Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 21 Oct 2012.

Sun 21 Oct	Black-eared Cuckoo, Gilbert's Whistler Greater Bendigo National Park A superb adult BE Cuckoo heard then seen in heathy mallee along Cambell Rd around 400m east of Millwood Rd, along with at least 7 White-fronted Honeyeaters, Purple-gaped HE, Tawny-crowned HE, 2 Inland Thornbill, several Shy Heathwren and a very pale Little Eagle. Huge numbers of White-browed Woodswallows throughout GBNP with a few Masked seen amongst, constantly passing over all afternoon in a northerly direction. Also a male Gilbert's Whistler seen well along Millwood Rd near Melottes Rd; this species has become scarce in the national park since the advent of the drought. Steve Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Black Honeyeater, White-winged Fairy-wren, Red-backed Kingfisher Boort Interesting day today. I drove to Boort to look at the Black Honeyeaters at the cemetery and sighted about 15. On the way back there was a Red-backed Kingfisher on roadside wires opposite Lake Boort and then I stopped in at Mitiamo and found 3 White Winged Fairy-wrens in roadside lingum 1 km from town. Greg McKay
	Common Koel Quarry Hill, Bendigo At home right in the middle of Quarry Hill (Bendigo) a Common Koel landed in our neighbours tree just outside our kitchen window and started calling at 6.15. It stayed there for about 5 minutes much to the annoyance of the Red Wattle birds and Blue faced Honeyeaters;. Greg McKay
	Blue-winged Parrot Wilby A single bird observed perched on a fence by crops, just north of Stewart St along the Yarrawonga Rd. Not expected here at all and very rarely recorded in north-east Victoria. My only other record in the north-east was also in October, perhaps this bird was passing through on migration. Michael Ramsey
	Little Eagle Mawley/Frawley Rd, Clydebank near Sale Nest watched over Winter/Spring and then surprised two fledglings on a dusty rabbit warren as we had our binoculars trained on the nest. Both recently seen learning to fly and hunt today over Lake Kakydra. Jane Fraser
	Australian Owlet-nightjar Buttongrass Nature Trail, Bunyip State Park Owlet-nightjar enjoying the mid morning sun, 200 metres passed number 5 marker peg on the left side of the Buttongrass Nature Trail. Plus two Bassian Thrush at the Camp Road entrance to the walk. Derek & Sally Whitehead
	Freckled Duck Mill Park Lakes So many birds at the lakes today including 11 Freckled Duck one with nice red bill base Matthew Vinicombe
Sat 20 Oct	Painted Honeyeaters Muckleford Painted Honeyeaters still calling well. A large flock Straw-necked Ibis100+ in paddock near Sullivans Track. Also 2 White-winged Trillers. David McInnes
	Sacred Kingfisher, Rainbow Bee-eater Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre Rainbow Bee-eater (5) and Sacred Kingfisher (1) In woodlands between film set and You Yangs Chris Lunardi
	Scarlet Honeyeater Bunyip State Park Scarlet Honeyeater heard and seen in a number of locations along Forest Road between Bullock Link Rd gate and Lawson Falls Picnic Ground. Also heard along Link Road along the creek line. Luke Shelley
Fri 19 Oct	Buff-banded Rail Gipsy Point Two very friendly Buff-banded Rails feeding in the gardens at the boat ramp at the end of Gipsy Point Road. Derek Whitehead
	Rufous Songlark, Scarlet Honeyeater Fairhope, 12 km N of Bairnsdale One pair Rufous Songlark observed around sheds and orchard today -- the first record for this locality this season. Normally their presence is announced in song, but so far they have been silent. Also, male Scarlet Honeyeater feeding in flowering calistemon in garden; rarely recorded around my home, and the first record for this locality this year. Chris Healey
	Double-barred Finch Eldorado Double-barred Finch (4) Small flock in native garden, came into drink at ornamental pond. Suspect this is fairly south in range. (Moderator's note: This species seems to be slowly spreading south and west in north-east Victoria (with records in Chiltern, Warby Ranges and now Eldorado of late) in recent years away from their core range around Wodonga. Daniel Pendavingh
Thu 18 Oct	Crescent Honeyeater 535 Staughton Vale Rd, Staughton Vale 3221 Crescent Honeyeater immature or female seen, probably others present too. Generally feeding quietly in the canopy of Sugar Gums near the front gate. Called once. Janine Duffy
Thu 18 Oct	Turquoise Parrot Canni Creek Racecourse, Buchan South Turquoise Parrot (3) Two flushed from the cleared firebreak directly behind the horse stabling area and a third from eucalypt woodland adjacent to the 6th/15th fairway. Len and Jacquie Axen
