Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 16 Feb 2014.

Sun 16 Feb	8 Whimbrel,1 Eastern Curlew,60 Bar Tailed Godwit Rhyll Inlet, Phillip Island Des and Jeremy Palmer
	Sanderling (480+), Ruddy Turnstone (60), Freckled Duck Belfast Coastal Reserve, Killarney Over 480 Sanderling seen on rocky point approximately 2km east of Killarney Beach today near end of Basin Track; thjs is a significant number for Victoria. Also there was a flock of 60 Ruddy Turnstone. T'was a magnificent sight to be sure as the birds then all drifted past us in dribs and drabs to commence feeding back west along the beaches towards Killarney Beach. In the lagoon back on the corner of Mahoneys Rd & Basin Track was a trio of Freckled Duck, several Pink-eared Duck and heaps of Shoveler amongst the scads of other waterfowl. Steve Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Black-eared Cuckoo MORANGHURK via Lethbridge At a Birdlife Bellarine outing to above property an adult Black-eared Cuckoo, seen by all eight of us, was seen actively feeding in and around the eucalypts. Peter Bright, et al
	Welcome swallow white Western Treatment Plant The leucistic white welcome swallow is still at the WTP. Seen today on 280 Sth rd at the second gate after you enter the restricted area. Also numerous Cape Barren Geese and 3 Brolgas. Greg and Janice McKay
	Black Honeyeater You Yangs Regional Park It was a small honeyeater with black head and wings and a narrow black front with white sides. A white underside to tail, a black tail. A characteristic bill, down curved but a subtly different shape than other honeyeaters. I observed it for about 5 minutes from a distance of about 4 meters (I got slowly closer to about 3 meters) it was in the top of a dead tree about 3 meters high so was not masked by branches or foliage. (Ed note: at the end of summer (especially a long hot one such as this one) Black Honeyeaters can disperse widely, for example there are quite of number of sightings in the box-ironbark forests on NE Vic at present and one was reported at Newstead recently as well, this sighting in the drier woodlands of the You Yangs would seem to fit with the current dispersal of this species so keep an eye out in drier woodlands, especially where there are flowering gums or mistletoe). Angus Hartshorn
	Southern Boobook, Collared Sparrowhawk Moonee Ponds Creek, Strathmore Heights - near Strathnaver Grasslands Southern Boobook being mobbed by Red Wattlebirds, Collared Sparrowhawk plucking a still dying Spotted dove, all around 9 am along the creek. Greg Hunt and Carolyn Layton
Sat 15 Feb	Fork-tailed Swift Pt Cook 50+ overhead in loose flock provided great views, ~11:00, Homestead. Very warm and humid conditions. Many birds were quite vocal. Photos by David. Also numerous Tree Martins in vicinity and low number of Welcome Swallows. Craig Morley, David Tytherleigh, Rob Ganly.
