Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 1 May 2011.

Sun 1 May	Buff-banded Rail Staughton Vale Rd, south of Granite Rd, Brisbane Ranges time: 08.15. Standing beside road. Small dam in private land nearby Janine Duffy
	Painted Button-Quail Lease Rd track, entrance to Waterhole track, Brisbane Ranges A superb day of birding capped off by a great sighting of the elusive PBQ The bird was with a young one on the side of the track near a water culvert. We were able to observe them for at least 10 minutes before they scurried off into the undergrowth. Hedley and Irena Earl
	Spotted Quail-thrush and Owlet-nightjar Grahams Creek track, Brisbane Ranges Dull days can bring great birding! Following an earlier post from Janine Duffy we ventured to the Brisbane Ranges to see and hopefully photograph a Spotted Quail- thrush. One bird crossed the track in front of us and as we went for a walk to see if we could photograph it we suddenly were surprised by an Owlet-nightjar landing on a branch nearby. In the general vicinity we saw Tufted, White-eared, Yellow-faced, Brown-headed and White-naped Honeyeaters. Several robins(Eastern Yellow and Scarlet), Yellow Thornbills, Eastern Spinebills and a host of other birds Hedley and Irena Earl
	Little Corella Kew East Over 50 active all morning in street trees eating acorns and berries south-west of Kew High School. Mal Kidson
	Scarlet Honeyeater Killawarra Forest This species is still in the forest, they have been present for over year now. A stunning male seen at Mattamia Rd, another heard nearby. Michael Ramsey
	Swift Parrots Muckleford Easy 40 plus swifties this morning, in all types of gums in flower, best sighting was of a swifty feeding on Pin Cushion Hakea in flower Debbie Worland
Sat 30 Apr	Darter, Little Black Cormorant, Great Cormorant Elsternwick Park The two cormorants joined the Darter, which has been seen here for a couple of weeks. Sitting on a slider turtle trap. Also a White-faced Heron here for a couple of hours. Resident swan pair not seen for a week. Debbie Lustig
	White-bellied Sea-Eagle Morwell Golf Course Three soaring majestically over the course. Alix Williams
	Purple-crowned Lorikeet, Australian Hobby, Muscovy Duck McLeod's Waterholes, Drysdale Purple-crowned Lorikeet: Heard, flying over. First that we've recorded at this site. Australian Hobby: First one that we've recorded at this site. Ultimately chased off by a pair of Pied Currawongs. Muscovy Duck: Single adult on NE waterhole. Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	Brown Quail Black Rock (In my backyard on Beach Road, near Quiet Corner) One Brown Quail flew into my backyard and ran past metoday at 3:45pm, it then went behind the BBQ and even called. Saw the bird clearly, seemed to be the brown form of this species. This follows up to a dead bird being seen in Fourth Street a couple of months back. One photo of the bird from the back was obtained. New for my garden list! Matthew Roach
	Australian Spotted Crake Hay's Paddock (Kilby Reserve), Kew Surprised two crakes out of the reeds. They dashed inside as soon as they saw me, but got a good look at a mainly white undertail as they disappeared. (2). Came back armed with a camera and sat for a while until the light went off, without success. Never seen a SC here before. Bill Stent
Fri 29 Apr	Painted Button-quail Corner Carlingford and Shoobra Roads, Elsternwick Found dead on traffic island. Debbie Lustig
	Pink-eared Duck, Australian Spotted Crake, Plumed Whistling-Duck, Australian Painted Snipe The Meadows, TerrickTerrick National Park Pink-eared Duck: (1). Australian Spotted Crake: (4). Plumed Whistling-Duck: 20+ including many young. Australian Painted Snipe: flushed in mid afternoon from inundated lignum (1). Gregg Müller
Thu 28 Apr	Grey-crowned Babbler Tragowel Swamp, S of Kerang Solitary bird. Aidan Sudbury
	Masked Lapwing Parklands Village, Cowes, Phillip Island Four young (about 2 weeks old) with adults. Very early breeding for this area. Must have laid eggs mid March. Patsy Hunt per Elizabeth Shaw
