BIRDING THE BOX-IRONBARK

For this Sunday's birding trip my father and I decided to go on a walk in the Rise and Shine Bushland Reserve, organised by a friend of his, Clauda. The walk was in Castlemaine, and would travel through the fairly dry box-ironbark forests common to that region. I thought I might be able to get a few new birds on the trip and I was not disappointed.
First off we stopped at Clauda's father's house to have some drinks. Massive flocks of sulphur-crested cockatoos and feral pigeons were flying around, as well as house sparrows in the garden. After a quick tea we all went off to the walk, lead by Geoff Park.
We started off with a quick talk about the forest. Almost immediately around the carpark I spotted yellow-tufted honeyeaters, lifer fuscous honeyeaters and lifer rufous whistlers.  2 lifers in the first five minutes! Not a bad start. As we walked on the calls of crimson rosellas could be heard. Darting through the bush were more honeyeaters, as well as white-browed babblers, a black-faced cuckoo shrike and a lifer striated pardalote. An unidentified raptor flew over, a possible goshawk or sparrow hawk. As we came to a more open stretch of forest, along the edge of the forest next to a grassland, Geoff explained about the different species of tree in this area and how storm damage shaped the forest. Several magpie-larks and musk lorikeets were also flying around the grassland.

The fuscous honeyeater, one of the commoner honeyeaters of the Box-Ironbark

A young male rufous whistler, with the characteristic orange-brown underparts visible

A pretty bad photo of a striated pardalote

We stopped for morning tea in a rather productive clearing. As soon as we arrived a lifer female hooded robin was seen, sadly it didn't hang around and flew off too quickly for me to get photos. Fuscous honeyeaters and white-plumed honeyeaters were flying around, feeding on nectar from one tree. A large dead tree was holding 4 dusky woodswallows, including some younger birds. We continued on along the circuit, spotting a scarlet robin and hearing some weebills. Some people spotted some diamond firetails but by the time I got there they had flown away. We stopped for lunch and Clauda offered to take us to her cottage in the bush. The cottage was beautiful, and several lifer yellow-faced honeyeaters were flying around the front. Finally, we returned back to her father's house for lunch, before heading back to Melbourne.
BIRD LIST: (birds in bold are lifers)
1. Feral Pigeon
2. Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo
3. Musk Lorikeet
4. Crimson Rosella
5. White-Plumed Honeyeater
6. Yellow-Faced Honeyeater
7. Fuscous Honeyeater
8. Yellow-Tufted Honeyeater
9. Dusky Woodswallow
10. Hooded Robin
11. Scarlet Robin
12. Weebill
13. Magpie-Lark
14. Australian Magpie
15. Black-Faced Cuckoo-Shrike
16. Striated Pardalote
17. Rufous Whistler
18. House Sparrow
19. Little Raven

EDIT: Later going over my photos I spotted this one bird I can't identify. Does anyone know what this is? Sorry for the out of focus picture, but by the time I tried to get another pic the bird had flown off. At first I thought male hooded robin, but the belly is jet black. There is probably some obvious mistake I am making. Any ideas? (the image is cropped to show the bird).

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

CAIRNS Day 2: Birding around Kingfisher Lodge

On Day 2 I woke up early. Last night we had driven to Kingfisher Lodge and today we would be doing a guided tour on Mt. Lewis to try and see as many birds as possible.
As soon as we woke up the feeders were full of action, with pretty much all the birds at the previous post flying around and eating food. Most of the others staying in the Lodge were also there but the birds didn't really start to come in until they left! We looked around the Lodge for birds, seeing nothing that wasn't really at the feeder. Then our guide, Carol, arrived and took us out to Mt. Lewis.
First we went to a site where some blue-faced parrot finches had recently been seen. Right in front of the track going to the site was a huge flowering tree in which a variety of honeyeaters and lorikeets fed. Carol was fantastic, identifying birds with just a glimpse and telling us when to watch out for something just by its call. In the tree were several endemic bridled honeyeaters, as well as scarlet honeyeaters, dusky honeyeaters, rainbow lorikeets and scaly-breasted lorikeets. In a smaller tree nearby a lemon-bellied flycatcher and a grey whistler looked for insects.

A bridled honeyeater, endemic to Queensland

The scarlet-red male scarlet honeyeater

As we walked further on Carol heard a yellow-bellied boatbill and it almost immediately sprang to the path after she whistled its call. It was literally right on top of us, but it was too quick to take a photo that doesn't need some cropping.

