There have been a few beautiful sunny spring days over the past few weeks, mixed with a few cool, windy days.
The strong winds are not great for nesting birds as sometimes the nests get blown out of trees, and trees can blow over in the wind.
On the subject of nesting birds, there’s a few Australian magpies around my neighbourhood that are causing havoc to bike riders by swooping aggressively. I was swooped when riding past Bellarine Secondary College on Shell Road, and fortunately the magpie did not peck my scalp through the holes in my bike helmet.
On the same bike ride I was surprisingly swooped by a red wattlebird, who followed me for a good few hundred metres down Shell Road. Since then the wattlebird has repeated this a few times as I’ve ridden along my street. Maybe it has been watching the antics of magpies and copied them.
I spent a weekend in Bendigo and went birdwatching with my friend Denis Sleep, who moved to Bendigo from Ocean Grove.
Denis usually takes me to a nature reserve called Mount Korong which is around 50km northwest of Bendigo. This area would have to be one of my favourite spots, as it’s always quiet, picturesque, peaceful, and a great area to spot ‘different’ species.
We saw 34 species, including a pair of hooded robins, a camera-shy diamond firetail, a small flock of southern whiteface, three Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoos, and three Gilbert’s whistlers.
On the way home Denis took a detour to a small hill near Moliagul, where he told me he had spotted six wedge-tailed eagles recently. As soon as I got out of the car at the top of the peak there was a wedgie floating in the breeze over the gum trees only 20 metres away from the car. This bird was a fledgling judging from its brown plumage, and two adult birds were also flying with it.
Driving home from Bendigo the next day I stopped off at a few favourite places, namely Rise and Shine Nature Reserve near Newstead and Stoney Creek Picnic Grounds at the Brisbane Ranges.
These two areas were very quiet as far as birds were concerned but I saw a few yellow-tufted honeyeaters in both spots. After driving past Daylesford there was a small patch of forest and while passing through I glimpsed a wedge-tailed eagle perched on a tree stump.
I did a cheeky u-turn and managed a few photos before it was chased away by several grey currawongs. I don’t know how I managed to see it while driving as it blended in so well with the surrounding bush.
There has been an unusual bird spotted on the Bellarine over the past few weeks, namely an oriental magpie, seen by Troy and Karen Zanker at the Thompson’s Creek mouth at Point Impossible.
This species of magpie is usually seen in parts of Russia, China, and Asia.
It likely hitched a ride on a container ship and found itself in southern Australia. A few days after this bird was seen on the Bellarine there was a sighting of this species in Melbourne, which could have been the same bird or another stowaway.
I was saddened to see a deceased eastern yellow-robin in the middle of Oakdene Boulevard in Ocean Grove. This bird is usually found in woodlands, and Oakdene Boulevard has a few small parks with sparse tree cover, as well as some busy roads and housing estates.
I can only surmise that this beautiful bird was searching for an appropriate habitat for spring and unfortunately collided with a car.
I received an email from Lyn, who told me of three large flocks of crested terns at Barwon Heads that landed in the shallows and on the rocks near the Heads. It is always great to see these birds. They nest at Mud Island in Port Phillip Bay and also at Corner Inlet and on Phillip Island.
In some breeding seasons there can be thousands of pairs of these birds on Mud Island, so maybe these flocks were making their way to this area for the breeding season.
Other birds that nest at Mud Island include straw-necked ibis, Caspian terns, fairy terns and Australian pelicans. Mud island is also a resting area for migratory shorebirds.
