WERRIBEE IN WINTER

Yesterday I spent a beautiful sunny winter's day at Werribee.  There were plenty of birds, if not plenty of species.  We saw unusually large numbers of Pied Cormorants, and both Royal and Yellow-billed Spoonbills.  Also a small flock of female Flame Robins.

We saw lots of swans, lots of Pink-eared Ducks and lots of Swamp Harrriers and several Brown Falcons.

Brown Falcon (not taken yesterday) photo by Ken Haines

I was with birding friends from New South Wales, Janine and Stan Jones.  We saw just 53 species.  We would have seen more, but our birding activities were curtailed when their car, a new Honda, refused to change gear.  We were denied the use of park or reverse.  Stan managed to drive to the Honda dealership in Hopper's Crossing, where the magnificent staff solved the problem in minutes.  No hassles.  All done on warranty.  If only every car dealership were as helpful as the Hopper's Crossing Honda dealership.

From my point of view, the bird of the day was a single Baillon's Crake wandering around on the mud in the T Section.  Other contenders were a handsome Spotted Harrier, a very confiding Little Grassbird, and a pair of parrots we strongly suspected were OBP's.  They were silhouetted, perched on low vegetation, in very poor light.  Before we could get the scope onto them, they flew.  Unfortunately they did not call.  We will never know for sure, but I suspect they were OBP's.

My New South Wales friends thought the Golden-headed Cisticolas were strong contenders for bird of the day, reminding me not to take these common (but very beautiful) birds for granted.

Beach Road was closed, because of an 'event.'  This was mildly annoying.  We must notify Melbourne Water before we visit the WTP, so it seems only fair to me that Melbourne Water should notify us when we are denied access to a major thoroughfare.

It was a great day, road closures and car breakdowns notwithstanding.  The birds were beautiful, the sun was shining and the company was magnificent.