Williamstown, Melbourne 6th June

By Birding-Aus, on June 7th, 2011

Hi all,

I got this set of photos while at Williamstown yesterday: http://www.tonykeenebirds.co.uk/random/raptor1.html The bird came from the east along the shore line and then turned out over the harbour. After seeing the Silver Gulls ferociously mobbing a Kestrel minutes earlier, they surprisingly left this bird alone. I thought Square-tailed Kite at first, but the underwing pattern and tail aren’t right. Another thought entered my head, but that would be insanity. Note the large grey beak with black tip in the last photo. Any comments or suggestions welcome! This bird came at the end of a long weekend of fantastic fun birding – Ed Williams and I went up to Murray-Sunset and Hattah-Kulkyne NPs and managed to bag some really nice birds. On the Monday, I even managed to get Black-faced Cormorant in Williamstown and Swift Parrots at Royal Park. 31 lifers for the weekend (32 if this raptor is ID’d). I’m writing a trip report at the moment and I”ll post the link here later. Thanks to everyone who offered advice about Melbourne birding over the last couple of weeks. Cheers!

Tony

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martin cachard

June 7, 2011 at 10:08 pm

Hi Tony

No doubt at all that your bird is a young Swamp Harrier.

I had a Black-breasted Buzzard record in 1982, during the big drought at the time in Victoria, near Bacchus Marsh – it was of a single young bird with not much black on the chest, but it was certainly a definite BB Buzzard – you never know, one might turn up in Melb one day !!

I gave Ed a lot of good notes for Hattah-Kulkyne for many of the trickier birds, so curious how you guys went…??

Cheers

Martin Cachard Cairns 0428 782 808

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"Tony Keene"

June 7, 2011 at 4:33 pm

Many thanks to everyone who replied – some interesting suggestions and it looks like the Swamp Harrier has it. I’d not seen one in that plumage before, so it was nice to see. I didn’t really expect Black-breasted Buzzard down that far, but it was fun entertaining the notion for a few minutes… Still happy as I can add it to the year list. Thanks again and cheers!

"SeanDooley"

June 7, 2011 at 3:17 pm

Hi Tony,

I agree with Jeff, it is a juvenile Swamp Harrier. The underwing pattern is spot on, looking exactly like the illustration in HANZAB (the illustrator beiong one J. Davies!) and while the wing shape captured in the photos doesn’t look exactly typical of their jizz, I have seen Swampies hold their wings like this, (and they are certainly too broad for any falcon). The long tail alone rules out Black-breasted Buzzard which is what I think you may have been hoping for.

Sean Dooley