TRIN WARREN TAM-BOORE AGAIN



Pacific Black Duck, taken by Jim Smart



I hadn't been to Trin Warren Tam-Boore since March, so I thought it was time for another visit.  This artificial wetlands in Melbourne's magnificent Royal Park, so close to the city centre, is usually a pleasant spot to spend some time.  I was there for just 45 minutes.  The weather was cloudy and far from perfect, yet I managed to record 28 species.  That's not bad.

I had actually made a fleeting visit to this spot the week before, and heard a Horsfield Bronze-Cuckoo.  He was sitting high in a leafless deciduous tree, but despite the bare branches, he still took some finding.  I don't believe I've ever seen a bronze-cuckoo in Royal Park before.  My records for this site are not extensive, but I did live in Parkville for ten years, so I have strolled through the area many times.

On this visit, I was delighted to hear him again.  I also heard a Little Grassbird, which is not unusual for this site.  And I heard a Grey Shrike-thrush, which is called by some, rather unkindly, a 'GST.'  Why should such a glorious songster get a nickname with political overtones?

The other birds I saw were all predictable.  My favourite bird, the Willie Wagtail, is always present here.  So are our common gallinules (coots, swamphens and moorhens).  The reliable ducks are Pacific Black Duck, Australian Wood Duck and Chestnut Teal.  (There is a rather optimisitc illustration of a Blue-billed Duck next to the 'bird hide' but I doubt the water is ever deep enough here for this species.)  There are usually feral and Crested Pigeons, as well as Spotted Doves, and always Silver Gulls.  Common Blackbirds are just that, as are Magpie-Larks and Superb Fairy-wrens.  Welcome Swallows are guaranteed.

The most common honeyeater is the White-plumed, followed closely by Red Wattlebirds.  New Holland Honeyeaters are prolific too, as are Noisy Miners.  Little Wattlebirds are not quite so reliable.

I walked around the pond on the other side of the road and here I saw an Eastern Great Egret foraging at the edge of the water.  There were also Red-browed Finches and White-browed Scrubwrens. 

Altogether, a very pleasant forty-five minutes.

DRAMA IN MY OAK TREE



Brush-tailed Possum, note Pied Currawong's tail above



The Pied Currawongs and Noisy Miners were being unusually vocal this morning.  The currawongs are nesting but I have not been able to discover where.  I've noticed them breaking off live twigs from the silver birches next door and flying off with them.  I have not observed the miners and currawongs interacting before.

A glance out the window explained the excitement.  In broad daylight, a normally nocturnal brush-tailed possum was sitting in my oak tree, apparently alert, being bombed by the currawongs, who were, in turn, being bombed by the miners.  I have to assume that there was something wrong with the possum, or he would be sleeping in his drey, not active during the daytime.  However, as far as I could tell, he was fine.  He could certainly run up the tree quite fast.  Yet, he chose not to return to the safety of his drey.  He is still high in the tree as I write and the currawongs are calling constantly.

Many Melburnians dislike our possums.  Here we have both brush-tailed and ring-tailed and they're both undeniably very cute.  They can make a mess on the paving and apparently they like to eat roses.  If you chose to grow roses, I'm sure you can share a few with our native wildlife.  I'm on the side of the possums.

Only once has a possum irritated me mildly.  Someone forgot to close the flue on our chimney.  (It wasn't me!)  A possum fell into the ashes in the fireplace, got such a fright that he urinated, then proceed to leave sweet little black footprints all over my beige curtains.  He celebrated, too, in my kitchen, creating quite a bit of havoc for one small marsupial.  We found him the next morning, asleep, behind the couch.  A very cute little ring-tail.  He was taken outside, where I hope he was reunited with his family.  No one has forgotten to close the flue since.

