KAMAROOKA

What a wonderful day I had birding yesterday at Kamarooka! May in Melbourne can be cold and unfriendly. Yesterday at Kamarooka it was sunny and welcoming. I could not in all honesty say that it was warm, but there were plenty of birds to warm my heart. Not wishing to sound too old, I must say nevertheless, that yesterday was what birding used to be like in my youth. So many beautiful birds, you didn't know which way to look first. It was better than any Christmas celebration I can ever remember.

Kamarooka is part of the Greater Bendigo National Park. I'm told the word means 'wait a while' in the local Aboriginal language. Conditions (and birds) yesterday certainly encouraged us to wait a fair while.

When we arrived, we were greeted by several Shy Heathwren. I'm used to seeing these birds on the ground, but they were calling from the bushes, and not initially very cooperative about showing themselves. (This photo, incidentally, is from my library and was not taken yesterday. It is one of Ken Haines' treasures - and he wasn't with me yesterday.) We did get good looks a little later, but it was reassuring to know that there is a very healthy population of Shy Heathwren in this area. We saw lots of honeyeaters here too. In fact we saw lots of honeyeaters everywhere - there were several species of eucaplypts flowering. There were Red Wattlebirds everywhere and a few Noisy Friarbirds sprinkled throughout the day. We saw both my favourite honeyeaters in good numbers - Brown-headed and White-eared. We admired Fuscous, Yellow-tufted, and Yellow-faced and had excellent views of Purple-gaped and Tawny-crowned. I reckon we saw hundreds of Yellow-plumed. This photo of a Yellow-plumed is also by Ken Haines from my library.

We had excellent views of Red-capped Robins (the female Red-capped Robin really is one of our most exquisite birds - too often over-shadowed by her showy mate) and also Restless Flycatchers, which lived up to their name. We had but a fleeting glimpse of a Crested Bellbird, although they serenaded us with their ventriloquial calls for quite some time. There were fairywrens (both Variegated and Superb) and Thornbills (Yellow, Inland and Yellow-rumped - but, surprisingly, no Chestnut-rumped yesterday). There were lots of fresh platelets from Painted Buttonquail and I fancy I saw some movement which was probably them, but no sighting I could confirm.

I would have liked a Southern Whiteface, a Speckled Warbler and a Gilbert's Whistler, but I clocked up a total of 66 species for the day, including one Peregrine Falcon on the way home, so I am not complaining!

200 BIRDS FOR 2023 - AT LAST!

At last I have clocked up my 200th bird for 2023! It took until 10 May to achieve a goal I'd thought I'd achieve in February. And it's not as if I wasn't really trying. Apart from my local haunts (Burke Road Billabong, Darebin Parklands, Wilson Reserve and Banyule), I've been to Blackburn Lake, Royal Park, the You Yangs, Karkarook, Braeside, Cranbourne Botanic Gardens, Werribee and Sherbrooke Forest. The 200th bird was a Superb Lyrebird in Sherbrooke Forest on a Birds Australia weekday outing. The weather was cold and grey. It alternated between rain and drizzle as I drove to Sherbrooke, and I wondered why I was bothering to go. Of course the lyrebirds (there were several) made it all worthwhile, as did the happy group of friendly birders who'd gathered to enjoy the delights of the forest. However, I confess that I'd been hoping secretly for more than just one new bird for the year. I had compiled a little wishlist, but, apart from the lyrebird, it remained unfulfilled. That, I'm afraid, has been the story of 2023: altogether an unfulfilled wishlist. My one and only trip to Werribee this year was also a disappointment. It was in April and, of course, I was hoping to see the vagrant Black Tern, a very exciting visitor from the Northern Hemisphere. I saw lots of lovely birds that morning, but unfortunately had to hurry home because I had guests for lunch (why didn't I just put them off?). I stood hopefully with a group of eager birders watching White-winged Terns swooping over the sea. We knew that the Black Tern had been seen with this flock. And it is possible that amongst those fast swooping birds I did glimpse the Black Tern, but I certainly did not get an unambiguous identifiable tickable sighting. I came home very disappointed and pretended to be a happy hostess. The bird of the day was without doubt the Australian Crake. I saw at least seven, and they were quite fearless, not exhibiting their usual shy behaviour at all. I always get a thrill out of seeing crakes. This beautiful photo was taken by Ken Haines, who took me on my unsuccessful tern hunt.

I've made several unsuccessful trips looking for a Tawny Frogmouth to add to my annual list. I did find a dead frogmouth in the local park and subsequently investigated every tree in that park very closely, with no result. We often see frogmouths at Royal Park, but not this year. I also have roosts to check out at Willsmere Billabong and Heidelberg. All empty so far this year. Eventually, thanks to my cousin, I was alerted to a bird roosting in Blackburn Road, Blackburn. I rushed out to see it and this time I was successful. My trip to Braeside gave me my first Australasian Shoveler for the year and my second trip to the You Yangs in 2023 delivered a White-naped Honeyeater and a Jacky Winter. I don't remember ever trying quite so hard for so many months to achieve so little! In fairness I might say that had I managed to get to Werribee earlier in the year when the Northern Hemisphere migrants were still present (say, in February) I could well have achieved my target then. Winter is almost upon us - it feels as if it's here - and I'm looking forward to back-to-back pelagics out of Eden in early June. Of course I have a little list. Let's see if I can cross more than one species off it.