Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 15 Apr 2012.

Sun 15 Apr	Buff-banded Rail caught on barbed wire Western Treatment Plant I found this poor unfortunate Buff-banded Rail caught on barbed wire on Beach Rd today. It was alive & was attached to a barb by it's belly skin. It was quite an effort to release, it was very badly caught up. I released it & it scrambled back into the grass. I'm hoping that they were only flesh wounds & I hope it survives. Other things seen were a kestrel at Point WIlson (I've rarely seen kestrels at Werribee), a Blue-winged Parrot near the Austin Rd gate, a dozen Double-banded Plovers at the Western Lagoons with some Red-necked Stints in breeding plumage. Seemed to be more Zebra & Red-browed FInches than average. Kevin Bartram
	Pied Butcherbird, Peaceful Dove & White-bellied Sea-Eagle Between Kirwan's Bridge and Gory's Road, Nagambie While driving towards the eastern shore of Reedy Lake from Kirwan's Bridge we saw an adult Pied Butcherbird and a Peaceful Dove. We turned right at Gory's Road and saw an adult Sea-Eagle in a dead tree in the ephemeral swamp. John Barkla, Fred Smith & Alison Street
	Diamond Firetail Coys Diggings, Bailieston Six Diamond Firetails at Coys Diggings. Formerly reliable here but these are first we have seen for 12 months. John Barkla, Fred Smith & Alison Street
	Olive-backed Oriole, Gilbert's Whistler & Southern Whiteface Bailieston Historical Reserve, Bailieston Single Olive-backed Oriole, pair of Gilbert's Whistlers and 12 Southern Whiteface. Very little flowering and no Swift Parrots. John Barkla, Fred Smith & Alison Street
	Purple-crowned Lorikeet, Swift Parrot Ocean Grove; Woodland Estate Purple-crowned Lorikeet (5), Swift Parrot (2) Lawrie Conole
	Osprey Banksia Peninsula, Duck Arm, Gippsland Lakes Osprey Ian Wright
	Regent Honeyeater Chiltern Single unbanded bird seen 10 - 10.15, 200 m up White Box walking track from Honeyeater picnic ground. It was at the junction of 3 tracks, next to a White Box track sign. Photos available on request. Elizabeth Shaw, Alan Crawford, Penny Manning, Sophie Maddigan, Anwyn Martin
	Cicadabird Fairhope (12 km N of Bairnsdale) 1 pair seen on N facing slopes of box-ironbark/stringy forest. They are commonly heard, less often seen, here over summer, but this is an unusually late record. Felicity & Chris Healey
Sat 14 Apr	Swift Parrot Serendip Sanctuary, Lara Swift Parrot: Two Swift Parrots flying overhead (heading north, presumably to the You Yangs). Still no evidence of Swift Parrots roosting or feeding at Serendip. Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
Fri 13 Apr	Gang-gang Cockatoo Huon Creek near Wodonga Group of eight, not seen in this area during past 20 years. (Moderators note: Gang-gang Cockaoos can be found in small numbers in the hills around Wodonga, usually in autumn and winter when they disperse from higher hills to the east and south, MR). Patrick Brear
	Rose Robin Chiltern- Mt Pilot National Park (Greenhill Dam) A female Rose Robin was observed near Greenhill Dam. First return for autumn and winter of a species that is very site faithful to this area. A male bird was also possibly seen nearby. Michael Ramsey and Matt Weeks
	Swift Parrot Kooyoora State Park (Glenalbyn block) 3 Swift Parrots along Forbes Creek Rd Malcolm Cousland
Thu 12 Apr	Scarlet Robin The Nook Fauna Reserve. Moyston Four family groups within a 20 hectare area. I haven't seen this robin in this area for years. Bryan Kennedy
	Flame Robin Point Cook Coastal Park Three pair of Flame Robins at the carpark and on the fences along the path to the Point Cook Homestead. Also 2 Brown Falcons, 3 Black-shouldered Kites and a Nankeen Kestrel along the track to the Lookout. A lone Whistling Kite patrolling along the beach. David, Dorothy Jenkins
Wed 11 Apr	Painted Buttton-quail Maiden Gully Bushland Reserve, Maiden Gully A single bird observed walking out onto road from an area burnt during Bendigo's Black Saturday (2009) bush fires. This area is now thickly covered with wattle and eucalypt regrowth. David Parker
