Gippsland Trip 2017 - Part I: Orbost + Marlo

In November last year I went on a Gippsland birding trip with my friend Karen from Perth. So this obviously a super delayed trip report but if that doesn't offend you, read on!

the green hills of Gippsland

Originally we'd planned this trip around a pelagic out of Merimbula in southern NSW that didn't end up happening. And originally we were going to travel through East Gippsland to Merimbula and continue further north in NSW in search of Rockwarblers and Eastern Bristlebirds. But when the pelagic was called off we instead reorganised ourselves to stay in Victoria and explore both East and South Gippsland - all Gippsland, all the time.

Lots of birdy firsts awaited us on this trip: heaps potential lifers for Karen, who had only done one real day of East-coast birding before this, and lots of state birds and new birding sites for me.

The first day, way back on 12 November 2017, we left Melbourne early and headed for Orbost. Our first stop on the way was Fairy Dell where Karen was met with an onslaught of lifers.

Brace yourself, Karen!

Shortly after crossing the bridge from the picnic area we stopped to watch an Eastern Whipbird in a tree. Then a Satin Bowerbird and Olive-backed Oriole flew into another tree overhead. Soon after that there was a female Rose Robin busy building a nest and then further into the rainforest we found Rufous Fantails, Brown Gerygones, and very briefly a Black-faced Monarch - all new birds for Karen and the last two Vic ticks for me!

a handsome male Rose Robin also joined us for lunch

After Fairy Dell we headed up to the drier habitat of Canni Creek Racecourse Reserve which was an interesting place. Here we were hoping for Turquoise Parrots, Diamond Firetails or Hooded Robins...

Birding the RBG

Usually when I go birding on the weekend I'm getting away from the city. But a couple of weeks ago I did the opposite and caught an early tram in to towards the CBD. My mission was to explore another place I'd never birded - the Royal Botanic Gardens.

morning view from Birrarung Marr

I started at Birrarung Marr where there was nothing too unexpected. Lots of Eurasian Coots, Silver Gulls, and Noisy Miners harassing most other birds not in the water.

corella and Eureka Tower

Crossing Princes Bridge a solo Long-billed Corella called from on top of a street light. And in keeping with the usual corella modus operandi of greatly annoying people, this one was sitting just outside my 5MR. I had Little on my 5MR list, but not Long-Billed. After a few minutes it flew off down Southbank and remained not on my 5MR list.

I continued through Alexandra Gardens and then the colourful Queen Victoria Gardens.

ooooooh pretty

I found Magpie-larks and Crested Pigeons on the lawn, and Wood Ducks, Pacific Black Ducks and a couple of Chestnut Teals in the ponds.

two of the PBDs

And I have to say that one of the most numerous birds hanging out in all this exotic, landscaped finery were the also exotic but not so fine Common Myna.

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!

Looking for a Long-Toed Stint

At the end of February a Long-toed Stint was spotted at Seaford Swamp by Sean Dooley and Andrew Silcocks on a Birdlife survey. I'd been hoping to see one of these little guys. I'd learnt at different wader ID things that they look like mini Sharpies - sounds cute and like a wader I could probably indentify!

That sighting was on a Wednesday, and for the rest of the week there were reports of not just one, but two LTS at the site. However reports were also that the little remaining water in the swamp was drying out quickly... eep!

Yep, pretty dry!

Luckily when I got down there the following Sunday I found that the small remnant of water was still there amongst the reeds.

a hidden oasis

Unluckily though all wading birds were all the way at the far end... 

With the binoculars the Red-kneed Dotterels were pretty obvious, and through the scope I could see quite a few Red-necked Stints. One did seem to have noticeably different plumage and when it finally ran out across the open water I could also make out the yellow legs of a Long-toed Stint - yay, lifer!

Unfortunately it was running out across the open water to go hide in the reeds on the other side with the other Stints and Dotterels.

it may or may not be in this photo

I entertained myself phonescoping Royal Spoonbills and their White Ibis friend while I waited for the waders to come out again.

Royal Spoonbill x 1

Feast of the Figs

In summer my mediocre backyard bird list gets a boost - it's fig time!

Both the Red and Little Wattlebirds that usually come for the grevillea have another food source, and are happy to add a bit (or a lot) of fruit to their diet.

an obviously red-wattled bird

But there are also some much more colourful visitors...

Hello in there!

Rainbow Lorikeets only come down into my garden when there are figs to be had even though they're always around, flying over or high up in the neighbours' trees. They can be super stealthy when they want to be creeping around after figs, but most of the time don't mind having their photo taken.