Thu 18 Oct	Salvin's Albatross,White-fronted Tern, Eastern Curlew Point Lonsdale Lighthouse An excellent candidate for Salvin's Albatross with a single bird that sat and preened on the water just offshore for 20 mins. Showed an even grey hood that merged smoothly onto the mantle, grey bill with a hint of yellow and a dark tip, and well demarcated solid black primaries on the underwing. There was a single White-fronted Tern seen out on rock platforms at low tide with Crested Terns initially, finally resting on rocks just below lighthouse as the tide came in. Eventually flew directly out to sea. Also 15 Eastern Curlew flew out of Port Phillip Heads and along the coast to the west. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
Thu 18 Oct	Pied Honeyeater, Black Honeyeater, Red-backed Kingfisher Kerang region Several Black Honeyeaters along railway line about 500m SE of crossing west of the Terricks (-36.155, 144.186). Pied Honeyeaters very conspicuous at Goschen (-35.473, 143.460) Red-backed Kingfisher calling from telephone lines near Round Lake west of Lake Boga. (-35.470,143.609) 2000+ Banded Stilts at Lake Tutchewop (-35.512, 147.738) 2 Grey-crowned Babblers at Ibis rookery 10+ Budgerigars at Leaghur state Park (-35.924, 143.802) Aidan Sudbury
	Banded Lapwing Lake Buloke, Woolshed Lane. 40 Banded Lapwing On the north side of Woolshed Lane, 20 birds seen flying in a tight flock and then landed in tall grass with another 20 birds and then quickly vanished. The 2 Wedge-tailed Eagles in a tree in the same paddock may have kept the Lapwings out of sight. Also seen several groups of Cockatiel and at least 4 White-winged Trillers very active and calling, both male and female seen. Richard & Margaret Alcorn
	Brush Cuckoo Baluk Willam Nature Conservation Reserve Single bird in riparian vegetation off Courtney's road Tim Bawden
	Diamond Firetail. Eynesbury Township 3338. At 1250 hours, observed a group of 17 Diamond Firetail feeding on a grassed area. The grassed area is opposite(east of) the main car park. This is the best number of this species in a group, I have observed at the location. Peter Gibbons.
Tue 16 Oct	Little Tern, Fairy Tern and Pink-eared Duck. Snipe Point - Hollands Landing Gippsland Seven Little Tern and one Fairy Tern in transitional plumage, one Little Tern in full breeding plumage and 37 Little Tern in non breeding plumage observed. Pink-eared duck X 483. Faye Bedford
Mon 15 Oct	Masked Woodswallow, White-browed Woodswallow Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Several Masked Woodswallow seen in a flock of at least 300 White-browed Woodswallow floating in from the west over 29 Mile Rd, WTP around 14.30 today. A few White-browed WS later seen perched in Sugar Gum further back along the same road. Possibly the same bunch reported in Werribee township by Brett Whitfield a little later.. Also about the plant was a Black Falcon, 2 Freckled Duck and a Caspian Tern out on The Spit with Fairy Tern dwarfed alongside. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
Mon 15 Oct	Horsfeild's Bushlark Elwood Foreshore About 10 bushlarks turned up on the Elwood foreshore in two different locations this afternoon. One pair were foraging in the low vegetation next to the public toilets and a larger group of about 8 or more were foraging in the strip of Coast Saltbush between the Elwood canal and the car park on Moran reserve. Gio Fitzpatrick
	Scarlet Honeyeater Cape Conran Coastal Park Increasing numbers of Scarlet Honeyeaters are being seen and heard within the Cape Conran Coastal Park. In flowering ti-tree and melaleuca near the mouth of the Yerrung River 8- 10 were noted while at the "Salior's Grave" East Cape Conran another 6 were observed feeding amongst the flowering ti-tree directly behind the carpark. Len and Jacquie Axen
	Masked Woodswallow and White-browed Woodswallow Glenroy A number of flocks flew over from 1630 h to 1745 h heading from SSW of here to NNE. The first of at least 250 birds surprisingly appeared to comprise only Masked Woodswallows but after careful scanning at least three male and three female White-browed Woodswallows were noted. The second flock of about 30 birds were all Masked as were all individuals scanned in the third flock of about 100 birds. Two more flocks of unknown size could be heard calling but were not examined as they passed in the distance to the west of here. Charles Silveira
