Hi again,
Part Two of the final VicTwitch 09. For a full combine report with photos see
my trip report site at http://tim-dolby.blogspot.com/
PART TWO - the year that was 2009!
How to sum up 2009. After 12 months of birding I saw 345 species of bird in
Victoria - a total achieved with the exclusion of doing any pelagic trips.
During the year I visited the follow sites in chronological order. When I look
at this list I realise how crazy the whole exercise was - although it was great
fun!
>From January to March
Northcote (Melb suburb), Toolangi SP, Western Treatment Plant, You Yangs RP,
Cape Conran CP, Cabbage Tree Creek Flora Reserve, Croajingolong NP, Cape Howe
Wilderness Area, (Mimosa Rocks NP, NSW), Bellarine Peninsula, CERES
(Brunswick), Long Forest Nature CR, Wombat SF, Mud Islands, Port Phillip Heads
Marine NP, Mill Park Lakes, Apollo Bay and Otway Ranges NP, Point Addis and the
Ironbark Basin NR.
April to May
Greater Bendigo NP, Terrick Terrick NP, Lake Tutchewop, Goschen FFR, Lake Boga,
Kerang, Boort Lakes, Grampians NP, Wartook State Forest, Little Desert NP,
Telopea Downs (near SA border), Big Desert, Wyperfeld NP (south and north),
Bronzewing FFR, Walpeup Lake, Timberoo FFR, Murray Sunset NP, Hattah-Kulkyne
NP, Lake Tyrrell, Conglomerate FFR, Macedon Ranges, Daylesford, Western
Treatment Plant, Dight Falls, Westgate Park, Flagstaff Gardens, WTP.
June to July
WTP (7th time, lost my key and got locked in), Greater Bendigo NP (Kamarooka,
Whipstick and south GBNP), Kenneth River, Otway Range NP, Bellarine Peninsula,
Point Henry, Moolap Salt Farm, Thirteenth Beach, Black Rocks, Buxton,
Alexandra, Cathedral Ranges SP, Lake Mountain, Badgers Weir, Yarra Ranges NP,
Chiltern - Mt Pilot National Park, Warby Ranges NP, Thoona, Rushworth SP, Mt
Black FR, Heathcote-Graytown NP, Mount Ida Lookout, Yarra Bend Park.
August to September
Port Fairy, Logan's Beach, Warrnambool, Deen Maar, Yambuk, Glenelg National
Park, Rennick State Forest, Portland Harbour and Lee Breakwater, Cape Nelson
and Cape Nelson Lighthouse, Lawrence Rocks SFR, Killarney Beach, Braeside Park,
Healesville, Badgers Weir - also Cairns, Musgrave, Iron Range NP, Lakesfield
NP, Julatten).
October to December
Royal Park, Anakie Gorge, Brisbane Ranges NP, You Yangs SP, WTP, Lake Boga,
Goschen FFR, Tresco West FFR, Round Lake, Lake Tyrrell, Greenlake, Reserve,
Murray Sunset NP, Mildura Tip (where the Victorian record was broken), Goschen,
Lake Boga, Lake Tutchewop, Terrick Terrick NP, Greater Bendigo NP, Otway Ranges
NP, Great Ocean Rd, Anglesea Heath, Point Addis, Ironbark Basin, Bellarine
Peninsular, Point Lonsdale, You Yangs, WTP, Yielima just north of Nathalia,
Barmah SF, Murray River, (Leeton NSW), Tocumwal, DSI Research Station near
Rutherglen, Chiltern - Mt Pilot NP, Yarra Bend, Newport Lakes, Bellarine
Peninsular, Barwon Heads, Kororoit Creek, Altona CP, Bunyip SF, WTP, Avalon
Salt Works, Gray Reserve, Williamstown North, Dunach Nature Conservation Park,
and finally back to Northcote.
Victorian Birding Highlights 2009
So what where the birding highlight for the year? Here's a summary:
Emu (east and west Vic, not central), Magpie Goose (Deen Marr; Reedy Lake);
Cape Barren Goose (WTP), Mandarin (Dight Falls, an escapee), Freckled Duck
(Drysdale); Plumed Whistling-Duck (Serendip, alhtough not counted), Brown and
Stubble, Quail, 4 albatrosses (Wanderer not counted), White-faced Storm-Petrel
(on the way to Mud Is), Fluttering Shearwater (also on the way to Mud Is),
Australasian Bittern (Reedy Lake), Little Bittern (Mill Park Lakes), Eastern
Reef Egret (near Bastion Point), 16 raptors including Square-tailed Kite (Cape
Conran), Grey Goshawk (near Apollo Bay, Peregrine (surprisingly few this year,
which is worth noting), Black Falcon (WTP, Point Henry, Terrick Terrick) ....
