Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 1 Sep 2013.

Sun 1 Sep	Crested Bellbird, Swift Parrot Rushworth State Forest Near Percy Dam close to Buffalo Swamp Road and Cleared Road, at least 3 Crested Bellbirds and two Swift Parrots. Chris and Rosemary Lester
	Square-tailed Kite, Emu, Crested Bellbird, Swift Parrot Bailieston Historic Reserve A STK soaring over the Reserve; a pair of Emus next to the road, a Bellbird calling in the distance and at least one Swift Parrot calling (although we couldn't find it/them). STKs are uncommon in the area and I don't remember ever seeing Emus here before. Chris and Rosemary Lester
	Rose Robin Coburg Lake Reserve 1 male Rose Robin near the top of the high bank on the east side of the lake. In the company of a Grey Fantail. Susan Pepper
	Chukar Private farmland, Harkaway. No public access The property owners alerted us to the presence of an unusual bird which they have seen about for a week or so. This morning we were able to observe and photograph it. As we were able to approach fairly close, perhaps it is an aviary escapee. We note 3 previous reports on Eremaea of this species in Victoria. Jill & Ian Wilson
Sat 31 Aug	Eastern Whipbird Heritage Wetlands, Wonga Park I was amazed to hear a lone male calling from an island across the Yarra. The whipcrack calls where very distinctive, and differed from similar Whistler calls. Also some migrants returning with both Fan-tailed and Shining Bronze Cuckoos around and a handful of Fairy Martins overhead Tim Nickholds
Sat 31 Aug	Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Cattle Egret (1) With cows in Paddock off Paradise Road Glossy Ibis (3) Borrow Pits Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, Cicadabird Bunyip State Park A very shy heathwren about 1.5km along Guide Track in dense wattle scrub. A very early (?) male Cicadabird on Diamond Creek. Otherwise relatively quiet. Tim Bawden
	Fantailed Cuckoo Ivanhoe, near Darebin Creek This spring's first Fantailed Cuckoo flew into our glass door and stunned itself at 9.00 am this morning. It clung to the cross-bar and was hastily photographed. My husband walked round the house and caught it in a tea-towel. It was put in a shoe-box for an hour's recuperation and then flew off apparently unharmed. Anthea Fleming
Fri 30 Aug	Olive-backed Oriole Cranbourne South. Olive-backed Oriole heard calling throughout the day on private property just East of Pearcdale Rd/North Rd intersection. Probable Spring return of visitors that have been observed nesting here previous two years. James Peake
	Swift Parrot, Rufous Songlark Dookie Swift Parrot (1) single bird seen during the afternoon in a flowering ironbark and Lemon-scented Gum. Rufous Songlark (1) first spring return on powerlines. Michael Ramsey
	Sooty Albatross Pt Lonsdale lighthouse Observed a single bird for about 5 minutes. lt appeared from the East and finally disappeared heading West in the Torquay direction.. Had very good look at it under good viewing conditions. Trevor Lumb
Thu 29 Aug	Shining Bronze-cuckoo Chiltern Single bird in car park near swimming pool Troy Mutton, Mark Fuller, Jen Holmes, and other CSU ornithology students
	Swift Parrot Dookie Agricultural College At least 2 Swift Parrots observed in some flowering White Box on the ridge behind the college. Michael Ramsey
Wed 28 Aug	Pied Oystercatcher Ricketts Point Beaumaris, Victoria 2 Pied Oystercatchers on rocks (one with yellow leg flag. not seen easily but possibly K3 - about quality of photo). 5 Great Cormorants. Often see 2 but have not seen 5 or more for some years. Kim Croker
Tue 27 Aug	Scarlet Robin Western Treatment Plant, Werribee A female Scarlet Robin on coast road near 145W, and a male ~0.5km away near 85W (rare for WTP), both pouncing from fences to tracks & saltmarsh. Also 3 Glossy Ibis, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, 2 Brolgas, etc. Richard Loyn
	Grey Currawong Camberwell Railway Station, Camberwell 3 Currawongs flew over Camberwell station at 6pm. The first two were Pied Currawongs, one of which was calling. They were closely followed by a Grey Currawong which was giving a 4 note cling-cling call, as though answering the Pied Currawong call. It actually was a wonderful duet! Jackson Airey
	Shining Bronze-Cuckoo Dookie Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (1). Calling strongly from peppercorns by the showgrounds, first spring return and record here. Michael Ramsey
	Pallid Cuckoo, Black-chinned Honeyeater Brisbane Ranges National Park (Cooks track) Afternoon visit to Cook's Track then drive along Graham Creek Rd and Durdidwarrah Rd. Fine and mild with plenty of bird activity Pallid Cuckoo (1) First arrival for the Spring for this area as far as I am aware. Corner of Cook's Tk and Eclipse Rd Black-chinned Honeyeater quite a few along Grahams Creek Rd Hedley Earl & Irena Earl
Mon 26 Aug	Pacific Gull Meeniyan 2 birds seen flying over well flooded Tarwin River Flats, well inland for this species. George Appleby
	Powerful Owl Ann Street, Williamstown, Victoria Spotted at 6:15pm as it dived to grab a seagull for dinner. Took it to a tree and started eating it. A gruesome but awesome sight. Photo taken on phone is bad quality but you can see the gull and the distinctive tail and wings. Andy King
	Latham's Snipe Cornish College, Bangholme Flushed three Latham's Snipe this morning, the first for the season. Tom Humphreys
Sun 25 Aug	Cicadabird Newmerella Cicadabirds have been heard calling from lightly timbered areas near Newmerella. A very early record for the area around Orbost. Tony Mitchell per Len Axen
	Little Corella Stony Point Road, Crib Point (Melways 164 J10) About 400 Little Corellas feeding in a paddock on the east side of Stony Point Road, 5.30 pm. There didn't appear to be any Long-billed. I have been seeing flocks of up to 120 Little Corellas in Crib Point and Hastings areas, but this is the biggest flock so far. Chris Chandler
	Black Falcon Yarrum Crk . Point Lonsdale. First Black Falcon ive seen in Point Lonsdale. Follows one i saw in Drysdale last week . Seems hey are popping up everywhere. Lachlan Manley
Tue 20 Aug	Sooty Albatross Port Phillip Heads Marine Nat Pk (Point Lonsdale) Michael Ramsey sent me an email asking for a better description of this bird, here it is: Definitely an albatross from the way it flew and the shape of the body. Very slightly smaller than eg a Black-browed. Very slender wings with pointed tips and tail, a "gracile" body. Much too big to be a Petrel or Shearwater. Definitely not a Giant Petrel, I have seen several of these (the colour was similar to a juvenile GP) GP's are more robust and the body shape is quite different, less graceful flyers. The most obvious difference in my opinion is that the petrel's wings are set further back on the body (or a longer neck if you like). I happened to meet Steve Davidson, he told me that from my description one could not tell if it was a Sooty or Ligh-mantled Albatross. This surprises me, from the picture in Pizzey and Knight the Light-mantled has a lighter body with darker head. The bird I saw was uniformly dark brown all over(above and below) I can add that I had it in the Scope for at least 2 minutes (but it was getting further away all the time. Angus Hartshorn

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