Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 25 Nov 2012.

Sun 25 Nov	Banded Lapwing, White-Bellied Sea Eagle Hoopers Road, Dunach 10+ Banded Lapwings in a paddock on the North Side of Hoopers Road near to the intersection with Wattle Gully Road. Also imm White Bellied Sea Eagle circling over nearby private property. Colin Clark
	Australian Koel Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne Australian Koel (1) Call heard as we arrived via the Eastern Gate. We headed to the Guilfoyle Lawn where a partial call and then a full call at 12:45pm pointed us to a Queensland Kauri tree South of the Arid Garden. After a stake out, the Koel flew from the Kauri to the top of a nearby tree whereby all 3 of us got a decent view. Jackson Airey
	Common Koel, Brush Cuckoo, Little Tern. Mallacoota Common Koel seen & heard calling loudly while being pursued by Wattlebirds in the foreshore camping area. Brush Cuckoo at Double Creek Arm rainforest walk. Little & Caspian Terns on main ocean beach. Keith & Judy Humphreys
Sat 24 Nov	Common Bronzewing Long Hollow Reserve, Beaumaris One possibly two birds flushed several times in a walk around this rather small heathland remnant. Sean Dooley
	Plum-headed Finch Ararat Escapee Plum-headed Finch in Vincent Street, Ararat feeding with Sparrows Tristan Kennedy
	Stubble quail Fitzroy north Female stubble quail walking the footpaths in Fitzroy North this afternoon. Philip Hughes
	Spotted Harrier, Pink-eared Duck Serendip Sanctuary, Lara Spotted Harrier: Seen hunting over grassland ('Kangaroo paddock') on western side of property. Pink-eared Duck: On Lake Serendip in the morning. Only one observed later in the day, associating with Hardheads. Pink-eared Ducks are an uncommon visitor to Serendip. Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	Whimbrel, Little Tern Snowy River mouth Further to yesterday's observation, a pair of Whimbrels were observed quietly feeding on the sandflats approaching low tide this morning. A small number of Little Terns numbering some 30+ at the moment are establishing a permanent colony on the ocean beach to the east of the entrance. Len Axen
	Painted Honeyeater Warby Ranges A fantastic day birding with Michael Ramsey! Many great highlights such as many Painted Honeyeaters, Hooded Robin, Gilbert's Whistler, Leaden Flycatcher, Black-Eared Cuckoo, Bush Stone Curlew just to name a few. 130 species all up. Thanks Michael for a wonderful day! Bernie O'Keefe
	Banded Stilt Lake Murdeduke An after lunch walk on the western bank of Lake Murdeduke rewarded me with the sight of the largest flock of Banded Stilt I have seen. I believe there were approximately 1750 birds, the vast majority congregated together resting, while about 400 were spread over 1.5kms of foreshore feeding. Also about 60 Red Necked Stint. Trevor Lumb
Fri 23 Nov	Topknot Pigeon Frenchs Narrows, near Marlo, East Gippsland Topknot Pigeon (15) flying over brackish lagoon behind primary dune, heading west. Though they are known to be in the area, seemed unusual to see them so close to the ocean beach! Janine Duffy, Roger Smith
Fri 23 Nov	Scarlet Honeyeater Newport Lakes Park Single male Scarlet Honeyeater seen in trees surrounding the north wall of the Amphitheatre early in the am, as reported by Mary Burbidge. Mary Burbidge per Steve Davidson
	Broad-billed Sandpiper WTP Seen feeding by itself from centre viewing area Western Lagoon, Lewin's and Buff-banded Rail, 5 Aust Spotted Crake along Spit. Arthur Carew
	Whimbrel Snowy River mouth While scoping for Little Terns at the mouth of the Snowy River, a Whimbrel was observed feeding on the exposed sand flats inside the entrance. Another infrequent vistor to the Snowy River estuary. Tony Mitchell per Len Axen
	Scarlet Honeyeater, Rufous Fantail, Black-faced Monarch Mallacoota Scarlet HE, Rufous FT & BF Monarch all on the nature walk around Devlin's Inlet this morning. Also Eastern Curlew, Red-necked Stint & Bar-tailed Godwit around the Inlet itself. Keith & Judy Humphreys
Thu 22 Nov	Brush Bronzewing, White-winged Triller Cape Conran Coastal Park Brush Bronzewing heard near Joiners Channel picnic area White-winged Triller (1) non-breeding male bird seen at Joiners Channel picnic area Janine Duffy, Roger Smith, Lynne Hocking, Linda Saunders, Graeme King
Thu 22 Nov	Brown Songlark Orbost-Marlo road, Marlo A Brown Songlark was observed perched on powerlines overlooking the wetlands approaching the bridge over the brodribb River this afternoon. An uncommon visitor to Marlo. Our previous sighting was on 20/11/2006 along the causeway immediately after the last dairy farm on the Marlo road. Len Axen
	Rufous Fantail Devilbend Reservoir Rufous Fantail seen on walking track to Daangean point, parts of site now officially open to public 6am- 8pm. Anthea Stubbs
	Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, Spotted Quail-thrush Brisbane Ranges National Park Chestnut-rumped Heathwren (1) Good views along the same track where I observed the spotted quail thrush. Spotted Quail-thrush (1) Flushed along (unnamed) track that leads off Reid Rd to the right 1.3 Kms past Heath track. Returned to the spot 2 hours later and flushed the same bird again about 250 meters along track. This track has a fork about 100 meters from start and I then took the left option which follows a ridge. Hedley Earl
Wed 21 Nov	Rufous Fantail Raymond Creek Falls, Snowy River National Park Rufous Fantail on Raymond Creek track near little bridge. Looks like first record in this area, though its not surprising to see them here. Janine Duffy, Roger Smith, Lynne Hocking, Linda Saunders, Graeme King
