Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 10 Nov 2013.

Sun 10 Nov	Short-tailed Shearwater Port Melbourne After hearing about the plight of the STSW, I ventured out today to take a look myself. An extremely sad sight with hundreds and hundreds of dead birds on the shores of our bay. Many hundreds still flying about just off shore as well as many wading close to shore, probably awaiting death. One has to see it to believe it! Such a waste! Bernie OKeefe
	Short-tailed Shearwater, Glossy Ibis, Pacific Golden-Plover, Arctic Jaeger, Brown Songlark Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Short-tailed Shearwater (5) Very weird to find 1 on the conservation ponds, saw in flight and then landed on the water, allowing us to get too within 5 metres from it.others seen very close to land. Glossy Ibis (9) t section pond 4 Pacific Golden-Plover (2) KIrk Point Arctic Jaeger (1) seen chasing silver gull at kirk point Brown Songlark (2) one on road to ryans swamp, one near borrow pits Philip Peel
	Black Honeyeater Chiltern An amazing number of 11 Black Honeyeaters seen in some small flowering Yellow Box near Chiltern Valley No.1 Dam. Definitely an irruption happening in NE Victoria at present, this is the third record this week! Michael Ramsey - Bronzewing Birding Services
	Blue faced Honeyeater Banyule Flats Reserve One next to the track on the western side being harassed by Noisy Miners Ross potter
Sat 9 Nov	Painted Honeyeater Chiltern Two Painted Honeyeaters close to Chiltern township, demonstrating breeding behaviour. Philip Maher
	Short-tailed Shearwater St Kilda and Elwood Following up from my last report on the 3rd the steady stream of Short-tailed Shearwaters washing up on City of Port Phillip beaches has continued and even increased. Yesterday there were at least 250 live shearwaters flying and sitting off Elwood and St Kilda and probably double that number dead along the beaches. Gio Fitzpatrick
	Pacific Golden Plover, Marsh Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone & Brolga Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Six PGP's roosting in vegetation behind Kirk Point, eleven Marsh Sandpipers in Summer Pond 2 and two more in 270S Borrow Pit, three Ruddy Turnstone on the 280 South Road and single Brolga in herbfield at southern end of Point Wilson Road. John Barkla & Alison Street
	Arctic Jaeger & Black-faced Cormorant Western Treatment Plant, Werribee 3 Arctic Jaegers harassing Silver Gulls off 15E Outlet. Single Black-faced Cormorant on the Outlet. John Barkla & Alison Street
	Scarlet Honeyeater Bunyip State Park A number of Scarlet Honeyeaters were seen and heard around Bunyip State Park this afternoon.One pair gave close up views onTynong North Rd, about 100 metres up from the Cornucopia Living Heritage Centre heading towards the park, just where the road crosses the creek. Bernie OKeefe
	Short-tailed Shearwater Nepean Highway, Brighton East One flying quite strongly over the highway just near junction of Centre Road, over 2 km inland from nearest point on coast. Clearly part of the wreck that was reported elsewhere in places such as St Kilda Beach. Sean Dooley
	Powerful Owl Wilson's reserve, Ivanhoe. Spotted 2 adults and baby at around 11am today. One adult holding a possum. A closer look showed that this adult had its left eye clouded over. Could it have lost / be losing vision in that eye? R. Brockett
	Brush Cuckoo Gum Flat, Anglesea Heath Brush cuckoo calling from messmate stringybark forest at Gum Flat. Unusual spring visitor for Otways region. John Newman
	Powerful Owl Wilson Reserve, Ivanhoe Powerful Owl (3) Saw the two parents and the baby down near the Yarra near previously reported sight. High up in the canopy. Vincent Knowles
	Black Honeyeater Wahgunyah A male seen well foraging in a flowering Eucalyptus macrandra by the rail trail adjacent to the Uncle Toby's factory. This is the second record of this species locally within the last week. Perhaps an irruption is starting to occur. Well out of expected range here. Michael Ramsey
	Eurasian Tree Sparrows (8) Large residential block in Hoppers Crossing, 3029 Eurasian Tree Sparrows (8+/- variable), have been resident in my yard for some years and outnumber the House Sparrows. A pair of Tawny Frogmouth have again raised two fledglings in my rear yard for the third consecutive year. They have nested one month earlier (1-2 Sept), than previous two years. They are now perched as a family group away from the nest site which is always the same location. It is enjoyable to see them develop. Peter Gibbons
Fri 8 Nov	Glossy Ibis Fishers Wetlands Phillip Island 20 Glossy Ibis Gary Matthews
	Whiskered Tern Yarrawonga Weir A small flock of 8 birds seen in flight over the weir before heading south in the evening. A rare bird locally, not recorded around this area for several years. Michael Ramsey
	Eastern Koel Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne Observed in Moreton Bay fig beside Herbarium at 8.10am. Calling loudly. Joy Tansey
Thu 7 Nov	Dollarbird Everard Park Picnic Area, Healesville A big surprise this far south. Perching prominently atop snaps occasionally calling and taking flight. When in flight beautiful Silver Dollar patches on underwings visible. Several photos taken. Tim Nickholds
Thu 7 Nov	Common Sandpiper Rigby Wetlands City of Knox A pair near many Red-kneed Dotterels Stephen & Tony Bushell
	Cape Barren Goose Grayden's Road Hastings Three birds seen in paddocks along southern side of road between Frankston Flinders Road ( formerly Watts Road) and Boes Road. S and S King
