Osprey + Lapwings

Over winter there was an Eastern Osprey hanging out at the K Road cliffs in Werribee.  This is totally old news but I'm still catching up on some pre-blogging birding adventures.

Ospreys are pretty rare in Victoria and it seemed almost everyone had been to see this bird so at the end of July Leigh, Leila and I went to have a look too. But the bird was a no-show and the wind was insane. Also I got sick.  So yeah, not the best day out.

Sure it looks nice but you can't see the wind in this picture.

Two weeks later Leigh and I made a second attempt. It wasn't so sunny but there was much less wind and as soon as we got out of the car Leigh spotted the Osprey - hooray! It was on its usual blood-stained branch with a fish.

Eastern Osprey

Little Stint @ Stockyard Point

So the very day after I went to Stockyard Point to look for the SIPO, a Little Stint was found amongst the over-wintering waders by Scott Baker and co. Another rarity had been hiding right in front of us!

This time there was a two-week wait for tide times to align with a weekend. But again there had been continued sightings so Leigh and I were hopeful as we set off to look for it. 

An increasingly familiar walk.

We arrived at the point as the tide was rising and the first waders were coming in to roost. Soon more birders joined us scanning for the Little Stint, which was, very conveniently, in breeding plumage.

Again there were plenty of Red-Necked Stints, Curlew Sandpipers, Double-banded and Red-capped Plovers, some Red Knots, a Terek Sandpiper and then finally... a little orange bird! The Little Stint! It was running around, head-down-tail-up apparently guarding a hole in the sand and furiously chasing other birds away, popping in and out of view. It seemed a little crazy, actually.

But then the whole flock flushed, settled on another part of the beach and decided it was sleep time.

Orange needle in a grey haystack.

SIPO @ Stockyard Point

This is a quite belated post about the South-Island Pied Oystercatcher at Stockyard Point, aka 1N, aka the SIPO, aka Syd.

Basically, it was banded at Stockyard Point in August 2016, but only identified as a Pied Oystercatcher of the South Island variety when it was noticed at Broadwater Beach in NSW in January 2017. These guys are supposed to be in New Zealand - twitching commence!

South Island Pied Oystercatcher, Stockyard Point, 24 June, 2017.

Year Birds at WTP

In June I had a couple of days off and decided to spend a morning at the WTP catching up with some birds I hadn't seen for a while.  Australasian Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Black-tailed Native-hen, Lewin's Rail and White-bellied Sea-eagle had all been reported in the week or so before. So the plan was to rock up early and cruise around seeing all of them. Because that's how birding works.

Early morning at Paradise Rd.

The Bittern and Ibis had been seen along Paradise Road so I started there.  OK so I hadn't really been that optimistic about the Bittern but I couldn't find the Ibis either and they had apparently been quite reliable at that spot...

Ponds on Paradise Rd.

First Post: Flying Foxes

So I'm kicking off my birding blog with a post about non-birds.  But they have wings and can fly so it's kinda on the right track.

Grey-headed Flying-foxes.

Way back in May I went to visit the Grey-headed Flying-fox colony at Yarra Bend Park.  The plan was to try some phonescoping and watch them fly out at dusk.

A small selection.

And a few more.