Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 14 Aug 2011.

Sun 14 Aug	Painted Button-quail You Yangs This bird was observed crossing the road whilst doing a circuit of the You Yangs. James Dickson
	Buff-banded Rail, Red-rumped Parrot Elsternwick Park (South) The rail was on the St Kilda St side of the island and ran behind reeds. I also saw about 5 Red-rumped Parrots. These have been reported to me for the last 2 months with 19 in early June and 30 on 6 August. Michael Norris
Sat 13 Aug	Southern Boobook Truganina Swamp, Altona Single bird calling constantly on the corner of Bell Avenue and Grant Avenue in the big tree closest to the retirement village at 10:50pm. Colin Clark
	Musk Duck, Australasian Shoveler. Phillip Island Wetlands Two pair of Musk Duck on ponds adjacent to Kitty Miller Bay Rd seen while admiring Cape Barron Geese & their chicks. Another pair of Musks at Swan Lake Wetlands. A pair of Shoveler 's easily observed at Fisher's Wetland. Wetlands on the Island in superb condition. Judy & Keith Humphreys
	Plumed Whistling-Duck Yarrawonga Sewage Ponds Approximately 150 Plumed Whistling-Ducks were seen roosting on the red-earth banks around ponds today. Michael Ramsey
	Olive-backed Oriole Banyule Flat One again today, calling beside Yarra (I heard one here last week, 6 Aug, and Geoff Easton heard one 30 July). Richard Loyn
	Swift Parrot Wellsford State Forest (Bendigo) 30-40 Swift Parrots sighted along Harper Road just past the entrance to the Wellsford State Forest. David Kleinert
	Crested Pigeon McLeod's Waterholes, Drysdale A single bird on ground between the two waterholes. Our first record for this site. Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
Fri 12 Aug	Zebra Finch Melton Whilst walking at 13:45hrs today,I observed two flocks(first approx 20 individuals) and (second approx 10 individuals) of Zebra Finches feeding on the grassland verges adjacent to the creek/wetlands on the corner of Botanica Springs Blvd and Streeton Dve, Brookfield Estate. David Whelan
	Red-kneed Dotterel Lake Hamilton beach, Hamilton Red-kneed Dotterel (1) hanging with the Black-fronted Dotterels, stood out as being larger and with darker markings. Have seen previously at Lake Linlithgow, nice to see the contrast to the BF Dot's. Samantha Greiner
	Collared Sparrowhawk Yarraville Gardens 2 Collared Sparrowhawks perched in large tree next to the nest tree. A pied currawong was making life very hard for them. Raoul Symons
Thu 11 Aug	Australian Bustard Leakes Road, Tarneit An UNCONFIRMED sighting of an Australian Bustard near corner of Tarneit Road and Leakes Road, Tarneit. Reported to Mick Smith at Serendip Sanctuary because they thought it might have been an escapee (it wasn't). Two unknown observers per Mick Smith per Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	Little Button-quail Wilby At least 2 birds hearing calling around 2am in the wheat paddocks at the back of Martin Street. Expected they would be here, but much later in spring. Michael Ramsey
	Red-necked Avocets, Red-necked Stints Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Both these species seen in good numbers. 150+ Avocets on the Paradise Rd pondage and a further 20 at Walsh's lagoon. The earliest Stints have arrived too, with around 200 on the Western Lagoon, first on left after entering gate to the Spit. Mick Brasher
Wed 10 Aug	White-headed Pigeon Newborough Sitting on wires in the street. Previous known (to me) report in this area was in Oct/Nov 2003. Alix Williams
Tue 9 Aug	Grey Goshawk, Olive-backed Oriole Gherang (38 19S 144 04E 1' Cell) Grey Goshawk (2) pair - one white phase/one grey phase - observed shepherding Brown Goshawk away from area. Olive-backed Oriole (1) calling mid-morning Paul Rose
Mon 8 Aug	Great Crested Grebe Lauriston Reservoir Great Crested Grebe (2) also seen another one on Malmsbury res. Matthew Vinicombe
