LOOKING FORWARD TO 2013

This year has not been very successful for me bird-wise, that is to say, I didn't see as many species as I'd have liked.  However, I did manage to see seven new Australian birds and I haven't done that for the last couple of years.  Nor do I imagine I'll do it again soon.  My life total is now 719.  The best bird for the year was probably the Grey Falcon, which I had hoped, but not expected, to see.  Such an elegant bird, compared with the positively chunky Brown Falcons beside him.

My plans for 2013 include looking for five new birds, all of which I've looked for on previous occasions.  It's just the hard ones left now.  I will return to Port Stephens in April and look again for the White-necked Petrel.  (Last year, I went out on the Saturday; the bird was seen by others on the Sunday.)  I have booked again to do a pelagic out of Port MacDonnell in June in the hope of seeing a Slender-billed Prion.  Now that shouldn't be too hard, should it?  This year the June Port Mac Donnell trip was cancelled.  Then, I'm hoping to see a Kalkadoon Grasswren at Mt Isa, an Eastern Grass Owl on the Atherton Tableland and a Rufous Scrub-bird at Lamington National Park.  I've been to Lamington (I think) five times (as well as Barrington Tops), and have heard the wretched scrub-bird many times.  I've been so close its call hurt my ears.  But I've never seen it.  It's certainly challenging (and sometimes a little depressing) to search for the same bird over and over and over again.  Still, I'm not going to see him if I sit at home in Melbourne.  Let's hope that, by this time next year, I'll have clocked up another five Australian species.  Bring it on!

LAST BIRDING TRIP FOR 2012

I thought I'd finished birding for the year, and was looking at my "Birds Not Yet Seen" list and wondering how much I could persuade Roger to do during 2013, when Rog announced that we were out of sherry, so must do another trip to Rutherglen.  That was welcome news.  We go to Rutherglen quite frequently, and enjoy birding in Chiltern, around Rutherglen, and often around Beechworth and at Lake Moodemere.  Our trips are usually quite short.  We drive to Rutherglen in a leisurely fashion (often lunching at Fowles on the way), stay at the Wine Village Motel, spend the next day birding, pick up our sherry from Pfeiffer's, then drive home.  A very pleasant interlude.  On this occasion, we drove up to Rutherglen on Wednesday 12 December.

Chiltern No 2 Dam, where all the action was

On Thursday, 13 December, we didn't leave the motel until after 9 a.m. and it was already hot - 30 according to our car's thermometer.  We stopped briefly at the ephemeral swamp near the Rutherglen tip.  There were lots of birds, but no crakes and nothing really special.  We drove on to Chiltern No 2 dam, and I was delighted to see that a new walking track has been constructed from the gate to the bird hide.  This bird hide is one of those stupid, noisy ones where the birds see you coming and skedaddle.  But the new walking track was most inviting.  Sacred Kingfishers scolded me, many White-browed Woodswallows and Fuscous Honeyeaters played in the trees above my head, unfazed by the heat.  I was looking for shade all the way and one Dollarbird sat in a dead tree looking at me, no doubt wondering if I were a mad dog or an Englishman.  Unfortunately, I saw many rabbits.  We sometimes see hares here, but not today.  Rog drove along Nankeen Track and met me at the hide.  Then, he read his newspaper and I went birding.  I could hear an Olive-backed Oriole calling, and decided to investigate.  I disturbed a couple of kangaroos and was distracted by the call of a Black-chinned Honeyeater, which would have been a new bird for the year, if I could see it.  I walked in the direction of the call, and was suddenly in the middle of so many birds I didn't know which way to point my binoculars.  There were lots of woodswallows, mainly White-browed, but some Dusky too.  Both had young.  There were Willie Wagtails, Restless Flycatchers and Rufous Songlarks (also with young).  There were just a few Eastern Rosellas, lots of White-plumed Honeyeaters, White-winged Trillers, Grey Shrike-thrushes, Rufous Whistlers (all female that I saw) and Sacred Kingfishers still scolding me.  I heard Striated and Spotted Pardalotes, and at least one Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoo.  I gave up on the oriole and saw a Little Friarbird.  The Black-chinned Honeyeaters stopped calling and I didn't see them.  I could hardly complain.  It had been a breathtaking experience.  So many beautiful birds.

