Skip to main content
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1
1

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.

Birds in the air

We thank Margaret Lacey for all the photos on this page

Birds on fence

Blue-winged parrots on fence

Blue-winged parrots on fence

Birds on fence

Birds flying off fence

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.

OBP outing

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.

Photographers

Ellinor Campbell

Below are all the birds identified on this walk:

  1. Stubble Quail
  2. Black Swan
  3. Australian Shelduck
  4. Australian Wood Duck
  5. Grey Teal
  6. Chestnut Teal
  7. Pacific Black Duck
  8. Australasian Grebe
  9. Spotted Dove
  10. Little Pied Cormorant
  11. Little Black Cormorant
  12. Australian Pelican
  13. Eastern Great Egret
  14. White-faced Heron
  15. Australian White Ibis
  16. Straw-necked Ibis
  17. Royal Spoonbill
  18. Yellow-billed Spoonbill
  19. Whistling Kite
  20. Brown Goshawk
  21. Swamp Harrier
  22. Brown Falcon
  23. Purple Swamphen
  24. Spotless Crake
  25. Black-winged Stilt
  26. Masked Lapwing
  27. Australian Pratincole
  28. Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
  29. Crimson Rosella
  30. Eastern Rosella
  31. Red-rumped Parrot
  32. Blue-winged Parrot
  33. Superb Fairy-wren
  34. White-browed Scrubwren
  35. Striated Fieldwren
  36. White-plumed Honeyeater
  37. Noisy Miner
  38. White-fronted Chat
  39. New Holland Honeyeater
  40. Grey Shrike-thrush
  41. Grey Butcherbird
  42. Australian Magpie
  43. Willy Wagtail
  44. Little Raven
  45. Magpie-lark
  46. Eurasian Skylark
  47. Golden-headed Cisticola
  48. Little Grassbird
  49. Welcome Swallow
  50. Tree Martin
  51. Common Starling
  52. House Sparrow
  53. Australasian Pipit
  54. European Goldfinch
  55. Common Greenfinch