The heavens have not opened properly, so I’ve added a triple cartwheel followed by a double salto and twist to my rain dance. Lets hope that this routine works.
Despite the terribly dry conditions I’ve had a great few weeks of bird watching. The best news was that duck shooting was not allowed at Hospital Swamp due to the presence of many curlew sandpipers and I also notice that three wood sandpipers were also spotted in the same area. These birds are migratory shorebirds and will not be hanging around for too much longer, so no doubt this is just a temporary reprieve for the poor ducks.
The next good news is that the hooded plover chick at Point Lonsdale fledged last week, which is a great tribute to volunteers and dog walkers and beach users (and the hooded plover parents) in that area.
I received an email from Lynne in Ocean Grove who noticed a flock of gang-gang cockatoos in Woodlands Estate in Ocean Grove. Needless to say I was loitering around Woodlands searching for these gorgeous creatures at every opportunity.
I heard them before I saw them, and when I saw them I was thrilled. Tom Fletcher has had up to six gang-gangs in his garden, which for a dedicated birdwatcher, must be wonderful. Thanks so much Lynne for the heads up and I really enjoyed seeing gang-gangs in the Grove.
I was driving to Point Lonsdale one day when I noticed two wedge-tailed eagles souring over a paddock. I did a u-turn when it was safe to do so, and couldn’t see the birds anywhere. I was cursing myself about how impossible it is to lose two such big birds, when I glimpsed them on the ground, in a paddock behind some pine trees.
I parked the car and crept towards them with the pine trees as cover. Needless to say they noticed me as soon as I was in the open, and took off, but not before I did take a few quick images. When I got home and looked on the computer I noticed that one of the eagles was a fledgling. It was a lighter brown cover with many white downy feathers still present. Somewhere in the Bellarine there was a wedge-tailed eagle nest over the summer.
I haven’t seen the wedgies since, but a friend saw a young bird in Curlewis, so their habitat must extend over a large range.
Last weekend I went on my second pelagic trip from Port Fairy. I am totally hooked on these trips and if I could go out every month I would.
The highlights were many and varied. We saw three sharks (I’m not sure of the species) and they hung around the boat for a good half an hour. I had the ‘Jaws’ movie theme music playing in my head, but I must say that I was enthralled by these amazing creatures and they didn’t seem at all scary from my safe view on the boat.
They could have attacked around 40 seabirds that were floating in the water around the boat, but they didn’t, thank goodness. We also viewed a pod of around 20 to 30 common dolphin that were mingling with huge flocks of gannets and shearwaters.
There must have been a sizeable school of fish in the vicinity. I had to close my eyes and savour and soak in this moment. It was up there with the first trip to the Barrier Reef (in 1995 before global warming and coral bleaching), my first trip to Kakadu and the boobook owl landing right next to me on a branch, and staying there, at Wilson’s Prom.
I saw my first Arctic jaegar (no photo, so excited I didn’t focus the camera properly), Campbell albatross, Indian yellow-nosed albatross and flesh-footed shearwater.
Thanks to great directions given to me by Annette from Ocean Grove I also saw my first sanderling on Killarney Beach. I also saw good numbers of other beach-dwelling shorebirds such as red-capped plovers, double-banded plovers and red-necked stints. This was despite many dogs being off leash when all the signs everywhere stated that dogs are not allowed on the beach at all until after Easter Monday.
I received an email from Susan from Ocean Grove, who described seeing a pair of masked lapwings with a tiny chick in her street late last November.
The parent birds were nervous, raucous, loud and anxious – conditions they are well known for. She did not see that youngster again and was a bit worried a cat or dog had got to him/her.
Fast forward to February, same street but around the corner, all three again but now the little chick was almost full grown. It’s great how that species seems to adapt so well to urban streets. Thanks Susan for your email.
I also received an email from Kevin who spotted some pink-eared ducks and a black-winged stilt (a bird also known as a pied stilt, white-headed stilt, white-necked stilt, black-throated stilt, long-shanks, stilt-bird, stilt-plover, long-legged plover, dog bird.) at Lake Lorne in Drysdale. Thanks so much Kevin for your wonderful observations.
I also received a lovely email from Norm and Maureen who live in the Shoalhaven area of NSW. They received a copy of one of my Voice articles and wrote to tell me of the range of birds that they have in their area of Australia, and they told me that they actually have a satin bowerbird’s bower in their garden. How fantastic.
