Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 23 Feb 2014.

Sun 23 Feb	Pectoral Sandpiper, Ruff, Red Knot, White-winged Black Tern, Black Falcon Western Treatment Plant (T-Section Ponds) A wonderful morning at T-Section this morning showing Glen Pacey our great WTP. Highlights included a very obliging Pectoral Sandpiper, a Ruff, a couple of Red Knots, White-winged Black Terns and a Black Falcon. These birds were all seen in the pond on the immediate left hand side of Pond 7. Bernie OKeefe and Glen Pacey
	Powerful Owl Nelson Place, Williamstown The previously reported Powerful Owl is still present in the plane trees outside the BAE offices in Nelson Place (to the east of the police station and Parks Victoria offices). Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	American Golden Plover Point Cook Coastal Park We located the (probable) American Golden Plover on the westernmost rocky point near the homestead. Seen about 4 hours after high tide. Photograph shows the bird with two Pacific Golden Plovers for comparison. Paul Dodd & Ruth Woodrow
	Black Honeyeater Glenrowan West A pair foraging in flowering mistletoe. Kate Daniel
	Singing Honeyeater Boundary Gully, Moolort Plains Single bird in mature Buloke (with flowering mistletoe) beside Carisbrook to Baringhup Rd. My first observation on the plains. Geoff Park
	Buff-banded Rail Yaringa marina, south wall (Tyabb/Somerville) Around 2.45pm today I was sitting on the edge of the southern hardstand wall of the marina (which drops down to a muddy/tidalwater canal) when a BB Rail appeared out of nowhere and soon disappeared again into the undergrowth. I went to my car to get the camera and looked for it on the other side/underneath of the bushes. It stood around long enough for me to grab a couple of (not very good shots). This area is full of rats so I hope it doesn't hang around too long. I haven't seen one here before, nor did I expect to see anything other than the numerous Indian Miners. Snez Plunkett
	Intermediate Egret Braeside Park A single Intermediate Egret showing yellow upper legs and plumes on front, together with up to 6 Great Egrets and a single White-necked Heron (for ready size comparison); located in ponds along Governor Rd at southern end of the park. No Wood Sandpiper seen this morning, but still more than 20 sharpies present. Mel Mitchell and Joy Sanderson
Sat 22 Feb	Bar-tailed Godwit Port Phillip Bay (Mud Islands Reserve) Leucistic Bar-tailed Godwit seen on Birdlife Bayside outing Arthur Carew et al
	Commom Sandpiper Hastings Pier The bird was actually on the pier paddling and pecking about in a little pool of water. Brian Thomas
	Banded Stilt, Ruff, Freckled Duck(20) Western Treatment Plant, Werribee 2 Banded Stilt in Walsh's Lagoon, first on the plant for some time. Ruff on T-section Pond 6, and up to 20 Freckled Duck out on Lake Borrie No 9 on the western edge of the dead trees. Also a small party of Striated Pardalote at the beginning of Paradise Rd was a sign that autumn is not far away. Steve Davidson - The Melbourne Birder
	Australian Ringneck Parrot. Lynnwood Parade Lower Templestowe Vic Single bird. Appears to be a male in good condition. 1930 hours EDST. Eating flower seeds in our backyard. Moving freely on branches and ground. Not injured. Not sick. Many lorikeets feeding at the same time. No photo. Appears to be Race Zonarius (Port Lincoln Parrot) because no red frontal band over the bill nostrils. Well defined blue primaries. Well defined yellow chest. Black head. Yellow collar. Could not distinguish dark blue cheeks because of fading light. First time I have seen this bird species. This is my first sighting report. Russell Lee
	American Golden Plover Point Cook Coastal Park One American Golden Plover located amid 11 Pacific Golden Plovers at Point Cook. The bird was located after following the track down to the beach from the tower at Cheetham Wetlands. Once on the beach, we turned right and found the bird on the point a few hundred metres up.It was great that Glen saw the bird after he travelled down from QLD especially. Bernie OKeefe and Glen Pacey
	Little Eagle Banyule Flats Reserve Little Eagle seen overhead again about 10.30 am by members of Birdlife Melbourne Beginners outing. Also single Latham's Snipe, single Red-kneed Dotterel, at least eight Black-fronted Dotterels (some immature), three Straw-necked Ibis. Also several Chestnut Teal, c. 5 Black Duck, one Wood Duck, two Silver Gulls, three Laughing Kookaburras, Welcome Swallows. Little Corellas, Sulphur-crested Corellas and one pair of Galahs passed over. Water very low in Swamp. Anthea Fleming
Fri 21 Feb	White Welcome Swallow Western Treatment Plant, Werribee In previously-reported location. Easly spotted in flight where it is frequently harassed by other swallows. Image compares this leucistic with a normally-coloured bird. Mal Kidson
