The Babbler

Number 54 November 2020 Occasional newsletter of Birdlife Murray Goulburn Branch

Birdlife Murray Goulburn EBIRD HOTSPOTS IN OUR REGION President: Pat Feehan by Pat Feehan Ph 0437 354088 Email: [email protected] While browsing through eBird (in Explore Regions) I Secretary: Denise Feehan was surprised to find that of the top ten Victorian Ph 0484 195698 Email: [email protected] hotspots (by number of species) two are within our region.

Table 1 Victorian eBird hotspots ranked by species On 23 November the Victorian Government eased Coronavirus restrictions, allowing groups of up to 50 Rank Location Number of species people to meet outdoors. BLMG is now able to run (at 7 October planned outings for the foreseeable future. 2020) Forthcoming activities 1 Western Treatment 267 Plant Sat 5 December 2020. Mansfield area. Meet at 9am at the Mansfield Botanic Gardens, High St, 500m east of 2 Mallacoota 234 Midland Hwy, past the main shopping centre. 3 Hattah-Kulkyne 220 Wed 3 February 2021. Winton Wetlands bird survey. National Park Meet at boat ramp, Rd 8.45am for 9am 4 Chiltern-Mt Pilot 213 start. National Park-- Sat 19 Feb 2021. Cussen Park. Meet at 9am at Cussen Chiltern Park, Ross St. Tatura, AGM. 5 Gemmill Swamp 211 Sat 20 March 2021. 9am. Murchison area Nature Conservation Reserve Birdlife Murray Goulburn on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/birdlifemg/ 6 You Yangs Regional 201 Facebook queries to Graham Boast. Park [email protected] 7 Marlo 200 8 198 Contents 9 Winton Wetlands 195 p. 1-2. eBird hotspots in our region. Pat Feehan 10 Cape Conran Coastal 192 Park p. 2-3. Bird photography

p. 3-4. Birds of Gemmill Swamp over time. Pat Feehan Why was I surprised? Our region hardly ever gets mentioned as one of the places to go for birding. We p. 4. Interesting sightings always hear about the Western Treatment Plant, p. 4-5. Informal bird outings during COVID. Chiltern or Hattah, but never Winton Wetlands or Gemmill Swamp. p. 5-9. Swan Hill camp and outings reports p. 10. Winton Wetlands and other branch surveys The high number of species at Gemmill is due to the survey efforts of Don Roberts, who has been observing The Babbler the birds at his Mooroopna backdoor since 1967 and Marg Clarke took the five photos below at Reedy who has submitted 957 checklists (to 7 October 2020) Swamp, Shepparton in October 2020 for this site.

At Winton the high number of species must be partly due to the regular surveys conducted by BLMG since 2013 and also to the efforts of a dedicated few locals. The Winton Wetlands hotspot does not include records from the other 24 or so hotspots located at Winton Wetland so the total number of species is likely to be higher than that shown above.

BIRDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

Some exciting news for Jacob Denman. Although he didn’t win the youth section of the Birdlife photography competition, his entry was shortlisted. Here is a link to Reedy Swamp with plenty of water. the competition entries. Scroll through to the Youth Section to see Jacob’s photo of a Pallid Cuckoo sitting on a fence. https://www.birdlifephotoaward.org.au/gallery- winners-2020 Congratulations Jacob. The other sections of the competition are also worth checking out.

BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY FROM OUR MEMBERS

Russ and Kathy Jones visited Picola and enjoyed views of Superb Parrots and Grey-crowned Babblers.

