BIRDING IN PHILLIP ISLAND

For the long weekend we were planning to re-visit French Island but the ferries had issues so we travelled to Phillip Island. Since we had our bikes that we were going to bring to French Island we decided to do a bike ride on Phillip Island, and we chose Churchill Island. 

The island, although small, was very scenic. Along the beach there were black swans swimming in the water and flying past. Perched on the rocky beach were little pied cormorants and little black cormorants. Nothing too special, but the grassy fields were full of Cape Barren geese! They were walking across the track and feeding on seeds. Masked lapwings, purple swamp hens and Australian magpies were also feeding on insects in the field. While having lunch, I saw an Indian peafowl wandering across the island: I believe this bird is rather well-known to the staff, who have named him Gregory. In the trees nearby I also saw white-plumed honeyeaters, grey shrike-thrush, little wattlebirds, red wattlebirds, superb fairy-wrens and silvereyes. Finally there were Welcome swallows flying around everywhere. Not good, but not bad either. As we left we saw lots of Australian pelicans flying over. We stopped over at a wetland on the side of the road, which had chestnut teal, white-faced herons, more geese and more pelicans. 

A Cape Barren Goose at Churchill Island

After visiting Amaze-n'Things (I spotted a laughing kookaburra flying above the maze, and several were calling as we tried and failed to get through, and there were also some galahs in the nearby pine trees) we went across to Swan Lake. Though the shearwater nests were everywhere, there was no sign of them: at that time the shearwaters would still be at sea. We saw three swamp wallabies hopping around, including one drinking water! A decent amount of waterbirds were there: lots of chestnut teal,  masked lapwings, little black cormorants, little pied cormorants, hoary-headed grebes, Pacific gulls, purple swamphens, and Eurasian coots. A mudflat in the distance also held black-winged stilts and black-fronted dotterels, but sadly none of the migrant plovers. Finally the grassland next to the lake was filled with feeding Cape Barren geese: Phillip Island must be one of the best places to see them. On our walk back we also saw a grey currawong and some brown thornbills.

A Welcome Swallow perched on a fence at Churchill Island

A Swamp Wallaby drinks water from Swan Lake (only freshwater lake on the island)

A juvenile Pacific Gull tries out a little freshwater

SPECIES LIST:

1. Chestnut Teal

2. Cape Barren Goose

3. White-Faced Heron

4. Little Black Cormorant

5. Little Pied Cormorant

6. Australian Pelican

7. Dusky Moorhen

8. Purple Swamphen

9. Silver Gull

10. Pacific Gull

11. Galah

12. Laughing Kookaburra

13. Superb Fairy-Wren

14. Brown Thornbill

15. Grey Shrike-Thrush

16. White-Plumed Honeyeater

17. Little Wattlebird

18. Red Wattlebird

19. Little Raven

20. Silvereye

21. House Sparrow

22. Eurasian Starling