	White-Bellied Sea-Eagle Western Treatment Plant, werribee, Lake Borrie Outlet At 5pm after viewing the Lewin's Rails I noticed a pair of White-bellied Sea-Eagles at the outlet from Lake Borrie. Love the photo! Hedley Earl
	Blue-winged Parrots and Lewin's Rail 29 mile rd This morning I observed a flock of 8 or 9 BWPs at the end of the road. All were feeding on ground and flying up into a small dead tree. Later when parked on the track to the Lake Borrie birdhide I had clear and multiple sightings of both an adult and immature LR. Also heard both Spotted and Spotless Crakes in same area. Hedley Earl
	Swift Parrot Royal Park A single Swift Parrot was seen this morning at the golf course bordering the tram tracks on the western side of Royal Park (near Park St. Also large numbers of Lorikeets including Little, Musk and Rainbow. Tim Dolby
Wed 27 Apr	Little Lorikeet Marlo A tightly knit group of some 26+ Little Lorikeets were seen flying above the Marlo township in the late afternoon sunshine. An infrequent observation for this area of far East Gippsland. Len and Jacquie Axen
	Collared Sparrowhawk, Spotted Pardalote Westgate Park The bird of the day during our BOCA 'Wednesday Wanderings' outing was a brief but very good sighting of a juvenile/immature Collared Sparrowhawk in the red gums near the barbecue shelter. Also three or four Spotted Pardalotes were either seen or heard throughout the park. A total of 40 species were recorded on the day. BOCA Wednesday Wanderings per Andrew McCutcheon
	Blue-winged Parrot Bass Landing-Bass/Coronet Bay Road Five Blue-winged Parrots feeding on the tidal flats between the Bass River mouth and landing. Derek Whitehead
	Spotted Pardalotte East Doncaster Two birds checking out the weeping cherry in our back yard for several minutes, and calling to each other. Its several years since we had them visit. Sonja Ross
Tue 26 Apr	Blue-winged Parrot, Buff-banded Rail, White-winged Black Tern Western Treatment Plant, Werribee At least six Blue-winged Parrots around the Western Lagoon area. Also four confiding Buff-banded Rails, one that continued foraging at the track-side in front of the car when we tried to exit gate 2! Other highlights included a few lingering Red-necked Stints, with a blush of breeding plumage showing on some. The White-winged Black Terns reported earlier still on Lake Borrie. Scanned the large Silver Gull flocks on the ponds for Dave Torrs brown headed gull, but no luck. Mike Honeyman, Ed Williams
	Common Myna. Portland Harbour. Single bird sighted on foreshore lawn. I did not realise their range extended this far. Warren Palmer.
	Diamond Dove Wilby Seen on the west boundary of the garden roosting in a small Red Gum, first record for Wilby. This record seems to continue the run of sightings of this species in Victoria at the moment. Michael Ramsey
	Buff-banded Rail Wallenjoe Rd pond, near Bendigo Sewerage Farm pair working water's edge around 8 am (2). Gregg Müller
	Swift Parrot Ferntree Gully One bird seen and heard calling during the morning, near corner of Glenfern and Napolean Rd Ferntree Gully. It was also around Anzac morning for a few hours as well Greg Cobern
Mon 25 Apr	Shy Heathwren, lots of honeyeaters, South of Kamarooka Finally got half decent pictures of Shy Heathwren. I've recorded this species every time I've visited the area, at least hearing it, but also several sightings. Heaps of honeyeaters around, especailly on the southern part of the park. Yellow-faced extremely common, also Fuscous, White-naped, White-plumed, Brown-headed, a few Yellow-plumed, Noisy Friarbird as well. 3 species of lorikeet-Musk, Little and Purple-crowned. All in the one tree with 5 species of honeyeaters. Interestingly no Yellow-rumped Pardalotes in the mallee, just all Spotted, and they were very common. In southern part, next to olive grove, got a late Rufous Songlark (imm or female) & an Olive-backed Oriole. Also Fantailed Cuckoo, Brown Treecreeper, Jacky WInter, Hooded, Scarlet, Red-capped Robin, Inland Thormbill, Crested Bellbird. Kevin Bartram
