Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 24 Feb 2013.

Sun 24 Feb	Spotless Crake Corhanwarrabul Wetlands Visited Mulgrave Reserve Wetland at the southern end of this site via the gate on the north west side of the oval. There is still a small amount of water in the small pond on the right just through the gate which is where most of the water birds were. The main pond is dry. The Spotless Crake was In the small pond on a small neck of mud and reeds. It came out of cover several times as we stood very quietly. Richard & Margaret Alcorn
Sat 23 Feb	Red-kneed Dotterel Krause Swamp, Croxton East BirdLife Hamilton Outing, hot & windy. 9 Red-kneed Dotterels out in middle of drying swamp with ducks and herons. [Moderator's Note: Red-kneed Dotterels are seen less often in the SW of the state than in other areas] Samantha Greiner
	Eastern Osprey Cheviot Hill, Point Nepean An Eastern Osprey was seen from the Cheviot Hill lookout at Pt Nepean by the BirdLife Australia Mud Island trip group today. Thankfully the boat trip was cancelled due to high winds in the morning to permit this fantastic sighting, among 50 species seen by the group for the day. Jackson Airey
	Black Honeyeater Warby-Ovens National Park (Killawarra Forest) Black Honeyeater (17). Ten birds near Mattamia Lane foraging in flowering mistletoe and hawking for insects off the tops of trees. Another seven at the camp. High numbers for this site, probabaly many more through the forest. Michael Ramsey
	Australasian Bittern Bass Coast Rail Trail Single bird bird disturbed from small wetland on northern side of trail ~100m west of where it crosses Lower Powlett Road. Clears views as it took flight showed it was a bittern and not an immature Nankeen Night Heron (S38.58801, E145.55751). Neil Shelley
	Grey-tailed Tattler, Far Eastern Curlew Reef Island, Coronet Bay After searching the island for an hour, 6 Grey-tailed Tattlers were found hidden amongst rocks at the far tip of the island, ocean side. Also, 11 Far Eastern Curlews were found at the start of the island from the shore. Bernie O'Keefe
	Cape Barren Goose Peninsula Freeway 2 birds seen on bank of Peninsula Freeway near Mornington-Tyabb overpass at app. 2pm Denise & Arthur Carew
Fri 22 Feb	Red-kneed Dotterel Lake Hamilton Beach, Hamilton Very hot and windy. Red-kneed Dotterel (5) on mud flats on beach. [Moderator's Note: Red-kneed Dotterels are seen less often in the SW of the state than in other areas] Samantha Greiner
	Malleefowl Ouyen-Patchewollock Rd The Malleefowl are still coming out in numbers. I saw 31 on Fri morning, with 13 in one group. Thanks Margaret Alcorn and others for good suggestions on the Melbourne Birdlife spotlighting trip last weekend to contact the Mildura Birdlife group for more info. I also came across a Malleefowl just off the Nowingi Track in Hattah. Patrick Scully
	Spotless Crake Karkarook Park On the lookout for crakes and rails on the drying edges to the wetland, I was surprised to see 2 Australian Spotted, 1 Baillon's Crake and 1 Spotless Crake together where a small mudflat had formed in the north-western corner of the pond nearest to the Visitors' Centre. They were within 10 metres of each other and all the diagnostic marks were clearly visible through 7X50 binoculars. In the next pond were 4 Red-kneed Dotterels, 2 more Australian Spotted Crakes and a Latham's Snipe. Matthew Heron
Thu 21 Feb	Double-banded Plover Western Treatment Plant Single non-breeding Double-banded Plover in Western Lagoon. Unfortunately, no Pectoral Sandpipers seen, although lots of waders present in T-Section ponds with some showing early breeding colour. Quite a few Marsh Sandpipers here as well. Ian Miles
	Black Honeyeater Earlston One immature seen on private property in patch of Green Mallee and Golden Wattle with flowering mistletoe Doug Robinson
