Summer birding2013/2014– Merryl Wright

What a summer! So hot and windy and dry – except for one episode of heavy rain just before Australia Day. Even though we did our best to keep water available for our birds, it was miserable to see them so distressed by the heat. (Only the vegie garden looked worse, and some plantings just did not recover!)

As it is, summer is usually ‘light on’ for Monday birding outings with the last formal excursion for 2013 at Fairy Dell at the end of November. The next Monday was the Challenge Count and then the end-of-year celebration at Nyerimilang, before a break until 31 January when the group again met at Nyerimilang for Avril Yates Day. We were forced to cancel the first Monday outing for February due tothe declaration of a day of total fire ban, leaving only fourregular outing days for the whole season!

So for this summer,the group has only visited six different sitesbut recorded a total of 100different species and 764individual birds. (This report only relates to regular Monday outings and does not include records for the group’s survey work or the Challenge Count which has been reported separately.)

The group has been introduced to a new birding spot, Moons Gully Reserve on the Nicholson River. The one hectare site has farms on either side with the Nicholson River as its eastern border. Under the auspices of East Gippsland Shire, it was cleared of weeds and revegetatedin 2004, and now provides excellent habitat for bush birds.

The locationswhere most species were recorded this summer were ever-reliable Nyerimilang with 50 species even on a hot day, Mt Elizabeth (41) and Moons Gully (35).Mt Elizabeth Nature Conservation Park provided a wealth of top birds – Pilotbird, Olive Whistler, Rufous Fantail, both Satin and Leaden Flycatchers and a Brush Cuckoo, which was a first for some observers. Other favourite birds would be seven Yellow-billed Spoonbills at Bosses Swamp in company with three Royal Spoonbills which is a bit unusual, Scarlet Honeyeaters heard at Moons Gully, and a Black-faced Monarch and Rufous Fantail at Nyerimilang.

Here is a list of sites visited on our regular outings and thespecies list for birds recorded this summer

Fairy Dell, Wiseleigh

Nyerimilang Heritage Park, Kalimna

Bosses Swamp, Nicholson

Moons Gully Reserve, Nicholson

Nicholson River Rail Trail Bridge and Jetty

Mt Elizabeth Nature Conservation Reserve

Australasian Grebe
Australian King Parrot
Australian Magpie
Australian Pelican
Australian Pied Oystercatcher
Australian White Ibis
Australian Wood Duck
Azure Kingfisher
Bar-tailed Godwit
Bell Miner
Black Swan
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Black-faced Monarch
Brown Gerygone
Brown Thornbill
Brown-headed Honeyeater
Brush Cuckoo
Chestnut Teal
Cicadabird
Common Blackbird
Common Bronzewing
Common Myna
Common Starling
Crescent Honeyeater
Crested Pigeon
Crested Tern
Crimson Rosella
Dusky Moorhen
Eastern Great Egret
Eastern Rosella
Eastern Spinebill
Eastern Whipbird
Eastern Yellow Robin
Eurasian Coot
European Goldfinch
Fan-tailed Cuckoo
Forest Raven
Galah
Gang-gang Cockatoo
Golden Whistler
Great Crested Grebe
Grey Butcherbird
Grey Fantail
Grey Shrike-thrush
House Sparrow
Laughing Kookaburra
Leaden Flycatcher
Lewin's Honeyeater
Little Black Cormorant
Little Corella
Little Eagle
Little Pied Cormorant
Magpie Lark
Masked Lapwing
Mistletoebird
New Holland Honeyeater
Olive Whistler
Olive-backed Oriole
Pacific Black Duck
Pacific Gull
Pied Currawong
Pilotbird
Purple Swamphen
Rainbow Lorikeet
Red Wattlebird
Red-browed Finch
Rose Robin
Royal Spoonbill
Rufous Fantail
Rufous Whistler
Sacred Kingfisher
Satin Bowerbird
Satin Flycatcher
Scarlet Honeyeater
Silver Gull
Silvereye
Spotted Dove
Spotted Pardalote
Spotted Quail-thrush
Straw-necked Ibis
Striated Pardalote
Striated Thornbill
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo
Superb Fairy-wren
Superb Lyrebird
Swamp Harrier
Wedge-tailed Eagle
Welcome Swallow
Whistling Kite
White-browed Scrubwren
White-faced Heron
White-naped Honeyeater
White-throated Treecreeper
Willie Wagtail
Wonga Pigeon
Yellow Thornbill
Yellow-billed Spoonbill
Yellow-faced Honeyeater
Yellow-rumped Thornbill
Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo
Total Sightings 764
Number of Species 100