Family of Coots

Male Superb Parrot. Photo Russ Jones

Rainbow Bee-eaters

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since retirement). To April 2020 he had submitted (to eBird and Birdata) 823 lists over 53 years, an average of 15 per year, but the great majority have been since 2015. Over time he has recorded 213 bird species. The observations and associated database present a unique opportunity to assess changes to the bird assemblage at Gemmill Swamp over time. The Swamp itself has changed, together with flooding frequency and it is expected that the birds will have changed. A summary of the data shows: 84 species (39% of species) have a reporting rate of less than 20% (not very common), while 65 species (30% of species) have a reporting rate of greater than 80% (quite common). Sacred Kingfisher The number of different species (richness) varied

between 90 to about 120 species from 1967 to about 1993 when it dropped sharply to 50. Since about 2009 richness has gradually improved. Woodland bird richness outnumbers wetland bird richness 3:1. Aerial species are very uncommon and there are 7 introduced species. Bird abundance (the number of birds) is variable, but a major drop occurred at about 1993 and it has remained relatively low ever since. In the 1970s and 80s woodland birds were much more abundant than waterbirds. Waterbird abundance shows occasional spikes (e.g. 1975, 1985, 1990, 2011) probably in line Black Swans with water levels at the Swamp. Since 2013 waterbird abundance has been very low. Woodland bird

abundance seems to have been on a long decline from Wrong caption over 500 birds per list to about 200. This is probably in line with bird population declines recorded regionally. Apologies to Catarina Gregson. Her lovely photo of a Recent waterbird richness has been quite variable Striated Pardalote in the July 2020 newsletter was (from about 5 to 30), perhaps as a result of extreme mistakenly labelled a Spotted Pardalote. climatic conditions and reflecting the wetland’s water regime. Recently woodland bird richness has been close to the historic highs of the 1970s and 80s.

There are 17 raptors recorded (16 are woodland birds, BIRDS OF GEMMILL SWAMP OVER 1 is a wetland species). The most abundant raptors are TIME Whistling Kite and Swamp Harrier. Simple eyeballing of data suggests there has been a number of declining and gaining birds. Gainers include Pat Feehan Australian King-Parrot, Blue-faced Honeyeater, Buff- Gemmill Swamp is a large complex wetland in the rumped Thornbill, Chestnut Teal, Common Blackbird, Gemmill Swamp Nature Conservation Reserve, an area Common Myna, Grey Fantail, Little Corella, Long-billed of approximately 216 hectares just north of the town Corella, New Holland Honeyeater, Noisy Friarbird, Pied of Mooroopna on the Goulburn River floodplain. Butcherbird, Rainbow Lorikeet, Red Wattlebird, White- throated Treecreeper. Over many years, local birder and BirdLife Murray Goulburn member Don Roberts has monitored birds at Decliners include Australian White Ibis, Azure Gemmill Swamp. Don has lived close to, or adjacent Kingfisher, Black-chinned Honeyeater, Black-fronted to, Gemmill Swamp for most of his life and it is Dotterel, Brown Quail, Bush Stone-curlew, Crested relatively easy for him to undertake his morning walk Shrike-tit, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, European Goldfinch, and compile a bird list at the same time (especially Grey-crowned Babbler, Latham's Snipe, Pallid Cuckoo,

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Peaceful Dove, Restless Flycatcher, Rufous Songlark, REPORT OF SOME INFORMAL Swift Parrot, White-backed Swallow, Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Zebra Finch. BIRDING BY VARIOUS BLMG Some of these changes may simply be due to habitat MEMBERS DURING COVID changes at the wetland, while others could be due to RESTRICTIONS the broadscale declines noted by researchers.

