I recently shelled out for a Kowa TS-501 scope (55mm, 20-40x zoom), and
today was the first opportunity to try it out on something other than
backyard mynas and turtledoves! I'll mail something of a review of the
scope e-mail from Birding-Aus & comments on the TS-501 at a later date.
To the birding:
It was a beautiful day - sunny but only in the low 20sC. I quickly
visited a range of sites around my old home town of Geelong, about an
hour west of Melbourne. In order these were Avalon Beach (adjacent on
the west side to Werribee sewage farm); Moolap saltworks & Point Henry;
Reedy Lake - Moolap Station Road access; Lake Lorne (Drysdale); Point
Lonsdale lighthouse; Lake Victoria (Lonsdale Lakes wildlife reserve);
Freshwater Lake (Lonsdale Lakes WR); Reedy Lake - Hospital Swamp area.
The scope performed well, and I saw quite a few good birds. Undoubted
highlights were - 1 Ruff at Avalon, 1 (possibly 2) Little Bitterns
calling at Moolap Station Road, an Arctic Jaeger hassling Crested Terns
at Point Lonsdale, and a tight flock of about 50 Banded Stilts at Moolap
saltworks.
To display the following table with columns aligned, use a fixed font
such as Courier (or Courier New), about 10 point.
DRYS FRESHWA HENRY HOSPITA
LONLAKE LONLIG MOOLSTA Total
Blue-billed Duck - - -
- - - - -
Musk Duck - - -
- - - - -
Black Swan - - -
- - - - -
Australian Shelduck - - -
- - - - -
Australian Wood Duck - - -
- - - - -
Grey Teal - - -
- - - - -
Chestnut Teal - - -
- - - - -
Pacific Black Duck - - -
- - - - -
Hardhead - - -
- - - - -
Australasian Grebe - - -
- - - - -
Hoary-headed Grebe - - -
- - - - -
Great Crested Grebe - - -
- - - - -
Fluttering Shearwater - - -
- - 2 - 2
Australasian Gannet - - -
- - - - -
Darter - - -
- - - - -
Black-faced Cormorant - - -
- - 1 - 1
Pied Cormorant - - -
- - - - -
Little Black Cormorant - - -
- - - - -
Australian Pelican - - -
- - - - -
White-faced Heron - - -
- - - - -
Little Egret - - -
- - - - -
Great Egret - - -
- - - 20 20
Little Bittern - - -
- - - 2 2
Glossy Ibis - - -
2 - - - 2
Australian White Ibis - - -
- - - - -
Straw-necked Ibis - - -
- - - - -
Royal Spoonbill - - -
20 - - 10 30
Yellow-billed Spoonbill - - -
1 - - - 1
Whistling Kite - - -
- - - - -
Swamp Harrier - - -
- - - - -
Brown Goshawk - - -
- - - - -
Australian Hobby - - -
- 1 - - 1
Purple Swamphen - - -
- - - - -
Dusky Moorhen - - -
- - - - -
Eurasian Coot - - -
- - - - -
Marsh Sandpiper - - -
- - - - -
Common Greenshank - - -
30 - - - 30
Red-necked Stint - - -
- - - - -
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - - -
500 - - - 500
Curlew Sandpiper - - -
50 - - - 50
Black-winged Stilt - - 20
200 - - - 220
Banded Stilt - - 50
- - - - 50
Red-necked Avocet - - 20
- - - - 20
Red-capped Plover - - -
- - - - -
Masked Lapwing - - -
- - - - -
Arctic Jaeger - - -
- - 1 - 1
Pacific Gull - - -
- - - - -
Silver Gull - - -
- - - - -
Caspian Tern - - -
- - - - -
Crested Tern - - -
- - - - -
Spotted Turtle-Dove - - -
- - - - -
Galah - - -
- - - - -
Eastern Rosella
- - -
- - - - -
Superb Fairy-wren - - -
- - - - -
Striated Fieldwren - - -
- - - - -
Brown Thornbill - - -
- - - - -
Yellow-rumped Thornbill - - -
- - - - -
Singing Honeyeater - - -
- - - - -
White-plumed Honeyeater - - -
- - - - -
New Holland Honeyeater - - -
- - - - -
Noisy Miner - - -
- - - - -
Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater - - -
- - - - -
Red Wattlebird - - -
- - - - -
White-fronted Chat - - -
- - - - -
Magpie-lark - - -
- - - - -
Willie Wagtail - - -
- - - - -
Grey Butcherbird - - -
- - - - -
Australian Magpie - - -
- - - - -
Little Raven - - -
- - - - -
Richard's Pipit - - -
- - - - -
House Sparrow - - -
- - - - -
Red-browed Finch - - -
- - - - -
European Greenfinch - - -
- - - - -
European Goldfinch - - -
- - - - -
Golden-headed Cisticola - - -
- - - - -
Common Blackbird - - -
- - - - -
Common Starling - - -
- - - - -
Common Myna - - -
- - - - -
#Surv 1 1 1
1 1 1 1 7
#Area - - 1
1 - - - 2
Column legend:
1 DRYS Lake Lorne & The Basin, Drysdale, Victoria.
2 FRESHWA Lonsdale Lakes WR, Freshwater Lake, Victoria.
3 HENRY Point Henry, Victoria.
4 HOSPITA Reedy Lake, Hospital Swamp, Victoria.
5 LONLAKE Lonsdale Lakes WR, Lake Victoria, Victoria.
6 LONLIG Point Lonsdale lighthouse, Victoria
7 MOOLSTA Reedy Lake, Moolap Station Road, Victoria.
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