	Black Honeyeater Cemetery Road, Newstead Five birds observed near the cemetery. Good views by all observers. For Bruce Donaldson and the Woodend Birders. Roger McGlashan
	Powerful Owl Newstead Two birds observed, one with a possum in it's talons. At a day roost on the banks of the Loddon River. For Bruce Donaldson and the Woodend Birders. Roger McGlashan
	Bridled Tern Black Rocks end of Bancoora Beach. Jenni Milligan
Fri 14 Feb	Blue- billed Duck Baxters Wetlands (Wonthaggi) 2 Male b-b d's 2 pairs of Australian Shovelers + 1Royal Spoonbill doing their things at Baxters Wetlands. RohanBugg
	Marsh Sandpiper, Latham's Snipe Cussen Park, Tatura With Anne Finlay. One Marsh Sandpiper feeding near dotterels and stilts. Weather muggy and smoky. Impressive numbers of teals, lapwings, dotterels and stilts. 15 Latham's Snipe. Val La May
	Pink Eared Duck Belmont Common Observed a lone pink eared duck 3 times recently at Jerringot at the back section of the wetlands. It isn't the same one that I've observed multiple times at Balyang. I haven't seen it at this location before Jade Craven
	White-throated Needletail Glen Waverley Flock of easily 50+ White-throated Needletails were circling around our residence in Glen Waverley near Scotchman's Creek trail at 6pm tonight. Flock slowly moved further east over about half an hour. Nick Bradsworth
	White-throated Needletail Yarra Organics / Petty's Orchard, Templestowe At 2.30pm a flock of more than 100 Needletails was seen circling low on the east side of Petty's Orchard, near the Yarra River, in Templestowe, Victoria. The day was warm and calm with a thick cover of cloud and smoke haze. Merrilyn Serong
	Wood Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee, T Section This beautifully graceful sandpiper was observed mid afternoon at the northern most end of pond 4. This is a great location for anyone needing a close photo of this species. Hedley Earl
	White-headed Pigeon Willis Avenue, Marlo A White-headed Pigeon was observed quietly perched on power lines near the intersection of Argyle Parade at 1635hrs today. Len Axen
	Beach Stone-curlew (update) Mots Beach No confirmed sighting of the Beach Stone-curlew has occurred since last Sunday when smoke filled cloud and ash descended on Marlo and areas immediately to the east. Smoke haze has continued throughout the week with visibility at times down to 300m along the coastline. Scoping every day has failed to find the Beach Stone-curlew. Locating it further east along the coastline around Mallacoota remains a possibility with a number of suitable locations in the area. Len Axen
Thu 13 Feb	White-throated Needletail Watsonia Heaps of Needltails around the 4-4.30 mark in the afternoon, some coming very low. About 50-100 seen, but proabably more Kevin Bartram, Katrina Bragge
	Lewin's Rail, Latham's Snipe, Pink-ared Duck Liverpool Rd Retarding Basin Kilsyth South Lewin's Rail, 2 Latham's Snipes, 2 Pink-eared Ducks and 2 Black-fonted Dotterels Sophie and Des Palmer
	Freckled Duck Kennington Reservoir, Bendigo 32 Freckled Ducks feeding this afternoon. Fantastic sight to see them all upending with pointy bums in the air. Phil Robertson
	Australian Magpie Tram Road, Sunbury Leucistic Magpie. Chad Browning
	Fork-tailed (Pacific) Swift Wilby A loose flock associating with Tree Martins quite low over the garden and nearby reserve. The second record this week, on Sunday there was a flock of 4 birds. Michael Ramsey
	Grey Goshawk (white morph) Jan Juc Great Ocean Road, bird waiting for a bus Geoff Gates
Tue 11 Feb	Wood Sandpiper, Ruff (Reeve), Pectoral Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit T-Section Lagoons, Western Treatment Plant The first large lagoon is running hot at the moment with heaps of bird to go through. In the south-east corner I had great views of Wood Sandpiper, 1 Pectoral Sandpiper & the Reeve. The Black-tailed Godwit was in the middle of this pond. Also half a dozen White-winged Black Terns. Had 2 Brolgas on the track running along the spit on the most easterly of the Western Lagoons. Almost ran over a Stubble Quail next to the Austin Rd Lagoon on the 29 Mile Rd. Kevin Bartram
	American Golden Plover Cheetham Wetlands (Altona Meadows) Thanks to the keen eyes of Hedley Earl, the suspected American Golden Plover was found and photographed. The small party of Pacific Golden Plovers and the lone AGP were found in the saltmarsh of the left hand side after entering the gate from the tower. Bernie O'Keefe, Hedley & Irena Earl