Many birds disappeared during the period 1995 to As our normal September BLMG outing was cancelled a about 2010, but now seem to be returning. couple of "ad hoc" outings were held (in compliance Don’s observations highlight the value of long-term with COVID restrictions, including the outdoor datasets and their analysis. gathering limit of 10 people). A more detailed, working draft, report is available. Contact Pat Feehan. Pine Lodge On Saturday 26 September 2020 Karan Balfour organised a visit to Public Land along the Broken River INTERESTING SIGHTINGS at Pine Lodge and along roadsides at Cosgrove and Dookie. Two Brolga seen by Pat Feehan adjacent to the We enjoyed a nice day with plenty of sunshine and Goulburn Valley Highway, east of Nagambie township barely a hint of rain, but facemasks proved difficult for on 1 October 2020 fog-free viewing through glasses and binoculars. A report that a Painted Snipe was seen at Gaynors The Broken River has only 2 eBird hotspots between Swamp, south of Corop, by GB Catchment Shepparton and Benalla and doesn't seem to be visited Management Authority staff sometime in October or very often so the area was new territory for some. early November. The river frontage yielded 45 species including first of A Painted Honeyeater was seen in mistletoe at season sightings of Rainbow Bee-eaters. We also came Mansfield by Kaz Wilson on 4 October 2020 across White-browed Scrubwrens, numerous Red- browed Finches and Superb Fairywrens (both very A Cicadabird was heard at Gemmill Swamp by Don photogenic), a single Olive-backed Oriole and early Roberts on 30 October, and after much searching he season Sacred Kingfishers and Australian Reed- saw a male bird high in the canopy on 31 October warblers. 2020. After lunch we moved on to Berry Road, where we A Brush Cuckoo and a Cicadabird were heard but found 15 species including young Willie Wagtails and a not seen by Val La May, Judith Durston, Helen Ogilbee Rufous Songlark, but not the Boobook Owl sighted by and Kathy Costello on Honeysuckle Track, Upper Boho Karan in the morning. in the Strathbogies on 26 November 2020. To finish the day we took a walk along Dookie A few Scarlet Honeyeaters have been seen in Gowangardie Rd adjacent to the western boundary of November at Mansfield, a new bird for Kaz Wilson at the Dookie Bushland Reserve on Dookie College. This this location. Most records this year have been from gave us 22 species. Highlights here were a great Gippsland through to ; although a few have display of local wildflowers on the roadside verges, a been recorded at Yarck, Lima East, Heathcote and nesting Magpie Lark being fed by its parent, good Glenrowan. views of a Brown Falcon and more Rufous Songlarks. A male Eastern Koel was seen at Seymour by Val La All up, we finished with 57 species for the day. May and Kathy Costello on 17 November 2020; this is a new bird for Val’s Seymour list. Gobur Nature Conservation Reserve An albino Noisy Friarbird was a surprise visitor to Judith’s Euroa garden, among the many friarbirds Tues 29 September 2020 feeding in her red flowering Callistemons. Val La May reports: A few Nankeen Night-herons have been recorded by On a foggy morning, 7 of us met at the Yarck our members in November: three at Shadforth amenities block in 6 degree weather. But the day Reserve, Violet Town, one on Seven Creeks at Euroa improved from then on. We drove the 11 km to Gobur and one at Gemmill Swamp, Mooroopna. NCR, a location introduced to BLMG by the late

