THE WESTERN TREATMENT PLANT: REVISIT

Since it has been a while since I last visited the WTP, early this morning my father and I travelled out to Werribee. A rare vagrant, the red-naped phalarope, had recently been seen at the treatment plant, so our plan was to check the mudflats around the bird hide for this bird.
As soon as we started travelling along Paradise Road the first main bird of the trip was seen. Perched on the ground was a spotted harrier, a great start to the visit. Unfortunately the harrier flew into the distance before I could photograph it. Soon we had arrived at the first two ponds of Lake Borrie.
The shores of the lake were covered in birds. Australian shelduck were everywhere throughout the lake, along with pink-eared duck, chestnut teal and grey teal. Along the road were a few Australian white ibises and straw-necked ibises. Perched on a few poles above the water were some more pink-eared ducks, as well as a little pied cormorant. As well as this, a single whistling kite had perched on top of the fence around the lakes.

This whistling kite allowed close approach

In my opinion pink-eared ducks are Australia's most beautiful duck

However, the Australian shelduck certainly comes a close second

As we continued driving we eventually reached the Little River. While driving along the river I noticed a strange bird swim away from the shore. On closer approach it turned out to be a great crested grebe, a lifer! As well as this, several musk ducks, Australian pelicans, chestnut teals, grey teals and black swans were hanging around the area.

The great crested grebe is probably the least common of Australia's grebes

This male musk duck was quite curious of our car, watching it as he swam away

Soon we had arrived at the bird hide. Unfortunately, due to the tide there were almost no birds on the mudflats in front of the hide. However, several small birds were flitting around in the scrub near the hide. I managed to see willie wagtails, white-browed scrubwrens and a new bird for my Victoria list, a single golden-headed cisticola. 

Though I have seen golden-headed cisticolas before, this is the first time I saw one in Victoria

As we continued on we stopped to see a distant but massive flock of birds perched on some rocks. Careful observation revealed the flock to be holding a variety of birds, though unfortunately the phalarope was not among them. Sharp-tailed sandpipers, curlew sandpipers, red-necked stints, Australian pied oystercatchers, chestnut teals, grey teals, silver gulls, greater crested terns and white-naped stilts were all among the flock, spread out over 3 rocky islets. The lakes near the point also held a few interesting birds, including two male blue-billed ducks and about 7 more musk ducks.

A day when you see blue-billed ducks is never a bad day

Finally, just near the entrance some rocks were holding a small flock of sharp-tailed sandpipers, along with a single red-kneed dotterel.

This sharp-tailed sandpiper is one of many that were sleepily resting on the rocks

In contrast, the red-kneed dotterel was more energetic, bullying sandpipers into giving up their spots

Then we left the plant. While leaving we saw a few more birds: some superb fairy-wrens, white-fronted chats and a single black-faced cuckoo shrike.
To summarise, the trip was extremely successful and we saw a variety of birds.