They could have been Cattle Egrets. I've seen them in that part of the
world recently.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Paul Dodd
Sent: Sunday, 29 June 2008 7:44 PM
To:
Subject: Birding Eastlink
The new Eastlink toll road was opened in Melbourne today, so I drove
along
it from Mitchum to Frankston this afternoon. Traffic was heavy, as
people
(like me) tried out the road. I think I saw the first accident too, when
one
car ran into the back of another on the opposite lanes. I thought I'd
keep a
lookout for birds as I was driving along. I noticed a paddock full of
cows
near the Wellington Road crossing and amongst the cows were white birds
- I
initially thought that they were Cattle Egrets - the closest I'd seen to
the
city, but a couple of white birds flew over at about the same time,
White
Ibis - so I'd be pretty confident in saying the birds in the paddock
were
ibis too. The most surprising bird was a Kookaburra that flew across the
road and into a remnant copse of eucalypts near the Dandenong exits. The
other highlight was a Nankeen Kestrel hovering alongside the road in the
stretch between Dandenong and Frankston. Here's my full list:
Australian White Ibis
Straw-necked Ibis
Australian Wood Duck
Pacific Black Duck
Silver Gull
Nankeen Kestrel
Laughing Kookaburra
Red Wattlebird
Noisy Miner
Little Raven
Australian Magpie
Magpie Lark
Common Starling
Common Myna
House Sparrow (largish flock)
I can't be sure that the Ravens were Little, since I couldn't hear them
call, but they appeared to be the right size and they were hanging about
in
small groups. I thought that I'd miss out on Silver Gulls, since I
hadn't
seen any almost to the start of the Frankston freeway - but then I saw a
largish flock circling. The House Sparrows I'm not 100% sure about,
since
all I could see was a large flock of brown sparrow-sized birds taking
off
from a paddock (roughly where I saw the kestrel).
I came back along the road from Frankston, but spent more time looking
for
the exit I was after. I missed it, of course. And my Sat Nav doesn't
cover
the new road.
That's the total extent of my birding this weekend...
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Melbourne
Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.4.1/1512 - Release Date:
21/06/2008
9:27 AM
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