Spot the boatbill

There were several other boatbills along the way but we didn't get any better pictures. Despite trying to call in the parrot finch at several places we didn't get to see one, but for me the boatbill and honeyeaters were good enough.
Then we drove up Mt. Lewis, stopping to spot mountain thornbills that enjoyed escaping my camera, as well as the occasional Atherton scrubwren which I actually managed to photograph. We reached the famed clearing but as the parrot finches had long since moved off the mountain we walked along the trail.

This Atherton scrubwren flutters along the side of the path

Almost immediately we came to a nest of fernwren that I would never have seen on my own. Atherton scrubwrens and yellow-throated scrubwrens danced fearlessly across the path. A little further off, grey-headed robins hid in the scrub as Bower's shrike thrush called.  At one of the few fruiting trees we got good looks at a beautiful tooth-billed catbird, meaning I have now seen every one of Australia's catbirds. (If the tooth-billed 'catbird' even counts as one). The highlight for me, though, was the chowchilla, a bird that I had always wanted to see since I saw its picture in my field guide. It took us a while, and we had to climb a bit through the forest, but I managed to see a male chowchilla and I don't think I will ever forget it.
Of course, none of these birds decided letting me take a photo would be a good idea. I'll be back!
Even when we went off Mt. Lewis there was still a surprise. Saying I had never seen the papuan frogmouth Carol offered to show me a pair. We drove there and got great looks. Now I've also seen all of Australia's frogmouths! Just for a nice bonus, I spotted an olive-backed sunbird and a brown cuckoo-dove there as well.

There are actually 3 Papuan frogmouths in this photo

It was a great trip and we would have seen only a tiny bit of what we'd seen if we didn't have Carol helping us out.
Plus I saw a bush stone-curlew on the way back to Cairns.

CAIRNS: Kingfisher Park Feeders

The feeders at Kingfisher Park attract a wide variety of birds. The owners of the property, Keith and Lindsay Fisher, regularly put out birdseed and fruit that attracts many birds for birders to wow at.
The birdseed attracts mostly red-browed finches, of which there are plenty around the Park. The main attraction at the feeders are the honeyeaters: you can reliably spot the endemic Macleay's honeyeater as well as Lewin's, yellow-spotted (also an endemic) and graceful honeyeaters. When fruit is left out the resident spotted catbirds also visit. Pale-yellow robins also visit, sneaking food. Finally, on the ground emerald doves, bar-shouldered doves and the occasional orange-footed scrubfowl or Australian brush turkey pick up what might have fallen. Though the Lewin's, yellow-spotted and graceful were all too quick for me to photograph (and 50% of the time I wasn't sure which one I was seeing) here are some pictures of the others.
To me several of those birds were lifers, or birds I had only quickly glimpsed once or twice.

The Macleay's honeyeater, endemic to Queensland, is easily seen at the feeders

Excuse the bad quality of this spotted catbird but I had to use my flash

A, well, emerald-green emerald dove

Again, excuse bad quality, but the light was a little dark. This is a pale yellow-robin.

My pictures, as normal, don't do the Park's feeder justice. I highly recommend staying there, for friendly hosts and great birding, even just in the lodge!

CAIRNS Day 1: The Esplanade

CAIRNS DAY ONE
On the first day of the Cairns Trip the first thing I did was go down to the Cairns Esplanade, seeing as our hotel was right next to it. The Esplanade is a well-known spot for waders in season, but we were mostly there for some other birds common in the area like varied honeyeaters and beach stone-curlews. The Esplanade has been considered the easiest place in Australia to see the varied honeyeater, which I hadn't seen yet. So early in the morning me and my mum walked out.
We were walking along the path when a cacophony of birdcalls drew our attention. We looked in a nearby tree and saw a rare Rufous owl! Many honeyeaters were mobbing the bird and it quickly flew off before we could get a photo. Apparently one of these owls once inhabited the area but left when its main food source, a colony of spectacled flying-foxes, left the area.

A bar-tailed godwit who for some reason didn't want to migrate

We walked down to the mudflats and walked along the path. Immediately we saw many bar-tailed godwits that obviously hadn't bothered to leave on migration. My mum's careful spotting yielded a small striated heron. Just behind that was another great bird, a beach stone-curlew!

A rare beach stone-curlew . . .

And the striated heron that was in front of it

Further on we saw many silver gulls and several Australian pelicans. Just in front of the path was a beautiful dark-form eastern reef egret. 