	Powerful Owl Nelson Place, Williamstown Thanks to Steve "The Owl Whisperer" Davidson for the notification of the owl's roost which enabled me to get a new lifer! I'm not sure if I can get half a tick for the decapitated Cormorant? ;) Thanks Steve. Michael Gooch and Louise Nicholas
	White-fronted Honeyeater, Black Honeyeater, Shy Heathwren, Chestnut-rumped Heathwren Jilpanger Nature Conservation Reserve All along Sudholzs Road north of the Wombelano-Douglas Road. White-fronted Honeyeater - 2 seen, others heard. Black Honeyeater - 1 male seen. Shy Heathwren - 1 seen. Chestnut-rumped Heathwren - 2 seen together. The Shy Heathwren was less than 1km north of the 2 Chestnut-rumped Heathwrens. They also occur in similar close proximity in Mt. Arapiles-Tooan State Park about 20 km further north. Steve Clark
	Plumed Whistling Duck Woolshed swamp near Boort Malcolm Cousland
	Arctic Jaeger Seaholme Beach Arctic Jaeger harassing gulls beyomnd the rocks at the east end of the beach at 4:30pm. Colin Clark
Thu 20 Feb	Little Eagle Banyule Flat A little eagle over billabong. Also a cockatiel on wires near the silos (unknown provenance), just one snipe left on main wetland. Richard Loyn
	Pectoral Sandpiper Lake Colac There were 5 birds together but they took off before I could work out what they all were. Definitely not Sharp-tails. With a longer slightly curved bill and a distinctive border line across the breast from dark brown streaked head and dark throat to mid breast then completely white bellow. I got this photo. Adam Fry
Wed 19 Feb	Crested Pigeon Greensborough Secondary College oval Large flock (at least 120) feeding on Greensborough Secondary College oval. 10 yreas ago they were a rare sighting around here; they have gradually become more common and now their numbers far exceed the Spotted Doves with which they compete. Peter Bennet
	Peaceful Dove Mallacoota Airfield Was walking the perimeter fence of the airfield when I heard the familiar call of a peaceful dove. Very flighty and didn't stay for long. Nick Bradsworth
	Magpie Goose Thoona Two birds feeding in a stubble paddock along Jones Road. Possibly the last two remaining birds of the old Corowa colony. Bill & Jackie Morecraft
	Grey Goshawk (White Phase) Nelson, Victoria Observed a White Goshawk flying towards me on the edge of a small flock of Galahs, then breaking away from them before disappearing into treetops. I presume this is one of their hunting tricks where they camouflage themselves in a flock of similar size birds to approach prey. Trevor Lumb
	Square Tailed Kite Quarry Hill, Bendigo Single bird flying over our house 5.00pm today. Our house is in the middle of the Quarry Hill residential area and we observed this bird for 10 minutes hunting low over tree tops in and amongst the houses. We did see it also last Saturday over the Quarry Hill golf course but got no photos. Last month seen 4 times in this are which suggest it may be roosting at QHGC where the back 9 holes are closed. Janice and Greg McKay
Tue 18 Feb	White Welcome Swallow South Rd, just west of 85W pond, Western Treatment Plant Had nice views right next to my car of this odd, but beautiful-looking swallow. When I first saw it thought it was a Fairy/Little Tern, but obviously too small. Kevin Bartram
	Pectoral Sandpiper (4), Wood Sanpiper (3), Black-tailed Godwit Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Western Conservation Ponds looking really good, finally some edge showing & some birds feeding in the grass, mainly in the western of the 2 main ponds. 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, 2 in the western pond, 1 in the eastern & 3 Wood Sandpipers. A further Pectoral Sandpiper was seen on the Beach Rd Lagoon, making 4 for the day. 1 Black-tailed Godwit seen at the 85W pond. Also a juvenile Peregrine Falcon seen west of the 85 W pond. Kevin Bartram
	Southern Emu-wren Tootgarook Swamp, Boneo Seen at two locations whilst conducting a survey on private property at southern end of Tootgarook swamp. Very rarely seen, this may be the only place on the Mornington Peninsula where they still exist. Val Ford & BirdLife survey participants
	Wood Sandpiper Braeside Park Single bird observed on edge of pond. Upperparts brown marked with buffish-white spots particularly on wings; head faintly streaked with a prominent eyebrow. Underparts white with breast marked buff. Legs longer than nearby Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, yellowish-brown. Straight blackish bill. When flushed white rump seen. A small amount of head bobbing and teetering only, unlike that of the Common Sandpiper. Have seen this species in Papua New Guinea in the 1970's Matthew Heron
	Common Sandpiper Glenelg River 4 km upstream from mouth of River near Nelson. A single bird bobbing furiously. Allowed approach within 2 metres from boat. Have seen this species around here before, always favouring very rocky areas. Also Azure Kingfisher present along river. Trevor Lumb
