Steve I think some of our Cattle egrets (Geelong about 80km sw of
Melbourne) didn't go away this year!
On 2 Jan I saw 4 along Coppard's Road near Reedy Lake. 3 were in breeding
plumage
I next went along there on 26 Jan when there were 26 of which at least 6
were in breeding plumage. By then other people were also reporting them at
Belmont Common.
None seem to have wing tags
(All these places are essentially suburban Geelong)
Noone has reported finding any breeding in the district - which would be a
huge news item -in fact it's not easy to think of a suitable place
When I reported mine at the bird club someone else said he had seen some
around Christmas. We did not see any on the BOC challenge count on the
first weekend in Dec.
According to the Atlas they bred near Cororooke in 1943 and on the Murray
in 1974; maybe they bred in the south again. But where?
Margaret
At 04:09 PM 23/03/98 -0500, you wrote:
>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
>
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------
>Stephen Clark
>Agriculture Victoria, Pastoral & Veterinary Institute
>Private Bag 105 HAMILTON 3300 Australia
>Phone 0355 730 977 Fax 0355 711 523
>
>------------------------------------------------
>
>
Margaret Cameron 03 5229 9792
4 Connor Street
East Geelong
Victoria 3219
Australia
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