LLOYD NEILSEN'S 'HERBERTON HONEYEATER'

I returned from my spontaneous trip to Geraldton to twitch the Black-headed Gull, in time for my planned trip to the Atherton Tableland in quest of Lloyd Nielsen's so'called 'Herberton Honeyeater,' and the undescribed race of Spotted Quail-thrush. I thought the honeyeater would be easy, but the quail-thrush might prove elusive. I was right on both counts. The honeyeater is recognised as race 'subgermanus' of the Fuscous Honeyeater, but it looks significantly different from other Fuscous Honeyeaters and Lloyd was of the opinion that it deserved species status. Apparently many birders mistakenly write it down as a Yellow-tinted Honeyeater, because it has such a yellow face. It is common and easily see along Springvale Road in Wondecla State Forest.

The birding was most enjoyable along this road and I added another couple of new subspecies to my lifelist: Spotted Pardalote race 'militaris' and White-throated Treecreeper ('Little' Treecreeper) race 'minor'.

I also found some difficult steep gravel roads to explore hoping for quail-thrush. I didn't detect any hint of quail-thrush but I didn't fall over either, so it was a partial success. The next day I looked again for quail-thrush (and again didn't fall over) and easily added Crimson Rosella race 'nigrescens' (aka Tropical Crimson Rosella) to my lifelist. Despite unfriendly weather, at Mt Hypipamee I saw a female Golden Bowerbird, an Eastern Whipbird, several Grey-headed Robins and a Mountain Thornbill, but couldn't find the local race of Australian Rufous Fantail.

I saw the only Satin Bowerbird of the trip in Ravenshoe. There were dozens of Scaly-breasted Lorikeets throughout the trip, seemingly everywhere we went. At Allumbah Pocket in Yungaburra, we saw three platypus and had the most wonderful birding of the trip. Not only did I finally see my desired Rufous Fantail (race 'intermedia'), I saw Paradise Riflebird, Little Shirkethrush, Spotted Catbird, Silvereyes and Fairy Gerygones all withint an entertaining short distance of each other. The weather was generally unkind thoughtout the trip; misty and drizzly but, worst of all, very windy. This made looking for quail-thrush plus a couple of thornbills I'd hoped to see, all the more difficult. I did hear the quail-thrush call once, not far from Watsonville, but that's as close as I came to it. I visited Hasties Swamp where I was greeted by a couple of Brown Cuckoo Doves as well as the requisite Plumed Whistling Ducks. However, the mammals were more memorable - there was an eastern bent wing bat in the hide and a couple of platypus playing below. I spent the rest of the day looking for, but not finding, quail-thrush, yellow thornbill (race 'flava') and Buff-rumped Thronbill (race 'squamata'). The White-browed Scrubwren I saw in Kaban State Forest looked more like a Yellow-throated Scrubwren without a yellow throat, than the White-browed Scrubwren I'm used to in Melbourne.

I started Thursday admiring a Singing Bush Lark (race 'athertonensis') at Yorkeys Knob. Other highlights included a Black Butcherbird, a noisy Green Oriole, several colourful Sahul Sunbirds and a flock of Topknot Pigeons flying overhead. At Redden Island I saw Helmeted Friarbird, that we used to call Hornbill Friarbird, and will again one day I hope. At Marshall's Field one Yellow Honeyeater drew attention to himself and then we made a quick visit to the Cairns Esplanade for Varied Honeyeater and Little Heron. At the Botanic Gardens I was delighted to see a pair of Radjah Shelducks, a Pacific Baza and a Grey Goshawk, but disappointed I dipped on Little Kingfisher and Rufous Owl. I came home with a total of 138 species for the four day trip, which included six new subspecies for me, most importantly Lloyd's race of Fuscous Honeyeater he dubbed the Herberton Honeyeater. The elusive quail-thrush remains just that: elusive.

