Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 31 Jul 2011.

Sun 31 Jul	Baillons Crake, Aust Spotted Crake, Spotless Crake, Buff-Banded Rail, Northern Shoveler Western Treatment Plant A single Baillons Crake, several Aust Spotted Crake, 3 Spotless Crakes and 2 Buff-Banded Rails in small ponds adjacent to track leading to the Bird Hide. All offered great photographic opportunities. Saw the Northern Shoveler on Lake Borrie (thanks to John Barkla). Red-necked Stint at Western Lagoons. 4 Horsefields Bronze Cuckoo along The Spit Track. Warren Palmer
	Freckled Duck, Australasian Bittern Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Spent a couple of hours this morning looking for the N. Shoveler with no luck. Freckled Duck, 2 birds Lake Borrie on logs near platforms. Single Australasian Bittern flushed twice from edge of Lake Borrie, great views. Tim Bawden, Simone Reinertsen
	Black Falcon Princess Freeway, Avalon One beautiful female (judging by size) flying east to west across freeway, seen while driving city bound just past Avalon airport and before BP services on left.17:08hrs. David Richardson
	Hooded & Double - banded Plovers Mouth of the Powlett River South Gippsland Two pair of Adult Hooded Plover along with immature birds mixed in with a group of Double - banded Plover. Great to see the younger birds though they are not shown in this very ordinary image. Judy & Keith Humphreys
	Swift Parrot Teatree Close Ocean Grove Swifties have spread a little since last report, but I am still sighting at least 10 daily in the immediate area!! Denis Sleep
Sat 30 Jul	Great Crested Grebe, Grey Goshawk Lake Wurdiboluc Great Crested Grebe (2) Grey Goshawk (1) white phase Paul Rose
	Swift Parrot Anakie Township 7 or more Swift Parrot seen this afternoon in roadside eucalypts along Geelong-Ballan Rd just on north side of Anakie Township. Steve Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Baillon's Crake Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Beautiful adult Baillon's Crake seen in reeds on lagoon side of track from Lake Borrie to bird hide. An odd mid-winter occurrence. Steve Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Northern Shoveler, Brown Quail, Lewin's Rail, Australian Spotted Crake, Spotless Crake Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Northern Shoveler - First seen on western side of Lake Borrie at around 10:00am with one male and one female Australasian Shoveler. Flew off to the east. Seen later in the day, around 3:00pm, on the Bay, from the hide! Good views for about an hour. Brown Quail - One seen on coast road towards the Borrow Pits. Three more seen later in the day at The Spit. Lewin's Rail - One seen at The Spit. One seen crossing the track near the hide. Australian Spotted Crake - Many seen in the ponds near the hide. Spotless Crake - Two seen in the ponds near the hide. Paul Dodd, Ruth Woodrow & Carl Billingham
	Northern Shoveler Lake Borrie, Western Treatment Plant We found the Northern Shoveler on the western side of Lake Borrie at about 9.30 am. It was with 2 other Australasian Shovelers. Ian Davies and Kay Campbell
	Plumed Whistling-Duck, Intermediate Egret, White-bellied Sea-Eagle Burramine South Swamp A single Plumed Whistling-Duck was with Grey Teal on the western side, located by whistling calls. This species had disappeared locally during the autumn so it was a surprise to see in winter. Also an Intermediate Egret was feeding on southern side and an immature White-bellied Sea-Eagle was startled as it was feeding on something by the side of the swamp. Michael Ramsey
	Black Shouldered Kite Altona East meatworks Single Black Shouldered Kite feeding above grassland. Raoul Symons
Fri 29 Jul	Sooty Owl Bunyip State Park One Sooty Owl seen very well at Mortimer Picnic Ground, with partner calling nearby. Apart from a couple of singing Boobooks the forest was dead. But it didn't matter because we saw the Sooty... Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Freckled Duck, Northern Shovell\er Western Treatment Plant Spotted at Lake Borrie. First Freckled Duck, I've seen at Werribee for a while. Doing the usual thing, sitting on a long with head tucked in. Briefly showed dish-shaped bill, but mostly just sat their with it's peaked head & nondiscript grey-brown plumage. Northern Shoveler seen in afternoon at Lake Borrie, best found with sun behind your back. Remarkably hard to find in glary conditions. Prolonged views from eastern side of Lake Borrie. Got some bad photos, but at least it can be identified. Other goodies include: White-bellied Sea-eagle-adult Lake Borrie; heaps of Spotted Crakes at Little River Mouth, offering photographic oportunites; Lewin's Rail (& obligatory Buff-banded) walked across track leading to Little River hide. Kevin Bartram
	White-necked Heron, Swift Parrot Royal Park, Parkville One White-necked Heron flying over Elliot Ave towards the zoo. Swift Parrot (10) At least two flocks in separate trees in the golf course on the west side of the tram tracks. Nicole Spillane & Paul Jacobson
	Northern Shoveler Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Male Northern Shoveler seen again on Lake Borrie early this morning, hanging around the cormorant platforms. Constantly chasing Aus. Shoveler males, with aggressive 'bobbing' behaviour. Found by Mark Hall initially, seen by us, Stuart Cooney, et al. Lots of Pink-eared Duck also, and several Aus. Reed warblers seen and heard singing. Steve Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
Thu 28 Jul	Eurasian Tree Sparrow Kyneton, Piper Street For fine dining take the Piper Street footpath, but for Tree Sparrows take to the nearby car-parks and back streets. Several groups of 4-5 birds seen behind Piper Street. There don't appear to be any Tree Sparrow records from Kyneton during the ongoing modern atlas project - in the gap between the better documented populations in Port Phillip Bay area and Bendigo. Lawrie Conole