.... Painted Button-quail (Chiltern), Little Button-quail (Terrick Terrick),
Lewin's Rail (The Spit); 3 crake sp including, Spotted Crake (numerous),
Spotless Crake (Little Lake Boort), Baillon's Crake (Mills Park Lake, Little
Lake Boort), Bush Stone-curlew (Rutherglen DSI Station), Grey Plover (Mud Is),
Lesser Sand Plover (Mud Is), Whimbrel (Barwon Heads), Hooded Plover (numerous),
Banded Stilt (Moolap Salt Works), Common Sandpiper (Kororoit Creek),
Grey-tailed Tattler (Mud Is), 3 godwits including Hudsonian Godwit (WTP and
life tick), Great Knot (WTP, Mud Is), Red Knot (Mud Is), Sanderling (13th
Beach, Killarney, Pectoral Sandpiper (WTP), Plains-wanderer (Terrick Terrick),
8 species of tern including Little Tern (Mallacoota), Fairy Tern (Mud Is),
White-winged Black Tern (WTP), White-fronted Tern (Cape Nelson), Common Tern
(Kirkes Pt), Brown Skua (Portland), Artic Jaeger (Port Philip) ....
.... 11 pigeons including White-headed Pigeon (Gypsy Pt), Topknot Pigeon (Gypsy
Pt), Barbary Dove (Williamstown), Diamond Dove (Westgate Park), 29 species of
parrot including Red-tailed lack-Cockatoo (Rennick State Forest), Glossy
Black-Cockatoo (near Cape Howe), Major Mitchell's Cockatoo (Little Lake
Hattah), Cockatiel (1st seen Goschen), Scaly-breasted Lorikeet (Northcote),
Budgerigar 1st seen Goschen), Trquoise Parrot (Chiltern, Warbies), Ground
Parrot (Shipwreck Creek), Swift Parrot (Kamarooka); Regent Parrot (Murray
Sunset), 5 species of cuckoo including Brush Cuckoo (Toolangi, Mallacoota) and
Black-eared Cuckoo (Brisbane Ranges, Dunach), 5 owls including Masked Owl (Cape
Conran), Powerful Owl (Flagstaff Gardens), Barking Owl Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP),
Barn Owl (Lake Hattah); Boobook, Spotted Nightjar (Wyperfeld) and
White-throated Nightjar (Bunyip), Dollarbird (near Barnanwatha Rd) ...
... 31 species of honeyeater including Scarlet HE (Mallacoota), Black HE
(Goschen, Murray Sunset), Pied HE (Goschen), Purple-gaped HE (Whipstick),
White-fronted HE (Little Desert), Painted HE (Dunach); Striped HE (Wyperfeld),
4 corvids including Forest Raven (Otways) and Little Crow (record breaking
bird, appropriately seen at Mildura Tip), Cicadabird (Davis Creek, Mallacoota),
Black-faced Monarch (Mallacoota), Leaden, Satin and Restless Flycatcher,
White-backed Swallow (numerous), Rufous & Brown Songlark (both 1st seen Royal
Park), Bassian Thrush (Otways) and Song Thrush (Northcote, Merri Creek), 8
robins including Rose Robin (Mallacoota, Otways), Pink Robin (Toolangi, Howe
Flat), Scarlet Robin (a very good year for this bird), Southern Scrub-robin
(Wyperfeld - note that I also saw Northern Scrub-robin in 2009), Crested
Bellbird (Kamarooka), Olive Whistler (Toolangi, Otways) and Gilbert's Whistler
(Terrick Terrick, Timberoo), Grey-crowned Babbler (Terrick Terrick),
White-browed & Chestnut-crowned Babbler (Hattah) , Chestnut Quail-thrush
(Bronzewing), Spotted Quail-thrush (described by some as the hardest bird to
get in Vic, but mainly because it's seen at places birders tend not to go)...
