Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 14 Apr 2013.

Sun 14 Apr	Swift Parrot Muckleford Seven seen in the Muckleford area, thanks to Deb Worland. Ivor Preston & Karen Doyle
	Freckled Duck Jells Park Four separate individuals loafing on emergent logs at the eastern end of the lake; also the first Yellow-billed Spoonbill for ages at Jells. Tony Bushell
Sat 13 Apr	Fork-tailed Swift Patchewollock A flock of 15-20 flew across in front of car as I drove south from Patchewollock at 8.50. Sky overcast with storm clouds brewing. Ken Sherring
	Fork-tailed Swift Boort Near the caravan park this morning a dispersed group of 8 or more Fork-tailed Swifts flying back and forth at around 30 metres high, heading north. Also lots of Tree Martins and some Welcome Swallows. Malcolm Cousland
Fri 12 Apr	Nankeen Night Heron Stony Point Report from Mick Douglas of 9 Nankeen Night Herons feeding on intertidal mudlflats at 7.45 am. I do not recall ever seeing them on intertidal flats, does anyone know of this behaviour? Mick Douglas (per Chris Chandler)
	Double-banded Plover, Common Sandpiper, Hooded Plover Mouth of the Fitzroy River Excellent birding this afternoon at high tide. Fifty Double-banded Plover with one Common Sandpiper amongst them. Three pairs of adult Hooded Plovers with seven juveniles. Forty Pied Oystercatchers in a tight vocal group also. Nankeen Night Heron & Royal Spoonbill inside the estuary this morning. Keith & Judy Humphreys
	Swift Parrot Muckleford 12 Swifties this morning feeding in Yellow Gum & Sugar Gums Debbie Worland
Thu 11 Apr	Red-kneed Dotterel, Greenshank Linley's Swamp, French Island 5 Red-kneed Dotterels, good to see them still here. Water levels low, but still sufficient for some birds, it seems. A flock of 10 resting Greenshanks; the tide was high, so perhaps they were from the nearby mudlfats. Also 48 Royal Spoonbills. Chris Chandler
	Australasian Bittern Old Ocean Road (Gellibrand River-Princetown) Australasian Bittern (1) Overcast, drizzling. Spotted on edge of water by side of Old Ocean Road, near Princetown, while boyfriend was driving along very slowly so I could check out the birds from the car. Got good view through binoculars and photo to confirm id later before it flew off. Very excited to see this bird (a first for me) on an impromptu detour from the Great Ocean Road after seeing the wetlands/flooding from the hill above! (Black in photo is wing of purple swamphen flying across trying to ruin my shot). Emma Bond
	Freckled Duck Jells Park Lake, Melbourne 5 birds near the island in the south-east corner of the lake. Euan Moore
	Fork-tailed Swift Chiltern Just had a flock of about 25-30 Fork-tailed Swifts flying at around 50m both east and west over the caravan park, then they drifted away. Good numbers of Little Friarbirds throughout the park as well. Troy Mutton
	Nankeen Night Heron Carlton Gardens. A lone, adult Nankeen Night Heron was on the lower pond (near the corner of Rathdowne & Victoria Streets) at lunch time today. Brendan McDonald
	Powerful Owl Darebin Creek, Bellfield One bird seen in a Peppercorn tree about 9am, clutching half a possum. I went back at 12.30 it had dropped the possum and moved to another part of the tree, it seemed a bit agitated. Ruth Minifie
Wed 10 Apr	Swift Parrot Chiltern-Mt. Pilot National Park (Bartley's Block) At around 7am a flock of between 10 and 12 Swift Parrots passed over Bartley's Block. Tim Nickholds
Wed 10 Apr	Nankeen Night Heron Stony Point Jetty Almost dark at 6.15 pm, two Nankeen Night Herons flying out to the mudflats to feed - presumably from roost in pine trees. I did not know Night Herons feed on the intertidal flats! Chris Chandler
	Osprey Cape Liptrap Coastal Park (Point Smythe) Two birds observed in same locations as viewed in Jan, more or less opposite Screw Creek on the back beach Tony Edney
	Nankeen Night Heron Lillydale Lake Flew out of dense brush into a eucalypt at edge of 1st carpark just before dusk. 1st one I have seen here. (Moderators note: only one record in the Eremaea atlas prior to this report). Eric Sticklen
	Black-chinned Honeyeater Crusoe Reservoir, Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo A very noisy flock of about 20 birds, feeding in Yellow Gums on the southern side of reservoir (Moderators note: expected in this area but not usually in such numbers, usually in small flocks or pairs, MR). Ken & Maureen Dredge
	Freckled Duck, Red-kneed Dotterel Lake Hamilton Freckled Duck (7) just east of the play ground (still) in sheltered water near island Red-kneed Dotterel (7) on beach below new play ground. Samantha Greiner
	Rufous Fantail Bartley's Block Chiltern Surprised to see an individual foraging low and on the ground a few hundred metres to the left of the gate. Speckled Warbler seen and Noisy Friarbird common. Fiona Parkin