We visited No 1 Dam, and there I saw my Black-chinned Honeyeater.  And lots of Diamond Firetails.  The firetails were present last time we visited.  It would be good to know I could rely on seeing them here.  They are such pretty little birds.  At Cyanide Dam, a spot we reliably see Brown Treecreepers, today I saw a White-throated Treecreeper.  A Willie Wagtail was feeding two fledgelings near the dam.  White Ibis, a Little Pied Cormorant and Australasian Grebes were enjoying the water.  This was good to see as the dam had been quite dry during the drought.

It was still hot (40 now according to the car) so we went back to our motel for lunch.  Afterwards we drove to Lake Moodemere.  I go there for White-backed Swallows, but didn't see any today.  I spotted a Little Eagle along the way.  An Australian Reed-Warbler at Lake King at around 4 o'clock, brought my day's total to 72 species - not bad in 40 degree heat, when I didn't start birding till after 9, stopped for lunch and finished just after 4.

EAGLEHAWK NECK:  MY LAST PELAGIC FOR THE YEAR

We are home from Tasmania now.  We flew down for the weekend so I could go out on a pelagic on the "Pauletta" on Sunday.  Being Tasmania, it was cold.  It was also a little wet at times.  It was a good day and we saw some lovely birds, but, sadly, no ticks.

Setting off on the Pauletta

This was my sixth and final pelagic for the year, and I had hoped for something special.  Well, we did see something special, but it wasn't a bird.  It was a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins.  They played around the boat for a while, then two jumped high out of the water, and appeared to twist around each other in mid air, before returning to the sea.  They did this twice and it was quite spectacular.  I had thought that such behaviour was a trick taught to dolphins for circus crowds; I had no idea it was a natural expression of exuberance.

As to the birds, my tally for the day was just 17 species.  The only new bird for the year was White-chinned Petrel - and we saw lots.  We also saw both Southern and Northern Giant-Petrels and (even better) both Southern and Northern Royal Albatross.  We also saw several Wandering Albatross (or perhaps the same bird several times) and just one Yellow-nosed.  As usual off Tasmania, the most numerous albatross was the Shy.  We saw Black-browed and just one Campbell's.

Others on the boat saw Grey-backed and Wilson's Storm-Petrels:  I saw just White-faced.

Sadly, there is little else to report.  This was the first Tasmanian pelagic I've ever done without seeing a Sooty Shearwater.  (The boat had gone out the day before and seen just one Sooty amongst a flock of Short-tailed.  That would be useful for me, to help hone my pathetic identification skills.)  Of course there were Kelp Gulls, Black-faced Cormorants and Australasian Gannets.

I didn't have time to look for all the endemics, always a satisfying challenge on a Tasmanian trip.  There were plenty of Tasmanina Native-hen beside the road, and I couldn't miss the Yellow Wattlebirds and Green Rosellas.  As I didn't look, I didn't see any others.  As usual, there were plenty of Crescent Honeyeaters in Pirates Bay.

Now it is time to start thinking about 2013.  How can I do better next year?

FINISHING NOVEMBER WITH A FLOURISH

Roger drove me up to Canberra, where I was to launch my new book at the National Library.  We stopped at Rutherglen (where there was an infestation of White-browed Woodswallows) and visited Chiltern (where we saw and heard a pair of Leaden Flycatchers).  The next day we stopped at Wonga Wetlands in Albury (where there were lots of Sacred Kingfishers, but I could only find one Azure Kingfisher, and no Red-backed at all).

Wonga Wetlands

From Albury, we drove to Cootamundra and spent a happy couple of days birding in the vicinity.  We enjoyed Jindalee National Park and had good birding at Stockinbingal, notably a noisy flock of Grey-crowned Babblers at Felix Fallon Bridge.  I did the Migurra Walk near Cootamundra a couple of times, but was not rewarded with the usual special sightings.  One foolish Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike had constructed its nest very high in a dead tree.  It had no shelter at all and the temperature was uncomfortably high.  The poor bird must have almost cooked.  On the way to Canberra, we stopped at Bowning and admired beautiful Superb Parrots and one lone Dollarbird.  Then came my big day.

