The different weather has brought in species not seen for a year or two - or
ages - in Bayside.
On Sunday Moira Longden saw a Restless Flycatcher at Table Rock, Beaumaris,
which must have come in on the warm northerly along with the hordes of Caper
White butterflies. I couldn't find the bird on Monday but two Little Ravens
were catching the butterflies.
Also on Sunday another observer recorded a Fan-tailed Cuckoo and
Yellow-faced Honeyeater at the Long Hollow Reserve. The previous Monday
(26/9) I saw a Striated Pardalote there.
Yesterday (4/10) Ian Parsons found a White-naped Honeyeater by the
Sandringham Harbour, a species which has been scarce here since 1999. I had
seen one with 4 or so Yellow-faced Honeyeaters further south on 23/9,
presumably - like the unusually high numbers of Admiral butterflies - also
part of the migration which Simon Mustoe reported from Point Nepean.
On Monday at Ricketts Point the first Common Tern of the year (what a
contrast with the 126 birds last year!) was sheltering from a brisk
northerly near where a Whiskered Tern - the first recorded in Bayside other
than flying over? - had been doing the same thing on Saturday. On 24/9 six
Pied Oystercatchers were reported in the same area, a record number for
Ricketts Point.
14/9 was a hot day with strong winds and I saw a Spotted Turtle-dove die.
It just flopped down out of a tree onto a footpath and expired. Later that
day a Fairy Prion was found beach-washed in Brighton. Another record of a
dead bird was Ian Parson's find of the head of a Barn Owl at Cheltenham Park
on 22/9. Back on 4th August he had photographed a live one in Beach Park,
Sandringham.
The rain, after the drought with its elimination of Mosquito Fish, has also
produced a huge increase in frog numbers and records from new sites.
Michael Norris
Bayside Friends of Native Wildlife
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