Tuesday [55 species]
John and Marg organized a fabulous three
day outing to Wilson’s Prom and surrounding locales including the Yanakie
Isthmus. Rod and Michele, Jos, Sue, Deirdre, Bev, Peter and Jack joined to
start the excursion from Foster where we had lunch in the refurbishing main
Street.
First stop was the Cody Gully Walk (site
01) at the end of Simpson Street in urban Foster where we quickly had our
target bird – Scarlet Honeyeater which is currently irrupting all over southern
Victoria. Find mistletoe, find Scarlet Honeyeater … and Mistletoebirds too.
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| Eastern Spinebill |
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| Scarlet Honeyeater |
Next we dropped our gear off at Tobolo
Lodge in the back street of Yanakie (site 02) which was to be our home for the
next two days. Tom and his Red Jungle Fowl descendants – his chooks – were
great hosts with a superb house with many bedrooms, bathrooms, lounge rooms,
kitchens …
From there we went down Millars Road to
Shallow Inlet (site 03) – White-fronted Chats feeding young -- then on to the
other side of the isthmus to Duck Point in Corner Inlet (site 04) where we
walked through the bush to the beach and back to the caravan park via the
point. Highlights there were Red-capped Plovers, Red-necked Stints, a
White-bellied Sea-eagle and a pair of Sooty Oystercatchers, one with a flag
E8.
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| Sooty Oystercatcher E8 |
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| White-bellied Sea-eagle |
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| Caspian Tern |
Tuesday evening’s meal was Spaghetti
Bolognaise and Lasagne with the smoothest cheesecake ever made. Lots of
conversation, of course, and a relatively early night.
Wednesday [25 species, total 80]
A small cohort of birders rose early and
had a quick look at the Shallow Inlet site again (site 05) as the tide and
light were favourable compared to the previous evening.Striated Fieldwren and
Golden Whistler were the standout visible bird but there were hundreds of
Eastern Whipbirds with their usual fleeting glimpses.
After breakfast we headed off south into
the Wilsons Promontory National Park wioth our first stop at Darby River. Here
we walked the track to the beach (site 06) with an informative and interesting
commentary from Rod and Michele about all things floral and geological. A
wedgetailed Eagle and a White-bellied Sea-eagle were seen riding the stiff
onshore breeze and another pair of Sooty Oystercatchers (1F, 1Z).
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| Darby River beach surf |
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| Darby River explorers |
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| A flower |
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| Sooty Oystercatcher 1K |
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| Sooty Oystercatcher 1Z enjoying a worm |
Onwards to Tidal River (site 07) and a stop at the visitor centre and a park bench for lunch under the watchful, ever-vigilant eye of a mature Pacific Gull pretending to be a scavenging Silver Gull.
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| Australian Wood Duck, female. Lounging at Tidal River |
After lunch it was on to Lilly Pilly Gully
(site 08) where we spent more than two hours quietly walking (and talking) the
two or so kilometres in and out to a short loop in the temperate rainforest of
myrtle beech and tree ferns. Gang-gang Cockatoo, Australian King-Parrot,
Crescent Honeyeater, Brown Gerygone.
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| Grey Fantail most common bird after the cuckoos |
It was a lovely walk after which we went
back to the digs as we had not left enough time for a further site without
compromising dinner which was a BBQ (under the direction of Master Chef Rod),
salad and cheesecake #2 plus lots more good conversation including “How good a
sleeper are you?”
Thursday [18 species, total 98]
This was our final day. After a clean up
and final look at Yanakie (site 09) our first stop was to revisit Cody Gully
Walk (site 10) to show Deirdre and Peter the Scarlet Honeyeater which they had
missed on Tuesday. Easily found in the same mistletoe! From there we went to
Agnes Falls (site 11) where we spotted Dusky Moorhen, White-eared Honeyeater
for the first time. On to Toora Bird Hide (site 12) where 36 minutes yielded
only 16 species but …Little Egret, Eastern Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Great
Knot, Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and Crested Tern. The scope was put to good use.
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| Eastern Curlew |
A short drive to Welshpool, the loos and
lunch where we met Gary who hosted us to his dairy farm (site 13) on the
northern shore of Corner Inlet where we finished our outing with two hours of
birding in reclaimed bush (samphire and tussocks) and the beach. Shelduck,
Teal, Great Egrets, cormorants, 10 Australian Pied Oystercatchers (two with
flags – NN, 6C) 400 Black Swans80 Red-necked Stints, Caspian and Whiskered Tern
and Jack’s highlight, 3 Australian Gull-billed Terns; two in breeding plumage
and 1 in non-breeding plumage. On the way out John and Marg flushed a Brown
Quail and the last bird to be seen was Noisy Miner!!
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| Wilsons Prom viewed from Corner Inlet |
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| Pig-face |
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| Australian Pied Oystercatcher 6C |
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| Australian Pied Oystercatcher NN |
|
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Australian Gull-billed Tern
adult breeding plumage |
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Australian Gull-billed Tern
adult non-breeding plumage |
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| Red-necked Stints |
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| Red-necked Stint |
Over the entire time we heard (and occasionally
saw) many Pallid and Fan-tailed Cuckoos, Shining and Horsfields Bronze-cuckoos.
By the end EVERYBODY could identify them by ear both quickly and correctly.
Stepped up, stepped down, slide up (whistling the dog), slide down.
We had a very enjoyable time. Many thanks
go to John and Marg for organizing it and Gary for hosting us.
Ninety-eight species in all. Not bad for 48
hours of socializing.
