TOWER HILL AND PORT FAIRY

Yesterday I enjoyed a very pleasant pelagic out of Port Fairy. This was the first time I'd been out on the new big boat, the Southern Explorer.

I had expected some big swells, perhaps some rain, and certainly cold winds with lots of seaspray. As it turned out, the seas were calm, the weather benign. I listed 17 species of birds out at sea, but I dipped on one Flesh-footed Shearwater that flew past in a hurry. I was a little disappointed we didn't see more storm petrels - I love these dainty little ballerinas. I saw just three storm petrels, all Wilson's. And the only prions we saw were Fairy Prions. There weren't big numbers of them either, but some came quite close to the boat. There were no diving petrels and just two Little Penguins. Naturally there were Silver Gulls and Greater Crested Terns, and, when we were nearly back at port at the end of the day, just one Common Tern. And those elegant creatures, Australasian Gannets, graced us with their presence throughout the day.

What there were a lot of were Shy Albatrosses. And they were not shy. We must have seen hundreds throughout the day, gliding, taking berleigh or just sitting beside the boat, seeming to enjoy being admired. Just one Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross flew past quickly, unfortunately missed by many people on the boat. And there just a handful of great albatrosses: two or three Southern Royal and one Wandering. Everyone is impressed by a great albatross. Their sheer size is breath-taking. This photo was taken by Ken Haines.

I thought there were surprisingly few Short-tailed Shearwaters, given we were in Port Fairy in November. I saw one Sooty Shearwater, but I'm told there were more. I'm not sure how many Northern Giant Petrels there were (no Southern), I only saw one at a time, so it is possible it was the same bird throughout the day. As to the petrels, there were Grey-faced, Great Winged and White-chinned. Here's a White-chinned, taken by Ken Haines.

My last pelagic in February, out of Kiama, was quite disastrous. I spent the entire day, wet to the skin, shivering in the captain's cabin. Yesterday was more like it. Good company, good birds, good weather. As a pelagic should be. On Saturday afternoon, we visited Tower Hill. This is site 57 in my 100 Best Birdwatching Sites in Australia. I've been there many times before and always enjoyed it. As always, I was entertained by koalas, kangaroos and emus. Other people enjoyed the copperheads. I liked the skinks. But of course I preferred the birds. We saw a pair of Musk Ducks with three cute ducklings. And just one male Blue-billed Duck made me think the water must have been deeper than I'd expected. There were some regal swans, and a few other waterfowl, Swamp Harriers (of course!) and one or two Whistling Kites. As usual, the highlight for me was the bush birds. There was one gorgeous male Australian Golden Whistler, and, I think an equally attractive, if not quite so showy, male Rufous Whistler. There were Silvereyes, Brown Thornbills and a good collection of honeyeaters: White-naped, Yellow-faced and New Holland. There were Red-browed Finches and European Goldfinches. I mustn't forget the fairywrens: the males were truly superb, living up to their name quite appropriately. We heard, but did not see, a Fan-tailed Cuckoo. Likewise, we heard, but did not see a mournful Little Grassbird. Luckily, we did see, one very noisy Australian Reed Warbler. Tower Hill is worth a visit. There is no reason (in my opinion) to commune with the copperheads. Walk right past is my advice. Then you can admire the beautiful Musk Ducklings.

WONDERFUL WERRIBEE

Yesterday, I spent a wonderful day at Werribee. A birding mate from New South Wales was visiting Victoria and suggested a trip to the Western Treatment Plant. I agreed with alacrity. We met at Beach Road at 9.30 a.m. and birded happily until around 4 p.m., clocking up just 66 species, including three that we heard but did not see (Red Wattlebird, White-plumed Honeyeater and Australian Reed Warbler). I love going to Werribee and always enjoy myself there, no matter what the weather or how badly the birds behave. However, I do like the place to perform when I have an interstate guest, and I confess that yesterday I was disappointed with both the number of birds and the number of species. There were lots and lots of very vocal Little Grassbirds just about everywhere we went, and an incredible number of skeins of ibis flying overhead. Almost every time I looked up, there was another flock of a hundred or so birds. Assuming it wasn't a few birds recycling themselves, we must have seen many thousands of ibis. All those I identified were Straw-necked.