	European Goldfinch Picnic Point, Bairnsdale During today's EGBOC outing 56 species were recorded at this site on the Mitchell River. Of particular interest was the sighting of 500+ European Goldfinches. This is the largest concentration indicated by EGBOC records and is probably a conservative figure as they were observed in large groups which continually merged and then separated on both sides of the river and in adjoining pastures. 14 EGBOC members per Len Axen
	Brown Quail Pt Cook Coastal Park 30 - 40 individuals, possibly more, seen on the ground and hiding in bushes near the Bird Hide. Zlatko Basic
	Powerful Owl Sherbrooke Forest, Mount Dandenong, Victoria Spotted on a power-line on the outskirts of the forest, sat there for around 20 minutes and let me photograph it before flying off. Jono Dashper
	Australian King-Parrot Cranbourne Australian King-Parrot (2) Pair seen flying over Pearcedale and Browns Road intersection chased by Noisy Miners , Cranbourne South. Colin Mulvogue
	Bar-tailed godwit Barwon Heads The mud flats north of the bridge at low tide were alive with waders including 20 bt godwits, many red-capped plovers and red-necked stints, double-banded plovers, common greenshank, eastern curlew, pied oyster catcher, royal spoonbill, great egret, little egret. It would be interesting to know where they go at high tide. Rod Corinaldi
Sun 7 Aug	Swift Parrot Car park P1 on the western boundary of La Trobe University, Bundoora At least one and probably more Swift Parrots heard at about 12:30 pm among all the Musk Lorikeets buzzing around the flowering non-indigenous eucalypts in this car park. Paul Peake
	White-winged Black Tern, Australian Hobby etc Western Treatment Plant A single White-winged Black Tern, in non-breeding-like plumage, perched on log, near platforms at Lake Borrie, Don't recall ever seeing one at this time of year. One very tame juvenile Australian Hobby offered great photo opportunities on South Rd, a few hundred metres from Conservation Ponds. No Northern Shoveller, Freckled Ducks, crakes & rails a lot harder to see at Little River Mouth, 2 Buff-banded Rails on beach. 1 Brown Quail, on track, at Conservation Ponds outfall, along with a dead Australian Darter. 5 Red-necked Stints at Borrow Pits. Adult White-bellied Sea-eagle at Little River Mouth. Kevin Bartram
Sat 6 Aug	Fairy Martin Banyule Flat 2 feeding over main wetland, mostly high, early arrival (this is roughly when they usually arrive). Richard Loyn
	Fan-tailed Cuckoo Banyule Flat Two calling near Yarra. Richard Loyn
	Olive-backed Oriole Banyule Flat One calling beside Yarra, early arrival. Geoff Easton tells me he heard one a week ago (30 July). Richard Loyn
	White-necked Heron Near Lakers Siding, Bellarine Peninsula Foraging on farm dam west of intersection of Bellarine Rail Trail and Queenscliff-Portarlington Road Hugo Phillipps
	Barn Owl Melton South Barn Owl flying across Jim Cahill Reserve in Melton South, mid afternoon, pursued by two magpies. Barn Owls not commonly seen here, Boobooks are more usual. Daryl Akers
Mon 1 Aug	Australian King-Parrot and Cockatiel Glen Waverley We have one male and three female king parrots which have come regularly to the seed tray for the last six weeks. In the last two weeks we have one grey cockatiel which has started to come every day. (Moderators note: this Cockatiel is likely an escapee) Diane Ross
Mon 25 Jul	Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo Grattan Street, Parkville (Melbourne University) At 10 am 30 Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo swooped into a stand of tall eucalypts (taller than the buildings around them) at the university at the corner of Leicester street, and just hung about all day. Kay McKenzie
Sat 23 Jul	White-winged Chough Viewbank, Melbourne Group of 11 feeding below red gums at end of Martins Lane, closer to the CBD (~16 km) than I've seen them before. Richard Loyn

Birdline Victoria is sponsored by Birds Australia - Victoria and co-ordinated and hosted by Eremaea Birds.

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