Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 13 Jan 2013.

Sat 12 Jan	Brolga Miners Rest Never seen here before. In our farm paddock,near dam, walked onto dam bank, but walked back down to grass. I was very excited as were the cattle, sadly I didn't have my camera, tried phone but too far away. The paddock is just north of the Miners Rest township, on the west side of the Ballarat-Marybrough Rd. Went home to get my camera, but he was gone by the time I got back.Do hope I see him again. Rhonda Keller
	Pectoral Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Baillon's crake Western Treatment Plant 3 pectoral sandpipers, 1 wood sandpiper and 1 Baillon's crake seen in 2nd & 3rd pond on left, east of Little River ford at between 6.30 - 7.00pm . The pectorals were loosely associated, in stunning plumage, washing and preening,the late sunshine highlighting ochre hues to legs and bill base and classic pectoral chests. Wood sandpiper associated with marsh sandpipers on pond margin. John Newman, Trevor Lumb
	Great Knot, Red Knot,Curlew Sandpiper Rhyll Inlet Phillip Island Two Great Knots,three Red Knots,Curlew Sandpipers keeping company with forty Bar - tailed Godwits on the last sand bar before high tide. Derek Whitehead
	Square-tailed Kite Yellingbo Nature Reserve, One Square-tailed Kite seen well flying over the forest by up to 20 observers on a Birdlife Australia Healesville Branch outing. Chris Doughty and Healesville Birdlife Branch
Thu 10 Jan	Spotless Crake Bunyip State Park Contact calls and song from two birds in reedbeds on creekline at end of Bunyip River Rd. 2 Lewin's Rail also heard in same location. Steve Davidson
Thu 10 Jan	Spotted Harrier Corio Station / Shell Refinery Spotted Harrier (1) Adult very close to School Road, gliding low over vacant block between Harvey Norman and railway line - about 500m from Corio Station. Kept hunting over same patch of ground for the 5 minutes I was there. Russell Woodford
	Pectoral Sandpiper, Golden Plover Big Marsh Barwon Heads Rd A perfectly marked Pectoral Sandpiper provided impeccable views on a small remnant of water in the North side of this marsh. Nine Golden Plover were feeding on a patch of nearby wet mud and around Three Hundred evenly mixed Red Necked Stints and Sharp Tailed Sandpipers were also present. Trevor Lumb
	Golden Plover, Curlew Sandpiper Lake Murtnaghurt Bellarine Peninsular 31 Golden Plover were present on this rapidly evaporating wetland this morning. Also100 Curlew Sandpiper [one showing early breeding color on chest] and about 1200 Sharp Tailed Sandpiper and1200 Red Necked Stints.Approximately 1500 ducks which appeared to all be Chestnut Teal occupied the Western part of what was a busy little lake. Trevor Lumb
	Buff-banded Rail, Baillon's Crake, Australian Spotted Crake, Spotless Crake Banyule Flats Reserve Buff-banded Rail (5) 3 Main swamp, 2 small pond near Banyule Road Baillon's Crake (1) Main swamp Australian Spotted Crake (3) Main swamp Spotless Crake (2) Small pond near Banyule Road Ross Potter
Wed 9 Jan	Spotted Crakes 8, Baillon's Crake 1 Wallenjoe Rd, Epsom Flooded paddock. David Mcinnes
	Caspain , Crested , Common , Little and Whiskered Terns Werribee River Mouth , Werribee South All Terns Present on Sandbar opposite Jetties at High Tide. 11 Caspian's 30+ Crested and several Common and Little Terns. Whiskered Terns feeding in river (5) Colin Mulvogue
	Square-tailed Kite Earlston 1 foraging for more than an hour over bushland on private properties. Doug Robinson
Tue 8 Jan	Australian Spotted Crake, Baillon's Crake, Red-kneed Dotterel, Peregrine Falcon Westgate Park During our regular monthly survey we encountered four occasional visitors to the park; a single Australian Spotted Crake, Baillon's Crake and Peregrine Falcon, and three Red-kneed Dotterels. Other interesting sightings on the day were a single Nankeen Night-Heron, four to five Australian Reed Warblers and at least five Little Grassbirds. Andrew McCutcheon, Gio Fitzpatrick
	Australian Spotted Crake, Song Thrush, Baiillons Crake Banyule Flat 4 Spotted Crakes on main wetland, also 1 Baillons Crake and 2 Buff-banded Rails. A couple of days ago there were 3 Great Egrets and a White-necked Heron in the billabong nearby, and Striated Thornbills feeding young. Other good birds nearby today included a White-throated Treecreeper in Red Gum sapling beside Yarra River and a Song Thrush singing hard from same area. Richard Loyn
	Leaden Flycatcher Bunyip State Park Leaden Flycatcher (2) Bottom end of Ash-landing Rd. One male calling and being answered by 1 (or 2?) other birds. Angus Hartshorn
