Hi all
Thanks once again to all those who supplied me with
places to go birding on my recent trip to Melbourne.
Apart from successfully finding Rufous Bristlebirds
( 8 seen ), the other 5 target species eluded me. I should have taken up the
very kind offer from Shirley Cameron to tag along on an outing to Werribee but
hindsight is a wonderful thing. I did catch up with some Blue-winged
Parrots in Tasmania ( and that's another story ).
Despite hunting around some suburbs of Geelong and
the wharf area of Queenscliff I failed to find any of my" feral targets" i.e.
Songthrush, Treesparrow and Greenfinch. I think I saw every other feral
imaginable. A spectacular highlight was seeing several hundred Banded Stilt
on the Cheltenham (sp?) Salt Works, a bird I have only seen once
before.
In near perfect conditions and timing I saw my
first 4 Rufous Bristlebirds at Point Addis around 5.30 to 7 P.M.
Nobody else was around and the wind was light. The
best views were of a bird near the Toilet Block.
Next morning, 7.30 A.M. I visited the coastal
health accessed via Hopkins Street, just before Airey's Inlet. ( Thanks
Peter Fuller ) and saw a further 4 Rufous Bristlebirds here, including one on
the road outside the houses at the end of the
street .
Also thanks to David Torr for information, I met
David later that next week on a pelagic trip from Eaglehawk Neck.
Tassie trip highlights to follow
Cheers
Dick Jenkin
DUNGOG NSW
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