	Superb Lyrebirds Buchan I don't believe Lyrebirds are rare to Buchan but being a keen birder I've only ever seen a couple in the wild before. However on the Granite walking track at Buchan early morning they seem to be the most common bird found. If you have trouble seeing them just follow the Eastern Whipbird calls which are almost exclusively done by the Lyrebirds. Sat 23th found and photographed 6 different birds. Monday 25th 5 more birds. Hope this helps other birders trying to find and photograph this elusive bird. Greg and Janice McKay
	Purple-crowned Lorikeet Chiltern At least 8 birds feeding in Mugga Ironbark blossom on Chiltern-Howlong Rd, 1.5km north of the town. Rather rare in this part of the world and first I have seen in Chiltern. Sean Dooley
	Cattle Egret 36 40S 144 19E 1' Cell In paddock west of Midland Hwy near Seargants Rd with cattle (3). Gregg Müller, Alistair Stewart
	Black Falcon Greater Bendigo National Park (Kamarooka section) pair - circling fast over Clays Rd-Bendigo Tennyson Rd section & calling. Peter Bennet
	Spotted Quail-thrush Brisbane Ranges NP - Cooks track maybe 3, time: 11.48. One female flushed out of tussock grasses under Messmates, flew a short distance and settled again on ground. Another bird flushed up into a tree. As I approached, first female flushed again and landed in tree. Another flushed up from the ground nearby at same time, I think it was a third bird. (2). Janine Duffy
	Brown Falcon (dark morph ) Mysia 10' Cell West of Borung on Charlton-Borung Rd near Wychitella-Borung & Wychitella-Korong Vale Rds corner (1). First seen from 10m on roadside fencepost. Also 1 Peregrine Falcon at the Granites (Mt Egbert) and 5 Grey-crowned Babblers at Woolshed Swamp. [Moderator: Here are some notes provided by Michael Ramsey as to why this bird is a dark morph Brown Falcon and not a Black Falcon. 1. The head is quite large and rounded, Black Falcon tends to have a smallish head in proportion to it body. 2. There is clear barring on the wings and the tail, Black Falcon lacks this. The barring also has somewhat of a chesnut colour to it, a colour found in some Brown Falcons not Black Falcon. 3. From the photo there is a shine to the underwing, Black Falcon underwings tend to have a matt finish to their underwing. 4. Black Falcons wings tend to be more pointed and held towards the front of the birds body, this bird wings appear more rounded. ] Malcolm Cousland
	Swift Parrots Muckleford Numbers are slowly building had about 40 to 50 swifties this morning feeding mainly on lerp in the grey box Debbie Worland
	Brown Quail, Flame Robins, Zebra Finch. Pt Cook Two Brown Quail seen on the way to the Tower about 150 metres from the car park. Several Flame Robins in the area including 2 fully coloured males. Three zebra finches seen opposite Spectacle Lake car park and five near the Lake View car park. Brian Bending
Sun 24 Apr	White-necked Heron, White-breasted Woodswallow Richardson River, Donald Caught a White-necked Heron in an unsual posture, I presume sunning itself in the arvo sun, but it looked like it was ready to catch a ball, perhaps an Easter Egg? It took this pose for at least a few minutes. There is nothing about this posture in HANZAB. Also had 3 White-breasted Woodswallows around a dead tree on river. Kevin Bartram
	Spotted Harrier 9 Kkm west of Donald 2 immature Spotted Harriers seen from road, with some OK photos. At one stage dive-bombed by a Kestrel. Also 2 Black-shouldered Kites and a Wedge-tailed Eagle in same area. Kevin Bartram
	Rufous Fieldwren subspecies winiam Nhill-Harrow Rd, Little Desert NP Southern subspecies of the Rufous Fieldwren, winiam, heard and seen in a couple of places. Managed to get reasonable photos of a fresh juvenile. Only subspecies of Spotted present was the Yellow-rumped. Lots of honeyeaters, but nothing from the inland, quite a few Tawny-crowned, New Holland incredibly common. No Slender-billed Thornbills seen, but some Buff-rumped were hanging around low scrub! Cockatiel (heard), Inland Thornbill, Southern Scrub-robin (heard), Hooded Robin, Restless Flycatcher, a small flock of about 6 White-browed Woodswallows with some Dusky Woodswallows, Owlet Nightjar (heard), Scarlet Robin. Kevin Bartram
