5MR Update

Here's a little update from the first two months of my 2019 5MR challenge!

I got off to a pretty good start in January. I tried to make some grey bars into green bars and got out to a few local places in the weeks they were missing eBird lists.

At Burke Road Billabong Reserve I found some pretty nice local birds like Red-browed Finch, Sacred Kingfisher and Common Bronzewing in the first couple of weeks.

Eastern Yellow Robins can also be found along this path 

and here is a cute little Fairywren near the picnic table

and a female Red-Rumped Parrot from just over the river

I knew that Fairy Martins would probably be nesting under the Burke Road bridge near the reserve so they were easy to find for the year list - and great to watch going in and out of their little mud nests.

5MR birding is not always pretty

a couple of the nests way up high

I'd checked out Huntingdale Wetlands a few times over summer looking for some crakes or rails or maybe even a Latham's Snipe. Previous eBird lists and increasing areas of exposed mud gave me some hope.

the wetlands

I had no luck with any of those skulky species but instead was pleasantly surprised by a White-Necked Heron on my visit in January - only my second sighting of one of these in my 5MR ever.

aka Pacific Heron

Too bad the Masked Lapwings weren't so happy to see it and they ended up chasing it off.

I visited Wurundjeri Walk with my mum one weekend morning before it go too hot and added Tawny Frogmouth. We have seen them here before but this one I noticed by chance in a different spot when I was following a Musk Lorikeet through the binoculars. It's cool when birds help you find other birds.

the cute-and-fat pose

Besides hearing a couple calling at my place this is my only 5MR Frogmouth of the year so far.

In mid-January a Spotless Crake was reported from Wilson Reserve and luckily I was able to refind it - a new 5MR bird, not just for this year. Yay!

Towards the end of the month I made another trip to Albert Park which is probably the only place in my 5MR where I will see Pied Stilt, and also added a fly-by Long-billed Corella to the list and found a single Hardhead amongst all the Eurasian Coots, Black Swans and Pacific Black Ducks.

one of the reliable Stilts

and one lone Hardhead

I finished off the month with a visit to Wattle Park to see if there were any Gang Gang Cockatoos. I'd seen or heard them on previous visits and eBird suggests they are quite regular there. I heard the nice creaky gate call only a few minutes after arriving.  There were maybe up to six birds altogether, including at least one lovely male.

so happy to have these guys locally!

Wattle Park seems to be a bit of a parrot hotspot actually with heaps of the usual Rainbow Lorikeets but also quite a few Eastern Rosellas and I did hear and very briefly see a King Parrot flying high through the trees. King Parrots are not easy to come by in my 5MR.

some young Eastern Rosellas getting snacks - yum!

In February I slowed down a bit on the 5MR front. In fact I only added one new bird to the year list during February- eep! It was a nice little Australasian Grebe calling away in the billabong at Wilson Reserve which brought my year total to 71 species. Considering I've only seen 98 in my 5MR all-up I think that's pretty good for just two months.

Hopefully I'll be back soon with another update because March has been a bit more successful.

Until then, happy birding!