	African Collared-Dove (Barbary Dove) Newport 1 bird seen on its on sitting on the power lines closest to the JT reserve. ID'ed from dark black beak and the obvious ring at the back of the neck - also pure whitey/grey unlike the spotted dove. Flushed the bird from the power lines and it landed in a tree in JT reserve. James Mustafa
Mon 17 Feb	Ruff (Reeve) Western Treatment Plant, Werribee Found the Reeve in Pond 7 - T-Section lagoons after considerable searching . Seemed most interested in feeding in "knee" deep water alongside Curlew Sandpipers in the southwest corner. Birds quite flighty and once flushed tend to spend considerable time in the centre of the lagoon, making identification very difficult. After some time, they tend to disperse within the lagoon again. Paul Rose
	Ruff, Pectorlal Sandpiper Lake Leaghur One of each recorded on this drying lake Malcolm Cousland, reported by Simon Starr
	Brolga, White-bellied Sea Eagle Taylor's Lake Reserve Two adult Brolga and one Juvenile seen at southern end of lake. Two adult White-bellied Sea Eagles seen near nest - one was feeding on a carp on the bank. Tim Mintern and Ian Morgan
	Freckled Duck Lake Natimuk At least 300 Freckled Duck seen mainly on west side of lake. Tim Mintern
	Black Honeyeater, Rainbow Bee-eater You Yangs Regional Park A good morning in the eastern flats area (and adjacent fields). Clear views of single male Black Honeyeater on the last stretch of Toynes Rd before the eastern park boundary (perhaps the same one reported yesterday). Many Rainbow Bee-eaters seen in different locations with 15-20 also seen circling together at one time. Also Rufous Songlark, White-browed Woodswallow, Diamond Firetail, raptors, cuckoos - great morning. Michael Noble
	Dollarbird Old Bridge Heathcote-Nagambie Rd near Nagambie A Dollarbird perched high on the top of a dead tree on the edge of the billabong and hawking for dragonflies. Margaret & Richard Alcorn
	Powerful Owl 'Birremathool', Bailieston While camping overnight we were woken by the distinctive 2 note call of a Powerful Owl. Earlier we had heard several long screeches which may indicate that the bird was a juvenile. Birremathool is a Trust For Nature covenanted property of remnant and regrowth Box Ironbark woodland to the west of Nagambie. Margaret & Richard Alcorn
	Hooded Plover Mouth of Powlett River near Kilcunda 2 adults with 2 chicks right at mouth of river. Steve Blume
Sun 16 Feb	Black Honeyeater You Yangs Regional Park At the top of a dead branch in Gravel Pit, quite a distance away. A series of photos were taken and although heavily cropped together they showed all features. Gaham Dixon
	Pacific Golden Plover, Sooty Oystercatcher. Barwon River Estuary Lots of birds actively feeding among the basalt rocks at low tide (7:00pm). 30+ Golden Plover, 3 Sooty Oystercatchers, 400+ Red-necked Stint. 120+ roosting Crested Terns, Australasian Gannet diving, plus cormorants and Pacific Gulls. Earlier in the day, a massive flock of Short-tailed Shearwaters could be seen out to sea. Barry Lingham and Geelong FNC group.
	Azure Kingfisher Wilson Reserve, Ivanhoe 1 Azure Kingfisher seen at about 11.30am. First seen on dead tree in middle of Yarra River, then watched for 5-10 mins as it perched and dived before moving upstream out of view. Emma Bond
Sat 15 Feb	Pomarine Jaeger Breamlea end of Bancoora Beach Harassing Crested Terns briefly before settling on the water presumably to indulge in whatever the Terns were on to - a number of Gannets soon arrived to join in. Dale Tonkinson
	(Possible) Bridled Tern, White-throated Needletial, Tree Martin Breamlea end of Bancoora Beach Late morning. Loose flock/s low over the waves of 50++ Welcome Swallows with a scattering of Tree Martins and a dozen or more White-throated Needletails at least 400m offshore for 20-25 minutes. Amongst them all appeared a small-medium sized tern with deeply forked tail, mostly dark head and dark grey-brown upperwing. The bird twisted and turned for 15-20 seconds, apparently pursuing something Jaeger-like but the only other bird nearby was a Needletail. A later review of Field Guides suggested either an immature Roseate Tern or a Bridled Tern with a leaning toward the latter due to asuggestion of a dark trailing edge to the underwing. Neither ID could I countenance until I saw Jenni Milligan's report/photo from the other end of the beach! Dale Tonkinson
Tue 11 Feb	Scaly-breasted Lorikeet Viewbank Two flew into conifer trees near pony club. Musk and rainbow lorikeets common as usual, also heard little lorikeets. Richard Loyn
	Diamond Firetail Sunday Creek Early morning 6.30 am having a cup of tea watching the birds in an aviary. One just coloured diamond firetail landed on the wire fence not three feet from me. Answering the call of Diamonds in the cage. This is only the third time in twenty years that I have seen a Diamond Firetail at Sunday Creek, Broadford Wayne Osland

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