BLACK-HEADED GULL

I am delighted to see any lifer of course, and any new Australian bird outside my annual pilgrimage to Cocos/Christmas is especially welcomed. If I can achieve one in a year, I am pleased. This year, 2026, I've seen an impressive four, and the year's not yet half over. I saw the Indian Pond Heron and Arctic Warbler on Christmas in March, then the Cocos Booby at Lake Macquarie in May, and now the Black-headed Gull in Geraldton in June. How lucky is that! Here's a dreadful shot I took with my phone. At least it's proof:

And here it is enlarged:

And here's one I took using John's camera:

On Wednesday, 3 June, Richard Baxter informed me that there was a vagrant, unidentified gull in Geraldton. I was scheduled to go to Queensland on Monday (to look for the Herberton Honeyeater and Lloyd Nielsen's undescribed quail-thrush) and doubted I had time to organize a trip to Geraldton before then. Richard scoffed. 'You've got four full days!' he said. 'Plenty of time!' On Thursday, I learnt that the unidentified bird was a Black-headed Gull - a bird I'd seen in England, but which I needed for my Australian list. Here's a shot I took last century in England:

I was reluctant to fly to Perth until I had arranged transport to Geraldton, and I spent an anxious few hours discussing options and seeking travelling companions. Finally, thanks to Damien Baxter and the WA What'sapp birding group, I arranged a lift with Geoffrey Groom, who was driving up with John Edmond. He had a Ford Ranger, I was welcome to join them, but there was little legroom in the back seat, Geoff warned. Lack of legroom is generally not a problem for someone on my stature. He agreed to pick me up at my hotel at 4 a.m. on Friday morning. So I flew to Perth and stayed, as usual, at the Sanno Marracoonda. Four a.m. on Friday found me standing in the street outside the Sanno, ready for an exciting adventure. Geoff arrived. We picked up John, and drove directly to Geraldton. We had a very brief stop at the Badgingarra Roadhouse, and arrived in Geraldton a little before 9 a.m. Geoff seemed convinced that we'd have trouble spotting the bird and would have to stay the night in Geraldton. I was hopeful we'd see it immediately and be back in Perth comfortably by tea-time. We parked near the Surf Life Savers yellow building, and while the boys were playing with their camera equipment, I strolled over to the beach to get the lay of the land. Immediately I saw a flock of Silver Gulls, and one gull had a very obvious black head! 'I've got it! I've got it!' I yelled as I ran back to the car. Literally within twenty seconds, and before 9 a.m. we had our quarry. What a relief! Now, all anxiety dispelled, I could concentrate on enjoying the bird. His attractive dark red bill perfectly matched his dark red legs. (I say 'he', but I don't think anyone knows what sex it is.) He seemed to me to be the same size as the Silver Gulls and his pretty brown (NOT black) head, just as I remembered, finished high on his nape and did not give him a complete hood. His partial white eye-rings were most attractive. Let's face it: I wouldn't have cared what he looked like: a tick's a tick! And now here are some proper photos, taken by John Edmond:

COCOS BOOBY

Since my publisher visited in February, I've been too busy writing to do much birding. I did take time out to twitch the Indian Pond Heron on Christmas Island in March (and managed to pick up the Arctic Warbler at the same time), but, other than that, I've done very little birding since February. Certainly the furthest thing from my mind this week was a possible twitch. May twitches are unusual. I've only ever done two: the Northern Shoveler at Werribee in 2004 and the Forest Wagtail in Alice Springs in 2013. Most twitches occur in our summer. Then, out of the blue, on Tuesday morning, Richard Baxter rang me to say there was a Cocos Booby at Lake Macquarie. I'd never heard of a Cocos Booby. (Let's be honest, I'd never heard of a Nazca Booby until 2024.) I don't like to display too much ignorance in front of the great man, so I asked tentatively: 'Does Avilist recognize it?' When he assured me that Avilist embraced the Cocos Booby wholeheartedly, and I could count it on my Australian list, I was up for the twitch. Richard intended to fly to Sydney then pick up a hire car and drive to Newcastle. When he found he couldn't get a direct flight to Sydney from Perth, we agreed he'd fly to Melbourne and we'd get the same flight to Sydney. Miracle of miracles, I managed to get on the correct flight, and, not only that, I booked the seat next to Richard: 15B. The flight departed at 6 o'clock. I had a lunch with former work colleagues on Tuesday, so I could still attend that, but I'd have to cancel my covid booster that afternoon and my hairdresser's appointment the next morning. Both those phone calls took longer than it took me to pack. I arranged a car to take me to the airport and I was ready to go. I'm afraid I wasn't very good company at lunch. All I could think of was the Cocos Booby. Richard told me that the species had been split recently from Brown Booby. Our bird was a female, and was identified from a Brown Booby by the bill colour and the underwing pattern. Having dipped on my Nazca Booby after travelling all the way to Ashmore Reef to see it, I was especially anxious not to dip on his Cocos cousin. Now, apart from the two Gannets, there are six boobies on the Australian list: Abbott's, Red-footed, Brown, Nazca, Masked and now, Cocos. Here's a photo of a Brown Booby I took on Ashmore Reef in 2016. You can tell it's a male by his blue bill.