The slaty-grey dark form eastern reef egret

The main reason we went to the Esplanade was to see varied honeyeaters and they didn't disappoint. A particular tree was flowering and attracting many varied honeyeaters, along with a helmeted friarbird and some brown honeyeaters as well.

The varied honeyeaters were easily seen and their calls filled the air

This lone helmeted friarbird was another lifer that visited the tree

Finally brown honeyeaters are common throughout Cairns (this picture was taken at our hotel)

As we walked back we tried for the owl again but instead only saw a white-bellied cuckoo shrike. 

White-bellied cuckoo shrikes are also fairly common throughout Cairns

A Trip To Cairns

Due to many things happening I haven't posted since March, but I have started to re-start this blog again. Recently (this weekend) we visited Cairns for my birthday, and I managed to see many different birds.
The highlights were:
Visiting Kingfisher Park and seeing birds like Macleay's honeyeaters at the feeders
Seeing an unexpected rufous owl at the Esplanade
The weather (it is 27 degrees over there, and as I write this in Melbourne it's a chilly 14)
And seeing many Queensland endemics like chowchilla on Mt. Lewis

The endemic Macleay's honeyeater commonly visits the Kingfisher Park feeders

I will certainly be blogging about this trip.

SRI LANKA: A visit to Mannar

The far north of Sri Lanka is home to many migratory birds. Three of the island's flyways cross through the far north, meaning most migratory birds flying to Sri Lanka stop over in the north. Two places are well-known for birding because of this: Mannar and Jaffna. On this trip we had decided to drive the long way to Mannar, then Jaffna, so we got in the car and went for a drive. I saw my first lifer before we even left the Wet Zone of Sri Lanka.

SANDERLINGS!

As we drove along a beach I noticed terns flying and wheeling overhead, as well as waders on the beach. Thinking they were just little stints (a small wader that is fairly common in Sri Lanka) and redshanks (another common wader) I wandered down to the beach and realised they were sanderlings. They were running away from the waves and into the wet sand, looking for food. As I watched another lifer flew over my head, a gull-billed tern!

The gull-billed tern is a fairly common migrant to Sri Lanka's beaches and wetlands

However, soon we had to leave on our journey.

The whiskered tern is a very common migrant to wetlands throughout Sri Lanka

We kept driving, stopping at a wonderful wewa (a tank or large dam). Whiskered terns flew around us and caught fish, while a little cormorant stood patiently on a branch. As two lesser whistling-ducks landed on the water I saw a flock of spot-billed pelicans resting on a tree in the distance, and a grey heron flying past. 

Another reason many birders visit the north is because some Indian birds that aren't normally found in most of Sri Lanka are residents in the far north. As we neared Mannar we spotted one of these, the black drongo.

The black drongo is rare in Sri Lanka outside of the north, where it is very common

We saw many birds along the road from then. Indian rollers and crested hawk-eagles perched on the wires, while near water we saw little cormorants, spot-billed pelicans, Asian open bills and little egrets. 

The Indian roller is known as the 'dumbonna' or smoke-drinker in Sinhalese because of its habit of flying around fires to eat anything fleeing the flames

The majestic spot-billed pelican, a beautiful sight in one of the many wewas of Sri Lanka

Finally we arrived at Mannar. I could tell we arrived when a flock of northern pintails lifted off the water next to us. Jerdon's bushlarks fed in the grass, while a wood sandpiper fed in the mud. A brahminy kite flew overhead and barn swallows perched on the wires. 

A flock of male and female northern pintails

Barn swallows are common throughout Sri Lanka

Then we entered a causeway over a lagoon. We looked around but saw nothing until my father said 'Stop the car! Stop the car!' The car slid to a halt. We looked out of the window and saw a sight that made this entire long drive seem worth it:

The CRAB PLOVER!

The beautiful crab plover is the only wader known to dig its nest in sand, using the warmth of the ground to incubate its eggs. It is the only bird in the genus Dromas and family Dromadidae. Some consider it related to stone-curlews, pranticoles and thick-knees, while others consider it related to gulls and auks. It is one of the world's greatest birds, and a very, very rare migrant to Sri Lanka. I had come here with only a faint hope of spotting one in the wild, and I saw it.

A pair of common redshanks, a very common migrant to Sri Lanka's coast and wetlands

Of course, crab plovers weren't the only birds around. As Pallas's gulls, brown-hooded gulls and whiskered terns flew above us, a pair of redshanks fed in the mud.
Soon we had to leave for our accommodation in Mannar, and then do some more birding. But I'll leave that to my next post.