The currawongs are still calling outside, but I can no longer see the possum.  I do hope he is safe.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Returning from a successful Short-tailed Grasswren hunt

If there was someone in Australia happier than Tony Abbott on Saturday 7 September 2013, then it was me! On that auspicious day, I saw a pair of Short-tailed Grasswrens and thus deleted a bogey bird from my list.  So a big thank you to Peter Waanders and to his group of birders who allowed me to join them for the morning on Stokes Hill in the Flinders Ranges to see this elusive bird.  What a treat!

Rog drove me over to Hawker and back, so thanks to Roger too.  We did not do much birding en route, my total for the trip was a measly 99 species.  Highlights were parrots (Elegant and Mulga, as well as Cockatiels and Blue Bonnets) and chats (both Crimson and Orange).  We saw just one fat feral cat and just one snake.  The countryside was blooming, good recent rains meant everything looked very healthy.

It was a quick trip, but an extraordinarily satisfying one.  I have looked for Short-tailed Grasswrens on many occasions, usually on Stokes Hill (where Peter Waanders showed it to me) but also other locations in the Flinders Ranges.  To finally add this difficult bird to my lifelist is a most rewarding experience.

Next month I will turn my attention to another bogey bird of mine:  the Rufous Scrubbird.  Let's hope I can be just as successful with that.

BANYULE FLATS RESERVE

Grey Butcherbird by Jim Smart

A Grey Butcherbird serenaded me as I got into my car at home to drive to Banyule Flats Reserve, and another one greeted me as I arrived in the Banyule car park.  Banyule is (I believe) Melbourne's best birding spot - yes, it is in Australia's top 100 sites.  In fact it is in the top 20.  I was surprised when I checked my records to note that I hadn't been to Banyule since January.  An oversight I really should rectify, and what an appropriate way to say farewell to winter.

The first thing I noticed at Banyule was the large amount of wind damage.  Many trees were down, some of them quite large.  (If I'd thought about it, I should have expected this, as we lost our side fence in the ferocious wind recently.)  There was also lots of water.  Too much water, perhaps.  I like to see muddy banks for birds to probe, but today all the banks were submerged.

My first stop (as always) was the lake, where a sign rather optimistically features a bittern.  Here I've seen all three crakes, Buff-banded Rail and Latham's Snipe.  But not today.  (And never a bittern.  But, to be fair, who knows what lurks amongst the reeds and bullrushes.)  Today I had to make do with teal, swan, coots, one lonely Silver Gull and dozens and dozens of Welcome Swallows.  Swallows were hawking over the water and perching on every available post.  I didn't attempt to count them.  Lets just say there were lots.  Amongst them I saw just one Fairy Martin, a vanguard for the summer horde to follow.

Usually, my next port of call is the grotty pond, where a female Australian Painted Snipe turned up in 2001, delighting all Melbourne birders.  However, a large, chatty group of walkers was on that path, so I turned towards the river instead.

Here I was greeted by the glorious song of a gorgeous male Golden Whistler.  He sat on a leafless branch and put his heart and soul into his song.  He was without doubt the bird of the day, and he alone made the drive to Banyule worthwhile.  In less than an hour, I clocked up 32 species, including four new ones for August.  At the end of the month, four new birds is good, but considering that I'd been birding in Queensland and Chiltern this month, I was pleased to add four species to my monthly list.  They were White-browed Scrubwren (extraordinary that I hadn't yet seen this common little fellow in my travels), Common Bronzewing (which, as usual lived up to its name at Banyule), a very vocal and very pretty Eastern Spinebill and the aforementioned Golden Whistler.

Banyule is always worth a visit.  I really shouldn't leave it another seven months before I go again.

LILYDALE LAKE

Black Swan

Recently I visited the Lilydale Lake, for the second time this year.  Lilydale Lake is not one of Melbourne's best birding spots (it didn't make it into my top 100 sites) but it happens to be conveniently close to the nursing home where my mother resides, so I can pop in easily on my way. On this occasion, it was a cold grey winter day, constantly threatening rain.  I was there for little over half an hour, yet I managed to clock up 25 species, which isn't too bad in the circumstances.  Even better, I managed a couple of new ones for the month, which, given that I'd been birding in Queensland and Chiltern, was an added bonus.  The new birds for August were Long-billed Corella and Chestnut Teal.  A large flock of corellas flew over my head calling, then landed, decorating a tree on the other side of the lake.  Chestnut Teals are so common in Melbourne that we tend to forget (or at least I do) that they are not so common up north.

