Wyperfeld National Park

What should you do if you have 5 free days? Pack the car, throw the tent on the roof and go birding, of course. And where to go? Well, as we did not have Redthroat on our state list, what better place to go than Wyperfeld National Park in western Victoria – well, actually it is the only place if you want to see a Redthroat in Victoria (smile). We found them too, which was nice AND we saw and heard heaps of Boobooks which means this year Joy has seen every night bird (owls and nightjars) in Victoria, and I just need to get out and see a White-throated Night-jar.

Wyperfeld National Park (Google maps)

Another reason for going to Wyperfeld was that I had never camped there before. It is about a 5 hour drive n-w of Melbourne and lies between the main interstate highways which means that there are lots of small back roads to bird on before you get there. Going to Wyperfeld also meant that we had to drive through Horsham at lunchtime. This is important because Waack’s Pie shop is in the main street of Horsham and they make a very good meat pie, and a beyond-excellent vanilla slice with the best bottom pastry I have ever tasted on a vanilla slice. Yum.

Our camp before all the "neighbours" arrived

With an early start from Melbourne we arrived at Wyperfeld in the early afternoon, set up our camp well away from the other campers and then walked out the Discovery trail in search of Redthroats. We failed to find any but had very pleasant views of White-browed Babblers, Splendid Fairy-wrens, Shy Heathwren, Inland and Chestnut-rumped Thornbills and an assortment of parrots and cockatoos.

Rainbow Bee-eater

Grey Currawong race melanoptera

Australian Ringneck race barnardi

Back in camp by 7 pm with about an hour of daylight left we opened the cheese and crackers and poured a “wee dram” each before preparing dinner. It was just 2 nights off new moon and as the sky darkened the stars came out in full brilliance as they only can when there are no large towns or cities within 130 km in any direction. As we sat and admired the stars Boobooks started calling and we had at least 4 around the camp. A short walk with our small spotlights soon had us looking at a pale female and a very dark, smaller, male. There was a Barn Owl calling too but we only got one quick glimpse as it flew off into the dark.

Australian Hobby, looking fast even when it is sitting still

White-winged Chough

Our first full day was Saturday and as we had done our “reconnoiter” walk the night before we headed out again to look for Redthroats. Our hopes rose because we passed a camp and met Margaret and Richard Alcorn who assured us that the Redthroats were quite easy to find. Hmmmm, we should have known what would happen after that, we couldn’t find one. Bother. The wild flowers were spectacular though and we enjoyed our walk as we meandered through the park finding birds, butterflies and kangaroos.

Galah

Galah with Redthroat habitat in background

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo stained by the red sand of the dunes

Long-billed Corella

It was a beautiful warm morning with a gentle breeze and during the walk Wyperfeld turned on a special event for us, and it wasn’t even bird related except if we hadn’t walked off the track looking for a Redthroat we may not have seen it. As we turned to head back to the track Joy thought she could see smoke coming from a fire. There in front of us was a dark green tree with smoke billowing off its crown. It turned out, however not to be smoke but huge clouds of pollen. With each slight puff of breeze the pollen would smoke from the tree. A Red Wattlebird flew in and landed on a branch, and pollen erupted. Joy walked down and pulled a branch down and pollen went everywhere. The tree was a Scrub Cypress-pine (Callitris verrucosa) and they were very common but it was just this one that was smoking clouds of pollen onto the morning breeze, and we were watching. Birding is such a wonderful hobby.

Scrub Cypress-pine "on fire"

Pollen release after a quick shake of a branch

Back at camp we decided that another walk in the heat of days was not a good idea so we had lunch and then drove the loop track and explored some other side roads along the way with many stops for birds. The male Splendid Fairy-wrens were particularly showy and we decided that they actually wanted to sit up and be looked at.

Splendid Fairy-wren

Splendid Fairy-wren

On our evening walk to look for Redthroats we again failed dismally to find these small, drab brown birds that live in dense teatree stands. Three walks, three dips. Bother again. We just about got back to camp, however, when we met Stuart Dashper and he told us about a “guaranteed” location. As strong winds were forecast for the next day we set a plan to go to Stuart’s spot first thing and then do a 320 km return drive east to Goshen, Tresco and Lake Tuchewop to hunt down some more of the local dry-land specialties.

