BIRDING IN NORTH-EAST VICTORIA

I've just returned from three beaut birding days in north-east Victoria. Highlights were Swift Parrots, Hooded Robins and a stunning Azure Kingfisher. Disappointments were no nightbirds, no Painted Buttonquail and no Gilbert's Whistler (although I heard more than one, they were being very coy and would not show themselves). I love visiting this part of the world. Of course the main focus is the birds, and I clocked up a satisfactory 117 species over three days, but I'm also nostalgic about visiting places which have given me so much pleasure over so many years. And then, of course, there's the sherry! I confess we did make a mandatory stop at Pfeiffer's winery. We had an early start on Wednesday morning, but the sun was shining by the time we arrived at Mangarlore Flora and Fauna Reserve and the birding was good straight away. I admired Diamond Firetails and Flame Robins and heard Gilbert's Whistlers. There were lots of recent buttonquail platelets, but no buttonquail in sight. However, the honeyeaters were good, both pardalotes were present, as well as Sittellas. I'd seen 27 species by the time we set off for our next stop, Winton Wetlands. When we arrived, I'd added another 16 species to my list. The weather was quite good for the tail end of autumn and so was the birding. I always see Restless Flycatchers in the carpark at Winton Wetlands; I don't think they've ever let me down. We saw Grey-crowned Babblers right on cue (a great bird, that!) and a very handsome Pied Butcherbird. Add a few waterbirds and my list was growing well. At Warby-Ovens National Park, I saw my first Peaceful Doves for the year. There were White-throated Treecreepers and Silvereyes and some cute Yellow-footed Antechinus. It had been a good day and I had high expectations of an owl or two when we went spotlighting that night. Sadly, it was not to be. We saw Brush-tailed and Ringtailed Possums and some very sweet Squirrel Gliders, but no night birds at all. Can't complain, I had 71 species for the day, and with such specialties as Grey-crowned Babblers and Diamond Firetails, it would be churlish to mention the lack of owls and nightjars.

This is a photo of a soak in Barnawatha Depot Road in Chiltern National Park. Take my word for it, there were Swift Parrots drinking here. There were about 60 of them. If the entire population of Swift Parrots is 750 individuals, that's an impressive proportion of the population right there that morning. They were joined by even more colourful Turquoise Parrots. What a sight! And what a great way to start Thursday. Both Little and Purple-crowned Lorikeets flew over and my first Satin Bowerbird for the year joined the parrots in the soak. When an Eastern Shriketit landed overhead, I wasn't sure which way to point my binoculars. I'd seen my first Northern Shriketit last November, and my first Western Shriketit last month, so I was delighted to add their Eastern cousin to the set. Of course there were Yellow-tufted, Black-chinned, White-naped and Fuscous Honeyeaters, as well as an out of season Dusky Woodswallow. At Cyanide Dam, the Brown Treecreepers did not let me down, although they'd been playing hard to get until then. Bartley's Block is often full of surprises. This time, I saw two birds I really did not expect to see: Mistletoebirds and an Olive-backed Oriole. I had thought both these species were summer migrants, but when I checked Simpson and Day, I learnt that he classifies Mistletoebirds as 'uncertain sedentary' and Olive-backed Orioles as partial or annual migrants, so I should not have been so surprised at the oriole I had in Kew during winter last year. We drove to Number One Dam, where there were lots and lots of pelicans, then Number Two Dam, where I added Red-rumped Parrots and Masked Lapwings to the day list. I didn't see any Eurasian Tree Sparrows in the township. We drove on to Lake Moodemere, where I saw a very beautiful Azure Kingfisher. These birds are summer breeders, so I don't expect them to be dressed up in their very best in the last week of May. But he was. It is difficult to imagine a dull looking Azure Kingfisher, but believe me when I say, this bird was particularly handsome. The rain, which we had feared would curtail our birding, held off until night time. Then it poured heavily all night. Luckily, it had stopped by Friday morning. We returned to Warby-Ovens National Park to admire Jacky Winters, Hooded Robins and one happy Speckled Warbler. Great birds, all of them. We had another unsuccessful attempt at Painted Buttonquail at Mangalore on the way home, but I couldn't really be disappointed when we missed out. I count this as a very successful three day outing.

WONDERFUL WERRIBEE - AGAIN!