Otherwise, my bird list contained pretty much what you'd expect.  I did see an Eastern Great Egret in the creek, and just one Australasian Darter on one of the ponds.  As usual, the car park was full of Noisy Miners, with an occasional Red Wattlebird and White-plumed Honeyeater.

Lilydale Lake is always well patronised:  a popular place for picnics.  Even when it's raining there's someone in the car park.  However, it's still worth a quick visit from time to time.  I saw crakes and dotterels here last summer.  And with all that water, and all those reeds, something really interesting could always turn up.  We are lucky in Melbourne to have so many local parks to visit.

NORTH-EAST VICTORIA

I've just enjoyed a quick trip to north-east Victoria.  I visited Chiltern, Rutherglen and Wonga Wetlands in New South Wales.  The interesting thing was that I saw more birds around north-eastern Victoria than I did on my recent trip to the Queensland gulf country.  Yes, I know, north-west Queensland is in drought, and north-east Victoria has had recent good rains.  But, I was on my own in Victoria, whereas in Queensland I was with six serious birders all trying to clock up as many species as possible.  By myself, I saw as many species in one day as we did on our best day in the gulf country:  59.  In Queensland, we averaged 42 species per day.

On Tuesday, we had lunch at Fowles winery (my favourite restaurant) and I did a bit of birding in the vineyard while Roger paid the bill.  In these few minutes, I enjoyed some of the best birding I've had in a long time.  I saw both male and female Flame and Scarlet Robins, Red-rumped Parrots, Yellow-rumped Thornbills, colourful if exotic Goldfinches and, best of all, Southern Whiteface.  The bird I saw had a feather in his beak, leading me to conclude that he was nesting.  Alas, I could not find his nest.

We had a look at Black Swamp, but there is so much water around generally that the birds have plenty of options, and there was nothing special here.  Then it was on to Rutherglen, where I had hopes for the ephemeral swamp.  There was a fair bit of water here, but not quite enough.  The small hillocks that form islands when the swamp fills, were still accessible by land, so I did not expect to see any crakes.  I've seen good birds here (Turquoise Parrot, White-breasted Woodswallow, Rufous Songlark in summer) but not today.

We always have a look at Ironbark roadside stop.  Yes, I have seen a Regent Honeyeater here - once.  Some of the ironbarks were flowering, but not profusely and there were few birds today.

Wednesday started with bright sunshine and a beautiful blue sky.  We started at Wonga Wetlands.  Last time I was here, there was little water and few birds.  Today, there was a great deal of water and few birds!  Conditions were perfect as I walked around hopefully.  The only bird I saw that I haven't seen here before (this is going from memory, I must check my records) was a Musk Duck.


Wonga Wetlands



When people talk about good birding spots in Chiltern, they will mention Bartley's Block, Cyanide Dam, Greenhill Dam and Number 2 Dam.  (Incidentally, No 2 Dam was locked on Wednesday.  I've not seen that before.)  I don't often hear mention of Chiltern Park, one of my favourite Chiltern birding spots.  This is a roadside stop, north of Chiltern, accessed as you are driving south on the highway.  The sign says that the walk takes 15 minutes.  The birds are always good (at least, they've always been good when I've been there) and I've never done the walk in less than half an hour.  On this occasion, the canopy was dominated by Fuscous Honeyeaters and Red Wattlebirds, and male and female Scarlet Robins took over at eye level.  There were also Striated Thornbills and at least one White-naped Honeyeater.

