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.

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!