Inland Thornbill

Chestnut-rumped Thornbill

Weebill

With an early start we were at Stuart’s “guaranteed” location by 7 am and sure enough, after stumbling around sort of lost in eye-high scrub and prickly bushes we walked out on to a clear, grassed swale with tall teatree around the edge. Five minutes later we had our Redthroat and a swag of other birds as well and left singing Stuart’s praises. We walked slowly back to the car, birding as went and had breakfast. By 8:30 we were on our way to Goshen.

Redthroat

Redthroat habitat - teatree around a grassy swale

Goshen is not really a “place” at all anymore, it’s just a cross road and a remnant bush patch with a derelict tennis court in the middle surrounded by wheat fields. What it does have though is a large number of species of eremophila and flowering eucalyupts that attracts a wide range of honeyeater species. Black Honeyeater was our main target and pied are also regular visitors, but not this weekend. Almost as good as looking at the birds was running into Nicole and checking out her new-to-her Troopie campervan; now, I need one of those – but please don’t tell my little Subaru in case she gets upset.

White-fronted Honeyeater

From Goshen we headed on to Tresco, where we found a White-winged Triller on the Lakeside track in the reserve, then went to Lake Tuchewop for White-winged Fairy-wren and Orange Chat and found both. The chat put up a bit of a struggle until we decided to drive the track across the salt flats. Normally we drive in off the Benjeroop - Tresco road and use the track that runs along the top of the east side of the irrigation channel, which is perfectly fine in dry weather, even for 2 wheel drive vehicles. From this track we could see movement down amongst the samphire and heath but could not identify the birds. We had been looking at a track down on the flat and found that it joined the track we were on at a brick building, probably a pumping station. We drove down and headed back along this track toward Benjeroop - Tresco road and found that it was hard packed and fine for driving on, but I wouldn’t go near it if there had been any rain. It comes out at the back right hand corner of a small car parking area just past the irrigation channel on Benjeroop - Tresco road. If you are looking for Orange Chat I would recommend this low track highly.

Lake Tuchewop showing irrigation channel track, car park and lower track (Google Earth)

Driving out to Goshen and coming back we made sure to drive through Hopetoun because I had heard that the White-breasted Woodswallows like to sit on the power wires in town. We didn’t see them on the way out but coming back, there they were.

Immature Hooded Robin

White-browed Woodswallow

Masked Woodswallow

Immature Rufous Whistler

Back at the campground things had changed and there were caravans, tents and campervans all around us – but not down at the other end of the campground. This could be another item to add to my “how to make things happen” list – If you want to end up surrounded by other campers, chose a spot that doesn’t have any when you arrive. What we did notice though is there are two gates into the camp area, the first to the western end and the second to the eastern end. It seems that most people drive in the first gate and set up camp so if you want fewer campers near you, go in the second gate to the east end.

Chestnut Quail-thrush

Chestnut Quail-thrush

After our long drive we decided Monday was going to be our day to properly explore Wyperfeld so we walked out to Lake Brambuk and then back around the Discovery loop. The birding was excellent and we sat under the gum trees around the dry lake and watched Regent Parrots flying all around. Along the walk to and from the lake we found that the Redthroats weren’t too hard to find after all, you just need to look in the right habitat (smile). I had read reports that said “walk out to this sand dune” or “look to the left on this ridge” but it seems that they are actually widely spread across this south-east part of the park and can be found by checking in the 2 metre high teatree bush where it grows on the edge of the grassy swales. They aren’t too common but they are a size larger than the thornbills that are everywhere, and it is just a case of checking all the little brown birds you find on the edge of the open grassland.

Male Regent Parrot

Female Regent Parrot

We ended our stay at Wyperfeld with a good list of all the expected species and a few special ones including Chestnut Quail-thrush, Splendid Fairy-wren, Hobby, Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, Inland Thornbill, Brown Songlark, Hooded Robin, Gilbert’s Whistler, Regent Parrot and Redthroat. We missed seeing a Malleefowl that was seen by John and Stuart on the Malleefowl walk and what did surprise us was we did not see any emus anywhere.

Australian Magpie - black-backed form

White-eared Honeyeater

On the drive back to Melbourne the "how to make things happen" list again proved its infallibility. When we stopped for lunch we watched a pair of Weebills copulating on a branch and then doing an amazing courtship flight where they faced each other and, while flapping manically like humming birds, rose vertically for about 2 metres before breaking off in a game of chasey around the branches. Then 4 Black-tailed Native-hens swam out in line-astern from the shore and headed for a small island, tails and heads erect, looking in the distance like small, black Pushmi-pullyus. My camera was in the car! Sigh!