That was good. However, we saw very few ducks, just a handful of pelicans, no coots, no terns whatsoever, and just a few raptors. There were not many waders, and those that were there were skittish, but that's fine for September. The bird of the day was undoubtedly the Australian Crake that entertained us at the Borrow Pits while we had lunch, walking and running around in front of us perfectly at home. Probably the only other noteworthy bird was a Buff-banded Rail, playing along the creek edge near the Beach Road entrance. This photo of a Buff-banded Rail, taken by Ken Haines, is not the same bird. (Indeed, if I'm honest, it's not even the same race.)

Apart from the crake and the rail, I was disappointed. Over the years, I've visited Werribee many times, but I can only find records for two visits in the month of September. That was in 2007 and 2017. On both those occasions I saw many more species than I managed yesterday. The only bird I've identified that we saw yesterday, but not in either 2007 or 2017 was a Black-faced Cuckooshrike. In 2017, not only did we see both the crake and the rail that we saw yesterday, we saw two other crakes as well: Baillon's and Spotless. Yesterday must be one of very few visits to Werribee at any time of year when I came home coot-less. On my previous September trips, not only did I tick coots, but I saw moorhen on both occasions and a nativehen in 2017. I saw Glossy Ibis on both previous September trips. There was not a hint of Glossy Ibis yesterday. I saw a Great Crested Grebe in 2017, a bird I wanted yesterday for my year list, but did not see. We saw many more ducks on both previous September visits: more birds and more species, namely: Hardhead, Pink-eared and Blue-billed Ducks and Grey Teal. In 2007 we saw shelduck. In 2017 we saw gannets, but the coast road was closed yesterday, so we had little chance of gannets. We did visit the boat ramp, so we could have seen them. In 2007, we saw Pacific Gulls, but again, without driving along the coast road, we'd have been lucky to get Pacific Gulls yesterday. Nothwithstanding being denied access to the coast road, I did expect to see some terns. Not a one. On both previous September visits, we saw both Crested and Whiskered and in 2007, we saw Caspian. In 2017 we saw many more species of raptors: Spotted Harrier, Collared Sparrowhawk, Peregrine Falcon and both Wedge-tailed and Little Eagle. Yesterday, we saw kestrels, Whistling and Black-shouldered Kites, Brown Falcon and Swamp Harriers. In 2017 we saw Zebra Finch. There were no finches yesterday. There were no avocets yesterday either, a bird I sorely missed. In 2017 we saw Red-capped Plovers, Red-kneed Dotterels, Marsh Sandpipers and (yes!) Sanderlings. Nothing so exciting put in an appearance yesterday. The wind was cold, and we were a bit cross when our key did not work in the padlock when we attempted to leave, and we had to retrace our steps to the Beach Road entrance. But it is churlish to complain. We still had a fantastic day. It really is impossible to have a bad day at Werribee. Even if you come home tern-less and coot-less.

OPALTON GRASSWREN

I'm just back from a quick trip to Winton, to look for the Opalton Grasswren. I flew to Longreach, that took a day. First I flew to Brisbane, then Barcaldine, then (finally) Longreach. From Longreach, the next day I took the Greyhound bus to Winton (and a beautiful new bus it was too!). The following day I joined Peter Waanders grasswren tour just for the day, to look for the Opalton Grasswren. Then I reversed the procedure: it took me a day to do a two hour bus trip back to Longreach, and a day to fly home to Melbourne. Four days travel and one day birding. Now what could be stressful in that? The streets in Longreach are all named after birds: east/west streets are water birds; north/south streets are land birds. What a great idea!

The bus trip from Longreach to Winton was very comfortable and I saw some nice birds from the bus. Amongst others there were lots of Brown Songlarks, a lone Brown Falcon, and, best of all, several Australian Bustards. I reckon I saw eight in ones and twos. I thought this was pretty good, until I met up with Peter's group that evening. They had driven to Winton from Mt Isa and had seen ten times as many! Eighty bustards is quite a record. I had limited time in Longreach, but I did not see a sparrow. Winton, on the other hand, has a healthy population of House Sparrows. There were also a few Common Mynas. The most common birds around town are Black Kites and Crested Pigeons. There are also lots of budgies, Cockatiels and Peaceful Doves. I had time to do the touristy things: I visited the Waltzing Matilda Centre and Arno's Wall (just a concrete wall with various items embedded in it) and the site of Queensland's last Chinese market garden. I went to the cooling ponds (Winton uses artesian water, which is very hot when it comes to the surface). Here I saw several noisy Rufous Songlarks, but little else. But the purpose of my trip was to look for grasswren, not songlarks. I was confident about achieving my objective. Everyone I knew who'd set out to see an Opalton Grasswren had been successful. Realistically, my chances of seeing one were very good.

