Swift Parrot Surveys - Part 2

At the start of August I headed back to Yarra Bend Park for the second part of the Swift Parrot survey. This time my mum came along. I was still not that optimistic about finding any Swift Parrots here but thanks to an eBird list posted just a few days before I was closing in on those 5MR Scarlet Robins!

it was that time of the year when all the wattle had just come out

We started at Studley Park, near the boathouse, and before we'd only just made it out of the car park we were approached by a local out for this morning walk who had seen our binoculars. He had many bird questions. As we were both heading the same direction he asked to accompany us along the river and we ended up giving an impromptu bird tour for the first part of our walk. He seemed interested but also a bit confused by the whole birding thing. At one point he had to answer a call to tell someone he'd be late to meet them because he was "watching birds at the river". Apparently he was meant to be singing in a church choir that morning.

Anyway, after imparting what bird-knowledge we could and saying goodbye, my mum and I went to check out the area above Yarra Boulevard.

and also have a homemade treat my mum brought- yum!

Up here we found Australian Wood Ducks, Eastern Rosellas, Rainbow Lorikeets, Musk Lorikeets and Galahs all in one tree. And we also saw some Australian King Parrots.

including this guy who was thinking about getting his adult plumage

There were also plenty of Noisy Miners, quite a few Pied Currawongs and we heard a Spotted Pardalote. Then we headed back down across the Boulevard to the boathouse.

it's bikes as much as cars you need to watch for crossing this road

On the lawn near the carpark some of the domestic geese that hang out at the boathouse were feeding near some Pacific Black Ducks.

look how cute and tiny those PBDs look next to the big scary geese!

there were also some more Wood Ducks here

Next we went to Bellbird Picnic Area because why wouldn't you go and see fruit bats at every opportunity?

here are a few

also a Magpie Lark crossing on the path ahead (sorry - phone pic!)

and more wattle out here

We saw some Little Ravens collecting nesting material in the carpark, plenty of Rainbow Lorikeets and a few Sulphur-crested Cockatoos flying over but it was pretty quite bird-wise. And no Swift Parrots.

views from the Boulevard

The last stop was a part of Yarra Bend Park I had never visited before - the section on the opposite side of the river to the Fairfield Boathouse. From where we parked the car on the Boulevard there were some decent views of the city skyline. But were were quickly heading down to the river because this is where those Scarlet Robins had been reported!

the bridge across the Yarra to the boathouse

We wandered around the tracks here looking up for Swifties and scanning the scrub for the robins. I was pretty happy to find some Yellow-faced Honeyeaters (only the second place I've seen them in my 5MR) and we also noticed quite few Rainbow Lorikeets apparently feeding on the wattle flowers, something we hadn't seen before.

wattle snacks!

*nom nom*

others were looking for nesting hollows

Along the Yarra we saw an Australasian Darter drying its wings and a Little Black Cormorant flew down the river.

And then we heard the call of a New Holland Honeyeater! It was a challenge to get any kind of good look at it in the canopy directly above us and the light was terrible but I saw the black and white and the dash of yellow in the wing. At the time I was super excited because I thought it was a brand new 5MR bird. But just checking lists etc. now I've realised that I did actually have one on the patch list from 2014. Oh well, still a new one for the 2019 challenge!

And then while we were watching the NHH, White-naped Honeyeaters appeared - these were new 5MR birds, and not ones I'd really expected to see in my radius. And they were the 100th species I've recorded in my 5MR - yay!

they were very quick and high-up

After this success we decided to try the path where the robins had been seen one more time. And as we were walking along I was just saying to my mum that if the male robin was sitting facing us in amongst those grey bushes we'd surely see it. And then I saw the male robin sitting facing us in the grey bushes! The male and the female were both there but we only managed some brief looks before they somehow totally disappeared again. But we saw those little cuties and I was able to add them to my 5MR year list.

a female or immature Golden Whistler

Despite the robins vanishing, the area suddenly became very birdy. There was a Grey-Shrikethrush, Eastern Spinebill and two Golden Whistlers. The male however was not looking at me for a picture.

this is what he looks like from the back, fyi

The White-naped Honeyeaters also appeared again, this time much lower down for some much better views and photos.

well, kinda

So it was a pretty successful outing with some 5MR year and life birds! But no Swift Parrots. Despite all the other nectar feeders those Swifties must have been getting their nectar treats somewhere else.

And actually, I knew where one of those spots was - stay tuned for some actual Swift Parrots in the next post!