Main front of swifts reaches Victoria

 G’day bird enthusiasts On Tuesday I searched eastern Gippsland’s best known sites for White-throated Needletails and found them at only one site.  On Wednesday I repeated the search and found them at seven sites.   While a few observers have seen the occasional flock in Victoria over the last four weeks and reporters in SE Qld and Nth NSW have been seeing many flocks, I believe these sightings mark the arrival of the main migration front to Victoria. The places I found them were along the Princes Highway between the NSW border and 3 km W of the T/O to Club Terrace.  The long vehicle Turnaround 200m up Drummer Rd, from the Thurra River Rest Area, on Princes Hwy. was as usual the most reliable site and is the only place I found them on Tuesday. The places I did not find them were the Cann Valley Hwy up to the border, the Princes Hwy W of near the T/O to Club Terrace, as far as Bairnsdale via Lakes Entrance & via  Bruthen: All the tracks around Cape Conran,  Yeerung R, & Gorge, Cabbage Tree Reserve, Marlo Plains Rd, Airport, Marlo.  (Len Axen saw a flock near Yeerung a week ago) So I predict that we will start seeing more flocks around these latter areas in a day or two and in the forest closer to Melbourne in a week or two.  If you are in these areas please keep your eyes open and let me know how many you see. Many thanks for all the observations from NSW & Qld. Happy swift watching Mike Tarburton   ————————- Email sent using Optus Webmail