Sparrovale Wetlands bird walk – 9 November 2024

The bird walk this month was at Sparrovale Wetlands which is near Armstrong Creek. The weather was ok, and a reasonable day for bird watching. There is a fair amount of water at Sparrovale and lots of birds either flying around, swimming, or walking along the edge of the water. So you get a good mix of water birds (including waders), raptors and some bush birds.

We walked along the grassy embankment towards the east, and unlike the previous visit in November 2023, we kept away from the mud. A couple of bird watchers we met had seen brolgas earlier in the day, but we couldn’t find them. However, there were plenty of interesting birds and we saw 38 species in all. A list of the birds is given in the section below. This list is also recorded in eBird.

Highlights included:

• A Brown Falcon circling around when we arrived and then sitting on top of a large cypress tree
• Other raptors: Swamp Harrier (great place for harriers of course), Wedge-tailed Eagle, Nankeen Kestel and Whistling Kite
• Waders: Sharp-tailed Sandpipers (numerous and fairly close – see photo), Red-necked Stints (also numerous), Curlew Sandpipers
• Whiskered Terns working in the wind
• Great sighting of Golden-headed Cisticola – see photo

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Golden-headed Cisticola

We then moved onto Hospital Swamp, which is at Lake Connewarre, and walked along the edge of the reed beds for around an hour. A bird list was not produced but highlights were as follows:

• Around 100+ Black-winged Stilts flying in a very handsome black-and-white flock – see photo
• Constant presence of White-plumed Honeyeaters – see photo
• Dusky Wood-swallows swooping around – we found a nest containing 3 baby wood-swallows in a eucalypt about 1m off the ground. The camouflage of the birds and nest were remarkable.
• Spiny-cheeked Honeyeaters
• Martins were flying around, and we also saw two Tree Martins and two Fairy Martins sitting together on a wire fence

Black-winged Stilts

White-plumed Honeyeater

We had morning tea (although it was almost lunch time) at Taits Point at Lake Connewarre. The only interesting bird item here was a Little Pied Cormorant catching and swallowing a good sized fish.

Overall, a great morning of bird watching.

James Orton
All photos by Paul Wright

Bird List

The table below shows the names and count of birds seen on the walk at Sparrovale Wetlands. Note this list has been recorded in eBird.