	Olive-backed Oriole 29 MIle Rd, Point Wilson One first immature bird seen twice & photographed Kevin Bartram
	Pink-eared Duck, Red-kneed Dotterel Coolart wetlands, Somers Pink-eared Duck have been seen in ones and twos since July 2013. Nov, Dec, Jan saw them increase in numbers peaking today at 52. Only seen here intermitently before in very small numbers with one breeding record. 5 Red-kneed Dotterel Brian Thomas
Mon 10 Feb	Square-tailed Kite Kings Billabong One adult Square-tailed Kite was seen soaring over Black Box woodland near the levee of the Nature Walk , near the main billabong. It was sunny with a light breeze. Its head was very white in the sunlight. Photos were taken and analysed to confirm the sighting. A raptor expert was consulted, who also confirmed the observation. Pauline Follett & Jayna Podgorski
	Rufous Fantail Mount Samaria State Park Single bird seen along the Wileman Track near Camphora campsite. An unusual sighting for us this far north in the ranges. Bill & Jackie Morecraft
	Welcome Swallow Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Leucistic white Welcome Swallow near gate 8. I'm sure I saw two separate ones unless it flew 500 m. Lachlan Manley
	Freckled Duck Bendigo: Kennington Reservoir 17 Freckled Duck on receding eastern shoreline. Dispersed to deeper water into two groups when approached. Also 15 Pink-eared Duck, 4 Chestnut Teal, 12 Little Black Cormorant, 1 Great Egret and several other waterbird species. Adrian Martins
	Australian Pratincole Mirranatwa Hall Wetland Single bird actively hunting along dry swamp edge closest to Mirranatwa Hall, keep watch on for approx’ 10mins until magpie and mudlark ‘tiggy’ scared it further into the wetland. Knocked me socks off as I was about to leave after counting up all the White-faced Herons, Grey Teal, Magpies, Swans, Masked Lapwings and Shelduck. Also present two Brolga. Samantha Greiner
Sun 9 Feb	White-browed Woodswallow You Yangs I went for dawn chorus walk around the east flat at the Youi's (my old stamping ground) Sunday morning and came across a flock of 50+Wbws and 3 Rainbow Bee-eaters. On the way back to my car the Woodswallow flock flew east out over the paddocks. I also came across 3 Diamond Firetails 1Jacky Winter and 1 Restless Flycatcher. Rohan Bugg
	Fork-tailed Swift Beaumaris Adding to all the reports, at least seven birds over Beaumaris before the change arrived. Sean Dooley
	Oriental Plover Cheetham Wetlands (Altona Meadows) Same bird as reported earlier seen later in afternoon. Quite nicely coming into breeding plumage. Kevin Bartram, Scott Baker, Tim Dolby & Merv Marsh
	Fork-tailed Swift Canadian/Ballarat East 8 struggling hard against strong NE winds prior to the wind change around 7.30 am. Dale Tonkinson
	Fork-tailed Swift Phillip Island Hundreds moving north and east before the change - sample count of 250 in 20 mins plus one needletail Guy Dutson
	Fork-tailed Swift Serendip Sanctuary At least 12 seen around 8:30am in front of the first weather front that moved through. Our first record of this species for Serendip. Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	Spotless Crake Begola Wetlands, Ocean Grove 3 Spotless Crakes on the mud beside the island in the main lagoon, 1 on beach side, 2 on town side. Also 8 Latham's Snipe well out in the open. Russell Woodford
Fri 7 Feb	Tree Martin Ricketts Point, Beaumaris A single bird flying among a group of 40+ swallows. First I have seen here, but also interesting in that it was flying (and presumably feeding) offshore. Sean Dooley
Thu 6 Feb	King Quail Parker St, Dunkeld It was found in a backyard about 100m from Back Creek, Dunkeld. Obviously the first thought is that it could have been an escapee. (Ed note: most likely an escapee but a remote chance perhaps dispersed from heathland areas that have been affected by fire in the Grampians). Samantha Greiner per Ken and Alyson Averey & Dave Munro
Sat 1 Feb	White-bellied Sea Eagle, Wood Sandpiper Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Immature Sea Eagle perched on an aerial at the eastern end of the Western Lagoons, then flew off over The Spit. Wood Sandpiper on the northern fringes of the Western Conservation Pond. Gil Langfield
	Cape Barren Goose Morningtom Peninsula Two seen flying over Peninsula Link near Tyabb turnoff at dusk. Mark Dietrich

Birdline Victoria is sponsored by BirdLife Victoria and hosted by Eremaea Birdlines.

_______________________________________________
Birding-Aus mailing list

To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org