Jen Spry and I decided to chase a few birds at Werribee today that had been
proving unusually elusive for our year lists.
It was a beautiful crisp winters day and the first highlight was a group of 5
Blue-winged Parrots between Paradise Rd and Little river ford. They were very
obliging, sitting on the fence and allowing scope views, with occasional
flights of fancy.
A long cuppa while watching the reed bed on Little River failed to turn up any
skulkers and lurkers at all. Lewins Rail remains on the missing list.
Down at the Borrow Pits, Orange-bellied Parrots were also MIA and the hopes of
a Bittern nearby were a pipedream. Still, I had increased my year list by one
(BWP) and was getting closer to catching Jen (not that we're competitive).
A slow trip out along the coast searching the rapidly disappearing rocks with
out sign of a smallish tern of any sort. Scans of a large raft of seagulls
surprised with a very large number (50+) of Great Crested Grebe hiding amongst
them.
The Brolga were missing from the dry saltmarch on the Point Wilson Rd but 3
were a delight at the T-section lagoons, adding to both our year lists.
In to the Spit area. No OBP's. The Sooty Oystercatcher was still present but no
Egret of any description. One Spotted Crake swimming on the rising waters, but
it was too deep for Lewins Rail.
Instead of giving up an going home, we decided to head once again for the
Borrow Pits in case OBP's had turned up. Running into John Barkla on the way,
we found out where the Red-necked Phalarope was currently hanging out and got
it on the day list on the way through. He was pessimistic about the OBP's as
they hadn't been seen today by anyone but kindly offerred to show the pictures
he took on Wednesday!
Approaching the Borrow Pits we decided to have one last go for a bittern and
took the extension of the Conservation Ponds track (east of the east pond). As
we drove along level with the Borrow Pits 4 Neophema flew up from the track,
coming to ground again around the bend on the western side of 95E pond. One of
the birds had very clear orange patch between its legs as it gave us a rear
view in flight. We were delighted to then spend the next half hour with our
scopes watching these beautiful OBP's feeding, running, hiding in the grass,
watching us watching them..... The only disappointment was that it was 4pm and
too dark for pictures, particularly as they were so close to the ground.
It was a fabulous way to end the day. There's nothing like a rare bird you find
yourself and then get time to enjoy.
The sun was setting behind the You Yangs, the light was fantastic and there
were several thousand Pink-eared Ducks on a deep pond on Paradise Rd to enjoy
both on the water and in flight as we took our leave. Gotta love being able to
call it your backyard!
Joy Tansey
Altona Meadows.
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