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Private birding trip report Western Treatment Plant, Werribee The Western Treatment Plant covers 8500 hectares of land on the western shores of Port Phillip Bay. It includes large areas of treatment ponds and pasture land plus the Little River and its estuary and wetlands, such as Lake Borrie. It's a well known site to bird watchers as the Plant hosts a wide variety of resident species, plus many thousands of migratory waders each summer. The site has also been consistently visited by many vagrant or rare species. Bird watching at restricted areas within the Plant is allowed via permits issued by Melbourne Water. Permit holders must inform Melbourne Water of details about their planned trip. Commercial tours are not allowed. I ventured out on a windy and wet day with local birders Kay and Rob. We started in The Spit area and were pleased to note a flock of 17 Cape Barren Geese in paddocks off Pt Wilson Road. The Spit allowed viewing of many species of duck and cormorants plus Great Egrets and Swamp Harriers. A honking noise drew our attention to four Brolgas that flew over and alighted near Pt Wilson Road, where they walked about majestically. A sort trip to the ponds over the road allowed views of red-necked Stint, Red-capped Plover, Double-banded Plover and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. At Kirks Point we saw several species of terns roosting – Crested, Little and a Common Tern. These terns are more difficult to identify in the non-breeding season and careful checking through the telescopes was necessary. The Little Terns had varying beak colour, some with black beaks and a few with some yellow. On some birds, the dark shoulder patch was visible. The single common tern also had a dark shoulder patch. It was larger than the Little Terns, but smaller than the Crested. There were many birds on Lake Borrie, but not the huge flocks that sometimes occur there. Large numbers of Australasian Shoveller and Pink-eared Duck were seen and a single female Darter. We traveled to the hide at the mouth of the Little River and observed a single Sooty Oystercatcher with some Pied Oystercatchers, along with many cormorants and ducks. There were about 8 Yellow-billed Spoonbill in the river, but we were not able to see any of the rails that can often be seen on the mud as the tide drops. At Walsh’s Lagoon, a small flock of Red-necked Avocets, accompanied by some larger waders landed as we arrived. We were pleased to note through the scopes that they were Black-tailed Godwit. Three of the birds were in striking breeding plumage, with distinct bars on the rufous chest and whiter underparts. Two small terns roosting with swans were tentatively identified as White-winged Blacks but they were difficult to see. The trip continued along the Bay edge of the plant, with many Whistling Kites seen. One group had six birds. Australasian Gannets were noted fishing off-shore. We stopped for lunch at the Borrow Pits, and were disappointed at not being able to add to a species count until 4 Orange-bellied Parrots flew past as we were packing to leave. The vibrant green of the birds was noted. The four birds (presumably the same four) have been seen in the area several times lately. The rain picked up as we traveled on. It was very welcome (seeing it's been so scarce of late), despite making the birding more difficult. We came to a pond with many terns flying about. Many were Whiskered Terns in non-breeding plumage, and they were mingling with White-winged Black Terns. One of the WWBTs was in spectacular full breeding plumage, but many were still in the white coloured non-breeding plumage. Due to the strong winds and inclement weather, we finished the day without seeing many bush birds, such as honeyeaters, finches and some of the raptors, but we were well satisfied at the many interesting species that were seen. Barry. |
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