Opalton Grasswren are found at the Lark Quarry turnoff, near a large communication tower. The countryside was unbelievably green. We'd been told to wear jeans or even gaiters, but all the spinifex was soft and green and leg protection was not necessary. Unfortunately it was very windy when we arrived, not good birding conditions. Peter instructed us to stay together as a group, and to stay very quiet. As we set off, I felt all yesterday's optimism evaporate. This would go down in history as the first birding tour ever to dip on Opalton Grasswren. We would walk all day in this wind without glimpsing a grasswren. I would probably twist my ankle and get sunburned. Worse, I would fall over in front of everybody and break my other hip.

We left the motel at 6.30 a.m., paused briefly along the way to admire Hall's Babblers, and arrived at the Lark Quarry turnoff at 8 a.m.

By ten minutes past eight, we'd all had good views of the grasswren, as confirmed by this beautiful photo taken by Andrew Hobbs. How easy was that! In fact, except for the Dusky Grasswren that ran around under my feet at King's Canyon, it is the easiest grasswren I have ever seen. We walked around for a while, and kept seeing grasswren. Peter reckoned there were just two pairs that kept circling around us, but it certainly seemed like more than four birds to me. Then we turned our attention to Rufous-crowned Emu-wrens, which are delightful little birds, but, on this occasion, after a lifer, seemed like an anticlimax. We saw both Black and Pied Honeyeaters and Splendid and Purple-backed Fairywrens. Crimson Chats were common and one beautiful male Red-capped Robin wanted to make friends. We had excellent views of a Red-backed Kingfisher. Later, we visited Winton's sewage ponds where the highlight was Plum-headed Finches. An excellent trip! A great bird. Well worth four days' travel!

A NEW BIRD FOR MY WALK LIST

This morning I added a new bird to my walk list: Gang Gang Cockatoo!

I should say that this photo is not this morning's bird. I took this photo in Cooma some years ago. Gang Gangs can be surprisingly friendly to photographers, as long as the birds are busy feeding they don't worry about you. The Gang Gang brings my walk list total to 50 species. Which is not to say that I've ever seen 50 birds on a walk: that is my cumulative total of species for all walks. My best individual walk total is 24, which I achieved last spring. This morning I saw 20 species, which isn't bad for winter. (These are only short walks, designed to take 30 minutes.) As well as the usual suspects, this morning I saw Musk Lorikeets, which are not all that common in Kew East. Yesterday I saw Red-rumped Parrots, which are also unusual. The last new bird I added to my list was the Eastern Spinebill, which I had been missing from the streets around here. I used to see them regularly in the streets of Kew, but sadly, they are no longer present. I've visited the spots where I used to be able to rely on seeing a spinebill and alas! they are no longer here. I can see them if I go to the Burke Road Billabong when the correas are flowering, but I no longer see spinebills in the suburban streets around Kew. I do not know what has changed. There are still plenty of flowering plants. They are just another one of our small birds that are disappearing. It is most disconcerting. But today I am celebrating my sighting of Gang Gangs, not lamenting our loss of small birds. Although there is much to lament about Gang Gangs too. Gang Gangs are now officially listed as threatened. The Action Plan for Australian Birds 2020 lists Gang Gangs as 'Vulnerable.' They were previously listed as being of 'Least Concern.' The damage was done in the 2019 bushfires, which it is thought destroyed 10% of the population. Fires also destroyed habitat. The total population of Gang Gangs is estimated to be 25,000 individuals. Not a very big number.

I've always loved these clowns of the bird world, and I've always thought it appropriate that they should be the avifaunal emblem for our national capital.

BIRDING IN ROYAL PARK

Recently I joined the Friends of Royal Park on a bird survey. We started at Trin Warren Tam-Boore, where we noted all the usual suspects: Red Wattlebirds, Noisy Miners (of course!), Rainbow Lorikeets, magpies, Magpie-larks and Willie Wagtails. Welcome Swallows swooped over the water and the exotics were present in good numbers: mynas, Spotted Doves, Rock Doves. The glorious song of Grey Butcherbirds took my mind off these interlopers. A noisy white cocky drowned out the butcherbird, but I was busy adding Australasian Grebe, Grey Teal, swamphens and moorhens to my list. The best bird from my point of view, was a Tawny Frogmouth roosting in a gumtree near the carpark. In fact there were two. The Friends said that they were often there.