Yesterday, I had the most wonderful day birding I've had in a long time. Yes, I know I saw a lifer last month (the Western Shriketit in the Stirling Range) and, of course, that's always a thrill. But yesterday was a full day of superb weather, blue skies, sunshine, no wind, great company and lots of fantastic birds. Can anyone do better? This is the spot where we heard a Lewin's Rail.

Alas, we could not see it. What strange noises Lewin's Rails make! We did see several Australian Crakes, at least four, perhaps more. I saw just one Spotless Crake. I was with Tim Dolby, it's possible he saw more than one. We saw just a couple of Double-banded Plovers, fraternizing with (or perhaps hiding amongst) a flock of Red-capped Plovers. The male Red-caps looked absolutely splendid - at their breeding best I thought. In my ignorance, I would have said that they were summer breeders, but, after this sighting, I looked them up, and, although they may prefer the warmer months, according to Simpson and Day, they can breed at any time of year. I reckon these birds had breeding in mind. I wanted a sea eagle for my year list and my wish was fulfilled. One memorable sighting of the day was Brolgas. Yes, I know, you've seen Brolgas at Werribee lots of times. But have you ever seen eleven birds at once? I certainly hadn't before yesterday. I had to count them twice to convince myself that there really were nearly a dozen of them. One very handsome Black-shouldered Kite endeared himself to us by sitting quite close to the car and posing for his photo. I thought he was a young bird: some of his feathers were very fluffy. Here's one of Tim's photos.

A rather unusual sighting was an aberrant Straw-necked Ibis. He had lots of white on his wings, which, according to the field guides, should be all black. This is Tim's photo.

Towards the end of the day, after we had persuaded ourselves that the American Golden Plover really had vacated the Borrow Pits, we saw that the adjacent pond was brimming with ducks, mainly Pink-eared and Shovellers, but also some teal, Musk Duck and Pacific Blacks. It was the pinkies and the shovellers that stole our hearts. There were so very many of them so very close, it was breathtaking. I thought perhaps a thousand of each species, both in the water and on the bank. Unfortunately impossible to photograph, but very easy to admire. Although we were very close to them, the car was hidden by reeds. As soon as we attempted to get out of the car, the birds flew. But what a beautiful sight! Again, this is Tim's photo.

Another bird I wanted for my year list was a Singing Bush Lark. Bush Larks can be difficult and I didn't really expect to see one. Tim deviated up Beach Road to check out the Banded Lapwings, and there, on a fence post, wanting to be admired, was a Singing Bush Lark. I looked at it and didn't believe it. Its bill did not look thick enough; its plumage was too colourful. Its belly, in particular, looked a lemon colour. I expect my bush larks to be dressed in sparrow colours. I could not accept this colourful creature really was a Singing Bush Lark. Fancy being cheeky enough to question Tim Dolby! Tim took a photo, and there, unquestionably, sitting on a fence post was a Singing Bush Lark, just as I had ordered.

In my opinion, the Bird of the Day was none of the above. It was a dear little Stubble Quail, walking towards the car in Paradise Road as we were driving out. He looked like he wanted to be friends. A fitting end to a great day. We clocked up 81 species - of course I always want more! But that's not too bad for autumn. I don't believe I've ever enjoyed such perfect weather at Werribee. And I think I've proved that I don't really need rarities to have a good time birding.

WESTERN SHRIKETIT AT LAST

I was very frustrated last year when I dipped on the Western Shriketit after having seen (with some effort) the supposedly more difficult Northern Shriketit. This time I was determined not to fail. So succeed I did! Thank you, Des Hume! I was advised not to travel during school holidays (always good advice) but I had not considered that it is best not to travel the day after school holidays either. My plane flight to Perth on Monday 15 April was uncomfortably full and I thought I'd have been better off travelling on another day. However, when my trip home to Melbourne from Perth on the following Thursday was equally uncomfortably full, I revised this opinion and decided there was little I could do to ensure a comfortable flight. Des picked me up from my hotel at 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning and we drove straight to the Stirling Range, pausing only for coffee at Kojanup and arriving comfortably in time for lunch. We stayed at the Stirling Range Retreat and immediately checked out the famous water bowl by the office where the shriketits come to drink. Of course there was nothing there. It wasn't going to be that easy.