	Noisy Miner, Laughing Kookaburra, Gang-gang Cockatoo, Galah, Long-billed Corella, Little Lorikeet, R Simpson Park Mitcham Noisy Miner: lots heard and seen on trees and flying (10). Laughing Kookaburra: heard not seen. Gang-gang Cockatoo: Male and female Pair; feeding quietly; seen clearly (2). Galah: At least four sighted (4). Long-billed Corella: (1). Little Lorikeet: (2). Rainbow Lorikeet: At least six sighted and plenty more heard (6). Australian Raven: 2 or more seen flying and on ground pecking and eating (2). Sulphur-crested Cockatoo: flyiing overhead (2). Pied Currawong: sitting stationery clearly seen from the side and rear; (1). Pamela Sutton-Legaud
	Diamond Dove Kooyara State Park On Mt View Rd, Mt Kooyara Block, about 1.5 km west of Kirwans Rd. Originally pecking on the road, got a photo when in landed on nearby tree. Immature? Adult wing coverts but eye-patch not very vivid. Danny Rogers and Wendy Ryan
Sat 23 Apr	White-faced Storm-petrel, Hutton's Shearwater, Brown Skua etc Cape Nelson Good number of birds offshore with about 100 Black-browed & 50 Shy seen, no Yellow-nosed today. About 30 Fluttering/Hutton's Shearwaters seen in morning, of those identified, most were were Fluttering (c12), 2 Hutton's seen amongst them. 2 Brown Skuas flew east, fairly close in, one went after a small pale bird pattering on water, which turned out to be a White-faced Storm-petrel, later a two small groups of 2-3 seen, a total of about 6. It is unusual to see this species from land. 2 dark shearwaters seen, one was Short-tailed Shearwater. 1 dark morph Giant-petrel (? sp). Forest Ravens about (see photo) and also a group of Little Ravens in same area. Bassian Thrush in picnic area north of Cape Nelson. Kevin Bartram
Fri 22 Apr	Hutton's Shearwater Cape Nelson A good number of albatrosses, mostly Black-browed and Shy offshore, a few Yellow-nosed flew past also. A number of Fluttering/Hutton's Shearwaters seen, only one close enough & long enough to identify, before it got too dull was a classic Hutton's with mostly greyish underwing with a paler whitish streak though centre of coverts. Also had classic dark hood. Kevin Bartram
	Buff-banded Rail Port Fairy One unfortunate roadkill Buff-banded Rail on the Portland Rd, west of Port Fairy Kevin Bartram
	Spotted Quail-thrush Wombat State Forest, near Franszke Track One male bird observed on an old log landing, who froze for some time behind a small eucalypt sapling, giving us an excellent view . Didn't see any of his companions. Tanya Loos
Thu 21 Apr	Magpie Goose Yambuk Large numbers of Magpie Geese (>1,000) in the swamp to the east of Yambuk Lake Road. John McRae
Thu 14 Apr	Lewin's Rail "Diggings Walk", Wandiligong About 9am I flushed a bird from just off the track in the NE part of the loop. Didn't get a good look, but noted that it was crake-like but had a longish neck. I walked through knee high grass to get to where it seemed to have landed, and stood for a while. I soon heard two or three familiar mrrps from under a blackberry bush, confirming the id as Lewin's Rail. I returned next morning, and flushed it or another a little further along the track. I still didn't get my binoculars onto it, but it had the same shape, and appeared dull like a juvenile. The sightings were between the "via adit" sign and the boggy area just over a bridge 100m further clockwise around the loop track, on the left side of the track. First sighting was at S36° 46.2722' E146° 58.8377' Peter Shute
	Little Corella Blackburn A flock of 400+ Little Corella descended into the trees in my suburban street. Some were seen to be eating Liquid Amber seeds. In a nearby street the ground underneath the Liquid Ambers was strewn with dislodged conkers. Margaret Alcorn

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