We did not see any fairywrens, but the Friends told me an interesting story. There is an old female Superb Fairywren who has started to exhibit male characteristics who lives at Trin Warren Tam-Boore. She has a blue tail and, in the breeding season, a little blue colouring on her head. The Friends told me that, because she is old, her testosterone levels have built up, thus giving her some male features. She has been nicknamed Dame Edna. (Which, of course, is back to front: a male masquerading as a female, rather than a female masquerading as a male.) I would like to meet Dame Edna.

We walked on into an area the Friends called 'Skink Habitat.' We saw kookaburras, House Sparrows and New Holland Honeyeaters. Then we were entertained by a wonderful display of several hyperactive Grey Fantails with both Striated and Spotted Pardalotes. They brought a smile to my face. Of course there were Pied Currawongs and Crested Pigeons. We heard Bell Miners (only appropriate, as that's what Trin Warren Tam-Boore is named after) and had great views of a female Australian Golden Whistler. Nothing too exciting, but an enjoyable walk with like minded people. Last Saturday I was pleased to attend a meeting conducted by the Friends of Royal Park, to learn about three projects presently underway: one studying Superb Fairywrens, one about White's Skink and the third about a matchstick grasshopper. Numbers of both grasshoppers and skinks are declining and causing concern. But of course I was there to learn about fairywrens. I was hoping to learn more about Dame Edna, but I did not.

This lovely photo of Dame Edna was taken by Peter Petinatos, and I'd like to thank him for it. The fairywren project at Royal Park is being jointly undertaken by the City of Melbourne, Birdlife Australia, Melbourne University and RMIT. We were told that fairywrens are vulnerable everywhere around the city because of loss of habitat and predation by cats. (I was interested that foxes were not mentioned.) Fairywrens breed every year and females disperse after breeding, moving up to eight kilometres away. Where do they go? Fairywrens require dense vegetation, and the project aims to discover whether revegetation will facilitate movement of fairywrens. Will the population increase, and, if so, where will these birds come from? All the fairywrens in the area have been banded. They have a blue metal band on their left leg and a unique two colour combination plastic band on their right leg. Birders are requested to report sightings of banded fairywrens. There was great excitement this week when the first banded fairywren was reported from the zoo. Forty-four designated sites have been selected. Birders are asked to go to a site, sit still for 5 minues, then count birds for 10 minutes. Report finds to superbcitywrens.com. I certainly plan to contribute to this project. Anything we can do to help save our small birds is worth doing!

BURKE ROAD BILLABONG

What a wonderful day! I had intended watching 'Insiders' (compulsory viewing for me, with or without an election), then spend the rest of the morning reading. But the sun came out and insisted that I go for a walk. I should have known it would be a beautiful day, when I saw the spectacular sunrise on my morning walk. All those pink fluffy clouds made me feel good to be alive. So, as soon as 'Insiders' was over, I grabbed my binoculars and set off. Although it is the 29th of May, I had not visited Burke Road Billabong this month, so that was my destination. To get there, I go via Hay's Paddock, then along the Koornung Trail to the billabong reserve. Unfortunately, I had a disagreement with a particularly ugly, but far too friendly dog in Hay's Paddock. I changed direction three times, I swore at it, but it was determined to accompany me. So I strode off out of Hay's Paddock into unknown suburbia. Only then did its unhelpful owner think the dog should be accompanying her rather than me, and half-heartedly voiced her disapproval. Meanwhile, I strode off unhappily up a hill, not usually part of my itinerary. Go home! a voice in my head, urged me. You're out to have fun, and if it isn't fun, you should turn back. I walked around a few corners and eventually arrived at a street I recognized. This was my opportunity to turn for home. However, I thought I'd just walk on a little more and then decide whether to proceed. I'm so glad I did! My monthly total of birds was 136, so I did not expect to see anything new for the month. However, I did! Inevitably, the first bird I saw when I arrived at the reserve was a Noisy Miner - a bird hardly likely to lift my spirits. Then there was an uncooperative White-browed Scrubwren and some hyperactive Grey Fantails. They always make me smile. The correas were in flower, and, much to my delight, playing amongst them were several Eastern Spinebills. I have been missing these beautiful birds from the streets of Kew. It is uplifting to know they are still around in the Burke Road Billabong Reserve. They were a new bird for my May list. And to think I might have turned back and missed them.

