Paul Matson's Birding Blog: Australia December 2016

A trip visiting family in Australia for Christmas and New Year and working flat out until the 22nd there was little time to prepare, but once on the way it was easier to switch modes from work to leisure. Arriving to a steamy Melbourne on Christmas Eve, the big day was a sultry 38c ! The Turkey melted and the wine evaporated quite quickly !. There was little time for birds in the first couple of days so typically common Australian backyard species such as Silver Gull, Red Wattlebird, Australian Magpie, Sulphur Crested Cockatoo and Galah were noted with Brown Thornbill and Eastern Spinebill generating a little more interest.

On the 27th, 2 nights away were booked and Adie Jenny (Adie's aunt) and I set off for Deniliquin, some 350 kms NW of Melbourne. The weather was a little uncertain as although still exceptionally hot, torrential rain was predicted. Some birds on the journey included Magpie Lark, Wood Duck, White-necked Heron, Straw-necked Ibis, Black Kite, Swamp Harrier, Masked Lapwing, and Brown Goshawk.

Deniliquin is an odd little town, being on a river there were some inland water sport enthusiasts in town for the holiday also staying at the Riverview Motel, which was clean and had large enough rooms. A supermarket trip to stock up for provisions for the next day and a salad for the evening meal was sufficient.

At 0630 on the 28th Philip Maher picked us up for a long day out looking for birds. We firstly headed South of the town towards some Black Box Forest remnants. A pair of Adult Wedge-tailed Eagles were seen shortly followed by 2 fully fledged juveniles, then a small group of Apostlebirds, Little Corellas and some White-winged Choughs. Further along the track a falcon was in the middle of the road and at first looked injured but as we stopped it flew off towards us and was identified as a Black Falcon which is fairly unusual. A group of Bluebonnets were seen briefly before we arrived at the area of forest and started to walk. The sky was very overcast and it was already hot, there were no mosquitos but plenty of bush flies, so just irritiating rather than a hazard. A Sacred Kingfisher was sitting low in a tree and then Philip decided to check for Owlet Nightjars - the usual technique is to find a suitable tree with a hollowed branch and tap the tree with a loose piece of wood from the ground and if present then the owlet-nightjar might show. Before Philip had tapped the first tree an Australian Owlet-Nightjar flew out of a hole and landed nearby allowing good views

We spent a further hour walking around the area adding White-browed Woodswallows, Striped and Spiny cheeked Honeyeaters, White-plumed Honeyeater, Southern Whiteface, Brown Treecreeper, Jacky Winter, Diamond Firetails, Rufous Whistler, Rufouse Songlark, White-winged Triller and Grey Shrike-Thrush. Groups of Superb Parrots shot through calling but did not offer good views.

Hay fields on way to Deniliquin

Pair of adult Wedge-tailed Eagles

Apostlebird

Sacred Kingfisher

Australian Owlet-Nightjar

Eastern Grey Kangaroo

White-browed Woodswallow

Jacky Winter

Rufous Whistler

Diamond Firetails

Southern Whiteface

Birding in the bush

Next we headed back towards town and to a further forest area which had been partly flooded to see whether we could get any better views of Parrots. A few Yellow Rosellas, Long Billed Correllas and Galahs were present but no Superb Parrots, The wetlands held plenty of Australian White Ibis, Straw Necked Ibis, White-faced, White necked and Nankeen night Herons. also Pacific Black Duck , Chestnut Teal and Wood Duck.

A walk in another area saw Little Friarbird , White-throated Treecreeper more Brown Treecreeper. Buff-rumped Thornbill, Weebill and a very smart male Red-capped Robin..