	Black Falcon Swan Bay (south of Jetty Rd) On the west side of Swan Bay a Black Falcon was attacking a Whistling Kite and in turn the falcon was being attacked by a Masked Lapwing. Gordon McCarthy & Tom Fletcher
Wed 20 Feb	Square-tailed Kite Warranwood I was fortunate to see this bird both last week and again today. It was only today that I was able to ID it. Square-tailed Kite (1) Large raptor with white face and barring underneath. Long barred tail with a squared edge finishing with a solid banding bar. It was Rufous in colour with a lot of white on its wings. It appears to have a pale coloured eye. Flight was of a gliding nature and reasonably low. Steve & Judi Duke
	Fork-tailed Swift Wilby Fork-tailed Swift (7). A real surprise, a loose flock high overhead the garden heading west in the evening. Clear and warm at the time, not cloudy and humid which is often associated with this species. Michael Ramsey
	Black Honeyeater Pontings Lane, Bailieston 1 Female and 2 males feeding and calling quietly in the flowering Box Mistletoe and the flowering Grey Box and hawking for insects. Richard & Margaret Alcorn
Tue 19 Feb	Topknot Pigeon Marlo A flock of Topknot Pigeons ( 50-60 ) was observed circling over Willis Avenue around midday before briefly settling in a patch of Mahogany Gums near the intersection of Old Marlo Road and Willis Avenue. This large number exceeds our 50 seen at Point Hicks ( 6/11/2008 ) and 33 near the Marlo aerodrome ( 17/12/2012 ) and adds to the ever increasing number of observations in the general Marlo - Cape Conran area. Jacquie and Len Axen
	Rufous Fantail Scotchmans Creek, Chadstone Single Rufous Fantail observed in Red Gums along Scotchmans Creek near Huntingdale Rd. Chris Gittins
	Freckled Duck Crusoe Res, Kangaroo Flat. 4 Freckled Duck in shallows at SE end of wall. In company with Coots & Black-tailed Native-hens. Ken Dredge
Mon 18 Feb	Royal Spoonbill, Lathams Snipe, Australasian Bittern (possible) Skeleton Creek Wetalnds, Truganina Royal Spoonbill and (possible) Bittern foraging and roosting in wetland opposite Skeleton Creek. Three Lathams Snipe flushed from wetlands and flew to creek. (Moderator's note: the Australasian Bittern report has not yet been confirmed. This species has been almost absent in southern Victoria is recent years and if confirmed this sighting would be quite significant). Teisha Sloane
Sun 17 Feb	Sooty Owl, Masked Owl, Australian Owlet-Nightjar, Ground Parrot Croajingolong National Park (Shipwreck Creek) Sooty Owl: not long after we had returned from spotlighting for owls we went to bed in our tents. Just before midnight Irena and I heard a Sooty owl call twice from a location very close to our campsite. Masked Owl: whilst spotlighting with Steve we heard a distant Masked Owl call. At approximately 2.30am we heard a loud Masked Owl call. Bernie O'Keefe confirmed in the morning he had also heard the call and we agreed the owl must have been over our campsite. Australian Owlet-Nightjar: Irena, Bernie and I heard the call just before daylight. Steve then told us he had seen the bird at our campsite. Ground Parrot: At 8.25pm we heard the beautiful sounds of several Ground Parrots resonate across the darkened heath. Buoyed by this discovery we decided to return before first light the next morning to see if we could see and photograph the parrot. Just before first light we again heard their calls from similar positions in the heath as the night before. Regrettably we did not succeed in sighting the birds but feel tremendously privileged to have experienced the fact that we were so close to them. We will keep trying! Hedley Earl
	Broad-billed Sandpiper, Red Knot, Pectoral & Wood Sandpipers, White-winged Black Tern Western Treatment Plant, Werribee 2 Broad-billed Sandpipers (one roosting in T-Section & one roosting on coast near Beach Road), 6 (possibly 8) Red Knots in T-Section and Pectoral and Wood still present from yesterday. 8 White-winged Black Terns in 85W. John Barkla, Alison Street and 7 friends