	Eastern Koel Belgrave Heights Calling from Colby Drive area about 6.45am this morning. Could not find bird though it called - from seemingly different directions - for some 30 minutes. Andrew Williams
Mon 7 Jan	Spotless Crake, Black-tailed Native-hen Yan Yean Reservoir Park A single Spotless Crake seen extraordinarily close on the edge of reeds on the small wetland in the parkland below the Dam wall. Also metres away was a similarly exhibitionist Australian Spotted Crake and several Black-tailed Native-hen. Sean Dooley
	Bassian Thrush Mt. Samaria State Park Single bird feeding along the track close to the western most path up to the peak. Watched it for about 10 miinutes. Bill & Jackie Morecraft
	Pectoral Sandpiper, White Winged Black Tern Western Treatment Plant At site North of Walshes lagoon one Pectoral Sandpiper. Also several Australian Crakes one Marsh Sandpiper and one White Winged Black Tern among three hundred Whiskered Terns. Also one Blue Billed Duck at Lake Borrie and Common Tern. Trevor Lumb
	Common Sandpiper Kororoit Creek Single bird located amongst the shacks near the mouth of the river. Third time out here to find this bird and finally successful. Bernie O'Keefe
	Eastern Bristlebird Croajingalong NP (Howe Flat area) 5 Eastern Bristlebird seen and another heard in coastal Melaleuca sedgelands and Banksia/Xanthorrhoea clearings in open forest. Birds seemed quite unafraid and I was afforded brilliant close views. Also of interest just offshore from the end of Howe Flat track was a loose flock of around 80 Black-faced Cormorant feeding just past the line of breakers. Steve Davidson
	Masked Owl, White-throated Nightjar Watertrust Rd, Mallacoota Masked Owl heard calling from deep within tall forest along Watertrust Rd at 04.30 this morning. Also heard was a single WT Nightjar and several Aus. Owlet-nightjar. Nice dawn chorus too, Jacky Winter was one of the first birds to sing pre-dawn along with the kookas. Previous evening in same location we had a dark-phase White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike; this is the third I've seen in widely-spaced locations around Mallacoota; the dark phase seems to predominate here. Steve Davidson
	Australian White Ibis Braeside Park Australian White Ibis One white Ibis that is completely blue - almost like it has been spray painted - I spoke to the park office and they said they knew of it - but it has them completely stumped - all its 'white' sections are a fluro blue colour Brett Harman
Sun 6 Jan	Powerful Owl, Spotless Crake Banyule Flats Reserve A beautifully marked large adult Powerful Owl with a freshly killed Ring-tail Possum was seen along the bicycle track near the old windmill. Also seen was a Tawny Frogmouth near the playing fields, a Latham's Snipe on the swamp and a Spotless Crake, an Australian Spotted Crake and two Buff-banded Rail in the muddy pond near Banyule Rd. Jen Spry & Joy Tansey
	Common Sandpiper Kororoit Creek Mouth, Williamstown North No sign of it at the ford so I headed up for a look around the mouth. Stumbled upon it roosting at high tide amongst the shacks. Fantastic views before it crossed the creek and began feeding in the mangroves. Jackson Airey
	Cicadabird Bunyip State Park 2 Cicadabird - 1 heard on Nichols Hut track, another heard and eventually seen about 200m North on Link Rd. Calling infrequently. Jackson Airey
	Hooded Plover Ventnor Phillip Island While these threatened birds are not uncommon on the Island seeing six in one spot was fairly unique for us. Derek & Sally Whitehead
Thu 3 Jan	Banded Lapwing Lake Tutchewop A single flock of 136 Banded Lapwing, 300 Banded Stilt and Orange Chats at Lake Tutchewop. Also 5 Freckled Duck at Lake Murphy, , 1 Gull-billed Tern at Lake Cullen, Cockatiels at Kerang and Appin State Forrest, 20 Budgerigars at Appin State Forestewop and Orange Chats Lake Woorinen. White-browed Woodswallows have successfully bred in their 100's all over the Kerang area and 2 Masked Woodswallows at Appin State Forest. Chris and Christine Doughty and Kevin and Elaine Miller
Wed 2 Jan	Spotless Crake Nerrina Wetlands, Ballarat Pair observed at close range around cumbungi clumps in a shallow pool. Reddish legs and brown, unmarked upperparts, and finely barred undetail coverts clearly seen. Matthew Heron
Mon 31 Dec	Satin Flycatcher Bunyip State Park Didn't report this earlier, but I think the recent Leaden Flycatcher report could be the two Satin Flycatchers we observed on Ash Landing Road on New Year's Eve. Not seen Leadens in this area before. Claire, Ziggy & Eva Wolinski

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

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