The Rainbowbird

Volume 2 Number 94 May 2018 Editor: Allan Taylor – [email protected]

Header Photo: Lindsay Cupper

Contents of this Issue:

1. Fork-tailed Swifts

2. Club Outing – Common

3. Notes on Blandowski

4. Notes on our Pre-history

5. Nesting Habits – Nankeen Night-herons

6. Our Topography

7. Western Gerygones

8. Species Sub-species

9. Grey Fantails

10 Excerpts from “The Emu”

11. Outing to Ron Gol/Garston

12. Duck Shooting at Merbein Common

13. Article in “ Living”

Fork-tailed Swifts

e have had a series of storm-fronts or upper-level troughs passing through our district in late-January, early-February. On 22nd of January several of Mildura BirdLife’s members W saw Fork-tailed Swifts flying over parts of during the day. This day was quite humid with cloud covering, coinciding with a weather front passing through. This combination seems to attract the birds to visit our area occasionally – seemingly, perhaps, around once per year.

One such visit was around 1961 when John Hobbs, the late ornithologist from our area, recorded seeing some 90,000 around the Dareton/Gol Gol area. This sighting was mentioned to me by Professor Michael Tharburton who is conducting an extensive study into the species but I couldn’t find any other reference to the sighting in the old editions of the “Emu” or elsewhere.

This swift species is highly nomadic and appears to use air currents to assist it in its perpetual search for its food-source - flying insects. Bird enthusiasts record its appearance at, seemingly, random locations and times all around . The only real pattern is its appearance in Australia in early spring after breeding in eastern Asia – mainly southern China.

The correct name for this swift is the “Pacific Swift” as it is only one of four species that make up the family of Fork-tailed Swifts.

Once it has nested and bred on a rocky crevice or a man-made concrete or brick structure it leaves for warmer climates in late August. These migrations are usually to South-east Asia and Australasia. There it uses the weather-patterns to find food sources. There are records of flocks of the swifts feeding on insects that are fleeing the sulphur clouds emanating from an active volcano in Indonesia; bushfires in Australia; dust storms and other extreme weather events.

Although our experience in Sunraysia seems to indicate that their presence here is associated with rain, other reports indicate the reverse. It has been suggested that the sighting of really large flocks of Fork-tailed Swifts is associated with the onset of droughts – the larger the flock and the higher they are flying, the more severe the anticipated drought. Hobb’s sighting of the huge flock in 1961 doesn’t appear to fall within this category because 1961, 1962 and 1963 seemed to have been average rainfall years. Maybe there was drought in other areas of Australia, though.

This bird is quite large and, with its swept-backed wings, can be mistaken for a small bird of prey when viewed in the air from a distance. On the few occasions that I have seen them, the fork tail is not always obvious as it is often compressed back into a point when hawking for insects. It is distinguished from other swifts and swallows by white band over its rump.

It rarely comes to earth to perch as it sleeps on the wing and has rather small feet which it seldom uses other than at nesting time.

Because of its flying and manoeuvring ability, it has few predators. The Hobby has been named as once of the exceptions. I guess that this would mean that a Peregrine Falcon would also, occasionally, pose a threat.

Club Outing – Merbein Common

fter an extremely hot day the day before, Sunday 11th February turned out to be a very pleasant one – in fact it was a little cold for the first hour of the morning.

A We were lucky enough to have Richard Wells lead us around the Merbein Common, which is unexpectedly large for anyone driving over the whole area for the first time.

Richard’s commentary made a pleasant morning all the more enjoyable as we learned a little of the history of the Common and of the various areas within the common that we visited.

We commenced our travels in the Common by driving down Mondellimin Track towards the river before turning right into Chaffeys Landing. After a short look around that area where Richard spoke of the little settlement of destitute families who lived in bag or hessian huts in the area during the Great Depression, we moved northwards along the river to where the main boat ramp has been constructed. Richard told the story of the explorer Blandowski who briefly made his main camp (which he called Mondellimin) in the general area of Chaffeys Landing and recalled that as, well as being and extremely brave, strong and knowledgeable adventurer, he was a strong-willed person who didn’t mind offending those in authority whom he considered unworthy of their position. I have added a few extra comments about Blandowski that I obtained from the State Library of archives.