	Grey Fantail Bass Strait approx. 5 to 6km south of the Gippsland Lakes entrance Returning from a pelagic trip out to photograph birds this morning (Shy Albatross and Wilson's Storm-Petrels today) we overtook a lone Grey Fantail flying close to the water's surface more or less due north towards the Ninety Mile Beach. We pondered where it had come from. Was it close to completing a crossing of Bass Strait from Tassie or Finders Island? Or was it returning from a short excursion out to sea? The weather has been calm for some time now so being blown in a storm out to sea is unlikely. The ocean was very foggy last night and the shore line was not visible until late morning however we assume the bird knew where north was and that flying in that direction would bring it to shore? At the time of spotting the bird the shoreline had only just become visible in the smoke haze/fog. John Hutchison and John Saxton
Tue 9 Apr	Regent Honeyeater Buchan About 15 km from Buchan. In woodland that was burnt about 4 years ago. Clear view of bird. Steve Wright
	Barn Owl Bengworden Road, Bengworden Barn Owl siting on fence post next to Bengworden Road at 2.45pm. Carl Hodgkins
	Kelp Gull Tootgarook wetland, Boneo Whilst on a BirdLife Mornington Peninsula Tootgarook wetland survey, led by David Ap-Thomas, 37 Kelp Gulls were observed at one of the wetlands. There were about equal numbers of adults and immatures. The site is 2.5km inland from Port Phillip Bay and further from Bass Strait. Val Ford
	Swift Parrot, New Holland Honeyeater, Painted Honeyeater Warby-Ovens National Park (Killawarra Forest) Swift Parrot (3) seen well in flowering ironbarks along NW Lane. New Holland Honeyeater (1) very odd sighting, never seen here before, in flowering gums on NW Lane, well north and west of expected range. Painted Honeyeater (5) surprised to see some many still around, four at the end of Mattamia Rd, great views of one at the oval, lucky to see as I only heard one call briefly. Michael Ramsey
	Cape Barren Goose Private farm dam, 10 Km south of Macarthur 1 single Cape Barren Goose. I have never sighted one here before. Adrian Morrissey
Mon 8 Apr	Spotless Crake Belmont Common (Jeringot Wetlands) Water levels have been quite high, but stretches of exposed mud in front of the hide are now showing. Spotless Crake and Buff-banded Rail still showing briefly late in the day. Russell Woodford
	Ruddy Turnstone Port Fairy (Southern Ocean beach) Flock of nearly 30 - counted 28 and 29 as birds worked among rocks on tidal line a few hundred metres west of Peasoup Cove. John Watson
	Swift Parrot Muckleford Saw 6 swifties in yellow gum this morning Debbie Worland
Sun 7 Apr	White-backed Swallow Glenrowan West 2 White-backed Swallows Greta Road, Glenrowan West. Kate Daniel
	Gang-gang Cockatoo Viewbank Two passing through the back yard this morning, the first I've heard or seen here for three years, whereas they have been regular and common in autumn/winter for the previous twenty years. (Moderators note: there are regular reports from the north-eastern suburbs but this sighting has been published as the observer wished to highlight a decline in this area). Neil Murray
Fri 5 Apr	Banded Stilt Jones Bay - Bairnsdale Observed small flock of 28 birds mid morning alongside Red-necked Avocet. John & Leah Beekman
Tue 2 Apr	Nankeen Night Heron San Remo In response to Chris Chandler's posting and query of 12 April; a single Nankeen Night Heron was observed at about 9:45 am, in heavily overcast condition, feeding on the sand / mud flats near the Phillip Island bridge. John Eichler
Thu 21 Mar	Gang-gang Cockatoo Lauriston Central Victoria Approximately 22 Gang Gangs arrived in the evening of Thursday 21 March. We have a small fountain in our front garden and many of them were drinking from it. Others were sitting in the large old trees nearby. We have lived here for 9 years and neither my husband nor I had ever seen one of these birds before - certainly not here. We have 44 acres of mostly bush with box, peppermint and messmate trees, with some wild acacias underneath. They sit on the old trees eating the nuts and feeding (still) their families. The birds are in family groups of 3 and 4. They seem to be unconcerned with us and our family (including several grandchildren who stayed during the holidays). They have been a source of great amusement and joy as we stop what we are doing immediately to watch them drinking and talking to each other. We have a number of wedged tail eagles in this district so yesterday there was a great screeching as a group 'chased' the eagle away. They come to drink several times each day, but always about 5pm. [Moderator's Note: a good sized autumn flock.] Diane Barbeler

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