Ripe wheat-fields for as far as the eye can see

All text & photos © Jenny Spry

Sunday at the beach with Joy

Last week a report was put on “Birdline Victoria” about a Sanderling being seen at Bancoora Beach. I had never heard of Bancoora Beach so, like we all do these days, I googled it. Bancoora Beach, it turns out, is at Breamlea, right next to 13^th Beach and I know where that is so on Sunday morning Joy and I headed for a day at the beach. We wanted to see the Sanderling. And Hooded Plovers live on the beach there too, and are always nice to see.

Bancoora Beach at Breamlea

It turned out to be a perfect October day for the beach with no wind, a little bit of sunshine and a near empty beach (near empty of people that is). With the tide way out a few people were walking their dogs along the water’s edge, and out on the smallish waves a group of hardy surfers in wet suits were riding down slopes that reflected silver, white and green in the morning sunlight. On an arm of rocks that went out into the ocean a small group of fishermen were casting lines and watching the surfers.

Surfing and fishing

In case you're wondering, this ride ended badly just after this photo was taken

First we chose to walk west, until we finally came upon a small group of Ruddy Turnstone turning over seaweed on the beach, and beyond them we could see at least two Hooded Plover. There was no Sanderling to be seen so we turned and headed back down the beach. 

Ruddy Turnstones turning over seaweed

About 500 metres past the Breamlea surf life saving club we finally found the Sanderling, in fact two of them. And with them were three more Hooded Plover, a Ruddy Turnstone and a Red-necked Stint.

Sanderlings

Sanderling with a dainty morsel

Hooded Plover. Normally they will look for a bigger windbreak to sit behind

Red-necked Stint, Hooded Plover, Ruddy Turnstone and Sanderlings

Red-capped Dotterel with a very large sand worm, which was swallowed whole ...

and I think it nearly choked him.

We then drove around to Barwon Heads to check out the mud flats in the river. There were at least 12 Curlew, some 60 Bar-tailed Godwits and many stints, sandpipers greenshanks. My numbers are a bit vague because when we got out of the car we both realised – we had not bought our scopes! Bother!

Bar-tailed Godwits with Barwon Heads in the background

Bar-tailed Godwit

Greenshank with a very spiky  crab....

that looked very uncomfortable to swallow

As we sat on the bank of the river eating lunch we started thinking about how to make things happen on a birding trip and came up with:

1/  If you want to find some really interesting looking waders on a mud flat – leave your scope at home.

2/  If you want to see a rare bird, or an ordinary bird doing something rare – leave your camera in the car.

3/  If you want to see a really special bird, a new "tick" perhaps, and can't find it – leave your binoculars at the car when you give up the hunt and go behind a bush for a “call of nature” break.

4/  If you want every bird for miles around to disappear – slam the car door.

5/  But conversely – if there are no birds in sight, get someone in the group to SNEEZE really loudly. It is amazing how often little birds will suddenly appear on top of a bush to see what the noise was.

An interesting thing at lunch was, we found a new bird for Australia, an Iridescent Wader. Well, actually, it was originally a ship assisted bird but is now well established and is known to most people as a Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). And normally I think they are very vulgar indeed but yesterday they came very close to outing Sanderling as “bird of the day”. There was one particular starling in a group of 7 or 8 that flew out onto the mudflat and started drilling into crab holes, just as any other good wader would do, until it dug out one of those round mud-flat crabs. When it had the crab out on the sand it seemed to roll it around a bit, and then ate it. Fascinating. And to make the event even better the starling was in full breeding plumage, shining and flashing as though it had been anodised. Really, they can be very beautiful.

First you open your beak and make the crab hole bigger ...

then you jam your head all the way down the hole ...

and grab the crab and drop it before it can nip you.

From the way the feathers are all fluffed up I am not sure if this crab bit the starling's tongue, or if it just tastes really sour.

All text &images © Jenny Spry

Portland Pelagic Weekend

Big Years are a good way to add some spice to birding, especially casual ones where your only target is your own total from a previous year. Back in 2010 I saw 304 species in Victoria which is not a high total considering that the state list, without vagrants, is somewhere near 450. The trip to Portland for a pelagic was a perfect opportunity to add four more. On Friday night before I left for Portland my 2013 Victorian list was on 318 and I had “possible” list of 4 more land birds I could find on the weekend.

