WELCOME TO WINTER!

It is a beautiful sunny day today. Not at all wintery. It is no secret that I like the first day of the month. I'm like a school kid with a new exercise book: everything must be perfect on the first page. I start my new monthly birdlist full of optimism. This will be my best June ever. In fact, my best June ever was in 2008, when I saw 259 species! Not bad. However, in June 2008, not only did I spend a weekend at sea (out of Ulladulla), but I visited Iron Range. Any visit to Queensland is going to increase your total significantly. This month, my only trip will be a week in WA, visiting Dirk Hartog Island. I'll have a guide (always an easy way to boost your total) but still it is only a week. If I get 150 for the month, I'll be doing well. Never mind, it is the first day of the month and I'm going to do my best. I started the day as usual with my morning walk. This morning I visited Hay's Paddock. I came home with a grand total of 16, the best bird being an Australian King Parrot. After watching 'Insiders' on TV (compulsory viewing for me) I set off for Willsmere Billabong, an easy walk from home. I thought I might add another 5 species to my monthly total. When I arrived, there was a soccer match in progress on the oval. Welcome Swallows were swooping amongst the players. Magpie-larks, Noisy Miners and Rainbow Lorikeets made their presence felt. I walked straight to the river. There is a path beside the river which can be quite productive. Today I saw Brown Thornbills and White-browed Scrubwren and heard Spotted Pardalotes. I am always pleased to hear pardalotes. Like all our small birds, they are becoming less common. These ones were on the other side of the river, high in the canopy, and there was no chance of seeing them. My disappointment was short-lived because I could suddenly hear black cockies! What a joy! I hurried along the track to where they were playing in a wattle. Seeing black cockies makes me feel good for hours. Some birds do that; just a glimpse gives me a warm glow. These birds put a smile on my face and I quite forgot about not being able to see the pardalotes. Black cockies really are beautiful, big birds. Here's proof. (Sorry, this is the best I could do with my phone.)

The reason I'd chosen Willsmere as my first walk for the month, was that I was hoping that my friendly frogmouths would be sitting at home in their gum tree as they should be. They went AWOL for several months, but they were back in May and I had every reason to hope that they'd still be there to celebrate the first day of June with me. A pair of Tawny Frogmouths lives in Stradbroke Park, quite close to home, but they went AWOL last December and have not yet returned home. My Willsmere birds had moved a few trees away, but were still visible until they returned to their rightful tree last month. As soon as I could drag myself away from the Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos I hurried to 'the' tree, and instantly saw just one frogmouth. He was pretending to sleep, but I could see that he was in fact well aware of my presence through his seemingly shut eyes. He was quite high in the tree, safely above photographic height for my phone. I was satisfied just to admire him. I sat on the seat by the river and wrote up the birds I'd seen. I was quite pleased with myself, despite knowing that, had I done the same walk thirty years ago, I would have seen at least twice as many birds. There would have been honeyeaters and whistlers and perhaps even an Azure Kingfisher. I put this unwanted thought out of my head and set off for the billabong. There were black ducks, one Australasian Grebe and one Little Black Cormorant. Without adding Red-rumped Parrots, Eastern Rosellas or Common Bronzewings to my list (all birds I'd expected to see) I continued my walk. As elsewhere around Melbourne, things were pretty dry. The creek (really a drain) that empties into the billabong wasn't running, so I didn't bother checking for herons. Nor did I examine the golf course for Maned Duck. I still hoped to get fairywrens onto the list, and turned for home. There were too many Noisy Miners (let's face it, one is too many) and quite a few welcome Brown Thornbills, but alas no fairywrens. I'll have to make do with black White-winged Fairywrens on Dirk Hartog. (White-winged Fairywrens everywhere else in Australia are an attractive deep blue and I've always hankered after a black one. Hence the trip to Dirk Hartog.) Still glowing from my black cockies, I went home happy. I'd added 8 birds to my monthly total. I'd seen my frogmouth AND I'd seen black cockies.

