After a night of teeming rain and strong winds, seven hardy souls braved strong winds and ominous clouds for the November bird walk.
However we had a really memorable day visiting six of Penne Kwiat’s favourite locations, on and around the Barwon estuary. Our first stop at Hospital Swamp was a bit light-on for birds, but Blue Rocks on the coast had some really good sightings, including a flock of Red-necked Stints, a Ruddy Turnstone, and five adult Hooded Plovers.
Birdwatching on Blue Rocks Beach
Red-necked Stints
Ruddy Turnstone
We were pleased to see the ‘Hoodies’ but concerned that they weren’t nesting as they should be at this time of year.
One Hoodie
The highlight of morning tea beside the Barwon River was a number of Royal Spoonbills in breeding plumage.
Morning tea
The Barwon Estuary had hundreds of waders actively feeding on the sandbanks before the tide came in. They were mainly Red-necked Stints plus a few Curlew Sandpipers, but two Eastern Curlews stood out with their amazingly long, down-curved beaks, and there were a number of Bar-tailed Godwits with long turned-up beaks.
During lunch at Freshwater Lake on the Ocean Grove side, we had much animated discussion over three birds we thought/hoped were unusual, but eventually we decided they were Common Greenshanks.
Just Common Greenshanks!
At the last moment a large flock of Sharp-tailed Sandpipers landed nearby.
Sharp-tailed Sandpipers
Finally, a new place for most of us was Begola Wetland Reserve hidden away in Ocean Grove suburbia.
Begola Wetlands
After much looking, some of us glimpsed the prize, which was a Lathams Snipe. We had spent all day on our expedition and were very pleased with the 72 species observed.
Ellinor Campbell
Photos by Penne Kwiat, Conrad White, Ellinor Campbell, Joanne Heatlie.
Below are all the birds identified:
- Black Swan
- Australian Wood Duck
- Grey Teal
- Chestnut Teal
- Pacific Black Duck
- Hoary-headed Grebe
- Rock Dove
- Crested Pigeon
- Shearwater sp.
- Little Pied Cormorant
- Great Cormorant
- Little Black Cormorant
- Pied Cormorant
- Australian Pelican
- Eastern Great Egret
- White-faced Heron
- Little Egret
- Australian White Ibis
- Straw-necked Ibis
- Royal Spoonbill
- Whistling Kite
- Swamp Harrier
- Nankeen Kestrel
- Purple Swamphen
- Australian Spotted Crake
- Dusky Moorhen
- Eurasian Coot
- Black-winged Stilt
- Pacific Golden Plover
- Red-capped Plover
- Hooded Plover
- Red-kneed Dotterel
- Masked Lapwing
- Latham’s Snipe
- Bar-tailed Godwit
- Eastern Curlew
- Common Greenshank
- Ruddy Turnstone
- Red-necked Stint
- Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
- Curlew Sandpiper
- Caspian Tern
- Whiskered Tern
- Crested Tern
- Pacific Gull
- Silver Gull
- Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
- Rainbow Lorikeet
- Eastern Rosella
- Shining Bronze-Cuckoo
- Superb Fairy-wren
- Yellow-rumped Thornbill
- Singing Honeyeater
- Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater
- Red Wattlebird
- White-fronted Chat
- New Holland Honeyeater
- Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
- Rufous Whistler
- Australian Magpie
- Grey Fantail
- Willie Wagtail
- Little Raven
- Magpie-lark
- Australian Reed-Warbler
- Little Grassbird
- Silvereye
- Welcome Swallow
- Fairy Martin
- Common Starling
- Common Myna
- House Sparrow