Month: December 2010

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Lynn and Dick Jenkin

Tashkent Friesians

PO Box 92 Dungog NSW 2420

02 49921158

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Django-of-Cacharel/147336717447?ref=ts Djangos Facebook Page

http://tashkentfriesians.com/ Tashkent Friesians

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Hi All, not wanting to miss another rarity (and lifer!) I have some time to pop out to Werribee in search of the Stilt Sandpiper in the next few days.

Has there been any sightings today. I am hopeful that if it is still there today, it might just hang around despite the drag-racing and all the associated noise coming from avalon tonight.

If you are heading out in the next couple of days and are successful in seeing the bird, could you please send me a text on 0409090955.

Happy New Year to all and may “2011 be birding heaven”.

PS the other rarity I was referring to was the Arctic Tern – missed it by 25 minutes 🙁

Yours in all things “green”

Regards

John Harris Manager, Environment and Sustainability Donvale Christian College 155 Tindals Rd Donvale 3111 03 9844 2471 Ext 217 0409 090 955 john.harris@donvale.vic.edu.au

President, Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) Past President, Victorian Association for Environmental Education (VAEE) ===============================

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Hello again

The Cairns Post has reported that, as a result of the tragic death of a male cassowary caught in a pig trap recently, all pig trapping in cassowary habitat in Mission Beach has been suspended.

The 2 chicks that were with the male are in care with the Dept of Environment. I hope that the Dept allocates all the resources necessary to have these chicks raised in a manner that might allow them to be rehabilitated back into the wild. If the Dept can’t do this, maybe the chicks should be released to wildlife carers who are prepared to make the necessary effort e.g. collecting wild foods for them etc. Such people do exist (and where would we be without them?).

Happy New Year to all!

Andrew

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Re: Birding in USA what is the best Field Guide for the USA, There seems to be so many to choose from and all (naturally) claim to be the best.

Cheers

David Kowalick

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We just tracked down the Terek Sandpiper at the Western Treatment Plant! That’s our 388th bird for our VicTwitch 2010.

The bird is currently on mudflats to the north-east of Little River just to the west of a stone breakwater. GPS 37 59.983S 144 37.227E

Sorry I don’t have a map in the car so I can’t tell you the pond number adjacent to the coast.

Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria

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Hi all I thought I’d end the year with a walk close to home seeking out the local Gang-Gang Cockatoos, which I hadn’t hooked up with in 2010. Between 6 and 8:30am I walked some of the tracks in the Upper Lane Cove Valley, ending up at Bradleys Reserve at the south end of Kissing Point Road in South Turramurra. After hearing but not seeing a pair close to the valley floor, I encountered a pair of Gang-Gangs feeding in trees just at the entrance to the reserve at the very southern end of Kissing Point Road. The male bird was more visible and very vocal but didn’t seem in the best condition around the head, with missing feathers – moult or a deeper malaise I wonder? Deeper in Lane Cove Valley, I saw an immature Collared Sparrowhawk, 1 Common Bronzewing, 4 Brown Pigeons, 4 Sacred Kingfishers and 3 pairs of Leaden Flycatchers, along with many Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Rainbow Lorikeets and smaller bush birds. Cheers to all and Happy Birding for 2011. Tom Wilson

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Hi All, After getting a tip from Dave Torr on a pelagic trip on a good spot for the Mallee Emu-wren, I decided to head off to the Malee between Chitstmas and New Year. Jen Spry suggested I look at Tim Dolby’s website and having the book decided to take it with me. On my way I stopped at Bridgewater for petrel and left my wallet in the toilet. Sadly, I had too much cash it for someone to hand in. Undeterred, I headed for Goschen (and got cash out of the bank at Swan Hill) hoping I might get lucky. I managed to find the Little Button-quail mentioned in Tim’s book as being on the old cricket oval to the north-east (to the right of the old building). Tim, do you have any knowledge of the history of Goschen Reserve? Is the tennis court still used by the locals etc? On my first visit to Goschen last year, I spotted a bird in the trees on the old cricket oval, that I was not able to ID, I saw the same bird this time in the same location and am still not sure what it might be. It is about 20cm, and not a rounded bird but lean. It has a dull whitish eyebrow, grey to white chest, and browny to grey back. It is a bird with quiet poise, did not seem to have any distinguishing bird call, in fact, it had little calls. When it landed, the tail seemded to flutter and spead out. It is not a Jacky Winter. The closest I can see by looking through the field guides is the female Rufous Songlark and the Black-eared Cuckoo but with more muted colour then shown in Pizzey (8th Ed.).

