G'day all
The first Cattle Egret for the year was seen flying over the Hamilton
business district today. I've been monitoring their arrival since 1986
and have 11 arrival dates (2 years missed). The mean date is 29th March
and the range is 15th March to 19th April. Today was the third time the
arrival date was 23rd March. In Hamilton the cattle egrets spend most of
the day with cattle along the Grange Burn in the vicinity of the Portland
Road bridge. From one or two they build up to ~100 by September and are
mostly gone by October. I've never seen banded or otherwise marked birds
so don't know where they come from.
How about other reports of Cattle Egrets arriving in southern Victoria?
Rainbow Lorikeets are present in small flocks around town at present.
They are rarely seen in town but are quite common in the Grampians 30km
north. Apart from the current birds I have only seen them in town once
before - a dozen or so in Feb 1994. We commonly get Purple-crowned and
Musk and occasionally Little at this time of the year.
[At the risk of upsetting some folk...I saw three Avocets at Lake
Linlithgow yesterday - surely one of the world's most beautiful species]
Cheers
Steve
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Stephen Clark
Agriculture Victoria, Pastoral & Veterinary Institute
Private Bag 105 HAMILTON 3300 Australia
Phone 0355 730 977 Fax 0355 711 523
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