Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 5 Jun 2011.

Sun 5 Jun	Brown Skua, Kelp Gulls Point Lonsdale 1 Brown Skua, at a distance, flying eastward about 2.30PM. 2 juvenile Kelp Gulls flew past around point, westward at about 3.30. Also about 30 Shy Albatrosses, only 1 adult Black-browed, 2 Fluttering Shearwaters, another 4 gavia/huttoni types. Kevin Bartram
	Double-banded Plover Barwon River Mouth A group of 16 Double-banded Plovers with 8 Red-capped at mouth of Barwon River dodging a full-on incoming tide. Kevin Bartram
	MuskxRainbow Lorikeet hybrid, Scaly-breasted Lorikeet Hitchcock Avenue, Barwon Heads 2 lorikeets feeding across the road from The Starfish Cafe, one was a Scaly-breasted (my first for The Bellarine Peninsula), the other was a hybrid between Musk & Rainbow. It had a bluish green head with red blotches on it's lores, forehead and a red patch on it's nape. It also had a brown patch on the hindneck. Scaly orange underparts on green background, red underwing coverts. It was roughly the same size as the Scaly-breasted, between Musk & Rainbow. The Scaly-breasted looked pretty typical of the species (I also have photos of it). Kevin Bartram
	Rose Robin Warrandyte State Park, Fourth Hill Male Rose Robin seen on the Wildcat Link track along the ridge, near Webb Street end. Jackson Airey
	Banded Lapwing. Truganina 3029, in paddock east side of Woods Road. At 1715hrs, observed three (3) Banded Lapwing in a recently ploughed paddock east side of Woods Road,Truganina,1.1km north of Leakes Road. I have observed this species in fluctuating numbers in this paddock, especially after ploughing, at various times since 2008. Best numbers were 34 birds in 2009. Other birds in paddock were Australian Magpie and Australian Pipit. Peter Gibbons.
	Pied Butcherbird Dingee Single bird seen on powerpole, just out of town on the Bendigo-Mitiamo Road. Greg and Janice McKay
	Red-necked Avocet, Hooded Plover Snowy River Entrance 19 Red-necked Avocets were observed on the eastern spit at the mouth of the Snowy River this morning and later on the sand flats inside the entrance. A significant observation as most EGBOC records have occurred well to the west of Marlo. 3 adult Hooded Plovers and a sub-adult were located along the ocean beach (Corringle side) on Saturday while early this morning another 8 Hooded Plovers and a sub-adult were spotted further to the east (Conran side). Tony Mitchell per Len Axen
	Nankeen Night-Heron Barmah Forest (Barmah Lakes) Hundereds of birds seen, including several flocks of over seventy birds counted in the area around Picnic Point. In ten years along this section of river, I've never seen these birds in such numbers. Gregg Müller
Sat 4 Jun	White-headed Pigeon Newmerella An adult White-headed Pigeon was observed in a quiet bush garden today. Regular sightings of single WHPs have occurred in and around the Orbost area so far this year. Tony Mitchell per Len Axen
	Little Eagle Eltham (Woodridge area) Adult light morph Little Eagle gliding over from east, circling slowly above quite low, gradually getting higher until disappearing from view. Fran Murphy
	Swift Parrot Boweya Forest Three very chatty and vocal Swift Parrots on the north side of the forest, feeding on Grey Box lerp. Hooded and Scarlet Robin, Southern Whiteface, Little and Purple-crowned Lorikeets, Painted Button-quail and a calling Australian Owlet-nightjar were also some other good birds found during an afternoon walk. Michael Ramsey
Fri 3 Jun	Yellow Thornbills Hastings 2 Yellow Thornbills visited our backyard. First sighting ever for my home list. S&S King
	Gilbert's Whistler, Hooded Robin Terrick Terrick National Park Weather overcast large numbers of species within park. Gilbert's Whistler (1) at Picnic Ground Hooded Robin (3) at Picnic Ground Alf forbes
	Swift Parrots Muckleford Swifties still here, 10 birds this morning Debbie Worland
Thu 2 Jun	White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Brown Quail Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Both birds seen near the outfall drain on the beach near Borrow Pits. Paul Randall (wingsonwire.com)
	Fairy Tern, Whiskered Tern Werribee Sewage Farm 38 Fairy Terns (no Little Terns!) roosting on rocks north-east of Beach Rd gate. 4 Whiskered Terns feeding near the hide at the mouth of the Little River. 5 Cattle Egrets with cattle, on Beach Rd. 2 Red-kneed Dotterals at Borrow Pits. No Buff-banded Rails seen! Kevin Bartram
	Swift Parrots, Purple-crowned Lorikeets. Royal Park Golf Course and Parkland north and east of Melbourne Zoo. At 1340hrs, a quick visit revealed at least seven Swift Parrots in flight and several Purple-crowned Lorikeets feeding in flowering Eucalyptus species. Also large numbers of Rainbow Lorikeets observed. The best location is just north of Poplar Road and east of Elliott Avenue. Large numbers of Rainbow Lorikeets in flowering Spotted Gums in nearby North Melbourne streets Peter Gibbons.