I reckoned that the Cocos Booby would look very like a Brown Booby. I made my way to the right gate in the Virgin terminal (a sufficient challenge for me for one day) and waited for Richard. And waited. When my plane was about to board, I texted Richard and asked where he was. His plane was late. Should I board my plane, or wait for Richard? I approached the desk and overheard a phone conversation, which seemed to indicate that passengers from some other plane which had been delayed, had been removed from this flight to Sydney and transferred to another flight. I asked whether my friend was included in this group. The woman told me quite curtly that privacy provisions meant that she couldn't possibly divulge that information. What plane had people been transferred to? Again, that information was far too confidential to tell me. So I got on the plane and flew to Sydney alone. Richard and I met at the hire car desk in Sydney airport. We picked up a nice Kia and set off for Lake Macquarie. Getting out of Sydney airport at that hour in the rain was a bit of a challenge. I thought the road signs left a lot to be desired, and while we had GPS on the phone, we lacked the right cords to display this information on the screen on the dashboard. Notwithstanding these difficulties, we made it to Lake Macquarie, arriving before 11 p.m. We stayed at the Belmont Hotel, and very nice it was too. (And, I thought, very well priced at $135 per room.) The next morning, we set off at 7 to look for our booby. Unfortunately, Lake Macquarie was blanketed in a heavy fog. No doubt the bird was roosting on a yacht on the lake, laughing at the small crowd of disappointed birders who couldn't see anything but fog. Richard and I decided to go and have breakfast and return when the fog had lifted. That was a good plan, except, after we'd enjoyed a slow and delicious breakfast, the fog still hadn't lifted. We returned to Lake Macquarie to wait. The bird is sitting somewhere in the middle of this fog.

We waited. We knew the bird was present. It was just a matter of time before nature allowed us to see it. There weren't a lot of distractions. As far as the birdlife went, I might as well have been in Melbourne. I saw Noisy Miners, Silver Gulls, Magpies, Magpie-larks, Crested Pigeons, Australian White Ibis and Spotted Doves. The fog did finally lift sufficiently for us all to get a tickable view of the bird. Very kindly, it then flew from one boat to another, giving us a glimpse of its underwing pattern. I came home so delighted with my new lifer, that I've almost forgotten the stress of waiting - first waiting for Richard to turn up, then, waiting for the fog to lift. Almost.

This lovely photo of the Cocos Booby (above) was taken by Ted Elks. Thank you, Ted! And this one was taken by Bernie O'Keefe. Thank you, Bernie!

And now, here are some really spectacular photos from Andy Robinson:

WHAT IS THIS BIRD?

This photo was taken by Jon and Janet Coleman on a Southport pelagic on Saturday, 21 March 2026. No one is sure of the bird's identity. Initially, it was called as a Fluttering Shearwater, but questions were soon asked about that. Some thought it might be a Manx Shearwater; others opted for Newell's Shearwater. Here's another photo, this one taken by Jacob Crisp.

