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Yesterday morning (30th September) I dropped
into the small yet amazingly productive wetland at Moonstone Walk, Bundoora
(just near Latrobe University). This was the site where many birders saw Little
Bittern last Summer. Before even getting out of the car an adult female Little
Bittern flew across between reed beds. Although delighted to see it, after
chasing this bird around Australia for most of last year, there was
something rather galling to get it within fifteen kilometres of my
Melbourne home.
I don't know if anyone else has seen this
species at this site yet this season, but it does seem fairly early,
especially South of the Divide. I always associate dipping on Little Bitterns
that other people have seen as a height of Summer activity. Perhaps other
wetland migrants such as Baillon's Crakes are similarly beginning to reappear in
their more southerly haunts?
Speaking of migrants, I too have wondered about
how much of a migrant Western Gerygone actually is. I always assumed so. This
year at Chiltern for instance, Western Gerygones seemed to materialize on
September 13. (They hadn't been calling the day before.) But in 2001 I had a
record of a non-singing bird on July 31st. And earlier this year (July 5th) I
had a fleeting view of what was probably this species at Newstead near
Castlemaine, and on the 7th of July 1996 I found another silent Western Gerygone
at Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve on the South Eastern fringes of Melbourne,
a good two hundred or so kilometres south of their usual Summer range. I
still expect that most do move north in Winter but it seems that at least
sometimes, some birds remain and are just inconspicuous when not
calling.
Sean Dooley
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