MY SECOND SOUTHPORT PELAGIC FOR 2025

AND MY FOURTH UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO SEE A NEW CALEDONIAN STORM PETREL! With my birding mate, Helen Yuille, I left early on Good Friday morning to fly to the Gold Coast. Helen had never done a pelagic and I had suggested that the Southport pelagic would be a nice easy one to start with. So we flew up early to get in a day's birding before our big adventure on Saturday. Of course, all I cared about was the chance to see my New Caledonian bird. I had been told that April was the most likely month. However, it seems to me that no month is very likely, and there is a very small chance in every summer month. Helen and I picked up a hire car and drove to Sandy Camp Road. My friend, Rae Clark, had taken me to this spot in January, when I'd made an earlier (failed) attempt to see a this special exciting but elusive storm petrel.

Sandy Camp Road is a lovely spot. We saw several Australasian Darters, lots of Brown Honeyeaters and a few Lewin's. I saw just one Mistletoebird. The highlight was, without doubt, the Little Heron which Helen spied. Until recently we called this bird a 'Striated Heron,' which, to me seems a much better name. Two very noisy and intimidating motor bikes ruined our peaceful wander, so we left and drove on to Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk, where we were greeted in the carpark by an Australasian Figbird. This, too, is a great birding spot, also introduced to me by Rae Clark. Thank you Rae!

For me, the best bird here was a Torresian Kingfisher. For Helen, it was the very prolific Mangrove Gerygones, a lifer for her. For a friendly birding local, it was Black Swans, which I gather are not common at this site. I added Spangled Drongo and Noisy Friarbird to my list. About this time, we realized that we hadn't had any lunch, and that breakfast had been a long time ago.

We were staying in Southport, and decided to check out which jetty the boat was scheduled to leave from at 5.30 tomorrow morning, giving me a chance to admire the friendly local Brushturkeys and Bush Stone-curlews. Then we booked into our accommodation, with only a minor altercation about whether or not I had pre-paid for my room. With that matter resolved, we set off to sort out tomorrow's breakfast. On previous trips to Southport, I'd bought something at the handy Safeway, so Helen and I set off with this in mind. Unfortunately, I hadn't allowed for shop closures on Good Friday! A very helpful woman in a local bar directed us to the IGA and the problem was solved. We were up bright and early on Saturday and managed to find the right jetty and the right boat. Cyclone Alfred has moved a lot of sand from Gold Coast beaches, and also apparently changed the water depth at the bar. Having told Helen this was an easy, flat pelagic, I was unhappy to hear our captain, Grinner, instructing us all to 'hang on!' He clearly meant it, and I hadn't heard him say this before. When we crossed the bar, we understood why. The boat was tossed around like a matchbox. Grinner told me that boats had been unable to cross the bar the day before. In my (admittedly limited) experience, Southport pelagics are the most comfortable, but they also provide the fewest birds. I had virtually promised Helen a Tahiti Petrel - a bird I thought was guaranteed on a Southport pelagic. Initially we saw Silver Gulls and Greater Crested Terns and not much else. After a while, there was a sprinkling of shearwaters (all Wedge-tailed I think). The Tahiti Petrel kept us waiting a long time, but we did eventually see one or two. Also Kermadec and Providence Petrels. The only storm petrels, I'm sorry to say, were Wilson's and White-faced. Not a hint of anything as exotic as a New Caledonian. The undoubted highlight of the trip was a Bulwer's Petrel. This photo was taken by Patrick Reed.

On the way back to port, we saw some Hutton's Shearwaters, and when we were almost home, we saw our first Australasian Gannet for the day, bringing the day's total species count to 13. I must say I enjoyed the day. Naturally, I would have enjoyed it more had I seen a New Caledonian Storm Petrel. However, now I have my excuse to return and I have booked a spot on the boat for next March.