	Olive Whistler DeBurgh St. Drysdale, Vic Loudly calling at 1015 this morning and then visually located. Stayed in tree for a few minutes then moved approx seventy mtrs further on still calling Peter Bright
	Red-tailed Black Cockatoo Lake Ratzcastle near Goroke 7.00am this morning a loose flock of 45 birds observed flying into Stringybark habitat to feed. Keith & Judy Humphreys
	Brown Quail Merri Creek at Fairfield Three crossed footpath between Merri Creek and Yarra Bend Road Guy Dutson
Tue 10 Apr	Little Eagle Eastlink at intersection of Bangholme Rd Little Eagle seen quartering a paddock about midday on the right at Bangholme Rd overpass, Keysborough Eastlink inbound. Also saw pair of wedge-tails beside highway about 1 km before intersection of Kororoit Rd, Avalon an hour or two later. Andrew Martin
	Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo Old Coast Road, Cape Conran Coastal Park A recently DSE prescribed burn immediately north of the Old Coast Road impacted upon extensive areas of Banksia woodland. A flock of some 175-200 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos were observed actively feeding on Banksia serrata cones that had opened as a result of the fires. Len and Jacquie Axen
Mon 9 Apr	White-backed Swallow Lake Tyrell, NW Victoria Five birds struggling in strong winds along the south eastern edge of the lake. Stuart Dashper
	Cape Barren Goose Cranbourne-Berwick Rd & Linsell Boulevard, Cranbourne Single bird sighted as driving to Berwick. Stephen Blume
	Spotted Harrier 5km west of Bairnsdale One adult seen flying over farmland. Near Calulu Rd. Roger Bilney
Sun 8 Apr	Beautiful Firetail, Southern Emu-wren, Striated Fieldwren Cape Liptrap Coastal Park, near South Walkerville 4 Beautiful Firetail seen. A few groups of Southern Emu-wrens. Great views of Striated Fieldwren. Also Wedge-tailed Eagle, Brown Goshawk, Australian Raven, Crescent Honeyeater. Kevin Bartram
	Buller's Albatross Cape Liptrap Seen about 1.30 pm from Cape Liptrap. First I've seen in Victoria outside the Warnambool-Portland area. Mollymawk seen approx. 1 km away, but seen for good amount of time, 5-10 minutes, flying around feeding flocks of Short-tailed & Fluttering Shearwaters. All bluish grey head apart from white forehead, underwing similar to Yellow-nosed (too broadly black on leading edge for Shy). Fine, long bill was mostly yellow, broadly so on culminicorn with a distinct black stripe through the central part of bill. It took about 30 minutes to see another albatross, eventually seeing 3 Shy's Thousands of Short-tailed & good number of Fluttering Shearwaters in rafts feeding offshore, along with Gannets, Crested Terns & Silver Gulls. Kevin Bartram
	Malleefowl Kiata campground, Little Desert Adult wandering along the southern edge of the campground, first I've seen here. Stuart Dashper
	Cattle Egret, Brolga, Freckled Duck & Wood Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee 35 Cattle Egret near junction Paradise & Grills Roads, 2 Brolga Austin Road summer pond 1, Freckled Ducks in Lake Borrie and Wood Sandpiper at Ryan's Swamp (thanks to Steve Davidson for alerting us to this). Also 2 Spotted Harriers, one of which was a full adult, and a single Red-kneed Dotterel at Ryan's Swamp. John Barkla, Fred Smith & Alison Street
	Plumed Whistling-Duck Boorhaman North 10' Cell Of flock of eleven seen by a wetland along Brimin Road. Many other interesting birds around the area during the morning such as over 30 Great Egret, some Intermediate, Cattle and a single Little Egret on Jones Swamp Rd. Grey-crowned Babbler, Diamond Firetail, Apostlebird and White-bellied Sea-eagle were some other nice birds seen as well. Michael Ramsey
Sat 7 Apr	White-backed Swallow Reedy Swamp, NW of Shepparton About 30 White-backed Swallows roosting in a dead tree near Reedy Swamp in the early afternoon. The species has been seen in previous years in this tree. Several were flying over with White-breasted Woodswallows prior to roosting. Thanks to Surong Gunn for the photo. Val La May for Birdlife Australia Easter Camp, with David Ap-Thomas et al.