I travelled to Southport for this pelagic in the hope of seeing a New Caledonian Storm Petrel. I did not see one. What's worse, I didn't even see the unidentified shearwater in the photos above. So, for me, I did not achieve my objective. Others on the boat were brimming with excitement. I flew to the Gold Coast on Friday afternoon, and the taxi charged me $200 to take me to my Southport hotel. I've done this trip three times before, and each time the taxi fare has been just under $100. I wasn't happy. Some large triathalon was being held on the Gold Coast this weekend. My taxi driver hadn't heard about it and the hotel assured me, when asked, that it would not interfere with my getting to the boat the next morning. They were wrong. The boat was scheduled to leave at 5.30. When my taxi hadn't arrived at 5.10, I began to get anxious. To give him credit, the taxi driver rang to say the road closures were holding him up. I rang Craig, Captain of the Grinner, to explain I'd be late. The taxi eventually came and drove me, by a very circuitous route, to the marina. I was only a little late, but when I arrived, everyone was on the boat waiting to go. I felt awful. What a way to start the day! The weather was warm and we had just a few tiny sprinkles of rain during the day, but the seas were calm and you'd have to say they were ideal conditions for a pelagic. The trouble is, when you have your heart set on just one bird, you are very easily disappointed. One of the other participants was extremely excited at the end of the day. Here's a taste of his email: 'What an absolutely epic day out on the water! I am still buzzing from the sheer number of highlights. Seeing the Tahiti and Kermadec Petrels, the Lesser Frigatebirds, the Masked Booby, the White Tern, the Pomarine Jaeger, and that spectacular White-tailed Tropicbird all in one day was beyond my wildest expectations.' Clearly he went home ecstatic. I, on the other hand, did not see the storm petrel which was the object of my journey, dipped on the intriguing unidentified shearwater, was annoyed with all taxi drivers everywhere, and went home very stressed. Such is life.

INDIAN POND HERON

I've just returned from a whirlwind trip to Christmas Island. This is what lured me there:

It's an Indian Pond Heron and he's never been seen in Australia before. The photo is by Andy Robinson. Thank you, Andy! Handsome, isn't he? (The bird, not Andy!) I say 'he' but noone's sure what sex this bird is. It arrived at Rocky Point on Christmas Island on 28 February. Sonia Tideman found it. Well done, Sonia! I simply had to see it. Luckily, Qantas had put on extra flights to Christmas - one a month. So I could fly in on a special Saturday flight, and out again on the standard Monday flight, spending just two nights on the island. The plane arrived early, just after 3 on Saturday. Lisa, the travel agent on Christmas who arranged my bookings for me, picked me up and immediately took me to look for the bird. It had been regularly walking around amongst the houses at Rocky Point, so it was on private property. Without trespassing, we satisfied ourselves that the bird just wasn't there. I can't pretend I wasn't disappointed. Had I flown all this way for nothing? I dumped my backpack in my room and walked to the cemetery where a pair of Arctic Warblers had been seen recently. They would be another lifer for me, I hoped. Of course I could neither hear nor see anything resembling a warbler, so I walked back to my accommodation thinking I'd check out Rocky Point on the way. You can imagine my state of mind. Two other people I knew of had twitched this bird. They'd got off the plane, driven to the spot and seen the bird. Was I going to be the first birder to dip on this First For Australia? I was feeling a little sad and sorry for myself as I approached Rocky Point. I stood where we'd looked for the bird, and, before I could even reach for my binoculars, there it was! My first impression was of a beautiful soft grey bird with white plumes on the back of its head, about the size of a cattle egret. I drank him in. He was not nearly as white as the two pond herons I had seen previously: Chinese and Javan. His yellow eye was piercing and his three-coloured bill was interesting - blue at the base, then greenish-yellow with quite a long black tip (I reckon perhaps three centimetres). His back was a pretty maroon and he seemed to be wearing a white tie. I tried to take a photo with my phone. This is the best I could do.

I went back to my room with a spring in my step, disappointed that the pub wasn't open and I couldn't celebrate appropriately. The next morning I was back at the site about 6. Sonia had told me the bird started feeding around then. He roosted in a poinciana tree. And there he was again! Sonia was watching. She told me she'd watched me flush the bird yesterday. I felt very guilty. I had not intended to flush the bird, and I thought I'd been very careful not to upset it. And I hadn't known I was being watched. She told me not to approach the bird and took me into her house where we watched it through the window. This time it reminded me more of a night heron than a cattle egret. It had yellowish-green legs with bright yellow soles. We watched it feeding, until it very slowly, very deliberately, walked out of view. I returned to the cemetery, where I met Andy, and, after a little coy hiding, the Arctic Warblers both put in an appearance.

This is another of Andy Robinson's beautiful photos. So I had two ticks in two days. Not bad, hey! For years Christmas Island gave me more lifers than Cocos, but in recent years Cocos has taken the crown. It seems that Christmas wants its crown back again.

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!