Jawbone Reserve with friends

One of my friends, who visited the Western Treatment Plant a few weeks ago, was interested in birdwatching with me again. So, early Monday morning, we headed out to Jawbone Reserve. I hadn't been to the reserve for a while, and was interested in seeing what had changed.
Our first stop was the arboretum. Here, several of Melbourne's commonest birds were present. Willie wagtails, white-plumed honeyeaters, blackbirds, spotted doves, little ravens, crested pigeons and house sparrows were all viewed with great enthusiasm. A pair of singing honeyeaters put on quite a show for us, allowing me to get some good photos. From the arboretum we were also able to see some distant birds in the nearby lagoons. A lone eastern great egret, along with several little pied and little black cormorants, was perched on the rocks. Some grey teal, chestnut teal, Eurasian coots and Pacific black ducks were also swimming in the surrounding water. Finally, a lone black-winged stilt was searching through the mud beside the rocks.

This is the first time I've seen singing honeyeaters in Jawbone

Though common, the white-plumed honeyeater is still quite a pretty bird

The little raven is the commonest of Victoria's 3 raven species

The Willie wagtail is actually a species of fantail: not related to the wagtails at all

Little black cormorants are fairly common in Melbourne

As we walked into the saltbush, a small flock of white-fronted chats flew overhead. 4 black swans were swimming at the nearby beach, along with chestnut teal, Pacific black ducks and grey teal. A few Eurasian starlings were perched on the rocks.
We then moved on to the hide. As usual, reed growth made it impossible to see the waterbird rookeries. We continued onwards and searched some larger lagoons for more waterbirds. Here, there were many hoary-headed and Australasian grebes, as well as most of the ducks previously seen. A few hardhead were also spotted, along with a little pied cormorant. A pair of beautiful royal spoonbills was flying overhead, as the surrounding shrubs buzzed with the calls of singing honeyeaters and superb fairy-wrens. Finally, several black-fronted dotterels were searching the edge of the lagoon for food.

The hoary-headed grebe is easily Victoria's commonest grebe

The Australian grebe is also fairly common, but looks much prettier

Black-fronted dotterels colonised New Zealand in the 1950s, and are now common there

The royal spoonbill feeds by sweeping its spoon-shaped bill through shallow water

You can tell that this is a male hardhead by its white eye-ring

I was surprised to find so many singing honeyeaters at the reserve!

We then headed home to enjoy the rest of the long weekend.