	Hutton's Shearwater Pyramid Rock, Phillip Island 1 Hutton's Shearwater, very obvious bird with dusky underwing with white confined to central part of underwing coverts & distinct dark hood formed by broad collar. Flew west into strong wind. Most of shearwaters that flew past were Short-tailed (thousands) & a good number of Fluttering (about 100). Also 8 Shy Albatross. Kelp Gull perched on rocks. Kevin Bartram
	Swift Parrot Manrico Crt, Sunbury Single pair of Swift Parrots moving between Yellow Gum trees on the creek at the bottom of the Court. Limited flowering in the yellow gums at present so birds likely to be moving through the area. A further single Swift Parrot sighted on 8 April at the same locality. Gerard O'Neill
Fri 6 Apr	Australian Koel Castlemaine Railway Station, cnr Kennedy/Lyttleton Sts, Castlemaine Adult male-plumaged bird flew out of a house garden and over the railway station, near dusk. Lawrie Conole
	Striated Fieldwren Reef Island, Westernport Bay A few groups of Striated Fieldwrens located a few hundred m from car park. Very few waders, 6 Double-banded Plovers, 3 Red-necked Stints & 5 Greenshanks. Also Singing Honeyeater. Kevin Bartram
	Malleefowl, White-browed Treecreeper, Redthroat Wyperfeld National Park Some of the highlights of the Birdlife Melbourne Easter campout. Malleefowl on the Dattuck Track, White-browed Treecreeper on the Meridian track and Redthroat in several location as well as a whole suite of other nice Mallee birds. Birdlife Melbourne Easter Campout.
Thu 5 Apr	Speckled Warbler Balmoral State Forest (Yat Nat Hole) Speckled Warbler (1) one very western edge of quartz hill between yellow gum woodland and heath Samantha Greiner
	Double-barred Finch Talgarno A small group of three Double-barred Finches were found with a Red-browed Finch flock by the Johnstone Creek Rest Area. This species is found in small numbers further west around Wodonga. There are probably more to be found in the dry hilly country which they favour around this part of the state. Michael Ramsey
Wed 4 Apr	Spangled Drongo Tallangatta One bird observed on powerlines by Lake Hume at the turnoff to the Omeo Highway from the Murray Valley Highway, 5km east of Tallangatta. Glossy plumage and distinctive tail shape noted. I watched the bird for a few minutes then moved on but returned to the site a couple of hours later, searched again but the bird had gone. This is the first record for north-east Victoria I know of. Some populations in New South Wales move south in autumn but this bird went a little further west than normal it seems. Michael Ramsey
	Pink Robin, Zebra Finch Myrtleford Sewage Ponds A female or immature Pink Robin seen flying off a fence into a small Blackwood wattle. It was a small and compact robin with buff wing bars and no white in its tail, this species is rarely recorded in north-east Victoria, this bird would be a bird dispersing in autumn Also three Zebra Finch by Munros Rd that goes through the ponds, on the extreme south-east edge of its range here. Michael Ramsey

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