BIRD OF THE MONTH 2025

JANUARY: CHANNEL-BILLED CUCKOO

I'd never seen a Channel-billed Cuckoo in Victoria, my home state, before January 2025. And then I saw three! These extraordinary cuckoos used to belong further north, but global warming has driven them south, to visit us here in Victoria. To the best of my knowledge, they first appeared in this state last year, when they appeared at Berwick. I did not go to see them. This year they turned up at Wilson Reserve, which is just across the river from where I live, so I really felt obliged to attempt to find them. There was apparently more than one young bird, being fed by Little Ravens. There were reports of sightings every day and eventually I could stand it no longer. I thought I probably wouldn't see them, but I had to look. I drove to the Wilson Reserve carpark, and I could hear the birds before I got out of my car. I hurried to the sound, and there were not one, not two, but three Channel-billed Cuckoos! One young one was being fed by a Little Raven. The other two birds flew off before I'd had a good look, but my preliminary view led me to believe that they were both adults. I'm told that adult Channel-billed Cuckoos can actually return to inspect their offspring! I had a good look and took an extremely ordinary photo. A day or two later, I took Ken Haines to see them too. The birds were not so cooperative for him, remaining high in the canopy. Nevertheless, he managed the photo above. Other contenders for Bird of the Month in January were: Tawny Frogmouths (a pair in Willsmere Park with two fluffy yet fully grown chicks); Tahiti Petrels (very handsome birds, and we saw a lot of them on my Southport pelagic) and a cooperative Eastern Whipbird (which made a point of showing himself when I was birding in the Dandenong Ranges National Park in Fern Tree Gully).

FEBRUARY: TOPKNOT PIGEON February was a great month, and I had difficulty deciding on the Bird of the Month. The Salvin's Albatross at Eaglehawk Neck was a good contender, as were the Pectoral Sandpipers at Werribee and the Southern Emuwrens I saw on my Mallacoota trip. The Eastern Spinebill that visited my garden was also wonderful - a new bird for my house list. And about time too! After all, I planted the entire garden just for him, and this is the first time he's deigned to inspect it. In the end, I decided on the Topknot Pigeon I saw at Cabbage Tree Creek, another new bird for me for Victoria. I took this picture from the Australian Bird Guide (ABG).

MARCH: FORK-TAILED SWIFT I am so pleased that we are once again permitted to talk about Fort-tailed Swifts - a much better name than Pacific Swift. Whatever you call them, I don't often see these birds. So it's always a thrill when I do. They arrive unpredictably, unexpectedly. You can't go to a specific spot to admire them. They'll be there when they decide and not otherwise. So always a special sighting and worthy of being the March Bird of the Month. This illustration is also from the ABG. Other birds in contention for March were an Australian Magpie and a Black-tailed Nativehen. The Australian Magpie was right outside my house, mimicking power tools! We have a couple of building sites in the street at the moment and no doubt he's been as irritated by the power tools as I have. The Black-tailed Nativehen (a bird I don't often see) was at Werribee. But he didn't run away and hide as usual. He wandered around on the beach right out in the open, evidently quite oblivious to the many birders admiring him. Or perhaps he was enjoying it, who knows?

APRIL: BULWER'S PETREL In April, I was delighted to see a Spotless Crake at Royal Park, the first crake I've ever seen there. I was also particularly pleased with both a glorious Azure Kingfisher and several Helmeted Honeyeaters at Yellingbo. My only interstate trip for the month was to Southport, following my so far futile attempts to see a New Caledonian Storm Petrel. On this trip, I saw a Torresian Kingfisher on Wynnum boardwalk, and an Osprey at Southport. All of these birds were contenders for my bird of the month. However, the winner was a Bulwer's Petrel on the Southport pelagic, a bird well outside his recognized normal range. This photo was taken by Patrick Reed. Thank you, Patrick!

