VISITING PHILLIP ISLAND

For Easter we decided to travel to Phillip Island. Though it was mostly my sister's idea and she mostly went to tourist spots, I still got to do a bit of birding at the Nobbies and at Swan Lake.

A white-faced heron stands next to the boardwalk at the Nobbies

The Nobbies was the first place we visited. However, it was really quiet. All we saw were 6 Pacific gulls, 2 little penguins hiding under the boardwalk and a lone white-faced heron. However, when we were about to leave I saw a bird flying quickly toward the rocky island offshore, too quickly for a gull. I zoomed in on it with my camera and took a pretty bad-quality photo (too bad to show here) and realised it was a peregrine falcon! Cool, but not that surprising since they have apparently been recorded nesting on the cliffs of that island.

2 Australian Shelduck swimming around in Swan Lake

The second place we visited was Swan Lake. We saw much more birds there. At the first bird hide overlooking a stretch of grassland a variety of birds were present. All the usual suspects like chestnut teal, Pacific black duck, masked lapwing, dusky moorhen, Australian white ibis, straw-necked ibis, hoary-headed grebe and Australian wood duck were there, but the birds of the day were about 10 Australian shelduck peacefully feeding just near the hide. There was also an Eastern great egret flying overhead, which eventually landed at the far bank of the lake. White-browed scrubwren and brown thornbill were also flying around in the shrubs next to the hide. Since we were on Phillip Island there was no shortage of Cape Barren geese: we saw many around the hides. Finally, there were purple swamphens flying around the lake. The other hide had basically more of the same, but also had 2 black swans. As we were walking back we spotted little wattlebird, red wattlebird and New Holland honeyeaters in flowering trees near the carpark.

A white-browed scrubwren in one of the shrubs near the hide

SPECIES SEEN:
1. Pacific Black Duck
2. Chestnut Teal
3. Australian Wood Duck
4. Australian Shelduck
5. Cape Barren Goose
6. Black Swan
7. Hoary-Headed Grebe
8. Australian White Ibis
9. Straw-Necked Ibis
10. Australian Pelican
11. White-Faced Heron
12. Eastern Great Egret
13. Peregrine Falcon
14. Purple Swamphen
15. Dusky Moorhen
16. Pacific Gull
17. Silver Gull
18. Brown Thornbill
19. White-Browed Scrubwren
20. Red Wattlebird
21. Little Wattlebird
22. New Holland Honeyeater
23. Little Raven
24. Australian Magpie
25. House Sparrow
26. Common Myna

MUSK DUCKS AT LAKE WENDOUREE

Today we went out to Lake Wendouree. We didn't see much of interest, however there were many Musk Ducks. While walking around the lake we saw literally 15 Musk Ducks! I got a lot of photos of them, and here I will share them.
The Musk Duck is one of Australia's many endemics, meaning Australia is the only place on Earth to see them. They are rather uncommon, and Lake Wendouree is one of the best places to see them, as well as the blue-billed duck, though we didn't see any blue-billed ducks today. The male Musk Duck can easily be told apart from the female by the 'wattle' that hangs down from its bill.
Now enough writing, let's get to the photos!

Here you can see the distinctive wattle of the male

A juvenile puffs out its chest as it swims

A female swimming through waterweed

A juvenile shoots its head up

A shot of the male from before, but at a distance

BIRDING THE ZOO

Today my family and I travelled to the Melbourne Zoo. We were there so my sister and I could see the captive animals, but I was also keeping a look out for the many native birds that hang around the zoo. 

Throughout the zoo, Indian mynas, white-plumed honeyeaters, rainbow lorikeets and house sparrows were common, as well as bell miners. As most of you probably know, there is a colony of bell miners in the zoo's carpark and in the Outback Area: this colony seems to have extended throughout most of the zoo, which is odd as bell miners don't normally 'extend' territories. 

A greater comorant, a common sight at Pelican Lake

Nankeen night herons have been recorded roosting at the lake for a long time

The main birding spot within the zoo is Pelican Lake. This lake is next to the orang-utan exhibit, and has captive Pelicans. However, wild greater cormorant, dusky moorhen and Nankeen night heron also frequent the lake. On other occasions I have also seen chestnut teal, Pacific black duck and little pied cormorant here. The night herons have been recorded roosting in the area quite some time ago, and the zoo's lake remains one of the best places in Melbourne to see them. There are also captive eastern snake-necked turtles in the lake. The trails near it are also an OK spot to see song thrush and blackbird hiding in shrubs, though I didn't see any today.

A bell miner perched on a branch at the Outback Area

Two female Australian wood ducks in the Outback pond

The Outback area is an area containing various Australian marsupials and 'bush' birds: wombats, koalas, kangaroos and wallabies are exhibited, as well as a variety of bird species in a large aviary. The eucalypts all around the Outback area make it good for honeyeaters and lorikeets. Bell miners are always everywhere in the area, and both species of wattlebird, as well as most of the commoner honeyeaters, can be seen here as well. A big surprise was spotting an Eastern spinebill in shrubs outside the aviary: I haven't seen this species in the zoo area before. The eucalypts of the Outback area can attract rainbow lorikeets, musk lorikeets, white-plumed honeyeaters, red wattlebirds, bell miners and little wattlebirds. A large pond in the Outback area attracts many ducks: grey teal, Australian wood duck, chestnut teal and Pacific black duck can easily be seen. On one occasion I saw a wandering whistling-duck there, though it was probably a captive bird. On this occasion the whistling-duck was gone and a blue-billed duck was there. Most likely these were both captive birds.

There isn't much else to see in terms of birding the zoo: though rarer species sometimes visit the Outback area in summer (at one point an olive-backed oriole was supposedly nesting in this section), and Eurasian tree sparrow are sometimes seen around the Japanese Garden and end of the 'Asian Forest' section.