A little further along the river we came to the mouth of the Horseshoe Billabong. Normally, it is possible to cross that mouth, which is reduced to a small creek at that spot but the bridge that enabled such a crossing is in a state of disrepair at the moment. This really was of little concern to us as we had decided to drive around the billabong in search of water birds. We, virtually had no sooner started than Richard stopped to enable us to look at some Nankeen Night-herons that he had spotted in the dead saplings near the mouth of the billabong. We spent some time peering through the saplings to get a look at these impressive birds.

Moving on we drove towards the other end of the billabong where, at first, we had smoko and then, a littler later, stopped to look at Red-necked Avocets, White-fronted Stilt, Grey Teal, Pink-eared Ducks, an Australian Shoveller, two Black-fronted Dotterels, and Pelicans which were all searching for food in the shallows of that end of the lagoon.

We continued our expedition in a little more comfort than Blandowswki had experienced in his expedition where, at least, one of his horses had died from exhaustion and the explorers suffered as well. A short stay at Cowanna Lagoon preceded a final stop at the track between that lagoon and the Brickworks Lagoon. Again, we were fortunate enough to see a considerable number of water birds. These included more Pelicans, Grey Teal, Pacific Black Ducks and Pink-eared Ducks. For some of us, it was even more exciting to see a row of young Caspian Terns sunning themselves on our end of Brickworks Lagoon. There were also, 10 or 12 Red-kneed Dotterels and four more Black-fronted Dotterels.

An interesting feature of the area is the dozen or so circular pieces of metal which have been hung from the power lines that run adjacent to the track where we had stopped. These have been erected in order to alert Pelicans to the danger of colliding with the power lines, usually with fatal consequences. Having packed quite a few viewing areas in our Grand Tour, we decided to finish the outing at 12.45pm.

Birdlife Mildura - Club Outing to Merbein Common, 11th February 2018

List of Birds Sighted

Prior to Common & Horseshoe B/works Chaffeys Landing River Drive Billabong Billabong

Pied Butcherbird 2

Masked Lapwing 3

Rainbow Lorikeets 6

Red Wattlebird 1

Red-rumped Parrot 2 8

Bluebonnet Parrot 3 2

Wood Duck 4 6

Straw-necked Ibis 1

Whistling Kite 2

Little Raven 2

Australian Magpie 2 4

Superb Blue Fairy Wren 2

Feral Pigeon 8

Crested Pigeon 10

White Ibis 1 1

Masked Woodswallow 2

Australian Raven 3

Yellow Rosella 2 1

Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike 1

Caspian Tern 3 1 16

Sacred Kingfisher 1

Dusky Woodswallow 14

Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater 2

Singing Honeyeater 1

White-plumed Honeyeater 2

Rainbow Bee Eaters 2

Fairy Martins 4

Silver Gull 1 2

Noisy Miner 2

Darter 1

Blue-faced Honeyeater 2

Kookaburra 2

White-faced Heron 1

Galah 6

Great Egret 6

Nankeen Night-heron 6

Little Pied Cormorant 3

Little Black Cormorant 4

Little Friarbird 2

Pelican 80 20

Grey Teal 12 20

Red-necked Avocet 18

Australasian Shoveller 1

Pink-eared Duck 8 12

Masked Lapwing 2

White-fronted Stilt 1

Black-fronted Dotterels 2 4

Great Cormorant 1

Willie Wagtail 2

Magpie-lark 6

Grey Butcherbird 2

Australasian Grebe 4 Variegated Fairy-wrens 4

Peaceful Dove 2

Pacific Black Duck 4

Eurasian Coot 1

Red-kneed Dotterels 12 Welcome Swallows 40

Notes on the Blandowski Expedition

landowski was a mining engineer and zoologist from northern Poland, although, in his time he was technically from Germany because of the different state boundaries at that time. His B mining pursuits in the Victorian Goldfields were successful and he made enough money to enable him to diversify into other pursuits that interested him.

