Five Mile Radius!

So I too am joining the 5MR revolution. It involves birds, lists and maps - a combination I could only resist for so long. Unfortunately it doesn't involve the metric system. But that's ok, I'm just going to stick with miles. That's what all the cool birders are doing. And also, I like consistency.

Jen of I Used to Hate Birds came up with the concept, and basically, you just keep a record of all the birds you see within a five-mile radius of your home. It encourages local birding, patch birding, green birding and all things good.

When I worked out my 5MR I found I already had 84 birds on my list. I also found that the last new species added were all the way back in 2016 - eep!

the billabong at Wilson's Reserve

There are a few places that I have birded quite regularly, like Wilson Reserve, which is where I got those last new birds - a Fairy Martin and an Australasian Darter. This spot has also gifted me some nice 5MR birds including Powerful Owl, Rufous Fantail, Bassian Thrush and Sacred and Azure Kingfishers.

Another nice little go-to spot has been Glen Iris Park with its small wetlands, and adjoining Dorothy Laver Reserve. This is where I saw my lifer Nankeen Night Heron when I started birding, as well as what I am pretty sure is my lone 5MR White-necked Heron. It's not bad for small park right next to the freeway.

a more recent young Nankeen Night Heron at Glen Iris Park wetlands

I also now have new-found motivation for some overdue local exploring. Looking at my 5MR on the map there are a few places I hadn't realised were so close to home, that I hadn't thought to visit before, or just hadn't gotten round to checking out. And a few I should probably go back to more often, like Wattle Park, where last time I saw this nice kookaburra.

I'm in your 5MR, eating your skinks.

Luckily there are also some pretty active local birders within my 5MR who report interesting sightings. It was thanks to one of these birders that I saw my first new species since I officially started my list.

OMGZ Corellas

I seem to take a while to post about things so this is a bit more autumn action from back in April. That's when the exotic Plane Trees in the streets around here were offering up some very fluffy and apparently very tasty seed balls.

mmm, seed balls...

This didn't not go unnoticed by the huge flocks of Little Corellas that have been descending on Melbourne to apparently attack trees, wreak havoc and have insane corella parties.

another three of the havoc-wreakers

I crossed paths with group of the cheeky guys in a suburban street when I happened to have my camera on board. They were well into the seed balls and I also had a hard time not running over some that were drinking from a puddle in the gutter. Classy.

plenty on the footpath, heaps more in the trees

Luckily most other cars also slowed down to let them get out of the way, though the corellas did take their sweet time about it. One nice passenger even got out to usher them off the road though it seems corellas don't really understand the concept of being ushered.

Autumn Happenings

So, it's autumn!

Pretty much as soon the action on the fig tree died down, Eastern Spinebills appeared in great numbers. By 'great numbers' I mean about five, but that is great numbers for my yard.

Eastern Spinebill

I got an iPhone video out the window of them doing their best hummingbird impressions on the grevillea. (Though it lost a lot of quality in the upload - oops!)




Then, on an Easter trip to the WTP I spied a few of our little winter visitors from New Zealand in the T-Section ponds.

a phonescoped Double-banded Plover

Another sure sign things are cooling down is Swift Parrots! Who doesn't love Swift Parrots? The first report I heard of them this season was along the bike trail through Tikalara Park in Templestowe. Luckily the stars aligned for me the following day and I managed to get out there after work. I got to watch a few of the parrots feeding in the late afternoon sun and a flock of at least 25 was zooming around overhead - so cool!

hello up there!