There were lots of Gilbert's Honeyeaters and Restless Flycatchers around the office and we heard owlet-nightjars, but did not see them. We wandered around and it wasn't long before Des heard shriketits call. Very quickly we were on to them: three birds, two males and a female.

THE GOLD COAST AND BRISBANE

Last year, I attempted to see a New Caledonian Storm Petrel out of Southport, and instead saw my bogey bird, the White-necked Petrel. So of course I had to return in 2024 to try again for the New Caledonian Storm Petrel. Paul Wallbridge reckoned I should give March a go this year, so March it was. Pelagics out of Southport were scheduled for Saturday and Sunday 16 and 17 March, but seas were too rough and the Saturday pelagic was cancelled. Luckily, I'd been booked on the Sunday. I always think of Southport waters as benign. I don't know how often these pelagics are cancelled because the seas are too rough, but let's just say it doesn't happen as often as it does down south. I was relieved my pelagic was still scheduled to go, but I remained anxious that something would go wrong until we were actually on the boat, and the captain was giving us our safety briefing, warning that it was going to be rough. As it turned out, it wasn't very rough. It did rain more than I would have preferred, but it wasn't too bumpy. There were 14 people on board and only one was seasick. I've been on worse pelagics, but it was, for me at least, a disappointing day. I recorded 24 species, but that's only because I started writing down my sightings as soon as I boarded the boat, so my day's tally includes Welcome Swallow, Pelican and Far Eastern Curlew. The only storm petrels we saw all day were Wilson's. This is an old photo of a Wilson's Storm Petrel was taken by Ken Haines, who wasn't on Sunday's pelagic.

On Sunday, we saw Hutton's Shearwater, but not Fluttering. I'm told that's usual for Southport. We saw several Tahiti Petrels, at least one Gould's, and quite a few Kermadecs in various plumages. The best bird of the day as far as I was concerned was a dark phase Long-tailed Jaeger, which Paul Wallbridge said he'd never seen before. One very interesting thing (which I'd never heard of before) was decoy storm petrels, made by Jacob Crisp out of old thongs! Paul and Jacob both assured me that these decoys worked, that is to say they attracted storm petrels. I certainly saw birds flying by for a closer look, but as the decoys were in amongst the burley, it was difficult to determine if the inquisitive seabirds were investigating the decoys or the food. Jacob kindly provided this photo of his decoys.

I was staying on the thirtieth floor of the Meriton Suites and when I returned, I was delighted to be greeted by a Pied Butcherbird sitting on my balcony. That was fun.

On Monday, I spent a wonderful day birding with Rae Clark. She took me to Federation Walk in Southport (Bush Stone-curlews, Scaly-breasted Lorikeets, Brahminy Kite, Osprey and a lovely Leaden Flycatcher), then to Sandy Camp Road Wetland (Comb-crested Jacana, White-throated Honeyeater, Rainbow Bee-eater, Variegated Fairywren), then to Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk (Mangrove Gerygone, Torresian Kingfisher, Tawny Grassbird, Grey-tailed Tattler). What a great day! I love it when I can't decide what is the best bird of the day. In the end I chose the Mangrove Gerygone, because he was beautiful and cooperative and I don't see them often, but Rae pointed out that the White-throated Honeyeater was all of these things too. She is quite right. And I did love the tiny black fluffy chicks of the Buff-banded Rail. So, while the pelagic let me down, I had a great trip. I will try again next year for the New Caledonian Storm Petrel. I hope it doesn't take me as long to see this special storm petrel as it took me to see the White-necked Petrel, because I may not live that long! POSTSCRIPT: On 24 March 2024, Jon Spicer-Bell reported seeing 4 New Caledonian Storm Petrels at Britannia Guyots, Southport Seamount. This is in NSW and must be very close to where I went looking for the storm petrels last February.

