Hi everyone
I had a very quick look at Belmont Common (Geelong, Vic) today on the way home
from work, mainly hoping to see the Spotless Crake. I've seen them here a few
years ago but it's a rather nice species to get on the yearlist in January.
The bird impressed me greatly by appearing briefly on the mud in front of the
hide about a minute after I had arrived!
Other obliging birds inlcluded a Latham's Snipe over on the right hand side,
just under the roadway, quite oblivious to everything about it, and a
Black-fronted Dotterel that flew a few laps of the area in front of the hide
before landing right in front. A Purple Swamphen tried to chase it off with
some energetic wing-flapping, but the dotterel kept returning. Why would a big
fat swamphen worry about something as small (relatively) as a dotterel???
I was only in the hide for 5 or 6 minutes today but I recorded almost as many
species as I have on any 20-minute atlas session here. The most unusual thing
was the number of passerines in front of the hide: Red-browed Finches,
White-fronted Chats, Superb Fairy-Wrens and at least 5 or 6 Wagtails (sadly,
just Willies). I didn't notice an unusual number of insects - perhaps they'd
all just been eaten.
Sorry this is about common birds and probably only of interest to Geelong
locals, but I love the way a well-known spot can throw up surprises. This spot
is always worth stopping at.
Russell
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