Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 17 Feb 2013.

Sun 17 Feb	Pectoral Sandpiper, Freckled Duck T-section Lagoons, Western Treatment Plant Stunning brief afternoon visit to the T Section lagoons which I had all to myself :). Highlights were a lone Pectoral Sandpiper in Pond 6 in the low lyig greenery at the eastern side, and no less than 17 Freckled Ducks in a mixed roost by the Western side of Pond 2. 30+ Marsh Sandpiper scattered throughout the area too. Ed Williams
	Regent Parrots Murray Kulkyne Park Last night we camped on the river at Murray Kulkyne Park and between 5.00pm and dark counted over 50 regent parrots crossing the river near us from NSW into Vic. Following the Murray Valley Hwy to Boundary Bend this morning counted at least another 60 heading North from Vic - NSW and then stopping at Boundary Bend counted another 10 in the riverside park trees. We saw none after Boundary Bend. Greg and Janice McKay
	Latham's Snipe Port Fairy This morning I managed to flush nine Latham Snipe as I walked through the wetland near the Port Fairy school. Last Wednesday we flushed 51 Latham Snipe on my first visit which was quite a significant number for such a small area. It is a tragedy that the local council is allowing a property developer to drain this significant site without constraint ( Moderator's note: published as quite high numbers). Gary Oliver
Sat 16 Feb	Hooded Plover Killarney Beach Hooded Plover (2) 1 adult & 1 juvenile sheltering amongst dry kelp well away from fishers and swimmers on large sandy corner with no fenced area near by Samantha Greiner
Sat 16 Feb	Eastern Reef Egret, Ground Parrot, Southern Emuwren Shipwreck Creek - Seal Creek/Croajingolong NP Eastern Reef Egret (2) A pair at the 'mouth' of the Creek and seen later roosting further up the creek. Apparently not breeding. Ground Parrot (2) on the Heath Southern Emuwren (9) on the Heath Angus Hartshorn
Sat 16 Feb	Pacific Golden-Plover, Hooded Plover, Sooty Oystercatcher, Sanderling Belfast Coastal Park Four highlight species from 2020 Shorebird Count - 1 Pacific Golden-Plover, Hooded Plover (5) 3 birds with leg bands, Sooty Oystercatcher & Sanderling (85) cashing waves up and down shoreline Samantha Greiner
Sat 16 Feb	Sooty Owl, Black-faced Monarch Tarago State Forest An enjoyable BirdLife Melbourne outing. Sooty Owl - One bird showed very well for all participants, another calling nearby. Black-faced Monarch - One confiding bird near the start of Tarago Road, another calling nearby. BirdLife Melbourne
	Mallee Emuwren Hattah Kulkyne N.P (Nowingi Track 1km Nth Konardin Tk) It took a lot of searching stopping every 1km along the Nowingi Tk and then finally thanks to a very faint tiching type noise located a family group of at least 8 that we followed, photographed and observed for over 15min. Greg and Janice McKay
	Malleefowl Calder Hwy Hattah What better way to spend a hot morning than sit under a shady roadside tree and watch the passing traffic. Photographed at 11.00am 3.6km from the Hattah Kulkyne N.P turnoff heading towards Mildura Greg and Janice McKay
Fri 15 Feb	Bassian Thrush Park Orchards I think the last reported sighting of this bird in the area was in 1978 in the Hundred Acres Reserve, Park Orchards {Moderator's Note: We have a single report from April 2012] David Hewitt
Thu 14 Feb	Square-tailed Kite Rutherglen Walked out of the supermarket with dinner and a bottle of wine when I saw a raptor off to the south down Main Street, towards the roundabout. It was too silhouetted/distant to ID so I jumped in the car with the beloved, drove down the street to be under it, and then a quartering Square-tailed Kite passed about 5 meters above the car, did 2 passes over us giving unmistakeable views, then flew off to the east. Troy Mutton
Wed 13 Feb	Lewin's Rail Rigby's Wetland, Scoresby Seen feeding on exposed mud. Good views as it fed then ran along mudbank before going into cover. Also many Aust Spotted and one Spotless Crake. Arthur Carew
Tue 12 Feb	Sooty Owl Cabbage Tree Palms Reserve One seen plus one heard. Also Owlet-nightjar heard, Satin Bowerbird, Spotted QT, 2 juv Sparrowhawks Dave Torr, Iian Denham, Trevor Hunt
Mon 11 Feb	Rufous Fantail Bakers Gully, Bright Rufous Fantail Two giving a very good close display for us. At the very top of Bakers Gully on the track. Linda Hayes
