|
Private birding trip report The Cats had finally broken the drought and while the rest of Geelong was celebrating the day after the big football game, we headed out for a quieter day in the bush. The weather wasn’t in our favour with strong winds and driving rain making it a bit more tempting to bird watch from inside, rather than outside, the van.
Sighting Brolgas always gives us a thrill, but we were very pleased to see the Lake Gehrang Brolgas were in the company of 6 Gull-billed Tern. The birds were quite striking, with white plumage, black caps down over their eyes, black bills and long wings. The Gull-billed Terms were a first for Bernie and happily they stayed put while we viewed them through the scope to confirm their identification. The bush birds didn’t want to come out and who could blame them with winds gusting and heavily rain falling throughout The Otways. Well, perhaps they were there if we’d really looked, but the van was warm and dry and the birds will be there next time! We were lucky enough to see two male Flame Robins beside the track on our way to Lorne. The coastline closer to home turned out to be a better choice for birding. We had good sightings of a range of waders, including Hooded Plover, a Banded Lapwing, Common Greenshank, Ruddy Turnstone, Black-fronted Dotterel, and more. A group of 25+ Whiskered Tern did their best against the wind, hovering and holding location, then dropping to check for food and back up again. It looked hard work. A Swamp Harrier fared better. There were sizeable groups of Black Swans, Australasian Shoveler and Straw-necked Ibis. Recent rain has made a big difference to local wetlands with water levels high and bird numbers up. We covered a wide range of habitats during the day, without travelling long distances, and saw about 65 species. This was a good number considering there were very few bush birds and we did not include our local suburban birds. It’s a great area to see different species and even when the weather’s bad the birding is good!! Barry and Bernie Lingham |
 |
|||
Wyld By Design |