4 The Babbler No 54 The Babbler lamented Bob Tate. There our Mansfield contingent Pine Lodge was waiting for us. We walked our usual route southwards, being often 'distracted' by the many wildflowers and an Echidna. Karan Balfour led the second group to a public reserve In fact, we did our best to turn the outing into a Field on the Broken River at Pine Lodge, east of Shepparton, Nats outing. the same one visited in September. 43 species were recorded in the woodland adjacent to the Broken The bird highlights were undoubtedly the 2 cuckoo River. Birds included Rainbow Bee-eaters, Dollarbirds species, both calling & seen well. The Brush Cuckoo is and a good range of woodland birds. A Brown Goshawk considered rare for the Reserve, but eagle-eyes and Whistling Kite made up the raptors. White-browed spotted it atop a dead tree and its call was recorded. Scrubwrens were again seen at this site. Then we saw the Shining Bronze-Cuckoo in the gully. White-throated Gerygones serenaded us most of the The group enjoyed lunch in some welcome shade, then morning. Just after lunch a Peregrine Falcon soared decided to forego a visit to Cosgrove and Dookie in the over at a great height. afternoon, because it was too hot to keep birding. Then most of us went to Frees Dam, where we saw Between the 2 groups, 60 species were recorded for more wildflowers, heard lots of Reed Warblers and the day, which isn’t bad for an area thought by many tried to count the Welcome Swallows that were to be dry with not much diversity. zooming over the dam. We recorded 7 species at Pat Feehan Yarck, 43 species at Gobur and 26 species at Frees Dam. In all a day that was well-nigh perfect. BLMG CAMP AT SWAN HILL, 16 – 20 On 21 November some members attended OCTOBER 2020 informal outings to Pine Lodge and Moodies Swamp, again complying with COVID restrictions. By Pat Feehan Moodies Swamp Some 26 members travelled to Swan Hill for our 2020 camp. Some were delayed while awaiting the outcome One group visited Moodies Swamp on the Benalla of COVID tests, but eventually all managed to reach Tocumwal Road, and the Broken Creek near Yundool Swan Hill. (near St James). Peter Laws led the group around the We based ourselves at the Pental Island Holiday Park, eastern edge of Moodies Swamp. The swamp received on the banks of the Murray River, a few kilometres water during winter, but there was very little water upstream of Swan Hill. COVID restrictions curtailed our visible, although the swamp floor was pretty muddy. activities somewhat, especially socialising, but we still A total of 33 species were sighted, including numerous managed a very successful series of outings over 4 White-necked Heron and Straw-necked Ibis. A single days. At all sites we had plenty of room to spread out Swamp Harrier and a Whistling Kite made up the into small groups and socially isolate. raptors. No Brolga were sighted, although they had been present in winter. Sacred Kingfishers were also numerous. Small dragonflies were abundant and should provide good bird food. After a stop at St James, including a look at the original GJ Coles store, we took lunch at a pleasant shady spot on the banks of the Broken Creek near the Yundool School. We were a bit surprised to find that the creek had plenty of water. Numerous birds were seen while we sat for lunch. Perhaps the biggest surprise was a pair of King Parrots (not entirely out of range!). We also found waterbirds including Grey Teal, Dusky Moorhen and Australasian Swamphen together with a number of Peaceful Dove.

All up the group saw 40 species for the day. With the Murray River at Pental Island Holiday Park. Photo Marg temperature rising to the high 30s, we called it quits Clarke soon after lunch.

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The weather was indifferent. Steady rain late Friday Goschen boasts 142 species on eBird and we managed into Saturday morning cleared to overcast conditions to find 33. Highlights included numerous Hooded on Saturday. Sunday was windy, but clear, and Robins, Greater Bluebonnets, Woodswallows (White- Monday was the pick of the days. Wet conditions breasted, Masked, White-browed), Purple-backed sometimes made roads and tracks impassable, so we Fairywrens (some of us initially misnamed these as had to pick our paths carefully. Variegated Fairywren), White-winged Trillers and Babblers (Grey-crowned and White-browed). A small group walked along the Murray River in the steady rain on Friday evening and discovered very muddy conditions as well as 17 birds, the highlight of which was a Cockatiel.

Male White-winged Triller at Goschen. Photo Marg Clarke

Singing Honeyeater was seen in a number of places. Photo Marg Clarke

Goschen Bushland Reserve On Saturday morning, we made our way to Goschen Bushland Reserve, about 20 kms south west of Swan Hill. The reserve covers about 26 ha on both sides of the Ultima Road and is a very popular birding location. Flora in the reserve is a mixture of eucalypts and open grassy shrublands. We discovered the Mid Murray Field Naturalists were also having an outing but there was plenty of room for everyone. Male White-browed Woodswallow. Photo Marg Clarke

Male Purple-backed Fairywren. Photo Pat Feehan Female White-browed Woodswallow. Photo Pat Feehan

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Lake Cullen Sunday morning we convoyed to Lake Cullen south west of Lake Charm “township”. Roadworks on the highway between Lake Boga and Lake Charm slowed the journey considerably. Environmental water was delivered to the 630 ha lake in 2019 resulting in great conditions for waterbirds. The lake was covered in birds, including at least 2000 Black Swans, 1000 Eurasian Coot, 400 Red-necked Avocet and numerous Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Red- necked Stint and Whiskered Tern. Plenty of bush birds were found in the vegetation surrounding the lake. A total of 40 species were recorded here.