	Swift Parot (6) Royal Park Today I was at Royal Park early in the morning and there were at least 6 Swift Parrots plus 4 species of Lorikeets and Eastern Rosellas. (From email to Dave Torr) Michael Kessler
	Australian Spotted Crake Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Australian Spotted Crake (2) Pond near Hide. Also Australasian Shoveler Conservation Pond Australian Spotted Crake (2) Pond near Hide, Eurasian Coot Very large number on pond right side of Paradise Road, 400+, Red-capped Plover (8) Beach near rock jetty Australian Pied Oystercatcher (2) On rock jetty south of Trig opposite artificial roost poles Debbie Lustig
	Northern Shoveler Lake Borrie WTP Further to yesterdays's report, the shoveler was seen from Paradise Road at about 8 am this morning. Actively feeding and sticking close to a female shoveler amongst a few dozen Australian Shovelers and perhaps 100 Pink-eared Ducks. Mark Stanley
Wed 27 Jul	Brolga Serendip Sanctuary, Lara Two wild Brolgas arrived at Serendip this morning. First seen in the Wallaby enclosure, then subsequently flew off and joined the captive Brolgas. Ruth Woodrow
	Rufous Songlark, Shining Bronze-Cuckoo Heathcote 10' Cell A couple of over-winterers in the Heathcote area today: Rufous Songlark - silent bird on edge of farmland along Newlan Track, Spring Plains NCR. Shining Bronze-Cuckoo - 1 seen and another heard, Mt Ida section of Heathcote-Greytown NP. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Banded Lapwing Carr's Road, 2.3 km east of Geelong-Ballan Road, Anakie 3221. At 1400 hours, four Banded Lapwing, observed in recently ploughed paddock on the south side of Carr's Road. Anakie. Open dry land farming area. Peter Gibbons, Dave Torr, Iian Denham, Michael Kessler
	Swift Parrot Kingower State Forest 24 Swift Parrot on Pigeon Rd between Rheola- Arnold Rd and Plantation Rd. Malcolm Cousland
	Common Myna Marlo While the Common Myna has been recorded in small flocks in the farming areas around Lochend, Newmerella and Tabbara and occasionally near Marlo, this is the first time (unfortunately) that we have recorded their preseence within the Marlo township, where a pair were seen in a variety of locations this morning. Jacquie and Len Axen
	Northern Shoveler Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Further to earlier report (which I phoned in via John Barkla) the male Northern Shoveler was with a small group of Australasian Shoveler among the trees on Lake Borrie this morning. Other highlights were numbers of Buff-banded Rails (at least 8) and a similar number of Spotted Crakes. Cape Barren Geese were also nesting on Borrie. Dave Torr, Peter Gibbons, Iian Denham and Michael Kessler
	Australian Spotted Crake Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Many Spotted Crakes in and around ponds close to the bird hide. Paul Randall (wingsonwire.com)
	Swift Parrot Lake Tyers 12+ Swift Parrots in stringybarks. Also Musk Lorikeets and a variety of honeyeaters in the surrounding flowering ironbark. Brett Whitfield, Lucas Bluff, Rohan Bilney
	Northern Shoveler Lake Borrie, Western Treatment Plant Dave Torr just called me to say he is looking at a Northern Shoveler on Lake Borrie with an overseas visitor. Dave Torr et al.
Tue 26 Jul	White-headed Pigeon Orbost 6 White-headed Pigeons were observed flying over the main street of Orbost this afternoon during a heavy shower of rain. Len and Jacquie Axen
	Eastern Barn Owl (possible) Reids Lane, Warranwood Walking the dog last night along Reids Lane heard a tremendous screeching just off the road in trees. Gave about 10-12 screeches in a row. I've never heard anything like that before (and not familiar with the EBO) but certainly sounded like a bird at the time. Once home listened to call recordings and a dead-ringer for the Eastern Barn Owl (aggressive) screech. Will take the spotlight tonight. Jackson Airey
Mon 25 Jul	Swift Parrot Royal Park Three Swift Parrots feeding in Eucalyptus next to Royal Park station while cold and drizzly. Lots of Rainbow Lorikeets and a few Musk Lorikeets were in the tree too. Red Wattlebirds were busy trying to chase everything away including Ravens. David Spicer
Sun 24 Jul	Eastern Spinebills Watsonia Two Eastern Spinebills have setup home in the Privet bushes in my backyard. Nice to see them there. Mark Pipolo
	Spotless Crake Lake Connewarre Spotless Crake (1) flying away, and then diving into the reeds, a small dark coloured quite featureless bird with rail/crake appearance and flight Angus Hartshorn
Sat 23 Jul	Shining BC, Speckled Warbler, Crested Shrike-tit, OB Oriole, Jacky Winter, Diamond Firetail Eynesbury Shining Bronze-Cuckoo heard the upward call. Speckled Warbler, Crested Shrike-tit and Olive-backed Oriole all seen in the canopy. A Jacky Winter calling very loudly and for a prolonged time. Diamond Firetail, 8 to 10 feeding in paddock on northern boundary. Bernie McRitchie
	Blue-winged Parrot Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Blue-winged Parrot (2) In weeds right side of track between 145 WA Pond 39 and 145WB Pond48. Flew north Debbie Lustig
Thu 7 Jul	Little Corella Yarra Valley For some months now, we've been seeing flocks of Little Corellas around our suburb and neighboring ones, right up to the foot of the Dandenong mountains. We've seen them in small groups and also in flocks of several dozen. Just a couple of days ago, there was one in our yard, eating the nuts that fall to the ground from our maple tree (I got some photographs so I could confirm that it was, indeed, a Little Corella). Bonni Hall

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