...4 fairy-wrens including White-winged Fairy-wren (Lake Tutchewop) and;
Splendid Fairy-wren (Wyperfeld), Southern Emu-wren (1st seen Shipwreck Creek)
and Mallee Emu-wren (Nowingi Tk), Striated Grasswren (Nowingi Tk), Eastern
Bristlebird (Howe Flats), Rufous Bristlebird (1st seen Paradise Rd, Apollo
Bay), Pilotbird (Toolangi, Mallacoota), Large-billed Scrubwren (Mallacoota),
Redthroat (Wyperfeld), Speckled Warbler (Long Forest, Wartook), Rufous
Fieldwren (Lake Tyrrell) Striated Fieldwren (numerous), Chestnut-rumped
Heathwren (Mt Ida, Heathcote-Graytown NP) and Shy Heathwren (numerous), 9
thornbill including Slender-billed Thornbill (Little Desert on Nhill-Harrow Rd)
White-throated Gerygone (Mallacoota), Western Gerygone (Yeilima Rd, Chiltern),
Brown Gerygone (Mallacoota), Orange Chat (Lake Tyrrell, Lake Tutchewop),
Crimson Chat (Goschen, Murray-Sunset), 4 species of treecreeper including
White-browed Treecreeper (Timberoo), Red-browed Treecreeper (Toolangi),
Australian Figbird (Mallacoota), Apostlebird (Hattah, Mildura township), 5
species of woodswallow including White-breasted WS (Lake Boga township), Masked
WS (1st seen You Yangs), Black-faced WS (1st seen near Lake Tutchewop),
White-browed WS (1st seen Terrick Terrick); Eastern Yellow Wagtail (WTP and
life tick) and 8 species of finch including Beautiful Firetail (Mallacoota,
Portland) and Diamond Firetail (1st seen Hovell Creek).
I recorded another possible 10 species, which due to a range of reason i.e.
lack of confirmation. These include Wandering Albatross (Cape Nelson),
Great-winged Shearwater (Cape Nelson), Wedge-tailed Shearwater (Cape Howe),
Little Stint (WTP), Common Diving-Petrel (Cape Nelson), Sooty Owl (Bunyip),
Plumed Whistling-Duck (Serendip) - and non-tickable Indian Peafowl (Newlyn) and
Mandarin Duck (Dight Falls). Of interest I also saw 31 species of mammal in
Victoria.
Best birds and worst dips
Best birds would have to be the Eastern Yellow Wagtail and Hudsonian Godwit,
both vagrants and both life ticks. Other nice birds include White-headed
Pigeon, Figbird, Eastern Bristlebird, Masked Owl, Ground Parrot, Red-tailed and
Glossy Black-Cockatoo (both see within a km of the Victoria border - one the
NSW border the other the SA border), Plains Wanderer, 3 obliging Brown Skua at
Portland, and the great birds of Goschen FFR, such as Pied and Black
Honeyeater, Crimson Chat, Cockatiel and Budgerigar
Dips included Malleefowl, Spotted Harrier, Long-toed Stint, Eastern Koel,
Superb and Orange-bellied Parrot, Australian Bustard, Red-backed Kingfisher
(Michael Ramsey had a bird nailed to a powerline for me to see in Rutherglen),
Sooty Owl, Australian Pratincole (Simon Starr had a few near him in Pyramid
Hill that he'd glued to the ground), Red-lored Whistler and Regent Honeyeater
(there were 3 birds to be seen near Paynesville). Most of these I would've have
seen with some ease in previous years, and I had good sites for all them. Most
I targeted at least twice. More specifically I had planned to clean most of
these species at the end of the year during December. However I'd already
broken the VicTwitch record at the beginning of November so the imperative to
"chase" birds for the "record" lost its VicTwitch edge. Also life took over -
you know - family, work and Christmas. And then at the end of the year there
was the release of Where to See Birds in Victoria - and also a side trip to the
Iron Range on Cape York, far north Queensland.
Thanks to all those who help throughout the year. I won't name names, in case I
leave someone out. Thanks, though, to Jon Thorntan for the use of some of his
fine photographs. Now I need to chase up my sponsorship for the Australian
Wildlife Health Centre at Healesville Sanctuary! Finally good luck to anyone
else attempting a VicTwitch. The record now stands at 345. Good luck to Mick
Roderick who is doing a HunterTwitch 2010. I look forward to following your
exploits throughout the year.
Cheers,
Tim Dolby
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