Also very regular between Werribee and Melton (Pinkerton Forest and
Bush's Paddock) and I have recorded then around Werribee town (but my
notes don't say exactly where!).
On 15/10/2007, Tim Dolby <> wrote:
> Hi Troy,
>
> Re the Zebra Finch at Cherry Lake (Altona). I think that these are
> possibly naturally occurring birds. In the last few months for example
> Zebra Finch has been seen at: Western Treatment Plant, 2 pairs in
> Walsh's Rd area, 02/10/2007, 7 birds at Paradise Road, 24/07/2007;
> Lerderderg Gorge: 20 birds, 24/08/2007; You Yangs, flock of 40 Zebra
> Finch, northern edge of park, along Drysdale Rd. They have also recently
> been recorded from near Melton (i.e. along the Toolern Creek) and near
> the Melbourne Airport. (Not to mention the inner city birds i.e. Merri
> Creek.)
>
> Another good bird on your list is the Gull-billed Terns at Lake Gherang.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tim Dolby
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of Troy Mutton
> Sent: Sunday, 14 October 2007 11:33 AM
> To:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Trip Report - Bellarine Peninsula, Port
> Campbell,and Altona, Victoria - 7/10 - 9/10/7
>
> Hi all,
>
> Have been in Melbourne for work for the last week, and was able to spend
> a few days before what I had to do to go birding. Picked up my hire car
> early Sunday morning 7/10 and drove around Geelong, finding a likely
> looking place at Lake Lorne. Good numbers of ducks here, with the
> highlight being 2 Freckled, 1 Blue Billed and 2 Pink eared Ducks. Also a
> Swamp Harrier harrassing a pair of Black Swans and their chicks. It
> looked like it was trying to swipe a chick, and was quite interesting to
> watch. A Brown Falcon also did a flyby. A good start to the trip. After
> I'd had my fill, I decided to head over to Barwon Heads - there wasn't
> much about, apart from hundreds of people, but I did waste a lot of time
> chasing down a Pacific Gull to get a decent photo. A few Stints and
> Red-capped Plovers on the beach, and not alot in the lake. Headed over
> to Belmont Common after that, where the highlight was a Purple Swamphen
> flushing a Latham's Snipe immediately in front of the hide! The Common
> is very full at the moment, and I'm looking forward to a return visit in
> a couple of months when it will hopefully have a bit more mud about the
> edges. Off to Hospital Swamp after that, and as it was really full, and
> getting late I just went down the public access road to see about 2000
> Black Swans, and that was about all I could easily make out on the
> water. There was a Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo calling off to the east. I
> know it was a Horsfield's as I saw the diagnostic red spot on the tail -
> just jokes. It allowed me good extended views through the scope. Good
> book by the way Mr Dooley.
>
> Next day was off to Lock Ard Gorge to try for Rufous Bristlebird, and
> despite the belting rain on the way, as I pulled the car in at the
> carpark, there was one on the edge. Great views of it with bins, but as
> soon as the camera was out, it took off. Walked around to the Arch and
> once again, as I came back to the car there was one on the path, but as
> soon as the camera was up, it disappeared. There was also a Peregrine
> Falcon and Singing Honeyeaters about at Loch Ard Gorge. Off to Lake
> Gherang to see the Brolga, which I didn't see. There were Gull-billed
> and Whiskered Terns there, some Sharpies, Curlew Sands and a couple of
> other waders that I couldn't ID, they were just a little bit too far
> away. In my mind I was turning them into all sorts of fantastic birds,
> but in all reality, they probably weren't. I suspect that there was at
> least one Pectoral Sandpiper there, and I have no idea what the other 6
> were. I digiscoped them, but very poorly, and you can't make out what
> they are.
>
> Last day saw me out at the Swan Island mudflats at about 5.30 am with
> the low tide. Birds out and about feeding included Eastern Curlew, both
> Bar-tailed and Black-tailed Godwits, Royal Spoonbill, and a possible
> Greenshank. It was a good 100 metres away, but took to bobbing its head
> in alarm when I trained the scope on it. I stooged around trying to get
> the camera out to take a digi shot of it, and by the time I was ready to
> take more (poor) photos, it was gone. Anyway - off to Point Cook to see
> the Blue-winged Parrots at Spectacle Lake, and see them I did.
> Magnificent birds. They all got scared and flew away as I drove in, and
> I was a bit disappointed to think that that was going to be my only,
> fleeting view of them, however as I walked in to the hide, they started
> to flyby and perch in nearby trees, and stayed around for the rest of
> the morning. There was a pair of White-fronted Chats near the bird-hide
> - a tick for me and one I hadn't even thought about before going there,
> and inside the hide, on the right hand slot under the swallow nest, a
> Black-tailed Native-Hen put in a show. There wasn't much else going on
> at the hide, so I headed off to Cheetham Wetlands. On the circuit there
> were Rufous Songlark, Singing Honeyeater, a Striated Fieldwren, and a
> pair of heart-attack inducing Brown Quail. It had been so peaceful just
> walking along listening to the birds that the explosion of them flushing
> nearly killed me. At the tower were 3 Pallid Cuckoos, and lots of
> Whiskered Terns feeding. There was also a huge flock of waders that got
> up and did a circuit, but they were too far away to ID.
>
> Off to Altona after that. There was around 30 Whiskered Terns at the
> creek mouth at the southern end of Apex Park (I don't know the name of
> the creek though!), 3 Pacific Gulls, 10 Royal Spoonbills and 3 Little
> Egrets, among the Crested Terns and Silver Gulls. Also saw a Spotted
> Pardalote on the walk to the creek mouth. At Cherry Lake, Altona, there
> wasn't much of anything, although there was a pair of female Zebra
> Finches - would these be escapees or "legitimate", wild birds? On the
> more wooded NE side of the lake was a single male White-winged Triller.
> That was the end of the trip.
>
> I would like to thank everyone for reporting their sightings and trip
> reports to birding-aus and the local birdlines, as it gave me something
> to base my visit around.
>
> All up 102 species over 3 days, including 5 ticks made for a great few
> days birding. If anyone wants a full species list, feel free to email me
> and I'll send something on.
>
> Cheers
> Troy
> ==========www.birding-aus.org
> birding-aus.blogspot.com
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