Male Masked Woodswallow. Photo Marg Clarke

Tresco West Bushland Reserve After lunch we left Goschen and travelled to the Tresco West Bushland Reserve, just west of Lake Boga. This reserve also has mallee vegetation, surrounds Golf Course Lake (almost dry), adjoins the Lakeside Lake Boga Golf Course and covers about 80 ha in total. Here we saw 21 species, including Greater Bluebonnets, Yellow-throated Miners (easily confused with Noisy Miners), Brown Songlark and a flock of about 60 Pelicans on the almost dry lake.

Lake Cullen. Photo Marg Clarke

Lake Bael Bael and Middle After lunch we moved on to Lake Bael Bael, one of many lakes at the downstream end of the Avoca River. The large lake (648 ha) is dry and only fills after good rains in the catchment. We stayed here only for a short time, recording 11 species, before moving on to Middle Reedy Lake, which is well known for its Ibis rookery. The rookery was humming a few weeks ago but by the time we arrived most of the Straw-necked Ibis had flown. However, we did see 33 species including Australian White Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis and raptors including Swamp Harrier, Whistling Kite and a White-bellied Sea-Eagle. Third Reedy Lake On the way back to camp a few of us called into Third Reedy Lake (just downstream of Middle Reedy Lake) where we viewed a project that has kept Pat Feehan in work for 10 years. We found very turbid lake water and 15 species. The highlight here was a very photogenic Whistling Kite that was reluctant to move Greater Bluebonnet at Tresco West Bushland Reserve. (probably had a meal hidden on the ground) and Photo Marg Clarke

November 2020 7 The Babbler happy to ignore Sacred Kingfishers and White-breasted Woodswallows that were close to invading its space.

Male White-winged Fairy-wren. Photo Marg Clarke

Lake Tutchewop We then moved on to Lake Tutchewop and Lake William, in search of elusive Orange Chats. We were assured they had been heard the day before but they were hard for us to find. Along the way our convoy picked up another car, belonging to a lady who was very surprised to discover she had left the highway (in the roadworks) and joined our group. Not surprisingly Whistling Kite at Third Lake. Photo Marg Clarke she didn’t stay long! Lake Tutchewop is a saline evaporation basin covering 760 ha. Upstream Lakes William and Kelly are also evaporation basins in the Loddon Floodway on Pental Island same system that dispose of saline groundwater from Monday dawned clear and we headed to the Loddon Barr Creek. Lake Tutchewop is all but dry at present. Floodway on Pental Island. This extensive area of At Tutchewop we saw Pied Stilt, Caspian Tern, Superb lignum links the Little Murray River with the Murray and White-winged Fairywrens, Australian Pipits and River and allows flood flows between the two rivers. White-fronted Chats. This turned out to be a very productive location with 39 species sighted. Highlights here were Grey-crowned Babblers, three types of Fairywren: Purple-backed, Lake William Superb and White-winged, as well as a number of waterbirds. We moved down the road to nearby Lake William for lunch. The roadside vegetation yielded a few surprises including three types of Fairywren, a flock of about 30 White-fronted Chats, Brown Songlark, Zebra Finch and Australasian Pipit. An Orange Chat was heard but unfortunately none were seen. Other highlights included raptors. High drama was witnessed with a Brown Falcon carrying a snake to a nest that appeared to be an old Eagle nest. With another falcon circling around both birds were loudly harassed by two Pied Butcherbirds and two Yellow-throated Miners. It was too far away and the wrong angle to see if there was a falcon chick in the nest. Shortly after, a Wedge-tailed Eagle was being harassed by a Nankeen Kestrel high in the sky. The Eagle was an immature bird with gold patches in wings and tail, and it was doggedly pursued by the Kestrel. Grey-crowned Babbler at nest at Loddon River floodway. Photo Pat Feehan