BIRD OF THE MONTH

BOM may mean Bureau of Meteorology to you. To me it means Bird of the Month. I make this personal award each month to the bird that has given me the most pleasure. It doesn't have to be a lifer; it doesn't have to be a rarity. Simply a bird that's given me pleasure. At the end of the year I have a list of twelve birds that evokes wonderful memories. Sometimes it is quite obvious which bird deserves the award. If, for example, I've seen a lifer. Sometimes it isn't quite so easy. But, so far at least, there's always been some bird that's given me please and warrants the accolade. In June, I wrote of my birds of the month so far for 2023. Now I can complete the year's list. It looks like this: JANUARY: COMMON KINGFISHER - lifer on Cocos. The thing that struck me most at the time about the kingfisher was how absolutely gorgeous it was. It was even more beautiful (if that's possible!) than our Azure Kingfisher. I hadn't expected that. Then, strangely, I saw another Common Kingfisher on Cocos again in November. It was a young bird and wasn't nearly so brightly coloured. I was very pleased that I'd seen the January bird and understood just how spectacular they can be. These birds have a very wide distribution throughout Europe and Asia, but it was a bird that I'd never expected to be able to write onto my Australian list.I took this photo from HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World:

FEBRUARY: WHITE-NECKED PETREL. This was a real bogey bird for me. I'd looked for it for many years with certainly well over twenty interstate trips for the purpose. And, when I eventually saw it, it was not an anticlimax: it was even more beautiful than I'd expected. This beautiful photo is by Paul Walbridge, who runs the Southport pelagics.

MARCH: EASTERN SPINEBILL I grew up with Eastern Spinebills in Ringwood. They used to be in Kew, where I live. Not any more. So, when a spinebill turned up in my neighbour's garden, it was cause for celebration. Unfortunately, seeing a spinebill in Kew today is a rare occasion. This lovely photo by Ken Haines, is not the bird in question.

APRIL: AUSTRALIAN CRAKE. This illustraion is from HANZAB. - an irruption at Werribee

MAY: OLIVE-BACKED ORIOLE A beautiful bird, well worth the appelation of Bird of the Month in its own right, but on this occasion, the award was made because the bird greeted in my street! It was sitting in the neighbour's silver birch. In May! This summer migrant should not have been in Melbourne in May, let alone in my suburban street. Again, this lovely photo by Ken Haines, is not the bird in question.

JUNE: DAME EDNA, FEMALE SUPERB FAIRYWREN This female Superb Fairywren with the diagnostic red around the eye, has the blue tail characteristic of a male bird. I refer any reader wanting to know more about this phenomenon to my blog posting of last June when I quoted Tim Birkhead on the subject. This photo, taken by Peter petinatos, shows the female Superb Fairywren, with a male's blue tail.

JULY: EASTERN GRASS OWL - at the Western Treatment Plant. You are not permitted to go into the farm at night, but I saw this owl while I was travelling on the public roads. It's the first Grass Owl I've ever seen in my home state. The photo is from CSIRO's Australian Bird Guide.

AUGUST: AUSTRALIAN GOLDEN WHISTLER I saw this bird on a BirdLife Australia weekday outing to Mullum Mullum. Yes, I know it is a common bird, but it was breathtakingly beautiful. Quite irrisitible. Again, this photo by Ken Haines is not the bird in question, but he's just as gorgeous!

SEPTEMBER: THICK-BILLED GRASSWREN race cowarie on Cowarie Station, a new race for me. This photo, which I've taken from HANZAB, volume 5, is not the right race. I couldn't find an illustration of race cowarie.

OCTOBER: GREAT CRESTED GREBE When I visited Lake Colac (on the way to Port Fairy) with Ken Haines, there were several pairs of Great Crested Grebes doing their mating dance. It was truly mesmerizing, something I'd heard about but had never witnessed before. This photo by Ken Haines is of the birds in question.

NOVEMBER: LARGE HAWK CUCKOO - lifer on Christmas Island. My trip to Christmas Island in 2023 was fun of course. Christmas Island is always fun. But, on the bird front, it was a little disappointing. I was delighted to score this lifer, quite unexpectedly, on a walk looking for a passerine someone had reported (which we did not see). I took this photo from a Lynx publication, the Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago.

DECEMBER: BAILLON'S CRAKE. Another Werribee irruption. This photo is by Ken Haines (what would I do without him?)

So here I am in 2024, full of hopeful expectations! I scored seven lifers last year (and the year before!) If I can get two this year, I'll be satisfied. Lifers are getting harder and harder to see! But, even if I don't see any at all, I'm sure I'll be able to achieve twelve lovely Birds of the Month to remember the year by.