WERRIBEE ONCE MORE

It is always difficult to resist an opportunity to visit Werribee's Western Treatment Plant. When I learnt that Melbourne Birdlife's March weekday outing was going to Werribee, I was eager to put my name down. It was, of course, a most enjoyable day. As my Sydney birding friend, Brook Whylie, says: "It's impossible to have a bad day at Werribee." Even if the weather is unpleasant, there's always something special about a trip to the Western Treatment Plant. And last Wednesday, the weather was perfect. There were five cars in our group, each with four passengers, so of course that slowed things down. We started at ten, and finished at three, with a generous break for lunch, so in that time it was not possible to visit all the interesting spots Werribee has to offer. I think everyone had a great day, and several people managed lifers. We saw lots of ducks and waterbirds, but surprisingly few waders, several unusually cooperative Australian Crakes, one very bold Black-tailed Nativehen, few raptors, and not too many passerines. We saw all the ducks you'd expect. (I dipped on Blue-billed and Hardhead, but others saw them.) There were still thousands of Australian Shelducks, which must be getting ready to move on after their moult. I think Pink-eared Ducks are very handsome, but I do prefer their former name, Zebra Duck. After all, who can see the pink ear in the field? We all had excellent views of several Freckled Duck, which is always uplifting. We saw all three grebes, just one Pacific Gull and not many terns. What the terns lacked in numbers, both of species and individual birds, they made up for with spectacular flying displays right in front of us. These were Fairy Terns, splashing into the sea, sometimes emerging with prey, more often not. There were also a few Greater Crested Terns loafing nearby and fewer Common Terns. One person saw Little Terns. We saw many cormorants, but few herons and egrets. Someone claimed Cattle Egrets, but I did not see them. We saw both spoonbills, always a welcome addition to the birdlist. I had hoped for Double-banded Plover, but we did not see any. Nor did we see Red-capped Plover. In fact we saw very few waders at all. Perhaps they've all left - it is March after all - or perhaps we didn't go to the right spots. We saw thousands of Red-necked Stints, but not much else. Just a sprinkling of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and that's it for the northern hemisphere migrants. Of course the Red-necked Avocets made up for this in spades! What beautiful birds! I never tire of admiring them. There were also stilts and Pied Oystercatchers. (Sooty Oystercatchers seem to be fewer in numbers these days.) Raptor numbers were down too. We saw a couple of Brown Falcons, a few Swamp Harriers and one particularly handsome Hobby. Of course there were Whistling and Black Kites and just a couple of Black-shouldered Kites. I used to call Werribee the Raptor Capital of Victoria. It did not deserve the moniker last Wednesday. The Black-tailed Nativehen was very welcome: just one bird, wandering around by himself on the beach, right out in the open, quite undeterred by twenty silly birders staring at him. We saw a few Cape Barren Geese, again always a welcome addition to the birdlist.

What we didn't see were just as interesting as what we did see. I did not see any pipits or any skylarks. Surely this must be the only time I have ever visited Werribee and come home without these two species on my list. I had hoped to see a Greenfinch, as I'd missed them on my earlier trip to Werribee this year. No luck. I didn't see any Yellow-rumped Thornbills either. I saw just a couple of cisticolas - I was looking out for them as one of the group was particularly eager to see one. Lots of White-fronted Chats as usual, and Welcome Swallows of course. Most of the Fairy Martins must have left, we saw just one bird. I didn't see any fieldwrens or bushlarks or songlarks, but that's not surprising. These are birds it is great to see, rather than things you expect. We did hear, then glimpse, one Little Grassbird. And of course there were fairywrens and scrubwrens. My Bird of the Day was the Pacific Swift, which put in an appearance at the very last moment. We were doing the birdlist in the carpark just prior to leaving, when several swifts flew overhead. A new bird for me for the year. It's always fun to bird at Werribee. And it's fun to bird with like-minded people. I think I can say with confidence: a good day was had by all.

FEBRUARY

Birding in Melbourne in February is often a difficult month for me. I always start the year with a burst of enthusiasm, and when February comes around, I've seen just about everything Melbourne has on easy offer. I have to work very hard in February to see anything new. Or travel interstate. This February, I've had a particularly good month. I've seen 195 birds, which is pretty good for any month. I've had a (very expensive) trip to Tassie for a pelagic out of Eaglehawk Neck (always fun), a lovely day at Werribee's Western Treatment Plant, and a few days in Mallacoota, surely a birder's heaven. Now I'm having trouble deciding on the bird of the month. What an excellent problem to have!

This photo by Els Wakefield is a Salvin's Albatross, a bird I don't often see, and clearly the Bird of the Day for my Tasmanian pelagic. (My trip to Tassie was expensive because the weekend I'd chosen was, unbeknown to me, the weekend of three festivals, and all Hobart hotels put their prices up accordingly. I don't think I've ever paid $685 for one night's accommodation before. But perhaps I'm just out of touch.) I did enjoy the pelagic. It is a very friendly boat and it was a very pleasant day at sea. The Salvin's Albatross landed right beside me, giving me an excellent view. It really had no contest for Bird of the Day.