Three Gull-billed Terns had been seen at Werribee WTP, and I only needed one. I drove in, sat by the road where the last report came from and waited. It seemed really strange being at WTP and not actually going into the plant but I watched waders, gulls, raptors etc flying over until a lone tern flew toward me, over the car, and off into the plant. It had taken only 20 minutes to see the Gull-billed Tern and I was on my way again. One down, three to go.

Next stop was the Great Otway National Park which is south-west of Geelong and on the way to Portland, if you take the long way via The Great Ocean Road. It is a good place for Forest Ravens and I ticked them of on the road into Triplet Falls (two down two to go). I had never been to Triplet Falls but I had been told it was a good place for Olive Whistlers, bird three on the list. I parked the car in front of the sign with an arrow that said “Triplet Falls 2 hours return” and reasoned that I did not need to go to the falls, just far enough to find the whistler. 

I soon found that the path went down steeply and “down steeply”, to me, always translated as “back up even more steeply”. As children raced passed me going both up and down I listened for the whistler without hearing more than a few scrubwrens, thornbills and childish yells and screams. I gave up and struggled back to the car and sagged onto the drivers seat with a sigh. I must get more real leg exercise. I drank half a bottle of water and finished the vanilla slice from lunch and felt better. Olive Whistler, dip; but I had another location for later in the weekend.

The Portland Pelagic boat, with the awnings wound up it was OK - no,  just joking. But it seems sad to see a boat left to go like that. Ah well, at least the Black-faced Cormorants were enjoying it.

Pulling into Portland I was half way through my drive and had not seen a Grey Goshawk, an uncommon raptor in Victoria but sometimes seen during a drive to Portland, but I had time. I had some daylight left so I decided to try a really long shot, Cape Gannet at Point Danger, but read my last blog for the full story of this bird.

iPod photo of the real Portland pelagic boat, the Southern Pride taken at 0700 as we were boarding.

Sunday’s pelagic promised some new birds for the year but a pelagic trip is always a dice game and anything is possible. I ended up with three new birds for the year being Flesh-footed Shearwater, White-chinned Petrel and Arctic Jaeger. It was, as usual, a really good trip. The Southern Pride is perfect for birding because she is broad and stable with lots of room to stand around. They also put on magic food for the birders, not just for the birds. Coffee and tea comes as you want/need it, large plates of biscuits come out for morning tea and huge plates of salad and sandwiches come out for lunch. Bottled water and cans of soda are stored in an esky full of ice. Bliss; birds, food and friends – what could be better?

The remains of lunch after the hungry passengers had been at it.

Monday morning was time to look for, and dip on, the Cape Gannet that had been seen on Saturday evening but not to worry, 64 km away in Nelson was another recommended place for Olive Whistler. An added difficulty had arisen though, after my “mountaineering” at Triplet Falls and standing all day on rolling boat deck, as I got out of bed I nearly fell over because my calf muscles were so stiff and sore. A hot shower helped but walking was a nightmare and I was surprised that no one offered me a walking frame as I toddled down the main street of Portland to get food.

The Point Danger gannet colony from the sea. Fences to stop dogs and foxes can be seen on top and bottom of  the cape.

I got to Nelson, got out of the car and limped 100 metres down the Livingston’s Island Nature Trail and had Olive Whistlers “dancing all over my toes”. Thank heavens. Three down and one to go, well two actually because I had added the Cape Gannet to the “possible” list. So, three down, two to go. The walk hadn’t helped my calf muscles either and my left leg screamed abuse at me every time I put the clutch in to change gears.

Part of the gannet colony on Lawrence Rocks.

The Cape Gannet performed perfectly, at last. Isn’t it amazing how birds so often seem to hide and make you work to see them. They drop out of sight as you come up, then eventually wink at each other and say something akin to “OK, this is her third visit, she’s worked hard enough, lets come out and show our selves now”. Sigh, thank you Mr Cape Gannet.

Southern Pride at sea off Portland

Only one bird now, the Grey Goshawk, and all I could do was look and hope as I drove back to Melbourne. I must have been looking too hard because I suddenly saw a sign saying “Mount Gambier 405 km”! Mt Gambier is 180º the wrong way if you want to get to Melbourne from Portland. I stopped at an intersection and consulted the map. Hmmm, not too bad, this little side road I had stopped at would take me about 3 km and drop me on the correct road. I threw the map book in the back and as I did I heard corellas yelling and screaming above me. I looked up and the screams were because – they were being chased by a Grey Goshawk! Lost? Lost? Pshaw! Who was lost? I just needed to be at that particular corner at that particular instant so I could tick off my last needed bird for the weekend. My legs stopped hurting, the road straightened out, the car purred and all was well with the world. I was floating. Four out of four wanted birds PLUS a MEGA. The Cape Gannet was a new bird for my Australia list and totally unexpected.