This beautiful photo was taken by Ken Haines. Very soon afterwards, I saw another new bird for my May list: an Australian Golden Whistler. This photo is also by Ken Haines.

I never get a particularly large bird count at Burke Road Billabong. I am usually only there for half an hour. Today I recorded 14 species. There were swamphens and moorhens on the golf course today, so that boosted my total. However, there was nothing on the river, but, just as I was about to leave, I saw the third new bird for me for May: a Crimson Rosella, another species that I have been missing from my daily walks. It is good to know that they, too, are still in Kew. I enjoyed my walk. And I was absolutely delighted to see spinebills and Crimson Rosellas, birds I have not seen here for many months.

A YEAR BACK IN KEW

It is now a year since I have returned to live in Kew, or, more correctly, moved to live in Kew East. I am lucky because I can walk to Burke Road Billabong, and Wilson Reserve is not far away. However, I confess that I do not visit Willsmere Billabong as often as I'd thought I would when I moved here, because the birds are not as prolific there as they used to be. When I moved in I was delighted to see black cockies and Crimson Rosellas every day. Sadly, they soon moved on. I had hoped that they would return this year, but alas! that has not been the case. I do see Eastern Rosellas sometimes. They manage to get onto my birdlist every month, but they are nowhere seen reliably. I am very disappointed that the small birds have disappeared. With the notable exception of Brown Thornbills, all the small birds that used to give me such pleasure, have simply deserted Kew East. We used to have Silvereyes, White-plumed Honeyeaters, and best of all, Eastern Spinebills. I did see a Spotted Pardalote a couple of times last summer, but they are rare here. The birdlist for my house now comprises 28 species, the most surprising being a Whistling Kite that appeared once last October, and a Grey Fantail that appeared for a few days last April. (The beautiful photo below was taken by Ken Haines.) Otherwise the list includes all the usual suspects (Noisy Miners and Rainbow Lorikeets, introduced mynas, starlings, Rock Doves, and blackbirds, and magpies, currawongs and butcherbirds). The only honeyeaters are wattlebirds, both Red and Little. Crested Pigeons are uncommon, but Galahs are not. We have both Little and Long-billed Corellas, but I've just noticed that Long-billed have not yet made it onto my house list. Silver Gulls and Australian White Ibis occasionally fly overhead and once, a Maned Duck landed on the neighbour's chimney. Black-faced Cuckooshrikes are around more often in summer.

I walk every day: either north, south, west or east. My walk list now comprises 48 species. This number is boosted significantly by waterbirds, as my north walk incorporates Hays Paddock. Hays Paddock is a local reserve, with a couple of footy ovals, an adventure playground for kids of all abilities, a small lake and a creek meandering through on the south. I see ducks and occasionally cormorants in the creek, ducks, moorhens, and coots on the lake, and there are usually swamphens wandering on the grass beside the lake. My walks are all quite short, designed to take half an hour in a loop. I try to record 15 species each walk. If it is not raining, this is usually achievable. My best walk was a north walk in spring with 24 species. West walks (to the Harp Junction, along suburban streets) are consistently the lowest scoring. Apart from black cockies, which I haven't seen for some time, the best bird on my walk list is the Australian Reed Warbler, which I did not see, but I heard last summer at Hays Paddock. Just once I recorded White-browed Scrubwren, again at Hays Paddock, but I have not managed to see them again. Masked Lapwing sometimes appear on the ovals, sometimes they fly overhead, calling. Recently I added Red-rumped Parrot and White-faced Heron to the list, which are lovely, but I'd really like to add some small passerines. I have planted natives in my front yard and I have both wattlebirds visiting every day. If I thought it would attract spinebills, I'd go against my principles and plant exotics (I tried Mexican sage at my Kew address - it didn't work!). If I thought Silvereyes would visit, I'd plant fruit trees. But I believe they would have to be in the vicinity to drop in. I'd have to conclude that, so far at least, the move back to Kew has been a success. I do enjoy being able to walk on footpaths. I enjoy being able to walk to the river. I love seeing magpies and Little Wattlebirds every day. I adore sighting the occasional Australian King Parrot and Laughing Kookaburra. It is special to see different lorikeets visit the flowering eucalypts and to mark the seasons with the appearance and disappearance of Welcome Swallows. And, perhaps because they are the last remaining small bird, I think the Brown Thornbills are very precious.