Heyfield Birdwatchers - Nov '09

Subtitle: A Few, (very few), Waders At Last

G’day,
A small group of dedicated ‘birdos’ braved the heat and journeyed east a bit to try yet again for some waders. After car pooling in Stratford, we headed straight for Hollands Landing, on McLennan Straits between Lakes Wellington and Victoria. The nearby Victoria Lagoon has been a successful wader spot on previous occasions, but as we turned the last corner before arriving at our destination, it was evident the water level was probably too high. At the end of the track we could see numerous Swans, a few distant Terns and that was about it.

After moving on a little and checking out the new works at the landing, we opted for a short walk beside the straits where there was a little more swampy marshland to investigate. More Swans, a few Caspian Terns and the odd Pacific Gull were resting in the distance. As we scanned the distant shoreline, someone declared there were some small grey birds hunkering down in the clumps of Beaded Glasswort. Waders at last! A small group, maybe 50, ‘sharpies’, (Sharp-tailed Sandpipers), were well concealed in their surroundings.

These Siberian migrants are always a delight to see.

Back to the cars and around to The Woodpile track for lunch on the shore of Lake Wellington. We picked a shady tree with a view to the west and opened the tuckerboxes to the delightful chorusing of Rufous Whistlers all about.


Mostly we had our attention to the whistlers or our lunch boxes, but Val assures us that she briefly spotted a Dolphin. From time to time there are reports of these marine mammals in the lake system, and research has shown that a small pod of about 50 animals will periodically visit the area. Good one Val, where was your camera?

We were just hopping back into the cars and a White-winged Triller was spotted. This was a very accommodating bird except that although it was just a few metres above us, there always seemed to be a branch, leaf or twig between it and my camera. Nice sighting though Dierdre!

We next called in to a small bit of bush on some private property – permission was obtained. Some debate ensued on the species of a bird sitting on a nest whose tail was about all we could see. Eventually the head and bill became visible to settle the argument – Grey Butcherbird.

On a large dam on the way out, a small group of Royal Spoonbills, Swans, Shellduck and Grebes were spied. The Spoonbills took off and sought refuge in a nearby dead tree.

By now we were hot, tired and thirsty, but Linda persuaded us to check the Stratford Highway Park as we went by. Glad we did. The list here included Sittellas, Eastern Yellow Robins, Mistletoe Birds, Olive-backed Orioles and their fascinating suspended nest, more Rufous Whistlers and a ‘whistling the dog’ Shining Bronze Cuckoo.

By now, the iced coffees at The Peppercorn in Stratford loomed large. Great day, 40+ species and yep, some waders! Thanks folks, let’s do it again in a month.

Regards,
Gouldiae.

Survey at Swallow Lagoon

G’day,
Duncan and I have been doing bird surveys at a small patch of remnant native bush between Stratford and Bairnsdale, known as Swallow Lagoon Conservation Reserve. Yesterday was the ‘spring’ survey for this season, and if you’ve been following DF’s Ben Cruachan Blog you’ll understand why the apprentice had to do the job without the master!

Although it was lonely work without him it was a fruitful day, and everywhere I went I was imagining what Duncan would be saying as I came across an interesting sighting or two. A pair of Brown-headed Honeyeaters, White-winged Trillers at a couple of sites, and a female Leaden Flycatcher, a first for us at the reserve, were probably the highlights. The number of species and the quantity of birds did seem to be up a bit on recent results.

As I was leaving and just shutting the gate, a chorus of angry Sulphur Crested Cockatoo screechings caught my attention. Throughout the survey I’d noticed the cockies were going to nest in many of the huge old hollow trees in the reserve, and as I suspected, the cacophony of screeching was due to ….




Strange. Not long back I had an encounter with a goanna near Rosedale. Now this one. Off to Victoria Lagoon with the Heyfield birdos tomorrow, I wonder since these things often happen in threes, will we spot another ‘monitor’.

No bird pics – sorry. Without my living field guide, I was too busy checking ID’s of sightings and calls to get the camera out.

Regards,
Gouldiae.

PS: There is an upside to DF's piece of misfortune. An interesting story is unfolding over at his blog - feel free to click on the Ben Cruachan link on the right hand side.

Some LV Orchids

G'day Readers,
Yesterday, Duncan and I took a trip to a couple of well known reserves in the Latrobe Valley where we'd heard there were some orchids in flower. The valley is less than 50 kilometres from us here in central Gippsland, but the weather patterns can be so different as can be the variety of flora.

Our first stop was at the Edward Hunter Reserve in Moe, a place neither of us had previously been to - 'fresh fields and pastures new' I can remember my dad saying!

Part of the wetland area - Edward Hunter Reserve, Moe.

I had to mow some fairways before we could get away, so we arrived just at cuppa time. So eager were we to explore the new territory, we wandered about adjacent to the car park, drinking our coffee as we looked. We hadn't finished our drinks before we had located a 'first tick' orchid for both of us, a Leek-orchid.

Leek-orchid, Prasophyllum sp, (odoratum?).

Please forgive my lack of positive identification for a lot of this stuff, I'm quite new to the game, and at this stage I'm just enjoying the delights of discovering some of these beautiful terrestrial orchids.

We headed off along several walking tracks and with noses to the ground we took numerous detours into the bushland and grassland areas. Compared to our little corner of the world, there seemed to be flowers every few steps.

The next delight was to come across quite a few colonies of the beautiful, (Spotted I guess), Sun-orchid.

Spotted Sun-orchid, Thelymitra sp, (ixiodes?).

In close proximity to the above were some similar flowers without the spots. Probably another specie we surmised, but this one was interesting for the 'bug' that was on the flower. I took shots of several of these plants and only discovered the aphid like insect in most of the pictures once I got them into the computer.

Thankfully, if they were aphids or similar sap suckers, they were not in plague proportion and nor were they to this stage doing any obvious damage to the plants.

We came across another first tick plant for us both, when we climbed up onto a much drier hillside. My photograph doesn't do it justice, but the purple tipped labellum and the general colour and form probably makes it a Honey Caladenia. There was a very useful information board at the car park with an extensive list of the flora and fauna in the reserve and this gave us the clue.

Honey Caladenia, Caladenia hildae?

By now it was after 1pm and we were starting to feel hungry. Back at the ute, with the field guides out, we enjoyed some good reseach time with our lunch.

From Moe we headed straight to the Crinigan Road Reserve in Morwell. Just like at Moe, we were barely out of the vehicle and were standing in a large patch of Green-comb Spider-orchids and Salmon Sun-orchids.

Green-comb Spider-orchid, Caladenia dilatata.

(Blogger seems to be playing up - suddenly I can't get rid of the italics!? Sorry about that.)

Here is an enlarged view of this beautiful orchid, showing some of the intricate detail of the flower.

We quickly explored some of the familiar tracks of the reserve and at one point came across a 'forest' of the Spider-orchids.

Twelve months previous to this, Duncan recalled seeing some Sickle Greenhoods in a damp spot just off one of the tracks. Unerringly he zeroed in on to the spot and we found just a couple of plants of this generally uncommon greenhood.

Sickle Greenhood, Pterostylis sp.

What a day we had! We got home late, tired and dirty, and near full camera cards - you can't ask for much more than that.

Regards,

Gouldiae.