Following up on reports from Peter Lansley, Paul Dodd and others, on 1st
June I joined the growing throng of birders who have seen Striated Heron in
Victoria. Using advice from local birding identity Bob Semmens, John Buckley
of the 'Gypsy Princess', Ian & Libby Mitchell who run Gypsy Point Lodge,
Tricia & I hired a boat from the Lodge. Within 10 seconds of leaving the
Lodge jetty, we flushed an adult from the bank on the opposite side of the
river! We followed it upstream around a bend in the river and watched it for
a minute or two perched on a very exposed branch overhanging the river
before it flew across the river into the paddock adjoining the Lodge. We
didn't see another in the next two hours on the water and couldn't find this
bird again when we returned. There would appear to be at least 3 birds in
the Gypsy Point area along the Genoa River and its Back Water, Maramingo
Creek, the Wallagaraugh River and Tony Brindley's Wetland nearby. It seems
surprising that the birds are frequenting the fresh water stretches of the
upper estuary rather than the more saline lower estuary.
Although common in NSW right up to the southern border, until 2009 this
species was a vagrant in Victoria. The 1987 'Atlas of Victorian Birds'
listed only three records.
If I've done my sums properly, this means that I have seen 455 of Victoria's
498 species.
Mike Carter
30 Canadian Bay Road
Mount Eliza VIC 3930
Tel (03) 9787 7136
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