WERRIBEE: VICTORIA'S TOP BIRDING SPOT

A Sydney birding friend once said: 'It's impossible to have a bad day at Werribee.' Of course he's right. It is, after all, Victoria's top birding spot.

My birding friend, Ken Haines, and I enjoyed a great day at Werribee last Thursday, persistent cold wind notwithstanding. We clocked up only 75 species, a little disappointing for summer I thought, but we had a most enjoyable day and saw some beautiful birds: what more do you want? The water levels were high just about everywhere, so there wasn't much suitable habitat for waders. We did see quite a few Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (see Ken's photo above, all photos on this page are from Ken) but other waders were all in small numbers. In fact we saw just one Red-capped Plover. There were a few stints and greenshanks and we saw some Marsh Sandpipers, but we had to look hard for Curlew Sandpipers. There were avocets and both kinds of stilts, Banded Stilts coming obligingly close to the car.

There were several Pied Oystercatchers, one with two half-grown chicks.

For Ken, the highlight of the day was a young Spotted Harrier.

For me, the highlight was a Baillon's Crake. I'm told they are easily seen in Victoria at the moment, but I always get a thrill out of seeing a crake, and Baillon's are always special.

We did quite well for ducks, with big numbers of Pink-eared Ducks and Australian Shelducks. The only duck we didn't see which I'd hoped for was a Freckled Duck. There were more White-necked Herons than usual, but we were really down on raptor numbers. We saw just one Brown Falcon as we were leaving, and only two Black Kites for the day. There was just one Black-shouldered Kite and very few Whistling Kites and hardly any Swamp Harriers. Ken may not appreciate my including this blurred photo of the young Spotted Harrier. The joke is that neither of us noticed the Brolgas behind him! We came home without Brolga on our list.

Thanks, Ken for a great day. And thanks for your terrific photos.

MY SIXTH TRIP TO THE COCOS/KEELING ISLANDS

After a successful week on Christmas Island, we flew to the Cocos/Keeling Islands feeling positive and optimistic. There was reportedly a Dark-sided Flycatcher somewhere on West Island and I was hoping to see the recently split Tibetan Sand Plover on South Island. This photo shows where we spent some time at Trannies Beach looking for an Asian Brown Flycatcher. I had good views, but others weren't so lucky.

The Northern Pintail (which I first saw on the remarkably successful December 2016 tour) has stayed around and bred with a Pacific Black Duck resulting in four hybrids, enough to confuse any birder. Thanks to one of our sharp-eyed birders we saw one hybrid on our first day on Cocos, as well as the Common Kingfisher I was so pleased to tick last January. I was surprised to see that this was a different bird sporting juvenile plumage. Of course there were Green Junglefowl everywhere on Cocos and several of the recently split Intermediate Egrets. We'd dipped on Asian Koels on Christmas and promptly rectified this deficit on Cocos. There are lots of Pacific Reef Herons (both white and grey morphs) and just a sprinkling of Western Reef Herons. Both Striated and Nankeen Night Herons are common. Lesser Frigatebirds are common too. I thought they outnumbered Great Frigatebirds significantly. There was just one Oriental Pratincole on the airport runway and I saw just one Cattle Egret too. I cannot confirm rumours of a Tree Pipit (a bird I'd seen here in December 2016). On the day we visited South Island for Saunders's Tern, I saw two Eurasian Curlews, lots of Whimbrels and Ruddy Turnstones and White Terns of course (these are abundant on Cocos) as well as two races of Greater Sand Plover: the nominate race which we see on mainland Australia, and race 'columbinus' with a much thinner bill, making it look like a Lesser Sand Plover. Sadly, I could not turn any of the sand plovers into Lesser of any sort. At the Transfer Station we saw a Common Redshank, a Black-tailed Godwit and a Grey-tailed Tattler, and lots of sticky slippery mud. Despite almost 11 hours of patient, hot, waiting and watching (2 hours on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday, over 2 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and almost another 2 on Monday) I did not even glimpse the Dark-sided Flycatcher. This photo shows where I looked.

The contraption on the left is a cat trap, and I did see cat footprints on the sand here. Once, I saw something brown moving high in a bush and was momentarily excited, but it turned out to be a rat. So I came home with my record spoiled - I have no longer scored a lifer every time I've visited Cocos. I have a total of 28 lifers for 6 visits. Let's hope that next year is not quite so dry.