Here I am, at the bookshop in the National Library, holding my new book, "John Gould's Extinct and Endangered Birds of Australia."  (The photo was taken by my girlfriend, Helen.)  I was honoured to have Joe Forshaw officially launch my book. The National Library has done a stunning job of it, so of course everyone said nice things about it.  Now comes all the media attention, and inevitable fame and fortune.

WERRIBEE SEWAGE FARM

Me with my cousin Liz and her partner Liz looking at waders

Yesterday, Rog and I took my cousin, Liz, and her partner, also Liz, to Werribee for the day.  Neither of them had been there before, and while my cousin had a pleasant day doing her sudoku in the back seat, I think it's true to say that each of us had a good time in his or her own way.  Some of us even enjoyed the birds.  Melbourne's Western Treatment Plant, about an hour's drive west of the city, is, without a doubt, the top birding site in the state.  Highlights for me were excellent views of an Australian Spotted Crake, lots of Banded Stilts, wonderful close sightings of Red-necked Avocets swishing their chic bills from side to side as they fed, and terrific views of several Blue-billed Ducks, true to their name, with the bluest possible bills.  I scored two new birds for my annual list:  Common Greenshank (how had I missed on these until November I don't know) and Pacific Golden Plovers (sheltering from the wind in the samphire behind Kirk's Point).

Freckled Duck at Werribee

We had lunch at the borrow pits, commencing with a refreshing bubbly provided by Cousin Liz.  Here a fellow birder informed us that he'd seen 55 Freckled Ducks south of Lake Borrie, so, as soon as the bottle was empty, we hurried over to Lake Borrie to scan the ducks.  Most of them were pinkies, with a scattering of teal and pelicans, but not a Freckled Duck in sight.  Not to be stymied quite so easily, my clever husband drove to a lagoon south of Borrie and quickly and expertly located the Freckled Ducks.  I didn't count them, but it was a sizable flock and I'm happy to accept that there were 55.  A big thank you to that friendly birder.  A lifer for Liz!  And a day well spent for us all.  Some of us reaped rewards admiring waders, some from completing difficult sudokus.  A bottle of bubbly and a couple of annual ticks will do it for me any day.

MY NEW BOOK:  "JOHN GOULD'S EXTINCT AND ENDANGERED BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA"

What an exciting day I had yesterday!  The National Library of Australia flew me up to Canberra to do my very first television interview to promote my new book, "John Gould's Extinct and Endangered Birds of Australia."

Me being interviewed for television!

The National Library had taken all Gould's volumes of "The Birds of Australia" out of archives for the occasion.  You can see some of them on the table behind me.  We weren't allowed to touch them, but we could admire them, and they were beautiful!

Perhaps it's not as much fun as seeing a Franklin's Gull (let's be honest, it's nowhere near as much fun) but it was diverting, and quite a new experience for me.  The interviewer and I chatted for a while and I am hopeful that they can edit it down to something interesting for the viewers, who will all then rush out to buy the book.

Me at the National Library with a Gould print

FRANKLIN'S GULL

By definition, vagrants don't turn up every day!  How delighted I was to learn that there was a Franklin's Gull at Paynesville, about four hours' drive east of Melbourne.  I hadn't been expecting any new ticks this year, but I was excited to have the excuse to look for one.