MAY: RUFOUS BRISTLEBIRD May was a lovely month, with plenty of beautiful autumn sunshine, but, unfortunately, few birding trips for me. I did see Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos several times on my morning walks, and each time I had a satisfying warm glow for several hours thereafter. I did go to Werribee and derived pleasure from both Flame Robins and Banded Lapwings. I also had an unsuccessful trip to Geelong, in search of a Lewin's Rail. I should clarify that the trip was unsuccessful only on this one count. Otherwise I had a great day with some great sightings. For instance, I had great views of a Chestnut-rumped Heathwren, not always an easy bird to see. I had a lovely look at an Eastern Spinebill - a bird I'd failed to see on at least two occasions when I visited the Maranoa Gardens just for that purpose. I also enjoyed about twenty Double-banded Plovers (that I'd missed at Werribee) on the beach at Point Impossible, together with a pair of Hooded Plovers. But my bird of the day, and now my bird of the month, was a Rufous Bristlebird at Addis Point. There were actually two birds, happily going about their business, ignoring my presence and giving me great pleasure. This photo is actually from my archive and was taken by Ken Haines.

JUNE: WHITE-WINGED FAIRYWREN June's highlight was my trip to Dirk Hartog Island to see the black and white race of the White-winged Fairywren. It proved worth the effort. This spectacular normally blue and white bird is actually black and white on Dirk Hartog Island. Or so I thought, going by the illustrations in most field guides. I was surprised to see that in real life the male bird has a blue tail. I saw several other beautiful birds on that trip. In other circumstances, any one of them would be awarded Bird of the Month. Birds such as the White-breasted Whistler (one of our most under-rated birds in my opinion), or the very pretty Copperback Quail-thrush which initially played hard-to-get, then decided to show off his true beauty, or the Black-tailed Treecreepers amusing themselves along the dry bed of the Gasgoyne River or one charming little Redthroat that sat at eye level and serenaded me for several melodious minutes. A couple of other birds put in an appearance before the trip to Dirk Hartog. At home,some Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos gave me great pleasure on my walk one morning. They sat in a eucalypt busily ignorning me as if this were their normal routine. And I'm always a sucker for a frogmouth. I was delighted to see one bird returned to his rightful perch at Willsmere this month. He could very easily have been declared the Bird of the Month.

JULY: COPPERBACK QUAIL-THRUSH In July I visited the Red Centre and re-acquainted myself with some lovely arid country birds. It is hard to go passed a Dusky Grasswren. Or a Spinifex Pigeon. Or, indeed, a Painted Finch. And we saw lots of gorgeous green budgies. (Whoever thinks a blue budgie is a good creation is probably a climate change denier who endorses Donald Trump). There were also lots of Crimson Chats, Hooded and Red-capped Robins. All of these birds are worthy candidates to be Bird of the Month. However, the quail-thrush was noteworthy because he was so far out of his range. We'd been hearing the call and thought it was Cinnamon Quail-thrush, which should be inhabiting this area, but then he finally revealed himself. We had difficulty believing it was in fact a Copperback Quail-thrush who had no right to be there. Sadly, I was not able to get hold of a photo of the bird, so I took this from the ABG again.

AUGUST: RED-TAILED BLACK COCKATOO Under the current Avilist taxonomy, there are five subspecies of Red-tailed Black Cockatoo. Now I'll happily claim to have seen four of them. In truth, I reckon I've seen all five, but I can't tell you precisely where and when I saw the rarest one, graptogyne, so I'm planning to see it again. My memory is that I saw it in the 1960s when my parents took me to the Little Desert to see my first Malleefowl. It occurs in very small numbers along the Victorian/South Australian border and I'm planning to add it to my list unambiguously later. This year, in August, I added the race samueli. After quite a bit of searching: first in Western Australia in June, then in the Northern Territory in July, and finally, successfully in New South Wales in August. With such a wide distribution, you'd think it wouldn't be so hard to see one. But at last I did see it, in Wilcannia in August. And what a great deal of pleasure it gave me! We drove to Wilcannia, and, as soon as we crossed the bridge over the Darling, we heard black cockies. Right on cue! Imagine my delight, after my failed attempts in WA and the NT. Here they were easily in New South Wales, much closer to home. There were three birds, and we chased them up and down the river, then around the town a bit, just to admire their beauty. And great beauty it was too!