We have our usual Chiltern routine, but there are some spots we don't often visit.  One such place is Yeddonba.  We went there once, years ago, and it was so hot that we were not encouraged to go back.  It is part of the Chiltern Box-Ironbark National Park.  'Yeddonba' means black cypress pine in the local Aboriginal language and this place has special significance for the Aborigines.  On this occasion, we decided to take a look and I did the walk.  The views were great, but the only birds I saw were Grey Fantails and Brown Thornbills, which did not (in my mind) justify the steep and slippery track.  However, I was pleased I went.  There are some Aboriginal rock paintings which were worth a look.  What was of special interest was a painting of what I believe can only be a thylacine.  As these animals became exinct on the mainland some 2,000 years ago, we are left to assume that the painting is at least that old.

KARUMBA, CLONCURRY AND BACK TO MT ISA





Radjah Shelducks at Karumba Point

 From Adels Grove, we drove to Karumba Point, stopping for lunch at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse, where Apostlebirds providee free amusement for all visitors.  This day we saw our first Emu, our first Brown Falcon and our first Nankeen Kestrel for the trip.  My memory is that we didn't see any more Emus at all, only a couple of Brown Falcons, but we ticked up 14 Nankeen Kestrels today.  Sadly, there were also 4 feral cats.  We found a productive dam beside the road at Normanton where the birding was quite good.  Diamond Doves sat innocently on the ground.  There were waders and ducks on the water, and one fat feral cat that I chased away.

In the mangroves at Karumba Point, we saw magnificent White-breasted Whistlers, Mangrove Gerygones and Mangrove Fantails.  Just to confuse us, there were Grey Fantails here as well.  Out of the mangroves, we saw Yellow White-eyes and Yellow Honeyeaters, both looking very colourful in a large tree with bright orange flowers.  On the beach a flock of Radjah Shelducks was loafing, ignoring the silly birders covered in insect repellent.  I should say, that, despite our diligent preparations, the sand flies were a total non-event.

We saw many Red-backed Kingfishers on the trip and Marsh Sandpipers more than once.  Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos put in several appearances and we saw Zebra Finches and Double-barred Finches frequently.  We saw just one Black-breasted Buzzard, which flew over most uncooperatively when we were travelling, so not everyone had good views.

At Walker's Creek, on the drive from Karumba Point to Cloncurry, we saw a Leaden and a Lemon-bellied Flycatcher.  This was a very pretty spot, well worth a few minutes of our time. 

The Curry Muster was on at Cloncurry and we were treated to a parade up the main street.  I did not witness the entire parade:  all I saw were men standing on the back of trucks with black and white balloons.  Perhaps I missed the essence of the event.

The next day we were up early to travel to the Selwyn Range to admire Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens.  I'd seen these darling little birds before, both in Queensland and in South Australia, but I don't think I've ever had such good views.  I noticed a greyish nape on the male not shown in the illustration in Simpson & Day's field guide.  And the female's eye coverts appeared (to me) to be black and white, whereas conventional wisdom is that they are blue and white.  Here we also had great views of Red-browed Pardalotes.

The next morning we visited Corella Dam, which was not at all as I remembered it.  A decade before, it had been unoccupied and attractive.  When we visited, there were so many campers, it was difficult to find a spot to look for waterbirds without feeling you were intruding into someone's private space.  Then it was on to Clem Walton Park, again a disappointment to me.  The water was reduced to a few large puddles, not at all the picturesque scene I remembered.  We saw a Spotted Bowerbird and the inevitable feral cat.  We had a picnic lunch at Fountain Springs, which I would recommend highly.  A pretty spot, no campers.

Back in Mt Isa, we searched again (and again) for Carpentarian Grasswren.  We did add Cloncurry Parrot to our birdlist - they were nowhere near as common as I remember them a decade ago.

I cannot count the trip a failure, as I achieved the one and only lifer I was after.  Accordingly, I should call the trip a 100% success.  However, the land was so dry, so many rivers and creeks were not flowing, the birds were so few and far between, I found the experience disappointing.