I had a lovely day at Werribee. As one of my NSW birding friends once quipped, "It's impossible to have a bad day at Werribee." I had hoped to see 100 birds that day at Werribee (something I have never achieved) but only managed 92. It was hot. We could have driven around some more, but common sense prevailed, and when all's said and done, 92 is not a bad day's count. I did not manage any of the rarities recently reported, apart from Pectoral Sandpipers (if I'm allowed to call them 'rare,' I suspect that 'uncommon' is a better adjective), but there were three birds, wandering around quite close to the car, not at all worried by our presence. They were fun. But my Bird of the Day was, perhaps perversely, the much more common Blue-winged Parrot. This lovely photo was not taken on the day. It is by Ken Haines. There were three Blue-winged Parrots (not everything was in threes that day!) which flew low overhead, then later, another three (or perhaps the same birds) landed right beside us on the fence, allowing us to absorb their beauty. So many of our parrots are truly gorgeous specimens. And another worthy contender for Bird of the Month.

I had good birds in Tasmania, at Werribee and at Mallacoota, but one bird which gave me as much pleasure as anything else, was an Eastern Spinebill in my front yard! (This beautiful photo is again by Ken Haines.) When I purchased my present house in Kew, about the first thing I did was to plant grevilleas in the front yard, in the hope of attracting Eastern Spinebills. Not many years ago, I often saw Eastern Spinebills in Kew. Now I never do. My planting has only attracted Red Wattlebirds. But one day this month, I had an Eastern Spinebill in my front yard. I love these birds (who doesn't?) A clear contender for Bird of the Month. It certainly gave me a great deal of pleasure. Unfortunately, it did not hang around and I have not seen it again since.

As always, I had quite a long wishlist for my recent trip to Mallacoota. This included any nightbird (the only one on my 2025 list was a Tawny Frogmouth), the Tawny Grassbird (which had recently been reported from Orbost, a bird I'd never seen in Victoria), Scarlet Myzomela (a bird, which although it is not rare, I do not often see) and Glossy Black Cockatoos, which I really wanted to see as I've only seen them once since the dreadful bushfires of 2019/20. This photo was taken on that occasion by Graham Barwell in Cranbourne Botanic Gardens. Last year when I visited Mallacoota, I did not see any Glossy Black Cockatoos, and I can assure you that it was not for want of trying. This year, I saw six. They were on Tower Road, Mt Raymond. And very beautiful they were too. Certainly worthy to be Bird of the Month. However, I have decided on something else as my Bird of the Month for February. I have decided on the Topknot Pigeon, which I saw at Cabbage Tree on my way to Mallacoota. It was my first Victorian sighting of this odd-looking pigeon. I wonder what I'll see in March.

MARVELLOUS MALLACOOTA

I've just returned from a few most enjoyable days in Mallacoota. This photo is Ground Parrot habitat at Shipwreck Creek, where I did not see any Ground Parrots. On my trip, I saw 145 birds, a couple of wombats, one platypus, several echidnas, lots of kangaroos and wallabies and countless different species of lizards. I saw just two red-bellied black snakes, which was quite enough. I dipped on a few good birds apart from the Ground Parrots. I missed the Tawny Grassbirds which have recently been seen at Orbost, and, most surprisingly, I missed both Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters at Mallacoota airport and Azure Kingfishers at both Gipsy Point and Mallacoota. I usually get both of these species without any trouble at all.

This beautiful photo of a Hooded Plover was taken by Ken Haines, who wasn't with me on this trip. However, I did see Hooded Plovers at Betka Beach: two adults and two young. This was lucky because, despite good signs, there were several uncontrolled dogs on the beach.

Other highlights were: Glossy Black Cockatoos (six birds on Tower Road, Mt Raymond); Topknot Pigeons at Cabbage Tree Creek (my first Victorian sighting of this species); lots of Southern Emuwrens (both at Shipwreck Creek when I was looking unsuccessfully for Ground Parrots, and at WR Track on the way home, when I was looking unsuccessfully for Chestnut-rumped Heathwren) and three White-throated Nightjars and one Powerful Owl (when I was spotlighting in Mallacoota). I was disappointed at the lack of Ground Parrots, and I always love seeing Azure Kingfishers, but, when all's said and done, 145 species is 145 species, and I did see some good birds.