SEPTEMBER: RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD (Photo by Andy Robinson) In September I twitched the Red-billed Tropicbird on Christmas Island, thus having to abandon planned trips to Chiltern and a pelagic out of Eaglehawk Neck. Naturally, when I see a lifer, that has to be the bird of the month. There was absolutely no competition. I arrived on Christmas Island on Friday (and I couldn't have done that without Richard Baxter's help, thank you Richard!) and saw the bird on Saturday morning. I had to wait a week for my flight home, and, despite looking, I did not see the bird again. I count myself lucky to have seen it at all. There were a handful of sightings during that week, but I couldn't discern any pattern to the bird's behaviour. Anyway, it was a beautiful bird. Well worth the trip to Christmas Island (but not the angst!) Later in the month, I saw a pair of Channel-billed Cuckoos in Studley Park, Kew. Chances are it's the same pair I saw in January. I'm not used to seeing them in Victoria, and any other month they'd be top contenders for Bird of the Month. However, nothing can compete with a lifer! The other outstanding contender in September was the race ocellata of the Australian Boobook, which I was delighted to see. I'd have been delighted to see it anywhere, but I saw it outside its official range, after several unsuccessful attempts looking where it's supposed to be. That gave the sighting added excitement. But, I repeat, nothing can compete with a lifer!

OCTOBER: REGENT PARROT I started October at Ned's Corner, where I saw many wonderful birds (even after September's special Boobook) all worthy candidates for Bird of the Month: Malleefowl, Black Falcon, Regent Parrot, Chestnut Quail-thrush, Mallee Emu-wren, Striated Grasswren, Inland Dotterel. How's a girl to choose? Then, at Yellingbo, I saw a beautiful Grey Goshawk, a bird I don't often have the opportunity to admire. At the very end of the month, I did a pelagic out of Eaglehawk Neck, hoping for a rarity, but expecting to see nothing out of the ordinary, and, sad to say, my expectations were met. I'd decided before I left for Tasmania, that my bird of the month for October would be the Regent Parrot. We'd seen good numbers of them. Garnett reckons there are 2,500 of them and they are classified as Vulnerable. They gave me a thrill. That's enough! So a Regent Parrot it is! I took this photo some years ago, so it's not as good as recent photos taken by others!

NOVEMBER: MOREPORK In November, I visited Norfolk Island and achieved one lifer, the Morepork. I also visited Cocos Island. The Morepork was very beautiful and well worthy to be crowned Bird of the Month, especially as the total population is estimated to be 25 individuals. And, there was absolutely nothing noteworthy on Cocos this year.

DECEMBER: JAVA SPARROW Finding a Bird of the Month for December was difficult, because I started the month on Christmas Island, where I saw no vagrants at all. I must have picked up some bug on the plane home, because I was ill for the rest of the month, so I did no local birding at all. I decided on a Java Sparrow, one of the few Christmas Island birds that I had not seen on my September trip, so I'd made a concerted effort to see it in December. As its name implies, Java Sparrows are native to Indonesia. They were introduced to Christmas Island in the early years of last century. We see them in people's backyards, where they fly into the chicken coops to feed on the chook feed. They are not as common as they used to be. Again, I took this picture from the ABG.

CHRISTMAS ISLAND: MY TENTH VISIT

Qantas-Link somehow managed to transport us all with our luggage from Cocos to Christmas Island without losing anything. Unfortunately, from my point of view, Christmas Island proved to be most disappointing. We did all our usual things: we admired the Golden Bosunbirds, we tried to identify each and every frigatebird and we wondered at the prehistoric Abbott's Booby. Everyone easily saw the Christmas Boobook, but alas! I do not believe that there were any Northern Boobooks on the island. We all saw plenty of Island Thrushes, White-eyes and Swiftlets, and everyone saw Java Sparrows and Christmas Goshawks at least once. It was extremely dry and there were virtually no migrants at all. We did see a few Barn Swallows, but they were swooping quite high, and if it had been a lifer, I'd have liked a better look. A couple of Arctic Warblers were reported before we arrived, someone saw a von Schrenk's Bittern and there was talk of a Yellow Bittern, but that was it. At Margaret Knoll, we watched a Peregrine Falcon (race ernesti) being hassled by, and in turn hassling, a frigatebird. I thought it was good to see the frigatebird get some of its own medicine for once. Richard told us he'd only ever seen Peregrines take Christmas Imperial Pigeons. He'd no sooner finished his statement, than some of us witnessed the Peregrine doing just that: killing a pigeon in mid-air. One thing we did which I hadn't done before, was to go on a pelagic. Sadly, it was predictable tropical seabirding. We saw nothing noteworthy. In the rainforest, sharp-eyed Sue (who was responsible for finding most of last year's vagrants on Cocos) saw this:

