In September we had a combined Orange-bellied Parrot (OBP) survey and bird walk.
It is the first time ever that we have had warm weather on an OBP survey, and it was indeed a delightfully sunny, still day. The Orange-bellied Parrots were, as usual, not to be seen and, disappojntingly, there were also no Blue-winged Parrots either as they flock together.
We did however see the unexpected sight of two pairs of Red-rumped Parrots using nesting boxes provided by the Victorian Field and Game society in the swampy areas off Baensh’s Lane.
There were surprisingly few duck and swans to be seen, but we ended up with a good sighting of many other birds, such as 8 Magpie-larks in a tree and several singing Cisticolas, with 55 species in total.
We had lunch beside the Barwon River not far from the bridge, and were very glad of our telescopes to view the numerous waders on the sandbanks at low tide.
We were delighted to see a number of Eastern Curlews with their amazingly long, curved beaks.
Below are all the birds identified:
1. Black Swan
2. Grey Teal
3. Chestnut Teal
4. Hoary-headed Grebe
5. Australasian Darter
6. Great Cormorant
7. Little Pied Cormorant
8. Little Black Cormorant
9. Pied Cormorant
10. Australian Pelican
11. Eastern Great Egret
12. White-faced Heron
13. Little Egret
14. Australian White Ibis
15. Straw-necked Ibis
16. Royal Spoonbill
17. Yellow-billed Spoonbill
18. Whistling Kite
19. Swamp Harrier
20. Nankeen Kestrel
21. Brolga
22. Purple Swamphen
23. Red-capped Plover
24. Masked Lapwing
25.Eastern Curlew
26.Red-necked Stint
27.Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
28.Caspian Tern
29.Pacific Gull
30.Silver Gull
31.Galah
32.Crimson Rosella
33. Eastern Rosella
34.Red-rumped Parrot
35. Horsefield’s Bronze-Cuckoo
36.Superb Fairy-wren
37. Striated Fieldwren
38. Yellow-rumped Thornbill
39. White-plumed Honeyeater
40. Noisy Miner
41.White-fronted Chat
42. New Holland Honeyeater
43.Australian Magpie
44.Willy Wagtail
45.Little Raven
46. Magpie-lark
47. Eurasian Skylark
48. Golden-headed Cisticola
49.Australian Reed-Warbler
50.Little Grassbird
51.Welcome Swallow
52.Common Starling
53. red-browed Finch
54. House Sparrow
55. Australian Pipit
Ellinor Campbell
Photos by Ellinor Campbell and Penne Kwiat