For several months in the first half of 1857 he camped at Merbein and made that the base for further expeditions along the Darling and Lower Murray.

His notes of the expeditions mentioned “Golgol Ranges” but it isn’t clear as to where he was when he saw them. He did, however, mention that the “ranges” were hills in name only so he may have been referring to the cliffs on the near Paringi, but that is only speculation on my part.

By the time Blandowski arrived in our area, the aboriginal population had been rapidly declining in numbers. He lamented this situation, but the copies of his notes that I accessed from the State Library of Victoria didn’t mention the reasons for this decline. It is commonly known that European diseases, such as measles and small pox had an immediate effect on the local aboriginal tribes because of their lack of immunity to those and other diseases.

The aboriginals at Mondellimin were from the Yarree Yarree tribe. This tribe was mentioned elsewhere as the Yerrie Yerrie tribe and by other variants, such as Jari Jari. I don’t think that these variants were caused by explorers and settlers misquoting the aboriginals themselves, more that their vowels and consonants were dissimilar to those of the Europeans.

The fact that the natives called themselves Yarree Yarree is at odds with later statements that state that the Mildura area was inhabited by Latje Latje people. I think that this highlights how little we know about aboriginal history. It does seem to be the case, however, that the northern Victorian Murray River tribes, such as the Latje Latje and the Yarrie Yarrie were part of a larger super-tribe and that their numbers were never large. The custom of raiding neighbouring tribes for wives (again, I think that was a largely ritualistic activity, although what do I know?) would mean that members of one tribe would know many members from a neighbouring tribe.

Following are some cryptic notes that I jotted down when reading his notes:

He used aboriginals as collectors of his zoological specimens.

Most aboriginal men at that time owned guns.

The aboriginal men of the Junction (Murray and Darling) area scarred themselves in the skull with blows from tomahawks while the women had scars on the chest and breasts. Other tribes made scars with burning coals. During that initiation rite they tried to think of powerful memories to ignore the pain of the burns.

He collected 3000 insect specimens; made drawings of 19 fish species; recorded 24 snake species; 3 Murray River turtle species and was, also, interested in frogs, animals and birds.

He mentioned the “Eos”- the Rose-bellied Cockatoo in the area; Bourkes Parrots near the Junction; and a boa constrictor that lives in trees – this was the snake that we call the carpet python (see photo below).

February was the aboriginals’ month for fighting with other tribes. From reading from other sources, I have gleaned that these fights were largely ceremonial, although deaths inevitably occurred as a result of all the fun.

Carpet Snake at Tulney Point

Sunraysia’s Pre-European History

ollowing on from the research (for want of a better word) that I have done in relation to our early history I found that “Mildura” Station was originally called Yerre Yerre. Presumably this F name was taken from the name of the local aboriginal tribe or, more likely, the language that they spoke. This interpretation doesn’t quite fit with the information provided by A.W. Howitt in his book “Native Tribes of South-east Australia” in which he said that the local tribe was the Wiimbaio. This tribe inhabited the Murray/Junction, on both sides of the Murray, north to Avoca on the Darling, west to Rufus River, east to Kulkyne and south to about 20 miles from the Murray. On the next page I will list the discrepancies between the various historical sources that are available.

Differing Aboriginal Place-names and Locations in Early Sunraysia

A.W Howitt Book Tindale Map Blandowski Other

Area east of Darling,

North of Wentworth Berriait Barindji

Wentworth Wiimbaio Maraura

Merbein Wiimbaio Latje Latje Nyerinyeri

Lake

To SA Border Wiimbaio Dintait

Mildura Kerinma/Grangema Latje Latje Yerre Yerre

Kulkyne Southwards Leitche Leitche Jari Jari

Sunset Country Wotjobaluk Latje Latje

East of Wentworth Ta-tathi /Keramin

Kemendoc Yaako Yaako

Nankeen Night-herons

t was great to see a number of night-herons at Merbein Common last Sunday 11th February.