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We searched along the eastern edge of the lake, that had some water in it this year, and didn’t see any although some of us thought we heard their call at one stage. We did see the delightful White-winged Fairy- wrens and some Australian Pipits in the low bushes there. There was another spot to check out not far from there where I had also seen Orange Chats. After a picnic lunch near Lake William we stopped a little further on and saw a number of bird species along the edge of the road that included White-fronted Chats, Zebra Finches, White-winged and Purple-backed Fairywrens. While stopped there, an interesting observation was a Brown Falcon with a snake in its talons. Nankeen Kestrel attempts to take on a Wedge-tailed Eagle. Photo Pat Feehan

Mystic Park Bushland Reserve Our final stop for the day (and the camp) was the Mystic Park Bushland Reserve (640 ha), an area of low Black Box woodland just west of the Murray Valley Highway and over the road from Lake Tutchewop. Birds were scarce here (perhaps it was the wrong time of day) but we did see some of the small bush birds including Striated Pardalote, Chestnut-rumped and Yellow-rumped Thornbill and Weebill along with 7 Black-faced Cuckooshrike. Manfred found a Hooded Robin later in the day.

In total we visited 10 sites and also recorded two lists Brown Falcon carrying snake to nest. Photo Marg Clarke at the Pental Island Holiday Park. All lists can be found on eBird. Overall, we saw 101 species. The most commonly sighted bird was Australian Magpie, followed by Noisy Miner, Striated Pardalote, Galah, Welcome Swallow, Australian Raven, Magpie-lark and Willie Wagtail, while 44 birds were recorded only once. Not only did we see a good range of birds, but we visited some out of the way sites that gave attendees a good look at the eastern Mallee and the Lakes and waterways.

Some further comments on our Swan Hill Camp

The search for the Orange Chat at Lake Tutchewop We had some good sightings even though we didn’t By Marg Clarke get to see any Orange Chats. This photo was taken of one last year at this locality in the company of a White-fronted Chat. On our third day we travelled to Lake Tutchewop mainly hoping to see Orange Chats that I had seen there at the same time last year.

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Camping with COVID restrictions By Kathy Costello Pat and Denise Feehan worked hard to make our camp possible. After visiting Swan Hill beforehand to check out camping options and birding locations, they managed to lead all our convoys through extensive roadworks and muddy side roads without mishap. Our daily bird call to record all sightings also presented complications, with a maximum number of 10 people allowed to gather in one place. Pat ended up recording as we went to each location, and checking sightings with our small groups. It worked well, but was a lot of extra work. Ann Kerr organised a small group restaurant meal on the last night. For some in the group it was a first meal out for months. It was lovely to enjoy a camp with fellow BLMG birders, in a spacious holiday park beside the Murray River. Our group has not been able to run its usual program of monthly outings since February, so being able to camp and catch up with friends we hadn’t seen for months made for a memorable and very enjoyable camp.

NEW BIRD FOR WINTON WETLANDS

We ran two surveys at Winton Wetland, in August and November, complying with COVID restrictions. The November survey produced a new species for our Winton list. Don Roberts and Judith Durston recorded 3 Chestnut-rumped Thornbills at the north shore woodland site. It’s an uncommon to rare resident in north-east . Other regular surveys by our members have gone ahead with small groups, in Violet Town, Euroa, Strathbogie and Australian Botanic Gardens Shepparton.

BLMG PROGRAM FOR 2021

Our 2021 program has been prepared and will be distributed separately. Let us hope we can do all our planned outings next year!

THANKS ONCE AGAIN TO ALL CONTRIBUTORS FOR YOUR ARTICLES AND PHOTOS

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