There are cat traps all over the island, but this is the first time I've ever seen anything caught in one. The National Parks staff remain confident that they will eventually eliminate feral cats, but it is unfortunate that the Malay population thinks it is their right to own a pet. While it is illegal to own an unspayed cat on Christmas Island, there's no doubt that some still exist. In fact, the most interesting creatures on this leg of our trip were not birds. A couple of our group saw an exciting, as yet unidentified bat, and when we dined at Lucky Ho's, we enjoyed a fruit-piercing moth sucking up mango juice off the table cloth.

I can only hope that my eleventh trip to Christmas Island will be more productive. I must see that Northern Boobook one day!

COCOS POCUS

Cocos (Keeling) Islands are 2,700 kilometres north-north-west of Perth in the Indian Ocean. There are two coral atolls comprising 27 islands, only two of which are inhabited. About 400 people of Malay extraction live on Home Island and about 200 people mainly of European extraction on West Island. There is a regular ferry service between the islands. Before my most recent trip, I had visited Cocos seven times and seen a total of 36 lifers there. Before I left Melbourne on my most recent trip, I knew that this year's trip could not possibly match last year's. For each birding hotspot, such as Cocos, there are perhaps 4 or 5 special years in a lifetime - years when vagrants excel all expectations. 2016 was one such year. I saw eleven lifers on Cocos in 2016. They were: Yellow Bittern, Rosy Starling, Von Schrenk's Bittern, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Drongo Cuckoo, Brown Shrike, Blue and White Flycatcher, Black-crowned Night Heron, Eyebrowed Thrush, Tree Pipit and Northern Pintail. I never expected to do that again. And indeed I have not. But, in 2024, on my seventh trip to Cocos, I saw a remarkable six lifers. They were: Dark-sided Flycatcher, Indian Cuckoo, Eurasian Wigeon, Black-naped Oriole, Cinnamon Bittern and Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler. I do not ever expect to replicate that. But I did hope that this year I might see just one lifer. Alas! It was not to be. Others on the tour glimpsed a yet to be identified crake as it flashed from one patch of undergrowth to another. I did not. Despite much effort, all attempts at photographing or videoing it failed, so the identification remains uncertain. Based on size (small) and colour (brown) the experts reckon that it might be a Ruddy-breasted Crake.

I visit Cocos as often as possible with Richard Baxter's Birding Tours Australia. This year our trip started inauspiciously. Qantas now has the contract for this route - previously it was Virgin. There are already many disconcertingly negative stories about the transfer from Virgin to Qantas. We were scheduled to fly to Cocos on Friday 28 November. The flight was cancelled and we were accommodated overnight in the Perth Parmelia Hilton. We made it to Cocos the next day, Saturday 29th, in time to see a Red-necked Phalarope at the Bottle Dump before tea. On Sunday, before breakfast, we walked through long grass at the Q Station and flushed two Pin-tailed Snipe.