	Satin Flycatcher, Scarlet Honeyeater Uralla Reserve,Trafalgar First sighting this spring of Satin Flycatcher. Two or three Scarlet Honeyeaters still present in same area as last week near lowest point on Donaldsons track. Brown Gerygones in abundance. Two pairs of Rose Robins. David Mules
	White-browed and masked woodswallow 300+ Werribee, near soldiers reserve first heard the flock in the distance, had time to retrieve bins from inside before the mixed flock flew over my backyard. numbers are an estimate but flock covered a large area of sky and calls could be heard quite well. Appeared to be just as many masked as white-browed. Seemed to be heading back towards werribee cbd. Viewed at 3.20 pm Brett Whitfield
Sun 14 Oct	Satin Flycatcher Tylden Cemetery First noted Satin FC arrival around Woodend/Tylden area. Still knee-deep in cuckoos (Pallid, Fan-tailed, Horsfield's & Shining Bronze constantly calling in Tylden). Lawrie Conole
	9 Orange Chat Lake Tyrell a small number eventually found half way up the eastern side of the lake. None could be found in the Kerang area. Simon Starr
	Purple-crowned Lorikeet Ouyen A pair seen flying around town, and others seen in the nearby Bronzewing reserve. Mallee trees coming into heavy bud. Only an erratic visitor. Simon Starr
	Pied Honeyeater, Black Honeyeater Ouyen 2 male Pied Honeyeaters calling incessantly, and one female seen. In bushland along North-west road. Seen over 3 days. Also a small number of Black Honeyeaters. Total 8 sp Honeyeater at the site. Simon Starr
	Satin Flycatcher Boundary Road, Lindenow South. Drawn to the call first, adult male sitting close in Euc, calling with hood peaked, very nice to see and hear.(Moderators note: the first report to Birdline for spring this year). Faye Bedford
	Olive-backed Oriole St Kilda Botanical Gardens Two birds calling to each other from tall Eucalypts near the playground at about 8:30am. This is the frst records that I know of in the City of Port Phillip. Gio Fitzpatrick
	Little Egret, Lewin's Rail, Australian Spotted Crake, Horsfield's Bushlark, Brown Songlark, Rufous S Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Little Egret: in the Western Lagoons. Lewin's Rail: Crossing track 100m west of intersection immediately west of hide. Australian Spotted Crake: Two seen in shallow ponds about 300m south-west of hide (on coastal side of track). Also, one Horsfield's Bushlark, three Brown Songlarks and one Rufous Songlark seen Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	Blue-faced Honeyeater Kingston Victoria First sighting for this species, very vocal in flowering Eucalyptus. Noted seen in Newstead recently for the first time. Kingston is midway between Newsted and Ballarat lindsay Cooke
Sat 13 Oct	Malleefowl, Black Honeyeater Wyperfeld National Park (Dattuck VMRG Site 01) A Malleefowl seen working a mound while monitoring the 80 mounds at this Malleefowl Monitoring site. Also at least 2 Black Honeyeaters heard. Richard & Margaret Alcorn
	Black Honeyeater and Redthroat Wyperfeld National Park (Discovery Track) A male Black Honeyeater heard calling incessantly and then seen perched on a dead tree trunk. A Southern Scrub-robin calling at the same time made an interesting contrast. A Redthroat was heard and then seen well singing in a callitris pine. Also a Little Eagle first spotted perched in a Buloke and then flying overhead and 4 Regent Parrots feeding in flowering mallees. Richard & Margaret Alcorn
	Black Honeyeater North-west Victoria Black Honeyeaters present throughout the north-west, at many patches of flowering emubush. More southerly sightings along Long Lake road near Lake Boga, Boort Cemetery, Mitiamo, and Goschen. Double figures seen at some sites. Simon Starr
Fri 12 Oct	Banded Stilt 12,000+ Lake Wyn Wyn 3300 Banded Stilt at the southern end of the lake with 80 Red-necked Avocets and another 9000 Banded Stilts at the northern end of the lake, this involved a walk through the glorious mud, where we also saw 38 Red-capped Plover, 87 Red-necked Stint and a solitary Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Richard & Margaret Alcorn
	Little Tern Albert Park Lake Little Tern observed on the lake, fishing and stationary on the jetty. Sanderson Topham
Thu 11 Oct	Banded Lapwing Point Cook This bird and its mate have been nesting in a spare block in our residential street. (Moderators note: an unusual record from a suburban location). Cherie Kellenbach

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