	Powerful Owl Shady Gully - Mallacoota A very exciting lifer find for us in the company of Steve Davidson and Bernie O'Keefe. The bird was roosting in a low tree at the start of the walk just past the walk bridge. Hedley & Irena Earl
	Blue-billed Duck, Latham's Snipe, Red-kneed Dotterel, Spotted Crake and Collared Sparrowhawk Jacana Wetlands A magnificent male Blue-billed Duck among Chestnut Teal, Pacific Black Duck and Hardhead; this is the first one I have recorded at the site. At least one Latham's Snipe actively feeding near four Red-kneed and two Black-fronted Dotterels and five Black-winged Stilt. Great Egret and Nankeen Night-Heron also seen as well as a tiny male Collared Sparrowhawk soaring directly above a perched female. The various ponds are drying and concentrating the birdlife making for excellent viewing. Charles Silveira
	Intermediate Egret, Nankeen Night-Heron, Australian Spotted Crake, Latham's Snipe Begola Wetlands, Ocean Grove Intermediate Egret (1) There is often a Great Egret here, but today's bird was confirmed by several photos. Nankeen Night-Heron (5) Several out in the open on mud Latham's Snipe (8) Most out in the open on mud, several sitting in very shallow water. Russell Woodford
Sat 16 Feb	Hooded Plover Kilcunda Beach Hooded Plover's. 2 birds on the beach, Kilcunda. One bird with orange leg band above the knee, metal band lower leg. D & S Redman
	Tawny-crowned Honeyeater, Blue-winged Parrot Cape Nelson About a dozen Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters at the cape. First I've seen here for a while. Also a dozen Blue-winged Parrots, all freshly fledged juveniles hanging around the carpark & surrounding heath. Usual Rufous Bristlebirds, showed themselves several times. Also a Hobby stooging around. Short-tailed Shearwaters & Fluttering Shearwater offshore, with leaping Tuna. Kevin Bartram
	Wood Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Wood Sandpiper at Ryan's Swamp (with 150+ Red-kneed Dotterels) and another at 35E Conservation Pond. Pectoral Sandpiper on first pond inside gate on Beach Road. Approx 25 Black-tailed Native-hen on Ryan's Swamp and 8 near Little River ford. John Barkla
Fri 15 Feb	White-bellied Sea Eagle Licola Excellent views of a single adult bird approx 5km south of Licola on the Licola-Heyfield Road. Joe Park
	Turquoise Parrot Old Coast Rd - Cape Conran Approximately 10 km along Old Coast Rd we were quite surprised to flush a single Turquoise Parrot from feeding on side of track. It flew to a bush and sat there while we took our photos. As we moved on it flew up into a tree. Twenty minutes later we returned and once again the parrot flushed from the side of the track. We then noticed another pair about 30 metres away feeding track side. We returned to the same spot the next day with Steve Davidson and Bernie O'Keefe and the single parrot was flushed in the same manner in the same spot. Exact location can be provided. Hedley & Irena Earl
	Intermediate Egret T-Section Lagoons, Western Treatment Plant 1 Intermediate Egret seen with a Great Egret in the T-Section crake pond. Also amusing to watch a very young Swamp Harrier ambitiously harassing a Black-shouldered Kite & then some Masked Lapwings along 29 Mile Rd. Kevin Bartram
Thu 14 Feb	Pilotbird Salmon Rocks - Cape Conran Excellent views of a very difficult bird to photograph. Just one of many highlights from a fantastic few days birding in this special region. Hedley & Irena Earl
Sun 3 Feb	Black Honeyeater Murray Sunset National Park Single male Black Honeyeater on South Bore Track John Barkla & Alison Street

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