Went back to motel for a break at 1pm - to be picked up again at 4pm

Little Friarbird

Common Bronzewing

Laughing Kookaburra

Brown Treecreeper

Buff-rumped Thornbill

Red-capped Robin

At 4pm Philip returned and we headed North out of town on the road to Hay. Plenty of Black Kites and Whistling Kites. were drifting over the increasingly sparse terrain. The first couple of stops were at conservation areas which Philip had set up to recolonise with local indigenous plants. The first area was around 5 acres and seemed to be doing particularly well and had attracted the nomadic White-fronted Honeyeater along with Singing, White-Plumed and Spiny cheeked Honeyeater and Variagated Fairy Wren. The second area was much larger on a sand mound - around 10 hectares. Philip said that he had probably planted around 14,000 trees and shrubs but only 2,000 survived. The area overlooked a wetland where rather distantly we saw Pink-eared Ducks, Black winged Stilts, Yellow-billed Spoonbill and the first Emu of the trip. There were also White-backed Swallows which were using nesting holes created in a sand bank.

Further along the highway we saw more Emu, a White winged Fairy Wren, a Sand Goanna, and both Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroos. Entering into a paddocks we found 2 Ground Cuckoo Shrike and a group of White-browed, Masked and White-breasted Woodswallows hawking along with a few Fork-tailed Swifts.

White-fronted Honeyeater

Variegated Fairy Wren

Emus

Western Grey Kangaroo

Sand Goanna

Eastern Bluebonnet

Banded Lapwing

Miles of plains - just before sunset

A stop to look for a Frogmouth was a no show, then as the trees has thinned out to leave vast open plains we turned onto a long track several kilometres in length where Banded Lapwing and Brown Songlark were added. The further we ventured into this territory the increasing vastness was apparent. It was difficult to estimate the size of the fields but it went for as far as the eye could see.

We waited until the sun went down for the main event and then some time after 9pm entered a paddock and strated to drive very slowly spotlighting the field. At first seeing several more Banded Lapwing and Australian Pipits, a Fat-tailed Dunnart was seen which is a small mouse-like marsupial. Then after about an hour we found our first Plains Wanderer although this was still a chick, maybe 8 weeks old. after a further 45 mintes we then found another , which was an adult male and then another (which Adie found) which was likely a young female.. It appears with the rains the breeding had been good this season.

Around midnight we headed off to another paddock seeing our first Red Kangaroos and quickly found a Little Buttonquail, then a Stubble Quail then another Plains Wanderer.

Exiting the paddock back onto the main track we picked up some speed to head back then suddenly a screech to a halt on the track and an Inland Dotterel was on the path. They have only recently returned to the area so it was good to be able to pick this bird up.

Great Evening ended and we returned about 1am to the motel.

Adult male Plains Wanderer

Little Buttonquail

Stubble Quail

Inland Dotterel

The following morning the Jenny and Adie stayed for a sleep in and I went out with Philip at 8am for a few more hours before we headed back to Melbourne. We went to a couple more habitats where we managed to see the Crested Shrike Tit and some perched Superb Parrots and a , Dollarbird. We then to a Swamp Wetland where there were Black Swans, Musk Ducks, Royal Spoonbill, Dusky Moorhen, Australian Reed Warbler, Swamp Harriers calling Australian and Little Bittern remained hidden in the reeds. Final bit of Woodland saw Tawny Frogmouth, Western Gerygone, Yellow Thornbill and White-browed Babbler. Returned to Denniliquin around 1pm then started the journey back to Melbourne, about half way there the predicted torrential rain started , we had been very lucky that the weather held out.

White-winged Chough

Superb Parrots

Crested Shrike-Tit

male Musk Duck

female Musk Duck

Dusky Moorhen

Tawny Frogmouth

White-browed Babbler

The following day, the 30th, we flew to Sydney to stay with Justin and Sue in St Ives which is a northern suburb abour 30 minutes from the City.

A focus was the New Year celebrations but over the bnext few days I managed couple of walks from the house into the Kai-ring-gai National Park and then we had 2 nights in the Blue Mountains on the 3rd and 4th . I had half a plan in the Blue mountains to spend a morning in the Capertree valley, but the weather was dreadful, wet and foggy which curtailed any time for birding so the trip there was relatively bird free as we stuck very much to the tourist sites.

The walks in Sydney were more productive, having already seen Channel-billed Cuckoo and Musk Parakeet from the house there was a good selection of Woodland species , which included

Olive-backed Oriole, Superb Lyrebird, Eastern Whipbird, several Honeyeater Species. Eastern Yellow Robin, Brown-Cuckoo dove,