STARLINGS IN MY GARDEN

Of the three species of starling in Australia, 2 can be found in Victoria, and 2 in my garden. The common myna has been discussed in an earlier blog post, but I still have not talked about common starlings in my garden.
The common starling Sturnus vulgaris, like the common myna, is not native to Australia. It is native to Eurasia, and is one of the main introduced bird pests in Australia, though it is not as bad as the common myna. Thankfully, they are fairly rare in the suburb of Melbourne I live in. They are glossy black, with purple and green iridescence and a yellowish bill, as well as reddish feet. In autumn they have large white spots on the tips of their body feathers, and their bills are dark and legs are brown, but these colours and spots decrease with wear. During the breeding season, adults are glossy black and do not have any spots at all. Young birds are a duller grey-brown, and can be very confusing to new birders.
In my garden, common starlings are very rare. They will sometimes come to feed on the lawn, along with flocks of house sparrows and a few spotted doves and common mynas, when we are not in the garden. If we get too close to the windows, then they, along with the other birds in the flocks, will fly away. Sometimes, they can be seen up in the tall eucalyptus trees on the other side of the street my house is on.
Here is a photo of a starling in one of these trees, showing its many white spots.

Search for the Shoveler: The Sequel

Back in 2011, I blogged about trying and failing to spot a vagrant northern shoveler at the Western Treatment Plant. I said I would try again, but the bird flew off too quickly and before I could organise another trip. Well, this year, another shoveler showed up at the Treatment Plant. It was Sunday, we weren't going to do anything, the morning was free, so we all went and tried to spot the shoveler.
At first, I was a bit worried about some Conservation Fires that would be started around Lake Borrie, which is where the shoveler was supposed to be. Unfortunately, by the time we had discovered this we were already at the Treatment Plant. We decided to try birding anyway, but we started out at the Western Lagoons instead. This proved to be a good decision, for it brought me 3 lifers.
As we drove into the lagoons, the calls of golden-headed cisticolas filled the air, as the cisticolas hopped about in the reeds and sang their songs. A black kite flew by overhead, the first of the raptor species we would see that day. We got into the car and drove slowly along Coastal Road. In the second pond of the lagoon, we spotted a flock of banded and white-naped stilts feeding, along with about 8 hoary-headed grebes, before heading on.

A golden-headed cisticola perching on a wire by the side of the road

One of the banded stilts in the flock at the second pond

Soon, we reached another pond, where I spotted hoary-headed and Australasian grebes. At the Treatment Plant, the Australasian grebe is normally seen only in the cleanest of the ponds and is not that common, so I took a photo of the grebe and then we drove on again. It was now that our first lifer showed itself.

An Australasian grebe that was in the pond

My dad quickly stopped the car. I asked him why we had stopped, and he wordlessly pointed to the road. A small flock of finches were feeding on the ground, and I immediately recognised them as my lifer zebra finches!

Most of the birds in the flock were immatures, like the one shown above, but there were also a few adult birds. We chased after the flock as, out at sea, Pacific black ducks and chestnut teals fed with royal spoonbills. Finally, it started to rain and we gave up, deciding to head back home. We drove out of the lagoons, just as it thankfully stopped raining. While getting out of the car to shut the gate, I saw a small bird hop into a pool of water near some reeds. Thinking it might be a crake, I slowly and quietly approached the bird. It darted away swiftly, but not swiftly enough for me not to identify it. It was my second lifer, a little grassbird!

My lifer little grassbird, hopping on a clump of grass

We decided to head back up the road. There were several brown falcons perched on posts. Most of them were the commoner light form, though some of them were dark form birds.

A dark form brown falcon

A light form brown falcon

Just then, we turned around a corner, and there, in the grass, was my third lifer . . .

A SPOTTED HARRIER!

It flew up from the grass, looking for prey, but not quickly enough to escape my camera. Three lifers in one day! I hoped I could spot the shoveler and make that four instead of three.

We drove down to Lake Borrie, ignoring the many Willie wagtails that hopped up and down on the fence. Soon, we had reached the lake. We saw many birders watching for something down at one part of the lake. We drew up to them. We looked. And there, out in the clear water of Lake Borrie were . . .

2 musk ducks.

We waited a little while and asked the birders if they had seen the shoveler. One of them said "I saw it from the other side of the Lake, but I can't find it now." We stayed for a while, but my father had a meeting to go to, so, to the calls of the black-shouldered kites that were hunting overhead, we left the Treatment Plant.

One day, I will get that bird!

LIST OF SPECIES

1. BLACK SWAN

2. PACIFIC BLACK DUCK

3. CHESTNUT TEAL

4. GREY TEAL

5. MUSK DUCK

6. AUSTRALASIAN GREBE

7. HOARY-HEADED GREBE

8. AUSTRALIAN PELICAN

9. WHITE-FACED HERON

10. ROYAL SPOONBILL

11. AUSTRALIAN BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE

12. SWAMP HARRIER

13. SPOTTED HARRIER

14. BLACK KITE

15. PURPLE SWAMPHEN

16. EURASIAN COOT

17. MASKED LAPWING

18. WHITE-NAPED STILT

19. BANDED STILT

20. SILVER GULL

21. BROWN FALCON

22. GALAH

23. RED WATTLEBIRD (in a tree on the way to the treatment plant)

24. BLACK-FACED CUCKOOSHRIKE

25. WILLIE WAGTAIL

26. LITTLE RAVEN

27. WELCOME SWALLOW

28. LITTLE GRASSBIRD

29. GOLDEN-HEADED CISTICOLA

30. ZEBRA FINCH 

LIFERS: 3

NEW BIRDS FOR MY VICTORIA LIST: 4

TARGET BIRD SIGHTINGS: 0

A VISIT TO THE BOTANICAL GARDENS

I am sorry for my long absence, iPhoto was not working so I could not access my photos for this blog. Anyway, recently I went on a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens with my family as a outing with lunch.

The trip started with us all walking to the ornamental lake, spotting a little wattlebird feeding on some lavender and a common blackbird hiding in a bush. When we got to the lake, I spotted some very tame purple swamphens, Eurasian coots and dusky moorhens on a green, grassy lawn. On a dead branch was a little black cormorant, and far across the lake on a small island were 3 nankeen night herons.

The little black cormorant 

One of the nankeen night herons

As we walked further on, we saw more of the same birds. The ringing calls of bell miners filled the air and we saw some in the tall eucalyptus trees. We reached a small pond and spotted what I believe is a hoary-headed grebe, swimming in the water, as an Australian wood duck grazed on a nearby lawn.

The hoary-headed grebe

An Australian wood duck

We came to a cafe overlooking the lake, and ordered something to eat, namely scones with cream and jam. In the part of the lake the cafe was next to, I spotted chestnut teals, Eurasian coots, Pacific black ducks, dusky moorhens and a single black swan.

A black swan

A male chestnut teal. Females are dull grey-brown, with an orangish-brown breast

After exploring the lake, we walked over to a site named 'Gulliver's Volcano', where there were lots of cool-looking arid area plants, mostly being cacti, but with a few other plants. I saw two pied currawongs fly into a tree.

A Sturt's Desert Pea, the national plant of South Australia, at Gulliver's Volcano

A pied currawong perched into a tree

After that, we went off to the kids garden. In a tree, I spotted a lot of rainbow lorikeets as a little raven walked on the grassy lawns of the ground. Then, we went to the gift shop and I brought a book about birding in Victoria.
All in all, it was a wonderful family outing, though not so wonderful in birds.