Later, at the farm, Richard played the call of Asian Koel and one responded almost immediately, giving everyone a good look, and providing a third lifer for some people on the trip. Richard then had his first glimpse of the small crake, getting us all excited about this possible First for Australia. We were to chase it assiduously over the next few days, using every technique we could devise - all to no avail. No one ever had a really good look at it and some of us (including me) did not even achieve a fleeting glimpse. Monday saw our trip to South Island for Saunders's Tern. Most people were equally keen to see the Tibetan Sand Plover and race 'scythicus'of the Greater Sand Plover - a potential future armchair tick. I probably should not have gone. The tides and sand banks were such that it was a long hot walk, after our canoe ride from West Island to South Island. I took my walking stick as I do not like walking in water, but nevertheless I had a fall. Allan picked me up and, to the best of my knowledge, only John witnessed the spectacle. I saw Saunders's Terns briefly thought the scope, but, given that I've seen this species several times before, I'm not sure it was worth the effort. Part of Richard's Saunders's Tern adventure is a stopover on the return trip at Pulu Blan Mater to admire the Blue-tailed Skink. This lizard is extinct on Christmas Island, thanks to the joint efforts of introduced wolf snakes and yellow crazy ants. However, a captive breeding program at both Taronga Zoo and the Pink House on Christmas Island has resulted in skinks being released on two islands, with both released populations increasing impressively. It is a great success story. In fact it is said to be the world's most successful reptile captive breeding program. On Tuesday we took the ferry to Home Island, where there was a possible sighting of a thrush, which might have been an Eyebrowed Thrush. Not a very satisfactory sighting for those of us who had not seen an Eyebrowed Thrush before. What we all did see with no ambiguity was a Golden Bosunbird! I thought perhaps I saw two: one beautiful fully golden one, and one with a pale yellow wash. This morph of White-tailed Tropicbird was always regarded as endemic to Christmas Island. I don't believe it has ever been seen before on Cocos.

There is really nothing else worth reporting about my recent trip to Cocos. So now I have visited Cocos Islands eight times and seen a total of 36 lifers there. Let's hope I can do a little better in 2026.

NORFOLK ISLAND

From 2-8 November 2025, I visited Norfolk Island. It is a very pretty place.

I was first here in July 2004, when I saw four lifers: Norfolk Parakeet, Norfolk Gerygone, Slender-billed White-eye and California Quail. At the time, the Norfolk Robin was classified as a subspecies of Scarlet Robin. Then it was given species status and for a while it was called the Pacific Robin, and now it is the Norfolk Robin. In 2004, I did not bother looking for the local owl, because I did not think it was tickable. It was also extremely difficult to see, but that's never stopped me from looking. The 2020 Action Plan estimated the total population of owls to be 25 individuals. My return visit this year had a dual purpose. First, to see the owl (which, I am assured, is tickable) and second (rather ambitiously) to see the Long-tailed Koel. The koel is a New Zealand bird, which passes through Norfolk Island on its annual migration north from New Zealand to Pacific Islands each March, then again on its return journey south back to New Zealand each November. As I left Melbourne, I thought that my chances of seeing the owl, notwithstanding the tiny population, were very good. Conversely, I thought I had virtually no chance of seeing the koel. And how right I was. On both counts. Here's proof that I saw the owl.

The population of owls on Norfolk has been low for many years. In 1986, it was extremely critical. Just one female remained. Ornithologists determined that the most closely related species was New Zealand's Morepork, so they introduced some male owls from New Zealand. The resulting offspring have bred today's owl population, so calling them Norfolk Moreporks is a bit of a stretch really. While the population was estimated at 25 in 2020, no one was quite sure, and a survey is currently underway to determine the population more precisely. We saw many posters advertising the survey.

On our first night on Norfolk, we visited the Botanic Garden at dusk and waited for the boobook call. As soon as we heard it, we played the tape, the bird answered and flew to us. We had two birds in Norfolk Pines above our heads and others calling in the distance. Let's hope there are more than 25 individuals. My other target was the Long-tailed Koel, formerly known as the Long-tailed Cuckoo. We spent many hours listening and waiting for this bird to call. Indeed, I heard it once. But I did not travel thousands of kilometres to hear it! It was very frustrating to know that the bird was present somewhere on the island and I could not see it. Who knows how many of them there are, and how long they spend on Norfolk on their trip home. I could not have done more. I looked in all the known spots and spent hours listening and waiting. It is just a matter of luck and my luck was out. I simply had to go home happy with my Morepork.

We did a two hour boat trip, which was fun. We visited all the tourist spots, looked very hard for koels, enjoyed all the endemics and examined all the waders carefully to ensure that there were no rare Bristle-thighed Curlews amongst them. There weren't. Although the Bristle-thighed Curlew is listed on the Norfolk birdlist which you can pick up at the National Parks Office, I am told that this was on the basis of one unconfirmed anonymous sighting. The Australian Bird Guide states that this bird is not yet recorded from our region, but that it is a potential vagrant to Norfolk and Coral Sea Islands. That's enough to make me look at every whimbrel very carefully.

