On May 14, eleven dedicated people set out in cold, showers and wind to the Hospital Swamp wetlands at Lake Connewarre in the hope of seeing an Orange-bellied Parrot (OBP). Unsurprisingly we did not see any but we had a wonderful day with 55 birds identified (full list at end of report).
We have been very excited to learn that the following day two adult OBPs were seen elsewhere at Lake Connewarre.
The highlight for us was seeing over 180 Blue-winged parrots swooping around in flocks, with many periodically landing on an easily observable wire fence so we could study them before they returned to the Beaded Glasswort in the nearby paddocks.
We were most fortunate to have with us Craig Morley, the local OBP organizer, as he was a mine of information on the differences and characteristics of Blue-winged Parrots and OBPs. He also considerably increased our bird list as he made instant identifications of birds which were barely seen or heard.
We were also delighted to see a mass of Black-winged Stilts and Purple Swamphens. Other birds of special interest were two Stubble Quail, four types of raptor, and a glimpse of an Australian Pratincole. Not so pleasant was seeing much evidence of duck shooting. The gunshots were causing flocks of ducks to take off in fright and fly to new locations.
We were also pleased to have Margaret Lacey and her camera with us.
Ellinor Campbell
Below are all the birds identified on this walk:
Sat 9:30am - 11:00am
Anglesea Coastal Group working bee
Sun 2:00pm - 4:00pm
FEO Annual General Meeting
Mon 9:00am - 10:30am
Nature Ramble
Tue 9:30am - 11:00am
FEO: Environmental weeding
Fri 9:30am - 11:00am
Special Working Bee with Regional Roads Victoria,
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