Looking for a Franklin's Gull at Paynesville

We set off at 9 a.m. and arrived at Paynesville at 1 p.m.  At approximately four minutes past one, we had the bird!  A woman had parked her car on the grassy area near the craft shop and was feeding gulls.  There were about eight Silver Gulls, and one, much smaller, with a darker grey back, black legs and a black head!  It was one of the easiest ticks I've ever had.  (Although, to be fair, my last tick, the Chiming Wedgebill at Dresley Creek in July was ridiculously easy.  Dresley Creek is just a dry creekbed.  It doesn't appear on my map.  It is located about 100 kilometres south of Coober Pedy on the Stuart Highway in South Australia.  I'd heard that there were Chiming Wedgebills there.  We stopped by the dry creek and immediately we could hear wedgebills chiming.  In about five minutes, I had excellent views.  Now that was an easy tick.)  We didn't have to drive so far for the Franklin's Gull.  I wanted to see the bird's red bill tip and the pattern on its wings in flight, but it was not to be.  The woman stopped feeding, the gulls flew off.  The Franklin's Gull was lost amongst the Silver Gulls and I didn't get a look at the wing pattern.  We were absurdly pleased with ourselves, as if we'd achieved something very difficult, when, in fact, all we'd done was drive to Paynesville and look at a bird right in front of us.  Still, it was certainly cause for celebration.  Ticks are getting harder these days, and a tick's a tick which ever way you look at it.

The last few days I've been busy working on my fourth book (about Australia's best birding sites) which is to be published next year, so I haven't allowed myself the luxury of updating my blog.  Now it is the weekend, and I figure I can do what I want!

After we ticked the Franklin's Gull (number 719, hooray!) we visited MacLeod's Morass in Bairnsdale, Mitchell River National Park, then Lake Guyatt in Sale (very briefly - looking for Freckled Duck but not finding any) then dropped in at the Sale Common on the way home.

Macleods Morass, Bairnsdale

It was hot when we visited Macleods Morass.  Both the boardwalks and the bird hides were in need of maintenance and there were some trees across the track.  I didn't care, there were Glossy Ibis feeding in a swamp by the entrance and a male White-winged Triller made his presence felt.  I crept along the track, trying not to disturb the ducks, but somehow they were always aware of my presence before I saw them.  A Nankeen Night Heron flew over my head, startled by this unwelcome human.  It was very pleasant and there were lots of birds.  I walked out on one boardwalk, there was no cover and five White-faced Herons took off together, swearing at me loudly and informing every other waterbird for miles that there was an undesirable intruder present.  I persisted and reached the bird hide, only to be rewarded with a large flock of coots and an even larger swarm of mosquitoes.   On another occasion, I may have been disappointed that I hadn't seen anything special, but I was still basking in the glory of having seen a Franklin's Gull and it would have taken a lot to disappoint me that day.

We drove on to Mitchell River National Park and parked in the Den of Nargun car park.  I did the walk to the Bluff Lookout.  It was only ten minutes, but it was steep and hot coming back.  A Fan-tailed Cuckoo drove me mad, calling constantly, but never visible.  I always hesitate to venture off the track, as my sense of direction is non-existent and I am liable to get impossibly lost, however, I had to see that cuckoo.  So I bush-bashed my way up the hill, figuring that I couldn't get lost if I simply kept going up.  I saw the cuckoo eventually and wondered why I'd put so much effort into seeing such a common bird.  But of course I knew:  I wanted to put him on my list and I couldn't do that unless I'd seen him.  I heard Wonga Pigeons too, but they were further away and I wasn't tempted to risk straying so far.  They rewarded me by flying across the track and I wondered if the cuckoo might have done that too, if only I'd been patient.

Bluff Lookout, Mitchell River National Park

Sale Common is always worth a look.  The number of waterbirds depends on the amount of water, but there are always bush birds to entertain you.  Rog enjoyed a cup of coffee while I explored the boardwalk.  On this occasion, there were plenty of waterfowl, as there was plenty of water.  I saw ducks and swamphens and coots and moorhens and a few Great Egrets.  A Whistling Kite flew over, whistling. There were reed-warblers and visible Little Grassbirds everywhere.  I'm used to hearing Little Grassbirds, but rarely see them.  It was a treat to get so many fleeting glimpses.  I believe this was the first time I'd ever visited Sale Common without seeing a Golden Whistler.  His rufous cousin made up for his absence.  I saw Striated Pardalotes and Silvereyes, a Grey Shrike-thrush and lots of Superb Fairy-wrens.  I would have enjoyed a bittern, a crake or a rail, but it was not to be.  However, it was still impossible to dampen my spirits, and I went home perfectly happy.