Hi all,
Last weekend we stretched ANZAC Day into a four-day weekend and headed for Chiltern (Vic) to look for Regent Honeyeaters and all the other local specialties. On our first morning at Bartley’s Block we bumped into Paul and Ruth and Paul gave us a few tips for Grey-crowned Babbler, Barking Owl and Double-banded Finch from his and Ruth’s 2010 Vic Big Year. We followed up his leads and found all these birds, with the Double-bars being in Wodonga, just where they are shown on the BirdLife Birdata site.
After finding the Double-bars and buying some lunch we were driving down Laurence Street, a wide street with light stanchions out over the road, when Joy hit the brakes and pulled over. We jumped out with binos and camera and stared up at a beautiful Australian Hobby on one of the stanchions. We then saw an older man with a geriatric dog watching us, and smiled at him. He looked at us, then the bird and said, “what is it?” Joy said “It’s a Hobby”. The man then replied, honest he really did, “Yes, I thought it was your hobby, but what sort of bird is it?” We explained all about the Hobby and now one Wodonga man knows more about birds and we had the pleasure of participating in a real-life, un-scripted, impromptu, stand-up comedy routine. Birding is such fun.
A late afternoon visit to Greenhill Dam at Chiltern gave us wonderful views of Regent Honeyeaters coming in to bathe and drink as well as a fly-by of a White-backed Swallow. The forest is alive with Noisy and Little Friarbirds at the moment too. I have never seen or heard so many and their calls dominated wherever we went. With the many hundreds of friarbirds in full throat the dawn choruses were particularly noisy and I will remember them for many years.
On Friday night we got take-away hamburgers and fish and chips after failing to find any White-throated Nightjars at Cyanide Dam (yes, I know it’s a bit late in the year but hey, ya got to try). Chatting with the woman in the shop we said we were bird watchers and she asked if we were looking for Barking Owls, and then gave us some suggestions on where to try. It seems like the Chilternittes are very aware of their birds and the benefits of having birders in town.
Next we wanted to see some Grey-crowned Babblers so we headed down to the Killawarra Forest to look for a couple of places where Paul had said we should try. It took a while but finally, at the last spot we tried, there they were, a small family of 5 birds. We drove back to Chiltern via back farm roads checking roadside dams for water birds. We saw surprisingly few, some Grey Teal and a few Wood Duck, but we did see a hunter beside one dam with a double-barrelled shotgun over his arm. I guess the ducks have either gone to NSW or Werribee.
All up we saw just over a hundred species of birds. We decided that bird of the trip was the Barking Owl. It only just won because the Double-barred Finches and Grey-crowned Babblers came in a close second and third. Surprise bird of the trip, that we awarded a “highly commended” mention, was a Tree Sparrow that we saw feeding in front of our cabin at the caravan park. Included in our total were six species of robin; Rose, Flame, Scarlet, Eastern-yellow, Red-capped and Jackie Winter.
cheers
Jenny http://jenniferspryausbirding.blogspot.com.au/ ===============================
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