Birdline Victoria Weekly Update

Birdline Victoria

Published sightings for the week ending 20 Apr 2014.

Sat 19 Apr	Scarlet Robin Yarra Bend Park Around eight Scarlet Robins , including three adult males, on the left of the path that leads from The Boulevard to Fairfield Pipe Bridge. A couple of hundred metres from where I saw several this time last year. John Gray
	Long-toed Stint T-section Lagoons, Western Treatment Plant 2 Long-toed Stints at T-Section lagoons, pond 5. 1 in beautiful orange breeding plumage, I initially thought I was looking at a Little Stint it was so orange, but the leg colour & toe length put paid to that idea. Also a duller bird, mostly in breeding plumage, but not as bright, which is the bird I saw here last week. Also 2 Double-banded Plovers, a Peregrine flew past, 1 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper still present as well as Red-necked Stints going in breeding plumage & some Curlew Sandpipers. No White-winged Black Terns seen, but 3 Whiskered Terns seen on one of the southern Lake Borrie Ponds. Kevin Bartram
	Brown Gerygone Dandenong Ranges National Park 3 BG seen during Melbourne Water Survey this morning in far southern section of park along Monbulk Creek adjacent to Paddys Track. Steve Davidson
	Swift Parrot Yellow Gums Estate, Ocean Grove 20+ Swifties feeding on lerp in residential construction site. Many Rainbow Lorkeets, a few Musk and Scaly-breasted; also a single flock of 60 Spotted Pardalotes and a couple of kookaburras. Guy Dutson
Thu 17 Apr	Black-tailed Godwit T Section Lagoon Pond 7, Western Treatment Plant, Werribee I watched for a long period an adult male Black-tailed Godwit, in full breeding plumage. Chris Doughty
	Australian Little Bittern Karkarook Park Seen at 5.45pm for about 30 seconds in the reeds near the trees. Then seen 5 minutes later flying to the reeds in the south-west corner. Gina Hopkins, Judy Reddoch
	Scarlet Honeyeater, Singing Honeyeater St Kilda and Elwood A female Scarlet Honeyeater was heard and then briefly seen in my backyard in Smith Street, St KIlda this morning. A pair of Singing Honeyeaters have been hanging around the on the Elwood Foreshore between the outdoor gym equipment and the most northerly rock groin on Elwood Beach for some time now (last seen yesterday afternoon beside the Elwood Canal mouth). Gio Fitzpatrick
Wed 16 Apr	Scarlet Robin Blackburn Lake Pair (M, F) in NE quarter between Appletree Track and secondary path, near the gate, 8-9am. Trevor Kerr
	Scarlet Robin Valley Reserve, Mount Waverley Male Scarlet Robin observed in creek line this afternoon. Chris Gittins
	White-winged Black Tern Victoria Lagoon, Hollands Landing, Gippsland Lakes While observing a flock of at least 100 Little Terns on Victoria Lagoon this afternoon, most resting on shoreline and some flying and diving for food, two terns flew by that were larger and and had dark markings. My first thought was Whiskered Terns however a quick check with bins showed they were not Whiskered Terns. Took a few quick photos before they disappeared. A check of photos later showed they were White-winged Black Terns, a species we don't see often in East Gippsland. There were also Crested and Caspian Terns at Victoria Lagoon. John Hutchison
	Spangled Drongo Anglesea Heath Spangled Drongo (1) seen by two observers. Observed for several minutes as it perched high up on transmission lines (Cnr. Ridge Trk and Pipeline Trk.) Unmistakable, clear views through binos with obvious long forked tail feathers. Was being mobbed by Dusky Woodswallows. Unfortunately no adequate photo as phone camera images are not discernible. Daniel Pendavingh & Glen Johnson
	2 White-bellied Sea Eagles Lake Connewarre A pair of White-bellied Sea-eagles seen at dusk along the northern edge of Lake Connewarre. Peter Fuller
Tue 15 Apr	Regent Honeyeater Teal Track (Chiltern-Mt Pilot NP) Single banded individual found hawking insects and foraging in small amount of ironbark blossom. This sighting is notable as it is a bird released to the wild in 2010 - it was seen in the park again last year, but is now the first bird known to survive 4 years after release. On top of recent sightings near Chiltern and at Rutherglen, perhaps there will be a few more Regents floating around the north-east this year. Matt Lincoln via Dean Ingwersen
	Swift Parrot Yellow Gums Estate (Ocean Grove) 4 Swift Parrots at 9am. Many lorikeets around including Scaly-breasted still nesting. Angus Hartshorn
	Scarlet Honeyeater Angelsea Heath This morning I was surprised to observe 2 male Scarlet Honeyeater in flowering Stringybark at the intersection of Pipeline Track and Coalmine Road. This would appear to be west of their usual range in VIC. Daniel Pendavingh
	Swift Parrot Teatree Close Ocean Grove One only flying west alongT/T Close at 4-15 today. Denis Sleep