Norfolk is very pretty. My impression was that, compared with my 2004 visit, there were far fewer cows on the roads, fewer chooks and feral geese, and also fewer Norfolk Robins and Masked Boobies. The smaller number of boobies could be explained because they were nesting last time I visited, so the entire colony was visible, on land. On this visit, most of them would have been out at sea. The smaller number of robins cannot be explained away so easily. I fear their numbers have declined. The 2020 Action Plan estimates the population at 750 and declining. I thought that, on this visit, there were many more California Quail, Norfolk Parakeets and Golden Whistlers. It was a pleasant week. I was delighted to see the Morepork, but frustrated I could not claim a Long-tailed Koel. I will have to return!

NED'S CORNER

Ned's Corner is a well-known Victorian birding spot and I'd never been there, so I thought that situation should be rectified. Ned's Corner is run by the Trust for Nature and is located in the far north-west of the state, along the River Murray. As an added incentive, I'd been told that the race of the Australian Boobooks found there (contrary to the information in all of my field guides and even HANZAB) is in fact ocellata, a race I hadn't seen. Luckily, ocellata is visibly different from other Boobook races. It is much paler overall and has visible white marks around the eyes. I reckon even I could tell the difference. Here's a picture of race boobook taken by my mate Ken Haines at Mt Korong.

And here's one of race ocellata Ken took at Warwilla (which is in NSW between Deniliquin and Hay, again way outside the recognised range for ocellata):

See how much paler it is? And note the white around the eyes. I really wanted to see this race ocellata. So I decided that I must visit Ned's Corner. We left early on Monday morning and went just as far as Ouyen, where we stopped to admire a pair of Striated Grasswren in Hattah/Kulkyne National Park. This is race howei, which I've seen several times before in Gluepot, but I believe only once before in my home state, Victoria. A pair of them came ridiculously close to us, belying their elusive reputation. Back in the township, we admired some Pink Cockatoos and some White-breasted Woodswallows. That afternoon, we failed to see Purple-gaped Honeyeaters, having to make do with White-fronted. Then we saw both Malleefowl and Chestnut Quail-thrush, and thought we'd had a pretty successful day.

On Tuesday, we started the day off with two very beautiful male Mallee Emu-wren. What pretty faces they have! Then we visited Etiwanda Wetlands - another new spot for me. I'd been hoping for a Baillon's Crake, but I was disappointed. Further on, at the intersection of Meridian and Macs Roads, several birders were busily occupied admiring Inland Dotterel. So we did too. After we'd drunk our fill of dotterel, we drove up Macs Road, where the birding was very good indeed. Apart from one skinny brown snake, we saw both Crimson and White-fronted Chats, White-winged Trillers and Chestnut-browned Babblers. We drove on to Lake Cullulleraine and booked into the Bushman's Rest Caravan Park. Here's the view from my cabin door.

It was distressingly windy as we drove off to explore Ned's Corner. It is a huge area, with a very large lake - Lake Walla Walla, which was sadly quite dry. I was sorry about the dry lake, but I was quite distressed by the ferocious wind. My hope of seeing my Australian Boobook quite evaporated. Nevertheless, we had to try. We rugged up and faced the wind boldly. It was a pretty miserable walk in the dark, full of disappointment that we'd come all this way for nothing. I was concentrating on not falling over and trying not to feel too sorry for myself, when suddenly, sitting high in a river red gum looking at us was a Boobook! Of course, it flew before I could get my binoculars focused on it. Perhaps it flew behind us, perhaps another bird appeared, we'll never know, but a few minutes later, we saw a Boobook sitting in another tree looking at us accusingly. This time I had a good look. It was ocellata without a doubt. So all the field guides that mention races, and even HANZAB, have got that wrong. My celebration was even sweeter because I'd been so sure that I was going to miss out. Luckily, it wasn't a very late night spotlighting, and we up again at sunset. Here's the view from my cabin.

