I was sitting in Rocketman cafe in Ocean Grove, looking out the window when I spotted a bird in the distance that looked like a falcon on a TV aerial.
There were a few rock doves flying around the Presidents Avenue intersection as well, and suddenly the falcon took off in pursuit of them, and as the bird flew over Ming Terrace Chinese Restaurant, I noticed that it was a peregrine falcon. I’m sure one of the rock doves did not survive that day.
On my way home from driving to Melbourne Airport I stopped off at Western Treatment Plant for a quick look at the birds. I was hoping to see some blue-winged or even orange-bellied parrots, but didn’t have any luck, in fact I didn’t see much of interest at all except for one buff-banded rail.
Apparently 13 orange-bellied parrots have been sighted at Western Treatment Plant so far this winter, having flown across Bass Strait from breeding grounds in Tasmania.
Fortunately, I have received several emails regarding recent bird sightings. My friend Denis, who is a previous resident of Ocean Grove who now lives in Bendigo, shared with me a recent outing he had north of Bendigo where he saw, in one area, 13 wedge-tailed eagles, a spotted harrier, black falcon,
brown falcon, little eagle, Australian hobby, black-shouldered kite, whistling kite and peregrine falcon.
Denis said there was a dead kangaroo by the side of the road that attracted many of the raptors.
Apart from feeling a distinct feeling of FOMO, I loved Denis’ photos and his enthusiasm regarding the beauty of the birds that he spotted.
I received an email from Carole, who has been travelling in the icy cold of the Snowy Mountains. She noted that there was not much bird life around as she guessed that the birds had headed to warmer climates or were hiding from the strong wind and freezing cold.
She saw many ravens. In fact everywhere she looked there were ravens, as well as some very shy currawongs, kookaburras and many black-backed Australian magpies.
Carole didn’t spot any small birds around except some very hungry sparrows at Jindabyne and Cooma. Many birds leave mountainous areas in winter and migrate to lower altitude areas that are warmer, in a process known as altitudinal migration.
Other species migrate north to warmer areas of Australia, just like many people tend to do.
I received an email from Alan, who visited his friend’s vineyard near Portarlington and got a few snaps of a raptor, which he identified as a light morph little eagle.
These birds look very similar to whistling kites with their plumage colour and similar underwing pattern.
I purchased a copy of Ocean Grove local Ian Smisson’s book Bellarine Birdwatching that is currently available at a few bookshops around the Bellarine Peninsula, including from BookGrove.
This is the third book I have seen this year about Bellarine Birdwatching – the other’s being Alan’s book about the birds of Blue Waters Lake, and the book I put together with Barry Lingham and Tom Fletcher. Ian’s book is excellent if anyone is interested in purchasing it.
Finally I had a second attack of FOMO this week when two friends sent me photos of birds they had seen on their travels. My friend Liz and husband David sent photos of weaverbirds and penguins from South Africa, and another friend sent me a photo of a puffin from northern Europe.