	Freckled Duck Macleod Morass, Bairnsdale 30 birds seen from the bird hide. Garry Cheers and Josephine MacHunter
	Short-tailed Shearwater Middle Park Beach Dozens of shearwaters flying east along the beach, one even over Beaconsfield Parade at 7 pm this evening. Mark Stanley
	Black Honeyeater Wilby A female bird seen in a flowering bottlebrush in the back garden and later chased off by a White-plumed Honeyeater. Plenty of flowering shrubs such as bottlebrush and Eremophila for this species to feed off in the garden at present. Michael Ramsey
	Austrailan Koel Hawthorn/Kew I heard a Koel calling this morning from the bush along the yarra near barkers road bridge. There was one there 3 years ago. Called every night and morning for months. Tony Lloyd
Wed 6 Nov	Red-necked Avocet Yan Yean Reservoir Red-necked Avocet 4 birds spent more than 2 hours flying low over the lake. Up, down around and back again! New for site. Andrew Corrick
Wed 6 Nov	Freckled Duck Lake Guyatt, Sale Six birds sighted on rear lake Kerryn Ryan
	Grey-tailed Tattler Reef Island Low tide. Grey-tailed Tattler (1) On the point with Golden Plovers and Ruddy Turnstones Angus Hartshorn
	Masked Woodswallow, White-browed Woodswallow Huntingdale To add to the many recent reports. 100s of White-browed with the odd Masked Woodswallow travelling north this evening. The most exciting birding event in Huntingdale ever! Tim Bawden
	Australian Koel Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne Australian Koel (1) The male Koel was observed calling from an exposed upper branch of a Moreton Bay Fig near the Herbarium in the afternoon. Lewis Hiller
Tue 5 Nov	Superb Parrots Picola North 1 group of 4 birds on roadside, feeding on grass on the verge of a road north of Picola. All photographed: two males, one female, and one immature. No leg bands visible. The other group of about 6 was flying nearby in the Barmah forest. Lyn & Peter Hawkins
	Scarlet Honeyeater Gobur Flora Reserve Pair feeding mainly in flowering mistletoe interspersed with chasing around treetops and calling regularly. David Wakefield and Laurie Macmillan
	Ruff, Pectoral Sandpiper & Latham's Snipe Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Ruff (grey-green legged male) and Latham's Snipe in 270S Conservation Pond. Pectoral Sandpiper adjacent to old 85W "B" lagoon (south of 25W through gate which we recall is marked 78B on south side of Moonahs) John Barkla & Alison Street
	Australian Koel Mitchell Port Road Bairnsdale Male calling from vegetationon north-side of Mitchell River. Garry Cheers and Josephine MacHunter
	Australian Koel Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne Calling loudly at about 2pm near the Herbarium, possibly from the nearby large Moreton Bay Fig tree. Val La May
	White-browed Woodswallow Syndal (Glen Waverley) Loose flock of at least fifteen passed overhead around 5:30 this afternoon, chirping and apparently foraging, visible as specks to naked eye but identifiable through 10X binoculars. All birds seen were White-browed but there may have been others. First woodswallows I've seen here or any species since we moved here in 1996. Jack Krohn
	Sanderling Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Single bird on beach east of Little River. Pec Sand in Borrow Pits, Glossy Ibis in T Section. Very few ducks around Dave Torr and Werribee Birding Group
	Scarlet Honeyeater Porepunkah In our backyard along Ovens River in main town area. Scarlet Honeyeater (1) Good views for 10 minutes or more. In a flowering callistemon. Linda Hayes
Mon 4 Nov	Rufous Fieldwren Mali Dunes, Yanac Two Rufous Fieldwrens seen foraging under low flowering shrubs at Mali Dunes, a private property just over 40 km north west of Nhill. Also seen were two Malleefowl, one tending to its mound and a White-fronted Honeyeater. Andrew McCutcheon
	Powerful owl Wilson Reserve, Ivanhoe Thanks to the reports and photos posted here, my wife and I were able to eventually find mum and bub at around 7pm today near the river. Reza Mohammed
	Common Sandpiper Tambo River south of the bridge on Collins Road Mt Elizabeth Turn off Single bird feeding along rocky edge of the Tambo River Present AM not sighted on return late PM. Garry Cheers and Josephine MacHunter
Sun 3 Nov	Short-tailed Shearwater City of Port Phillip There has been a steady stream of Short-tailed Shearwaters washing up on local beaches over the last week. I counted 64 beach cast shearwaters on Elwood Beach and apparently well over 100 were collected on Middle Park beach by the beach cleaning tractor last week. Similar numbers are washing up and being removed each day. On 3 occasions including today there have also been around 15 live birds sitting and flying just offshore from Elwood. Gio Fitzpatrick
	Latham's Snipe Lake Colac / Colac Botanic Gardens, Colac 1' Cell Just a quick visit to the lake this evening and surprised to spot a dozen Latham's snipe at the bird sanctuary also saw 1 Caspian Tern fishing near mouth of barongarook creek. Latham's Snipe (12) on the grass at the south side of bird sanctuary. Adam Fry
Fri 1 Nov	Freckled Duck Macleod Morass One bird sighted Kerryn Ryan
Thu 31 Oct	Scarlet Honeyeater Karinya, Glenrowan Moyhu Road, Victoria Confident report from my daughter-in law, feeding in a Grevillea, verified by photo. Location is 36° 28' 30" 146° 13' 54" My details below. Ken Hancock

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