Wed 21 Nov	Little Friarbird Bemm River settlement Little Friarbird (1) Heard calling briefly from the eucalypts that line the main road opposite the Bemm River hotel. An irregular observation from this area. Len Axen, Tony Mitchell
	Red-backed Kingfisher Lake Victoria (Lonsdale Lakes Reserve) Red-backed Kingfisher (1) Presumably the one reported 16 and 17/11 at Lake Connewarre. At the end of Emily's Lane in a tree Angus Hartshorn
Wed 21 Nov	Scaly-breasted Lorikeet Chenies St, Reservoir at least one Scaly-breasted Lorikeet in amongst Musk and Rainbow Lorikeets in a fruit tree along Chenies St Matt Vinicombe
	White-winged-triller, Common Bronzewing, Freckled Duck Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Highlights of an afternoon at the plant included a Common Bronzewing on the track near Borrie Outlet, and at least 3 White-winged Triller (1 m, 2 f) scattered throughout along treed roadsides. Male was very vocal. Also 14 Freckled Duck on Walsh's Lagoon and a singleton on South Borrie Pond 24. 100 species for the afternoon. Steven Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Australian Painted Snipe (female) A private lake on property near Lake Murdeduke An extremely photogenic Painted Snipe paraded about 15 metres from me in the open on lake edge (me with no camera!). I studied it for 10 minutes through both binoculars and telescope, before it finally flushed when I approached to about 12 metres. All features including rear body jerking motion clearly observed. Trevor Lumb
	Freckled Duck Lake on private property near Lake Murdeduke I counted 129 Freckled Duck on this 15 hectare lake this afternoon. About 400 Pink Eared Duck and approximately 500 Hardhead Ducks, a few Black Duck, Grey Teal and a few Australian Shelduck were also seen. A magnificent sight with perfect afternoon sunshine behind me. Trevor Lumb
Tue 20 Nov	Australian Koel Surrey Hills Continuing the sightings of Koel around Melbourne currently, there was one calling at 5:30am(!) this morning outside my house for around an hour. Looks like another northern migrant species is expanding its range. Greg Oakley
Mon 19 Nov	Pied Honeyeater, Black Honeyeater, Cockatiel, Budgerigar etc Goschen Flora Reserve Morning trip to Goschen - many Pied Honeyeater - common all over the reserve (at least 3 pairs were in a flowering gum next to the tennis court!). Black Honeyeater were also very common everywhere. Several small flocks of Cockatiel, a few Blue-bonnet and just a couple of Budgies. Also thousands of White-browed Woodswallow, many Masked Woodswallow and a few Black-faced WS. Also White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Little Button-quail. Greg Oakley
	Turquoise Parrot Chiltern (Bartley's Block) I had just about given up hope of finding a Turquoise Parrot during my first visit to Chiltern yesterday and was sitting in the shade taking a breather. Then I heard the lovely tinkling call and a bird landed on a low stump 6 m away. Dave Dickson
	Freckled Duck (10), Spotted Harrier Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Freckled Duck in Walshes Lagoon pond 10. Spotted Harrier by Ryans Swamp. Dave Torr, Iian Denham, Christine Shelley
Sun 18 Nov	Baillon's Crake, Latham's Snipe, Grey Goshawk, Blue-winged Parrot Frowood Arboretum, Dean's Marsh (private property) A flock of 20+ Blue-winged Parrots were feeding in the mown grass, a Baillon's Crake and 3 Latham's Snipe were seen in the main dam and a Grey Goshawk flew over. Gio Fitzpatrick
	Brolga McDonald Road Swamp, Nagambie Brolga (2) two adults on the west side of wetland. Good place to get some photos of them. Robert Treble
	Painted Button-Quail Emerald A single Painted Button-Quail seen on the roadside along Paton Rd, Emerald. First record in the year I've been in the area though last Summer I did find platelets on my property a couple of km's from this sighting. Mark Bennett
Sat 17 Nov	Arctic Jaeger Ninety Mile Beach (near Woodside Beach), Victoria A dark morph Arctic Jaeger first sighted cruising along the shore. It then proceeded to harass the heck out of a Crested Tern which was quite a spectacle. Jackson Airey, Steve & Judi Duke
Thu 15 Nov	Australian Koel Red Gum Forest Reserve, Briagolong A very glossy black back, iridescent, etc. I have never seen such a bird before. Simpson & Day say this bird only comes south as far as Genoa, East Gippsland. But I see on your site that there have been sightings at Sale and Bairnsdale area. Jane Hildebrant
Sun 11 Nov	Princess Parrot (male) Kilcunda Bright sunny afternoon. Bird was seen on our tennis court fence by my wife who alerted me. I grabbed camera and bird book, and quickly identified it as a male Princess Parrot. Taking photos, I was gradually able to get within one metre of the bird who had climbed down the fence to get a closer look at me! It was obviously an escapee from an aviary. After some time I went back to the house to see if I could contact Sustainability and Environment. When I returned it had gone! Total time of observation was about 15 minutes. Paul and Heather Riviere
Wed 31 Oct	Nankeen Night Heron Elster Creek, Elwood 1 Nankeen Night Heron was hunting near the mouth of the canal, 2 were flying around Elwood Primary School, and 5 were hunting in the golf course. The first heron appeared in the creek on the golf course at 7:45pm. Gio Fitzpatrick

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