Superb Lyrebirds, Sherbrooke

What better way to break the winter birding hiatus I seem to experience than to immerse myself in the tall forest and wet gullies of Sherbrooke Forest in the Dandenong Ranges National Park. This is on the outer eastern fringe of the city of Melbourne and is well known for its Superb lyrebirds.

The conditions are tricky with dull light and dense vegetation. The photos can be a poor record of a wonderful experience! Lyrebirds have amazing mimicry skills. You cannot tick-off any bird relying on its call at Sherbrooke as you may well be listening to a male lyrebird.  

Here a male tries to intimidate another male with a barrage of calls and display - I endeavoured to catch some of this on video ....

The mimicry in this short grab includes calls of Golden whistler and what I think may be introduced species Common myna and European Blackbird. There happens to be an actual White-throated treecreeper calling above me. Today I also heard excellent mimicry of Yellow-tailed black cockatoo, Red wattlebird and Laughing kookaburra (one lyrebird mimicking the call of two duelling kookaburras!).

The video also shows a female foraging at the side of the Sherbrooke Falls trail. Each time I have seen a Lyrebird foraging in my recent visits, there has been a White-browed scrubwren getting in on the action.

iPhone shot showing a very tolerant female Superb lyrebird, Sherbrooke Falls

Female Superb lyrebird

Ugggh! Those muddy feet!

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Bird on!

Black honeyeater, Cockatiel in the wild, Goschen Reserve

Black honeyeater, Goschen Bushland Reserve (Dec 2013)

Goschen was gazetted to be a town. Streets were planned. A hall was built, a tennis court asphalted, a cricket oval marked out.

Goschen seems to be in the middle of nowhere, in the Victorian version of the outback, now miles and miles of wheat fields. The gazetted area is now a small bushland reserve, an oasis of dry country bush in a "desert" of wheat fields.

I visited Goschen for a few hours in December 2013 and was amazed at seeing birds I had not known you could see in Victoria. Highlights were "lifers" Black honeyeater and White-fronted honeyeater. While I "dipped" on Budgerigar and Pied honeyeater I was more than happy with other friends not often seen in Victoria (by me): Grey-crowned babbler, Rainbow bee-eater, Hooded robin, Spiny-cheeked honeyeater, Singing honeyeater and White-browed woodswallow.

Black honeyeater

The closest I have been to Cockatiel ever, Goschen (December 2013)

A slightly different angle and a little sun & blue sky … Cockatiel (Dec 2013, Goschen, Vic)

Another small group of cockatiel can be just made out in a dead branch, two thirds of the way up the picture centrally. 

and here's a close up!

Hooded robin can be vary obliging. This one seemed to follow me (it also seems to have a thing for cockatiel)!

Singing honeyeater

White-browed babbler

Distant view of a Rainbow bee-eater

Awful picture of a White-fronted honeyeater makes the post only because it was a LIFER!

Some Goschen scenes to put you in the picture:

The dilapidated hall

The old tennis court was surrounded by flowering gums

The edge of the reserve with adjacent wheat field

Same location as above looking out from the fence along the lines of stubble. 

I will definitely be back!

Bird on!

Curlew sandpiper - Phillip Island to Siberia

I'm still thinking about migratory birds this week.  Seeing these Curlew Sandpiper at Phillip Island's Observation Point late last month prompted to compare how they looked earlier in the southern hemisphere summer.

Curlew sandpiper among Red-necked stint, Observation Point, Phillip Island (November 2013)

Look at me now! All fat and coloured ready for the trip North! Curlew sandpiper, Observation Point, Phillip Island (March 2014)

Although we southerners are sending them off, any Northern hemisphere readers of this blog may feel that they are awaiting the return of birds home! ('Not that likely I guess considering readership numbers & the fact that I gather that these birds end up in the Siberian tundra!)

Another early summer view of  Curlew sandpiper (at right) in December (2012 actually), Western Treatment Plant, Werribee

Birdlife Australia are promoting awareness of the movements of migratory shorebirds currently:

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Bird on!

Sooties & Hoodies, Kitty Miller Bay, birds of Phillip Island

I've just returned home from a most pleasant Phillip Island weekend culminating in a Kitty Miller Bay sunset. At high tide there were only a few birds on view and in fading light even fewer photographic opportunities.

I have found Kitty Miller reliable for Hooded plover, Pied and Sooty oystercatcher, White-faced heron, cormorants and there is generally a resident Black-shoulder kite hovering somewhere nearby. I can also remember seeing Red-capped and Double banded plover, White-fronted chat, European Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

Sooty oystercatcher

Hooded plover. As I was taking the shot I had the feeling that it was sort of standing in the back yard or even living room of "it's place"

One of three Hoodies present this afternoon at Kitty Miller. I am in inclined to find a little of this banded bird's history 

 

My focus shifted from the (absence of) bird photography opportunities to the light from the setting sun. Apologies for not being able to exclude a few pictures!

From the car park. Late afternoon light, Kitty Miller Bay, Phillip Island

Looking east from the Kitty Miller Bay headland, the wreck of the Speke can be seen at left

Wreck of the Speke

Pyramid Rock on the horizon, Phillip Island

Looking towards Seal Rocks (just visible on the horizon at left). People would be settling in for a Penguin Parade along the beach on the other side of this headland.

Links:

• Eremaea bird list for Kitty Miller Bay
• Another enthusiast's field trip to Kitty Miller Bay (not a birder - a rock fossicker! Funny how people find interest and delight in different things at the same place. Fancy obsessing about some particular niche of nature (wink, wink) - how weird are those fault-finding, mud-worrying volcano-pokers? (Just stole all those names from this piece on Geology at Uncyclopedia).

Bird on!

Only dropped in for a Chat, but I'll be back!

With a couple of young teens in tow I managed a truncated reconnaissance visit to the Wonthaggi Heathlands last weekend. The car is left at a small car park at the southern end of Chisolm Rd and we blundered on down the track that heads for Cutler's Beach. There has been much rain in the area and our chosen track was one of the many that had become waterlogged.

White-fronted chat, Wonthaggi Heathlands

We were forced to turn around when the track turned into a quicksand-like slurry. This was not before a nice feeling about the place had fallen upon me. The habitat and scenery are pleasing. The place has an unspoilt feel about it and with such species as Southern emu-wren on the target list I'll be back!

As we left I noticed a sign announcing two Heathland Circuit Walks (short and long, 1.6k and 4.2k) which may have been a better choice! Next time I'll go better armed perhaps with the Eremaea bird list for Wonthaggi Heathlands (91 birds over 16 lists). It also contains this useful advice:

Fire dam is a great place to sit down and let the birds come to you.

Of course this may not apply at the moment as there is no shortage of watering spots!

A stone's throw from such interesting human interventions as the Wonthaggi Wind Farm and Victorian Desalination Plant

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Bird on!