|
Birdline Australia
Published sightings for the week ending 16 Jan 2011.
| Fri 14 Jan
|
Stilt Sandpiper, Ruff
Western Treatment Plant, Victoria
Frank Antram,Sue Lashko and myself made the trip from Canberra last night to spend the day at werribee today. Melbourne certainly put on the weather for us with relentless driving rain for the morning, becoming almost tropical in the afternoon.
We had the Ruff in the bag within 30 minutes of arriving, in the the Ruff was seen in the Western Lagoon area - but it took us all day to find the Stilt. Indeed we only gave ourselves another 30 minutes to find the bird before we had to leave to catch our return flight...and there it was!
The stilt was seen in ponds adjacent to what i think are called the 'wet paddocks'. ( the paddocks, currently flooded, just before you reach Western Lagoon). It was associating with a number of marsh sandpiper, greenshank, curlew sand and sharpies. This provided an ideal opportunity to review the diagnostic features of the bird in comparison to the other species.
Other good birds included grey-tailed tattler and pectoral sandpiper. I am sorry about the poor directions, but if you need more info please reply to this email.
Frank Antram, Sue Lashko, Alastair Smith
|
|
|
Spotted Whistling-Duck
Weipa, Queensland
Today I observed 65+ SWDs with 30+ Burdekin Ducks, a few greenshanks and masked
lapwings, 2 common sandpipers and a marsh sandpiper. Interestingly most of the
birds were in the paddock where the old pond used to be which now has a decent
puddle courtesy of the rain and a lot of vegetation. A week ago (with 300mm
less rain) I counted 75 SWDs and 44 Burdekin Ducks in the rain filled sewage
pond.
Ben Bright
|
|
|
Kelp Gull (reported as possible Black-tailed Gull)
Gladstone yacht club watching, Queensland
Some debate over the identification of this bird - now considered second summer Kelp Gull.
Bill & Jack Moorhead per Mike Carter
|
| Mon 10 Jan
|
reported Black tailed gull (Now considered to be a 2nd season Kelp Gull
Gladstone Marina, Queensland
Single bird watched as it fed on a dead fish for about 20 mins. Saw this bird about 2 weeks ago but couldnt get close to it. (Description has been reviewed and sounds good for an adult - it would be good if others could go and check and get photos. Eds) (After much discussion on Birding-aus and photographs bird is considered to be a Kelp Gull -Editor)
Benjamin Weston
|
|
|
Wild Turkey
Kangaroo Island , South Australia
3 Wild Turkey were seen in bushland on Kangaroo Island along Three Chain Rd. (Recently wild birds have also been reported in farmland near Western KI Caravan Park by Tim Bawden and there are records from the Vivonne Bay and Lathami Conservation Park.) Also seen Western Whipbird, Rock Parrot along the Weir Cove Walking Track near the Weir Cove carpark, Indian Peafowl near Chapman River, and Glossy Black-Cockatoo at American River.
Tim Dolby
|
| Sat 1 Jan
|
Blue-faced Parrot-Finch
Mt. Lewis, 10km from Bushy Creek., Queensland
At least six birds present. They were paired up and chasing before copulating. One copulation happened when one bird was hanging upside down on a branch whist the other bird presented from the top of the branch, quite a novel way of copulating. This is the 4th visit we have made to this site since the last report was published of adults and immatures at this site on 16th December. There has been no sightings of any immatures only male and female adults, up to 16 present. Other observers have also commented to us that no immatures have been present.
Keith Fisher
|
| Thu 30 Dec
|
Black-winged Monarch (breeding record)
Mc Ivor River area, 50km north of Cooktown, Queensland
A pair of Black-winged Monarchs were observed in the final stages of nest building, just to the north-east of the Mc Ivor River causeway. A rough image is attached with the male on the nest - this image may well be one of the very few captured of this species on its nest in Australia. Both birds of this pair were very busy from 28/12 to 31/12 adding the finishing touches to this nest. There was an immature bird also photographed a few hundred metres away, with another nest being built a further 500 mtrs away from this pair. Both nests were 20 mtrs plus above ground. Another young bird was also seen on the causeway along with several adults, with many birds seen in the general area, indicating a significant southern breeding area for this species. It is interesting that some pairs have nested earlier than others. Only one Black-faced Monarch was recorded in the area on this visit & this was a bird in late immature plumage.
Martin Cachard
| Birdline Australia is sponsored by Birds Australia and co-ordinated and hosted by Eremaea Birds.
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