Wed 1 Jun	Red Knot Western Treatment Plant, Werribee 1 Red Knot with Crested and Little Terns on the rocks along the coast road. Ian Ashton, Murray Grant and Helen O'Donnell
	Brush Bronzewing Point Cook Coastal Park Brush Bronzewing (1) Flushed from track along side Mesh fence , south of last Car Park, seen twice at this spot and again as driving past Car Park near Spectacle Lake. Colin Mulvogue
	White-necked (Pacific) Heron Western Treatment Plant, Werribee A single adult/non breeding bird seen in a ditch on the way down to the Borrow Pits. Paul Randall (wingsonwire.com)
Tue 31 May	Plains Wanderer Rupanyup One male Plains Wanderer harrassed by a Magpie in corner of sown paddock. It ran protecting itself by arching its wings above its head, to the nearest roadside vegetation Excellent views of action from vehicle. Ian Morgan
	Red-necked Avocet Cheetham Wetlands (Altona Meadows) Red-necked Avocet (65) Large flock seen on lake adjacent to boardwalk , Northeast of ford Colin Mulvogue
	Painted Button-quail Leaghur State Park Painted Button-quail (4) 1 seen clearly - mottled chestnut back. 3 flushed from same spot: grey rump/tail. Also Barn Owl, Cockatiel, Hooded Robin, Diamond Firetail and some waterbirds. Note: Tracks closed, many areas still flooded. Walked about 500m from entrance/picnic area. Malcolm Cousland
	Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne Sighted a flock of 8 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos, not exactly in Fitzroy Gardens but in trees either side of Wellington Parade Sth. 5 were roosting in a large gum on the eastern side of the road, 3 were in a conifer on the west side. I could hear them calling from the south-eastern corner of Fitzroy Gardens. Rohan Long
Mon 30 May	Ruddy Turnstone Shoreham beach about 10 Ruddy Turnstones seen feeding on the reef at low tide, along with 2 Red-capped Plovers, 6 Double-banded Plovers and 4 Red-necked Stints. Wayne Butterworth
	Australasian Bittern, Mistletoebird Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Heard what was possibly an Australasian Bittern booming distantly from area of 55E Lagoons, and a Mistletoebird was heard calling as it passed high overhead from the direction of the Bay at Western Lagoon. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	spotted pardalote rear Church St, Richmond This spotted pardalote was calling in the snow gum (eucalyptus pauciflora) in my inner city back yard this morning. It came within 2 metres of me and perched on the clothes line when I called it using my iphone with the Morcombe ap. Photo also taken with iphone. It is still outside calling as I type this email. Lovely! Dave Dickson
Sun 29 May	Satin Bowerbird Delatite River, Merrijig Is this unusual? A group of 2 mature males, up to a dozen females and immature males feeding on camelia flowers. They flew back across the river, had a swim, then returned several times, enabling reasonable photos (though I wished I had the long lens, left on the shelf in Melbourne!) Apparently they are resident in the area, though not observed eating camelias before. Mary Macmillan
	Cattle Egrets Yarra Flats Park, Heidelberg Four Cattle Egrets with horses seen from Boulevard. Numbers seen here are much lower these days - used to be flocks of thirty or so a few years back. Anthea Fleming
	Barbary Dove Maddox Rd x Kororoit Creek Road, Williamstown 12 birds loafing on the power pole on the corner of the industrial estate. Possibly congregating here due to the heavy traffic and activity at the soccer games across the road at the Gray Reserve. George Appleby
	Brown Quail, Little Eagle Spectacle Ponds, Point Cook A group of 6 or more Brown Quails feeding out in the open with House Sparrows, Superb Fairywrens, Crested Pigeons and White-fronted Chat. This was next to the bird hide at Spectacle Ponds. Also a light morph Little Eagle flew over. Kevin Bartram
	Flame Robin Wilby Though not an unusual autumn-winter visitor to these parts, an exceptional number (nearly 50 birds for a species whose numbers are considered on the decline) were seen today in a large loose flock at the bushland reserve. Most birds were females or immatures, only 9 males were seen. Two Scarlet Robins and two Red-capped Robins were also associating with the Flame Robins, though they kept to more wooded areas rather than out in the open. An overwintering Rufous Songlark was also a nice sighting. Michael Ramsey
Sat 28 May	'White ' Little Grebe Hawkstowe estate - South Morang On the wetlands at Wilton-vale Rd, a white 'little grebe' with a rusty cap. There's a board-walk and viewing area for easy access. Greg Cobern
Thu 26 May	Stubble quail end of Osbourne Rd, next to Military Reserve, Williamstown Apologies for the quality of the photographs, they were taken with my telephone, which found it difficult to focus on such a well camoflaged bird! They do show the strong white line above the eye, and reddish colour behind and around the eye. It was alone, in some longish buffalo grass. Stella Blay
Wed 25 May	White-tailed Tropicbird Brighton I have received a report of a juvenile White-tailed Tropicbird, seen Brighton Pier last Wednesday. Per Martin O'Brien
Tue 24 May	Singing honeyeater Kangaroo Wetlands, Douglas Pde, Newport A pair of Singing honeyeaters spent some time at this little man-made wetland amongst the industrial surroundings. Stella Blay

Birdline Victoria is sponsored by Birds Australia - Victoria 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
===============================