Mon 11 Feb	Spotted Harrier Wantirna (Eastlink - Burwood Highway intersection) Single Spotted Harried seen flying overhead at a reasonable height over the freeway. Darren Wallace
	Painted Honeyeater Trappers Gap Road, Mountain Creek A female Painted Honeyeater amongst a seething mass of several hundred Yellow-faced Honeyeater and many dozens of White-naped Honeyeaters in a couple of hectare patch of Blue Gum/Narrow-leaf Peppermint forest east of Tawonga. Unlikely habitat and somewhat out of range although my father picked up a stunned male Painted Honeyeater that had flown into a window in Tawonga nearly 10 years ago - the bird recovered and flew off half an hour later. The large numbers of honeyeaters may be due to bushfire displacement from the 2 large fires to the south-west of the area and/or the very dry conditions instigating early congregations moving north. Dale Tonkinson
	Common Sandpiper Barwon River One Common Sandpiper on edge of river upstream from mouth. When accidentally flushed flew with short clipped wingstrokes and glides to opposite bank. Also at delta area aprox 2500 Red Necked Stints and 500 Curlew Sandpiper. Many Curlew Sands in very colourful plumage. One solitary Red Knot also present. Returning downstream saw 38 Common Greenshank on a bankside roost Trevor Lumb
Sun 10 Feb	Orange Chat Lake Tutchewop Orange Chat At least 50 on northern edge of lake Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	Red-kneed Dotterel Linley's Swamp, French Island 6 on eastern edge of lagoon. Two were seen here with VWSG and French Island Landcare members on World Wetlands Day, 2 February. I am not aware of any records of this species on the island since 1990s. Chris Chandler
Sat 9 Feb	Freckled Duck Round Lake (near Lake Boga, Kerang) 50+ Freckled Duck in company of 1000+ Grey Teal, 1000+ Pink-eared Duck and 1000+ Eurasian Coot Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	Brown Quail, Pied Honeyeater, Black Honeyeater, Grey Butcherbird Goschen Flora Reserve Brown Quail (2) Flushed from north-west corner of reserve Pied Honeyeater (1) Black Honeyeater (5) Grey Butcherbird (1) Heard in the morning Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	White Headed Pigeon Foster North, Victoria Single White Headed Pigeon seen feeding on our deck over a two day period. Larry Giddy
	Grey Currawong Anthony St, Kensington Single bird, saw similar bird two weeks ago in nearby Kensington Hall reserve these are the first time I have sighted this species in Kensington. Frank Wallace
Wed 6 Feb	Great Egret Peck's Point, French Island 34 Great Egrets roosting on mangroves and rock stack west of Peck's Point, evening high tide. Also 28 Royal Spoonbills, 24 White-faced Herons, White Ibis, Little Pied Cormorants and Pied Oystercatchers. 714 Black Swans on the sea between Peck's Point and The Anchorage. About 300 more swans further west towards Tortoise Head.(Moderator's note: a high number of Great Egrets at one site) Chris Chandler
Mon 4 Feb	Barbary Dove Jim Willis Reserve/Brighton Dunes Brighton First sighting of two birds since the DPI removed a nesting pair two years ago. There were single birds in September 2011, July 2012, and last month - but NO sightings elsewhere in Bayside. Michael Norris
Sat 2 Feb	Black-tailed Native-hen Bullock Swamp, French Island 2 seen at the edge of a dam with Purple Swamphens. This is the second sighting for French Island this summer and only the third record, as far as I know (Moderator's note: unusual on the island and only the 2nd record here from Eremaea data). Roger Standen, per Chris Chandler
Fri 1 Feb	Malleefowl Ouyen - Patchewollock Road NW Victoria Large numbers - observers have counted up to 84 birds, feeding on spilt canola seed on the sides of the road. Birdlife Mildura Club
Tue 22 Jan	Red-necked Avocet Bullock Swamp, French Island 4 Avocets, 5 Yellow-billed Spoonbills, 50 Royal Spoonbills, Black-winged Stilts, Greenshanks, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, ducks, etc. (Moderators note: although found in some other areas of Westernport such as Stockyard Point there very few records from French Island itself). Roger Standen and Rob from VWSG, Julie Tresize, Chris Chandler

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

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