I had great success in finding the Mallee Emu-wren at Hattah. Afterwards at Ouyen, where I stopped for a coffee, I was reading the bit on pg 24 about Bronzewing FFR and came accross a bit about Gama Reserve and that it might be possible to see the White-fronted Honeyeater there. Paul Dodd had emailed me excellent instructions and relief photos of where to find Bronzewing FFR as I’d hoped I might try for the Mallee Fowl, but after reading Tim’s suggestion that the tracks are suited for 4-wheel drive, I chickened out of going there. And with good reason as following an Internet info last year by Tim, I had bogged my car trying to go into Lake Tyrrell. To be fair to Tim in the previous ten years of drought it would not have been a problem.

Arriving at Gama, my first thought was that it couldn’t possibly be a good birding spot. The area was so tiny and a quarry was in the middle between 2 lots of trees. I wondered around and spotted a Rainbow Bee-eater and there were plenty of Singing and Spiny-cheeked HE. I decided to check out the trees on the other side of the quarry and found myself looking at a baby White-cheeked HE, and then mum or dad came close to junior, giving me plenty of time to ID. Thanks Tim and for all the tips from other birders, Happy birding for 2011, Patrick Scully ===============================

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Hi All,

A quick update from Mike Carter, Tony Palliser and Frank O’Connor who are currently on Cocos islands. In addition to the rarities reported a couple of days ago they have also now had Watercock on two islands, an accipiter that is thought to be a Japanese Sparrowhawk and a Cinnamon Bittern on Home Island. No doubt more to follow.

Wishing everybody a happy new year – I hope 2011 is filled with nice birding experiences for all!

Cheers, Rohan

Hi birders,

If anyone is going to WTP today, and comes across the Terek, could you please call me on 0419516669?

Thanks!

Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria

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About 25 hours to go for our VicTwitch 2010.

Yesterday we drove from Ouyen to Murrayville, then south along the famous Murrayville Track into Big Desert. For the first part of the journey we looked for Crimson Chats, but had no luck. For the southern part of the Murrayville Track, and then west along the Red Bluff Track, south along the Border Track and east along Red Bluff Road, we searched for Bustards, but did not see any. The Border Track is cut up so badly that it became impassable south of Red Bluff Road, so we had to abandon that part of the search and headed east along the Red Bluff Road – which was interesting as it basically goes through paddocks. It has long been a goal of mine to drive the Murrayville Track, so even without seeing Bustards at least one goal was reached!

After unsuccessfully searching Big Desert and the area between Big Desert and Telopea Downs for Bustards we head headed south through Kaniva then through Little Desert, completing a full-house of Victoria’s Mallee Parks. We decided to overnight at Hamilton so that we could search for Masked Owls to the west, but have easy access to Portland in the morning without having to drive for hours. After dinner we headed west to Casterton, then to Strathdownie to search for the owls. We searched Grubbed Road and Wilkin School Road in areas where the forest abuts open heath. We had no success, so decided to call it a night around midnight. We were driving along Grubbed Road heading to the Glenelg Highway, in a spot with forest and open heath between two plantations. In the headlights of the car, we saw an intermediate morph Masked Owl – a largish bird, brown wings and pale but quite noticeably mottled breast and underparts. FINALLY! This bird (along with Bustard) has been a bogey-bird for us for the entire year! Masked Owl – number 387 for the year! The owl noticed us and, grabbing its meal, slowly flew off to the forest in the distance.

This morning we headed to Portland and spent some time searching for Baillon’s Crake at the Aloca Wetlands with Rob Farnes. The weather has been so mild and still recently that there is not much point in seabird watching, as nothing is being blown into shore. From Portland we called in to Killarney Beach – but few birds there (not even the usual Sanderlings).

As we were driving home the car began to shudder – uh oh, something was wrong. At Inverleigh we pulled over into a service station and checked the wheels and tyres, but could find nothing wrong. I called my local Mitsubishi dealership and persuaded them to have a look at the car and sort out the problem first thing in the morning. Anyway, we proceeded to drive home and on the Princes Freeway near Werribee there was an incredible noise from the front right of the car, the car pulled violently to the right and I could see bits of something flying everywhere. I managed to pull over into the emergency lane, and waited for a gap in the traffic to assess the situation. I got out and saw that the front driver’s side tyre was completely shredded – our FOURTH shredded tyre of the year and our SECOND shredded tyre of the last two weeks.

I called RACV and they informed me that a tow truck would be there within the hour. I have to say that it is pretty hairy sitting in the emergency lane of the Princes Freeway with the trucks and cars zooming past, just inches from the mirror. At least it gave us a chance to check up on emails, make some calls and check Birdline. What should we notice? Two TEREK SANDPIPERS at the Western Treatment Plant. Now that is the definition of frustration – sitting in a disabled car with a bird we desperately need for our year list not more than a few kilometres away! By the time the car was sorted out we had lost light, and could not go for the bird. Let’s hope it’s still there in the morning!

So tomorrow we will search for the Terek at the WTP and continue our search for Baillon’s Crakes anywhere we can think of to look!

Paul Dodd and Ruth Woodrow

Currently back in Melbourne…

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