	Eastern Osprey Minya Vineyard/Winery, Connewarre (Melway 494 FG2) One adult flying S-E down Thompson Creek toward Breamlea. Other raptors at this location were Wedge-tailed Eagle (2), Peregrine Falcon, Brown Falcon, Whistling Kite, Brown Goshawk, Kestrel and Little Eagle (12/4). Tom Fletcher & Hugo Phillipps
	Swift Parrot Monash University Clayton Campus Four Swift Parrots seen resting and preening in a small eucalypt next to the uni lake. Lewis Hiller
Mon 14 Apr	Swift Parrot Carisbrook Cemetery & Reservoir A large flock in an iron bark species behind the cemetery at Carisbrook, central Victoria. Gary Oliver
	Swift parrot No 7 Pond Crusoe reservoir Bendigo 7-8 Swift parrots flew over head just where the carpark track meets the track around the pond. 8.30 am. Distinguishable by the red underwing and the pointed tail. Janice McKay
	Indian Peafowl Princes Highway, Altona Meadows A full male standing on the grassy verge beside the highway near the baseball park. Obviously an escapee from somewhere, but a surprise on the way home from work @ about 5pm. Joy Tansey
	Boobook Owl Long Hollow Reserve, Beaumaris A rare bird in the Bayside area so especially tragic to find a freshly roadkilled specimen found tonight on Reserve Rd outside the Long Hollow Reserve. Sean Dooley
Sun 13 Apr	Long-toed Stint 2, Pectoral Sandpiper 1 Western Treatment Plant, Werribee As reported previously, the Long-toed Stint in breeding plumage at T Section lagoon pond 5 was still there to be admired. A Pectoral Sandpiper was also present at this lagoon. We also found a second Long-toed Stint at Lake Borrie pond 29 in near breeding plumage. Also 16 Red Knots were roosting at this pond. Many waders have departed but we still managed to find 15 species of shorebirds. Alison Street, John Barkla, Kris Bernard and Maarten Hulzebosch
	Broad-billed Sandpipers 9 Western Treatment Plant, Werribee A good day was had wader watching to finish this wader season at the WTP. I caught up with Alison Street, John Barkla and Kris Bernard at the T Section lagoons where we located 230 Red-necked Stints roosting at the T Section lagoon pond 7. The birds were roosting amongst low vegetation on the dry mud. Hidden amongst the stints we located 6 Broad-billed Sandpipers (2 in breeding plumage and 4 in non breeding plumage). At the second pond in from Beach Rd, Lake Borrie pond 29, we found another 3 Broad-billed Sandpipers (1 non breeding and 2 breeding plumage) Alison Street, John Barkla, Kris Bernard and Maarten Hulzebosch
	Blue-winged Parrot Woodlands Historic Park (Greenvale) 4 Blue-winged Parrots seen drinking from lake around mid day. Autumn migration? Have heard this species in the summer of 2010 but never seen. Greg Ormond
	Buller's Albatross, Sooty Shearwater, Pomarine Jaeger etc Port Fairy Pelagic Highlight of the day was large numbers of Buller's Albatrosses, about 25 seen out of about 100 albatrosses all together. Also has Shy, Black-browed, Campbell Island, Yellow-nosed & 3 Antipodean Albatrosses. 3 Northern Giant-petrels, only a few Great-winged Petrels, White-chinned Petrel, a good number of Fairy Prions & Wilson's Storm-petrels & a few Grey-backed & White-faced Storm Petrels. 2 Sooty Shearwaters seen on the shelf, & Short-tailed, Fluttering & Hutton's Shearwaters seen inshore. One light morph Pomarine Jaeger seen on the shelf & an Arctic Jaeger seen closer in relentlessly chasing 2 Crested Terns before they disgorged their food. Kevin Bartram, Neil McCumber & those aboard the vessel
	Freckled Duck Killarney Wetlands 35 Freckled Duck counted in a row on swamp on left as you travel towards Killarney Beach. Kevin Bartram
Sat 12 Apr	Long-toed Stint Western Treatment Plant (T-Section Ponds) Long-toed Stint in breeding plumage, located in the southern pond nest to the road with a late Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. The LTS was on the western side of this pond. Kevin Bartram
	Black Falcon Melton South Black Falcon seen flying above Melton South. Flying not very quickly over houses in very wide circles, toward open country to the west. Daryl Akers
Tue 8 Apr	Swift Parrot The Briars Wildlife Sanctuary, Nepean Highway, Mt Martha The sighting was made at approx. 8/8.30am on the Kur-bur-rer walk near the K15 benchseat. The parrot was sitting above the Bentons Flat Dam. Several woodland species of birds were bathing and drinking while this bird sat quietly, unlike the Rainbow Lorikeets, on the branch of a tree above the dam. Attached is one of several photos taken. Possible 2nd sighting made the following day near the Lookout by a Briars volunteer (a keen birder). Sue Brabender
Thu 3 Apr	Australian King Parrot (leucistic) Emerald A leucistic King Parrot was noted in a small flock of 6 birds. Mark Bennett

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