We started Wednesday morning with a visit to Yarrara Flora and Fauna Reserve, where we were targetting White-browed Treecreepers. One came to greet us almost as soon as we arrived. The birding was great. We saw Splendid Fairywrens, Hooded and Red-capped Robins, Gilbert's and Rufous Whistlers and Crested Bellbirds. What a lovely list! About the only thing we missed out on that I'd hoped for was Sittellas. We commenced Thursday at Hattah, looking at Regent Parrots. In a very short while, we saw about 50 of them. Regent Parrots are classified as vulnerable, but there was no shortage of them that morning by the Hattah park office. Then we turned our attention to Red-lored Whistlers. I think I've only ever seen them once before. My memory is of lots of native pines and Gilbert's Whistlers sharing the habitat. Unfortunately, the wind was gusting in a most unpleasant fashion, not at all conducive to birding. We had a bit of a half-hearted look, but we knew in our hearts these were not ideal conditions to see Red-lored Whistlers. I thought it was interesting that there were no native pines in the area where we were looking, which is the popular spot for seeing these birds. We did see pardalotes, more Chestnut Quail-thrush, Mulga Parrots and some early Rainbow Bee-eaters, so our time was not entirely wasted. We drove on to Nowingi Line Track where there had been a recent report of a pair of Black Falcons. We arrived at the spot, and before the ignition was turned off, we saw a large black raptor high in the sky. It was a lone Black Falcon! You have to be lucky some time. We stayed that night in Mildura. We booked into our motel, and I went for a walk. I noticed a Little Crow being mobbed by Noisy Miners and attempted to photograph it. The crow flew toward me. I thought it was just trying to escape the miners and I walked on. But no: the crow was attacking me! With a vengeance. Far from avoiding the miners, the crow was taking out all its frustrations on one foolish female human. I hurried away as fast as I could. I've never been attacked by a corvid before. Indeed, I don't believe I've ever heard of a corvid attacking a person. But believe me, while it was not in the class of a magpie attack, you certainly don't want that large black beak making contact with your body. I couldn't get away quickly enough. That evening we went owling again. This time to King's Billabong. We set off at 7.15. I wanted an Owlet-nightjar and a Tawny Frogmouth. We immediately saw four brush-tailed possums, then a frogmouth soon after. It was a female, calling very softly, rocking forward with each call. Then I heard the soft whimper of an owlet-nightjar's call. I looked straight up and there it was. Unfortunately, it did not look down, so all I saw was the tiny body and not its pretty face. I still call that success. We were back at the car at 7.40, so it had taken us all of 25 minutes to achieve our aim. Altogether, a successful trip, despite the awful wind. We dipped on Sittellas and Purple-gaped Honeyeaters, it is true. But I saw Striated Grasswren, Mallee Emu-wren, a Malleefowl, several Chestnut Quail-thrush, Regent Parrots, White-browed Treecreepers, an Owlet-nightjar, a Black Falcon, several Inland Dotterel and, best of all, race ocellata of the Australian Boobook. And, I've now seen Ned's Corner.

RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD

At midnight on Sunday, 31 August, 2025, Richard Baxter emailed me to say that Andrew Robinson had reported a Red-billed Tropicbird on Christmas Island. I couldn't sleep well that night and got up early to send someone an email. Thus I received Richard's email in the wee small hours of Monday 1 September. I was scheduled to go birding at Chiltern that week, and I had an Eaglehawk Neck pelagic booked for Sunday, 14 September. I'd been looking forward to both trips and had lists of birds I hoped to see. They were quite immaterial now. Now, all that mattered was getting to Christmas Island as quickly as possible. To the best of my knowledge, I've never before been on the same land mass at the same time as a Red-billed Tropicbird. The first time I ever heard of a Red-billed Tropicbird being in Australia was in 2010, when one turned up on Lord Howe Island. I was most impressed (not to say envious!) when Rohan Clarke hopped on a plane and twitched it. Somehow, the bird that turned up on Ashmore Reef in November 2014 passed me by.