I finished the weekend with 8 new birds for my year list and a huge smile. Birding is such fun, and the SMILE comes back every time I think of the birds I saw, and how and when I saw them. 

Young Yellow-nosed Albatross

A pair of Shy Albatross canoodling.

The Short-tailed Shearwater were very keen on the berley we were  feeding out ...

... the bird at top has just surfaced from chasing berley as it sank and the other bird is just diving ....

... and they are very good at swimming under water going maybe 500mm deep for the sinking berley.

Wilson's Storm-petrel

Flesh-footed Shearwater

Fairy Prion

PS: The current Victorian Big Year record is 389. It was set in 2010 by Paul Dodd and Ruth Woodrow, and I have no intension of trying to break it (smile).

All images & text © Jenny Spry

Cape Gannet at Point Danger, Portland

Lawrence Rocks and Point Danger both have Australian Gannet colonies, and they are the only places in eastern Australia where Cape Gannets can sometimes be found. The last reported sighting was of 4 birds on Lawrence Rocks in February 2005. In January 2004 there were 2 birds seen in the Point Danger colony.

Lawrence Rocks and Point Danger, nearest to them. Bottom left is Cape Nelson and top left is Portland (Goole Earth)

Back in May I was on my first ever Portland pelagic and as we were coming back into port we passed about 200 metres from Lawrence Rocks. I took 187 photos of the Gannets on the top of the rocks and when I got home I put the photos on the computer and looked for a Cape Gannet. Talk about playing “Where’s Wally”, with a magnifying glass! Total failure. Back on shore I went looking for the colony at Point Danger, got lost, and ended up at Cape Nelson, some 20 km from where I needed to be. Bother.

Lawrence Rocks

This last weekend I was on another Portland pelagic trip and I did my homework. I arrived at Point Danger without getting lost, but it was about 1800 and dusk. Worse, the dirt track was flooded and I didn’t want to risk getting bogged. I decided to give up and try on Sunday after the pelagic. When I pulled up outside my room at the motel Tim Bawden walked up and said, “We’ve just seen a Cape Gannet at Point Danger. Double Bother, or words to that effect! I looked at the time, remembered the road and decided to wait – but I think I almost cried into my beer at dinner when Paul Dodd showed me pictures.

Cape Gannet showing long gular stripe

After the pelagic on Sunday a convoy of cars headed to Point Danger but there was no Cape Gannet to be seen. I was staying the night so I went back at 0800 on Monday morning. It was a beautiful morning with no wind and bright sunshine, but no Cape Gannet. Hmmm, bother, again. I wanted to see an Olive Whistler for my year list so I drove the 65 km to Nelson (not Cape Nelson) and saw the bird and was back at Point Danger by 1200. I set my scope up on the viewing platform and the very first bird I looked at was the Cape Gannet. Yeeeeaaa! A quick dance around the tripod, another look, another dance – then it was time for some photos.

The colony on Point danger. Cape Gannet is bottom left.

Photos of birds standing still can be a bit boring but I took photos of the long black gular stripe and the all black tail. Another gannet arrived, an Australian Gannet, and neither bird stood still. There was lots of displaying with splayed wings and raised necks – and then they really started moving, they were pollinating! Well, being a nice girl that’s what I choose to call it (smile), others call it “copulating” or, or, no I can’t even type that word (smile).

The Cape Gannet went into display before his mate landed, I wonder if she called to him or did he just see her?

After some mutual displaying and the female had done some nest tidying the birds started "pollinating".

... but after it was over she quickly moved away and dumped him on the ground

It was then the male's turn to re-arrange the nesting material 

... and then go into another display while his mate preened

 A deep final bow to his mate, who wasn't even watching.

After watching the bird for about an hour I rang Paul and told him I had seen it, then headed off to fill the car with petrol, me with lunch, and start the long drive home. My photos are nowhere near as good as Paul’s but they are good enough for the record and they do show the birds “moving”.







All images and text © Jenny Spry