Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 2 Sep 2012.

Sun 2 Sep	White-backed Swallow Woodvale Bendigo A pair of White-backed Swallows was seen entering a nesting hole in a sand bank at Woodvale near Eaglehawk, Bendigo, today. Both birds entered at the same time and entered on several occasions over a period of 30 minutes. They are probably a breeding pair and I have seen this species in this locality on several occasions over the past seven years but I have never seen them attempting to nest.. Gerry Duane
	Pied Butcherbird Everton 10' Cell I was quite surprised to observe an adult Pied Butcherbird by the Great Alpine Road between Everton and Gapsted. This is well south of their usual range in North East Victoria, which is on the northern plains between Chiltern and Yarrawonga. Michael Ramsey
	White-throated Gerygone Stoney Creek Road, Gapsted First spring return, slightly earlier than other years. Michael Ramsey
	Swift Parrot, Weebill, Brown Songlark, Oriental Pratincole, etc Western Treatment Plant, Werribee A very vocal Swift Parrot was in the woodlot on Pt Wilson Rd at first light. It was soon chased off by Starlings. A single Weebill was heard singing then seen through the belt of trees along road outside Melbourne Water Information Centre. Not on the Melbourne Water list for WTP so maybe a first for the plant?? Oriental Pratincole in paddock opposite gate to Western Lagoons. Also a Brown Songlark male singing in grassland near lower ford, hundreds of Fairy Martin have returned and are already nest-building, amorous Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoos everywhere, a small number of Sharp-tailed Sandpiper has returned and a single Greenshank was at Western Lagoons. Steve Davidson
	Rose Robin Galada Tamboore, Merri Creek, Campbellfield One male Rose Robin in dense vegetation in the Yellow Box Gully area this morning. Possibly on migration along the creek. Nicole Spillane and Paul Jacobson
	Swift Parrot Teatree Close Ocean Grove 20+ Swifties observed feeding in flowering gum this morning. Denis Sleep
Sat 1 Sep	Malleefowl Red Bluff Flora and Fauna Reserve Malleefowl (1) Attending Mound Gavin and Mal
	Swift Parrot Royal Park, Parkville 1 seen out the front of the Zoo and another heard. Chris Lester
Fri 31 Aug	Gilbert's Whistler Trust for Nature property, Earlston One adult male singing Doug Robinson
	Hardhead (800), Australian Wood Duck (300) Private Property, Exford At 1250 hours, observed 750 to 800 Hardhead on a large dam on private property, also present approximately 300 Australian Wood Duck on dam bank. Other birds present Black Swan, Chestnut and Grey Teal, Eurasian Coot and Australasian Grebe. Peter Gibbons
	Cape Petrel Port Phillip Heads Cape Petrel (1) Very good view (more than half a minute) in the scope as it flew past quite close in. Bill and head black, black and white wings above, black tips. Mostly white below (wings and body) tail white with black end. A bit smaller than a Silver Gull. Angus Hartshorn
	Peregrine Falcon Woodlands Historic Park (Greenvale) Two Peregrine Falcons calling to each other in flight, good views for 3 or 4 minutes as they did aerial acrobats with each other. They were sighted on top of Gellibrand Hill. Also 2 Tawny Frogmouths at the car park entrance to the aboriginal cemetery, just on the right hand side of the locked front gate. Philip Peel
Thu 30 Aug	Collared Sparrowhawk & Flame Robin Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne Single Collared Sparrowhawk flying over the Australian section and single Flame Robin near the lake (our first record of this species for the gardens). John Barkla & Alison Street
Wed 29 Aug	Magpie Geese, Banded Stilt, Red-necked Avocet Moolap Station Road, Geelong 30+ Magpie Geese in the church grounds around around 8:30am, gone by 11am. Also 500+ Banded Stilts and Red-necked Avocets on the Cheetham Salt Pans. Bob & Jan Hughes.
	Swift Parrot, Brown and Rufous Songlark Seaford Swamp A single Swiftie seen calling above treetops in north-west wooded section of wetlands before flying off to south-east. Only third record here. Also of interest were a non-breeding male Brown Songlark (only 2nd or 3rd record) and a probable female Rufous Songlark. Also 52 Blue-billed Duck, the largest number recorded for this wetland, White-eared Honeyeater and a Pallid Cuckoo. Sean Dooley
Tue 28 Aug	Oriental Pratincole Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Western Lagoons... It is still there. We observed it in, and over, the lagoon for an hour or more 12:30pm- 2:00pm-ish. This is the lagoon that is just inside Gate 2 off Twenty-nine Mile Road, turn right through the gate and the lagoon is along your left. Ken Haines, Clive Kaplan and R. Bruce Richardson
	Eastern Curlew Shallow Inlet, Sandy Point and Toora bird hide Sth Gippsland Fifty five birds feeding at low tide on the Inlet and an hour later 15 from the hide. Howard and Jill Plowright
	Banded Stilt Truganina Swamp, Altona Small flock of 10 Banded Stilts present on the main pool. There is also a flock of around 30 Red-Necked Avocets and there was a Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo at the weekend. Colin Clark
Mon 27 Aug	White-bellied Sea-Eagle Coolart, Somers One or two birds. We think that as an adult flew over then an immature we saw two. Val Ford, Pat Bingham, et al
	Wood Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Observed feeding in 35E-9 Conservation Pond late in the afternoon. Surely this is an early arrival? John Stirling and Sonja Ross
	Red-browed Treecreeper Glenlyon, Wombat Forest This is a site I regularly visit and one of the most common birds recorded in any month is the Red-browed Treecreeper. It inhabits a mixed forest of Messmate and Candlebark with an understorey of Silver Wattle and Blackwood. It occurs with the White-throated Treecreeper, which is also very common in this forest. Ian Miles
	Latham's Snipe Cornish College, Bangholme Flushed two snipe from wetland area. Tom Humphreys
Sun 26 Aug	Cattle Egret Andersens Rd, Drysdale 100+ Cattle Egret feeding in a paddock. Peter Fuller
	Brown Songlark Hampton (railway line just N of Linacre Road) A male not yet in full breeding plumage just N of Linacre Road for at least an hour. (Moderators note: This could be a an early migrant or an overwintering bird. Although scarce, a few Brown Songlarks do overwinter in Victoria each year. Regardless, the location is unsual for this species). Michael Norris
Fri 24 Aug	Fairy Martin Royal Park 1 bird flying with swallows over the treatment wetland, Trin Warren Tam-boore. Very few records at Royal Park and another winter record in Victoria. George Appleby
Wed 15 Aug	White-winged Chough Banyule Flats Group of up to 8 with nest near Banyule Flat. We've seen groups here occasionally but this is the first nest, perhaps closest to CBD? Lyn Easton & Neil Murray

Birdline Victoria is sponsored by BirdLife 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
===============================