Weekend in Portland

Since school holidays had begun last week, I spent this weekend in Portland. My family and I stayed one night in the town, leaving late the next day. Our main goal was to search the Lee Breakwater area for brown skua, a bird that sometimes visits the breakwater in winter. Though we were unsuccessful, we still saw a variety of other birds.

Most birdwatching was done along Lee Breakwater Road, and at the breakwater itself. Around the breakwater were many black-faced cormorants and silvergulls. A lone Pacific gull was also seen on the breakwater. We visited the breakwater 4 times, but were unable to find the skua. We later heard from a local fisherman that the skua hadn't been seen for a while. The foreshore around the breakwater held masked lapwings, kelp gulls, crested terns, little black cormorants, little pied cormorants and Australian pied oystercatchers.

The crested tern is Victoria's commonest species of tern

Kelp gulls are a recent arrival to Australia, colonising southern Victoria in the 1940s

This immature kelp gull looks totally different to the adult

The Australian pied oystercatcher is one of two oystercatchers in Australia

Black-faced cormorants are endemic to Australia

We also visited the gannet colony at Point Danger, where we saw large numbers of Australasian gannets, both at the colony and at a distance on Lawrence Rocks.

Point Danger has Victoria's only mainland colony of Australasian gannets

Thousands of Australasian gannets were resting on Lawrence Rocks

Returning to Long Forest

After a long while, today I decided to visit Long Forest Conservation Reserve, with my father and some friends. This time, we walked along the Happy Valley Track. On the way to the reserve, we saw a large flock of red-rumped parrots perched on a fence beside the road.
Initially, few birds were seen. A small flock of brown thornbills, a lone flame robin and 2 weebills quickly moved through the forest as we walked along the trail. A common bronzewing startled us when it suddenly flew out of the bushes and landed in a nearby tree, allowing us to get some photos.

The common bronzewing is one of 3 bronzewing pigeons in Australia

We then came into a gully filled with flowering gum trees. Immediately, we were surrounded by calling yellow-tufted honeyeaters, as well as lifer brown-headed honeyeaters. A single scarlet robin darted into a distant tree, as several 'yellow-rumped' spotted pardalotes searched the tops of trees for food.

Victoria's national bird is a rare subspecies of the yellow-tufted honeyeater

The brown-headed honeyeater feeds mainly on insects

As we headed back to the carpark, we came across several large bull ants and took a few photos of them.

Most bull ants have very large eyes for their size.

Back to the Bluff

For the Easter weekend, we decided to drive down to Barwon Bluff and explore the rockpools again. We were unable to explore the intertidal platform, but we did get a look at various species on the basalt platform. Rocks high up on the beach were encrusted in blue periwinkles, ribbed top shells, false limpets, variegated limpets, tube worms and striped conniwinks. A rock lower down to the shore also held a few wine-mouthed lepsiellas. We searched several large rockpools in the basalt boulder field, and were able to find a few large zebra fish in one of the deeper pools, though they quickly hid underneath some algae when we approached. A little later, after the tide had swept over much of the boulder field, we spotted a few young zebra fish, as well as two biscuit stars and a single common seastar hiding in crevices. Some of the basalt boulders were coated in honeycomb barnacles, and black nerites hiding in small gaps. Bird-wise, some crested terns and silvergulls were flying overhead as we searched through the rockpools.

Large honeycomb barnacles joined black nerites and false limpets on this rock.

We saw many ribbed top shells throughout the beach

As always, periwinkles were abundant, clinging to rocks high on the beach

The wine-mouthed lepsiella feeds on barnacles and tube worms

Biscuit stars vary greatly in colour: compare this star to the one below.

This biscuit star, in contrast to the last one, was bright pinkish-red

Striped conniwinks were common pretty much throughout the beach

Hundreds of tube worms and false limpets were clinging to this rock

Just as before, we saw a great variety of marine animals. However, this time we saw far fewer seabirds, probably because it wasn't as windy, so shearwaters and gannets weren't being driven towards the shore.

Barwon Bluff Rockpooling

My class went out to Barwon Bluff on a school excursion today. We were to measure the distribution of various animals in the area, and note our observations. I brought my camera, and was able to get several good pictures of the wildlife we saw.
Bird-wise, the most interesting sighting was a small flock of short-tailed shearwaters flying close to shore. A lone Australasian gannet also flew past. From the basalt section of the beach, many silvergulls and some fishing greater crested terns were visible. Perhaps sea-watching at the bluff is something I should try out this winter? I know albatrosses have been reported from the site in the past. Later on, when we stopped for lunch, I passed the time by getting a few close-up shots of the many inquisitive silvergulls.

The mottling on the wing and black bill show this is an immature silvergull

The red bill of this silvergull shows that it is an adult bird

We explored rockpools on both calcarenite and basalt rock platforms. The calcarenite platform was covered in a living carpet of Neptune's Necklace, with Encrusting Coraline Algae and Baitweed coating the rocks. Pools held Neptune's String algae. A variety of molluscs were seen here. Higher up on the shore were many blue periwinkles, little horse mussels and six-plated barnacles. Slightly lower down, rocks and crevices were filled with a mix of variegated limpets, striped conniwinks, turban shells, false limpets and ribbed top shells. A lone purple-mottled shore crab was found on the rocks near the base of the Bluff's cliffs. Finally, several green anemones lurked in the crevices of a few rockpools. The diversity of molluscs decreased as we moved closer to the wave line.

Green anemones were present in most of the rockpools we surveyed

A turban shell tucked behind some small Neptune's necklaces

It's pretty easy to see how ribbed top shells got their name

The purple-mottled shore crab was put in a bucket of water, before being released

You can tell a purple-mottled shore crab's gender by the length of its tail

The calcarenite platform was covered in a layer of algae, mainly Neptune's necklace

A cluster of little horse mussels, beside some six-plated barnacles and blue periwinkles

Many blue periwinkles had attached themselves around this variegated limpet

This rock platform was entirely submerged at high tide

A variegated limpet with attached six-plated barnacles, and a few nearby false limpets.

We then moved onto the basalt platform. Here, we were immediately able to find a few clusters of black nerites, a single dog whelk, a little green seastar and many of the previously mentioned molluscs. After discussing the microhabitats of the basalt platform, we searched the platform for life. By turning over basalt boulders, I saw a stunning green chiton, several young elephant snails and many more black nerites. Large rockpools held a small school of young zebrafish, though I was unable to get any good photos of them. Finally, a common seastar was seen in one of the shallower rockpools.

A view of the large rockpool where the zebrafish school was seen

The elephant snail is one of the specialties of the Barwon Bluff basalt

Dog whelks feed by drilling into limpets and sucking out their bodies

As its name suggests, the little green seastar is both little and green

The stomach of this little green seastar is visible, which means it recently ate

The green chiton is a common sight on the undersides of basalt boulders at the bluff

For obvious reasons, the common seastar is also known as the eight-armed seastar

Just as we were leaving, the tide began to cover the basalt platforms

Black nerites are adapted for life in the crevices and holes of basalt boulders

The trip was great, and hopefully I might be able to visit the site again sometime.

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.