Some years later, a bird turned up on Christmas Island, but I believe it had left by the time I arrived in November. For the last five or so years, a Red-billed Tropicbird has turned up on Christmas Island every year. It arrives around late August/early September, visits for about a month, then disappears. It never hangs around to greet me when I arrive in November. Last year, my patience ran out and I determined that if the bird turned up this year, I'd twitch it. So it was that on Friday, 5 September, 2025, I arrived on Christmas Island. Lisa Preston, who runs Indian Ocean Experiences, arranged accommodation for me and put me in touch with Andrew Robinson, the man who'd found the bird this year. I met Andy on Saturday morning. We drove to Tai Jin House, where he'd seen the bird, and sat down to wait. We didn't have many hours to fill. At 10.20, the bird appeared! Thank you, Andy! Andy took all the photos on this page. Thank you again, Andy. The bird put on a wonderful display for us, wheeling and calling in front of us for about 15 minutes. Then it disappeared. I remained on Christmas Island until my flight home the following Friday, but I did not see the bird again. I believe there were a handful of other sightings during the week, but not by me. I went to Tai Jin House several times and scanned Flying Fish Cove diligently, but I was not able to wish the bird back into existence. Andy first saw the bird at about 4 in the afternoon. Lisa saw it one morning at 11. Other people were lucky enough to add it to their lists. But I could not determine any pattern in its appearances. It seemed to me to be pot luck whether you saw it at all.

So, a big THANK YOU to Richard and Lisa and Andy. A successful twitch always leaves me feeling good, and, as the twitches get harder and harder to achieve, the good feeling just gets better and better.

MIMICRY

I don't know whether more Australian birds mimic than birds from other lands, but we certainly have a lot of mimics here. Everyone knows about lyrebirds imitating other birds and other sounds. We assume that this is the male endeavouring to impress any female within hearing distance. Why would she be impressed by his accurate impression of a car alarm? And lyrebirds are not the only birds to mimic. I'm told that many small passerines will mimic when they're in the hand. Are they frightened? Are they mimicking something big and scary to intimidate the person holding them? I'm told that Noisy Miners mimic. This is not at all surprising, given the large array of sounds they make. And my birding photographer friend, Ken Haines, tells me that a White-eared Honeyeater once responded to a Red-lored Whistler's call. Does that mean that the honeyeater would mimic the whistler? As far as we know, not many honeyeaters mimic, but we do know that Regent Honeyeaters mimic. Why should just one honeyeater be a proficiant mimic? Regents mimic wattlebirds and friarbirds (amongst others). In fact Little Wattlebirds are conned: they respond to the Regent's imitation. Australian Magpies mimic, although perhaps it is surprising that, for such a common bird, a bird I see every day, I've only ever been aware of them mimicking twice. The first time was some years ago at a park in Western Australia, when a bird imitated an entire race call, including the crowd reaction. I was spellbound. I'd never heard such a thing before - or since for that matter. I don't recall if the park was close to a raceway. The second time was quite recently, when a house was being built over the road from where I live and a magpie mimicked power tools. The clear conclusion is that not all magpies mimic. Just some individuals are that way inclined. What inspires them?

Other than this, I have two fascinating mimicking recollections. Well, I think that they're fascinating. The first was at Lake Gilles Conservation Park in South Australia when I was on a Peter Waanders tour and he was using callback tape to attract Copperback Quailthrush. A bird responded to the tape and we all believed it was a quailthrush. But not Peter. He said that it didn't sound quite right. We tracked the call down, and, of course, Peter was right. It was not a quailthrush. It was a Striated Pardalote mimicking a quailthrush! It certainly seemed to be calling in response to Peter's tape, but why would a bird do that? The second occasion was very recently when I was looking for Striated Grasswren at Yathong Nature Reserve in New South Wales. I thought I heard a grasswren, but it turned out to be an Inland Thornbill mimicking the grasswren's call. The thornbill called before I played the tape. I was excited and thought the thornbill must have learnt the call from grasswren. Therefore I must be close to my quarry. As far as I could tell, of the several Inland Thornbills present, just two individuals were mimicking grasswren calls. And, of course, I saw not a hint of any grasswren anywhere.

Inland Thornbills are well known mimics. This lovely photo is by Ken Haines. I am sure that if I had a better ear for bird calls, I'd recognize a lot more mimics. I suspect there are a lot of mimics out there. I'd love to know why birds mimic. I reckon there might just be as many reasons as there are birds mimicking. We will probably never know!