest on Phillip Island we
checked on had failed, he thinks because of a landslide. So, no falcons
about. In the field where we visited, my first White-faced Chats and
Skylarks, as well as a Black Kite and a Swamp Harrier.
Tue. 3 Dec. Toolangi, Kingslake SP
Today, rented a car. after getting thoroughly lost in Melbourne,
I finally made it out to Toolangi. A walk through the woods there found
Yellow Robins, Striated Thornbills, Golden Whistler, Gray Fantail and
Red-browed Treecreeper. Down the road at Kingslake State Park were
Yellow-faced Honeyeater, Eastern Spinebill, White-browed Scrubwren,
Superb Lyre-bird and other typical woodland birds like Yellow Robin and
Kookaburra. The habitat here ranges from dry forest down to rainforest
in the gullies. There were two echidnas rummaging around next to the
path, nearsighted as a skunk. I donUt know how commonly theses are seen,
but I find them wonderful animals. They quickly burrow into the loose
soil when they notice I am there, but they seem to be very short sighted
and donUt notice me if I stand still, even though I am only a few feet
away. The lyrebirds were not especially cooperative, and although I
did spot one from the scratching noises it was making, it stayed well
concealed and never came out for a good view. Lots of interesting plants
in this area, including some large grasstrees.
continued.....
Katie Bertsche
Katie Bertsche .........If you're too busy to go birding, you're too busy.
http://www.bowdoin.edu/~kbertsch
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