2019 5MR Challenge Catch-up + Wrap-up

So we're 4 months into the new year and I'm just now checking in with my 2019 5MR total... oops! It is a bit overdue, but first: a catch-up of the last few months of the challenge!

After my success at Wilson Reserve and Yarra Bend Park during the colder months, and the bonus Eurasian Tree Sparrow, I didn't expect to be able to add many more species to my list before the end of the year. I did however have a rather optimistic idea of seeing a 5MR platypus so did a few hopeful stakeouts along the Yarra once the days got longer.

platypus potential?

I didn't see any platypus but this did lead to me being able to add a few more final birds. On one evening visit to Bolin Bolin Billabong in October, a Fan-tailed Cuckoo was calling loudly. It proved a bit hard to locate despite its persistent calls but we finally found it - I think my first of the season and for sure my first for 2019 in the 5MR.

On a walk around the inside of the billabong that evening we also came across a Tiger Snake sunbathing on the side of the track just ahead of us.

only have a cropped phone pic - sorry :( 

Later, some White-plumed Honeyeaters making their angry little scolding noises very helpfully alerted me to a Powerful Owl!

the owl was just ignoring all of this

Turns out, when we'd been looking for the cuckoo earlier, Australia's biggest owl was in the tree just above us but we'd been focused on the cuckoo and hadn't looked in that direction. A major birding fail narrowly averted thanks to those honeyeaters!

Luckily the owl didn't seem to be too disturbed by us or the honeyeaters and once we knew it was there we kept our distance.

still snoozing

This was another new 5MR bird for the year and one I'd thought I was going to miss out on. None had been reported at any of the usual places for them within my radius that I knew of, and I'd been keeping an eye out whenever I was in a likely spot throughout the year.

Another evening outing to Bolin Bolin and I was also able to add a Shining-Bronze Cuckoo to the list, albeit heard only. I'm still yet to actually see one of these little guys in my radius.

one more thing from Bolin Bolin: a bonus eel!

While spring was bringing the cuckoos down from the north, it was also bringing a whole bunch of arid-country birds to Victoria. Budgerigars and Cockatiels were turning up much further south than usual and there was an irruption of Crimson Chats.

Of course this was all happening miles away from little 5MR, but one species that did make it this far south were the White-winged Trillers. They were suddenly turning up everywhere, including parks in suburban Melbourne, with a few records quite close to the city centre. It's not so uncommon to see one around Melbourne every now and then (I'd seen my lifer WWT at Birarrung Park in Bulleen) but not usually in these numbers!

eBird White-Winged Triller records around Melbourne, August-December 2018
image provided by www.ebird.org

and the same time last year in 2019
image provided by www.ebird.org

There had been a couple of reports of the trillers in my radius and I finally got to add one to my challenge total at Studley Park in early November. I was birding there with my mum when I saw something black and white disappear into a tree...

a male White-winged Triller!

We eventually counted at least five individuals in the area where we found the first bird. This was not just another addition to the 2019 total but a 5MR lifer for me - yay!

we watched them finding some caterpillar treats

looking for the next snack?

In December I visited a few of the local sites that I thought would have the most potential for birds I hadn't yet seen during the year.

An early morning visit to the Royal Botanic Gardens didn't produce anything other than the usual suspects there. It's nice though to see the regulars, like the Bell Miners, and actually on that day there was quite a bit of cormorant action.

Great Cormorant with Silver Gulls

a stained, crazy-looking Little Pied Cormorant

cormorant combo: Little Black and Little Pied

The next day I trammed it to Albert Park Lake. During the year Blue-billed and Musk Ducks had been reported there, along with Caspian and Whiskered Terns, so I was hoping one of those might be around. No such luck, but I got to check in with what I'm pretty sure are my 5MR's only Pied Stilts and heard a Little Grassbird calling from the reeds.

this family of Pacific Black Ducks were very friendly

real friendly!

RO8 and S70 seemed to have made a nest right next to the path

I didn't find anything new either on a final visit to Wilson Reserve for the year. Or on a last-minute trip to Huntingdale Wetlands, but I did get a few pictures there...

a Grey Butcherbird was singing as I arrived

a Dusky Moorhen had some fluffy chicks

two Galahs were up in a gum tree

they seemed to be playing on this branch, sliding down the smooth bark

two Little Black Cormorants were resting with a domestic duck (and a super-stealthy PBD)

and that is a Great Egret out there!

So the White-winged Triller ended up being my final new bird for the 2019 5MR list, which meant I finished with a total of 92 species! Considering where my radius is and that my life 5MR list pre-2019 was only 97, I'm pretty happy I managed to find 92 different species so close to home in just one year! You an see the full list here.

My 5MR life list is now at 102. I found 5 new birds for my radius in 2019: Spotless Crake, Flame Robin, White-naped Honeyeater, Eurasian Tree Sparrow and White-winged Triller.

A big thanks to Jen for hosting this challenge, and for inspiring so many birders to get out and explore their local area! For the second half of last year I actually couldn't get out birding as much or travel as far as I usually would like to, so the 5MR challenge added a bit more fun and interest to birding close to home!

I'll continue to bird my 5MR and keep an eye on what turns up. Hopefully I can continue to find new birds and get to know the my local patch even better. Well, when we're allowed out again that is! For now I'll just be birding my 0MR.

Take care everyone ♡