We saw, perhaps, a dozen of them perched in the dead saplings that stand close to the mouth of the Horseshoe Billabong on the Common. I It seemed that, perhaps, half of the birds were immature. It has occurred to me that I have seen the species in similar habitat on a few occasions:

Two places at Kings Billabong.

At the regulator between Lake Hattah and Little Lake Hattah

Horseshoe Billabong, Merbein Common.

I noticed that the stands of dead saplings are close to living gums in which their nests are often built. The dense foliage of the living saplings, undoubtedly, provides protection for the nesting birds and their offspring. However, it is quite noticeable that both the adult and young birds have difficulty leaving and returning to the nests because of the denseness of the foliage of the young gums which grow very close together. I have seen two occasions where young birds have died because of their lack of mobility amongst the dense growth. One such occasion was when the young bird, in the

course of flapping to the water below, had hung itself in the fork of the limbs of a sapling. The other instance was when I saw a young bird similarly trapped by the wing. It undoubtedly died later because I had no chance of getting to the bird to free it.

Can it be that, once the young birds have fledged, both they and the parents move out to the dead saplings where they can see the aquatic animals and fish on which they feed and where they can move about more freely when they so desire? It seems to me that, once they have fed, they probably fly back to the more protected areas amongst the green leaves of the living gums.

Nankeen Night Heron coming to Nest; Young Nankeen Night-heron with wing caught in branch

Topography of Our Region

n a previous article, I mentioned Lake Bungunnia which had a great impact on the topography and type of vegetation in our area which, in turn, influences the types of birdlife that exist I here today. I get lost when trying to remember the different time-lines of the history of our District but, roughly speaking, here is a summary:

Around 180 million years ago (I usually mix up millions with thousands – but that is neither here nor there) Australia commenced breaking away from Gondwanaland. In the process, our mountains, such as the Great Dividing Range and the Adelaide Hills/Flinders Ranges were formed. As part of that process, the Murray Basin came into being around 60 million years’ ago. Further movements of the continental plates, as well as the cold and hot ages that came and went, caused the sea to flood the Murray Basin and thus form the Murravian Gulf. This had its eastern-most shore around Balranald and .

Around 6.5 million years’ ago the sea retreated, leaving sediments and salt that are big features of our District’s soils today.

Some 3.2 million years’ ago there was an uplift in the Pinnaroo Block, which exists from the area around Swan Reach (S.A.) to the sea . This caused the stream that was the fore-runner of the present-day Murray River to be blocked off and to back up as far as Menindee in the north, in the east and and in the south and so Lake Bungunnia was formed.

The dark-blue image is Lake Bungunnia. This shows that all of Sunraysia, , Mungo and would have been submerged.

Other representations of Lake Bungunnia

This image shows the shape of Lake Bungunnia at 1 million years’ ago (it was then 2.2 million years’ old).

Around 700,000 years’ ago, during a wet period in Australia’s history, the south-western end of the huge lake was breached at around Morgan (S.A.) and the contents flowed into the sea around what is now the Goolwa area. As the lake receded, it created a new course for the old Murray to the north of its pre-Bungunnia location and it left a large number of shallow lakes in its wake. These included the Menindee Lakes, the various Anabranch lakes, the Mungo Lakes, Lake Victoria, Lake Tyrell and the Hattah Lakes.

The present topography of our region appears to have developed in the time when the Murravian Gulf was formed. The slight compacting of this area between the mountain ranges to the south-east and the Adelaide area produced folds and ridges that exist today. There is a trough that runs from the area around Gol Gol to the Mungo area, known as the Neckarboo Trough, and one that runs close to the course of the , which is known as the Wentworth Trough. These and other troughs were associated with corresponding ridges and some of these, with their associated troughs or faults, are as follows:

Balranald Trough

Ionia Ridge – running north from Euston

Robinvale Ridge- south of the Iona Ridge

Willandra Trough- From the area a little west of Euston up to the Willandra Lakes

Neckarboo Ridge – this crosses Danson Road on your way to Cliffs National Park.

The ridge travels northwards to the Mungo area and is associated with the Neckarboo Fault which is situated below the ridge.

Wentworth Trough – This can be traced from the area north-east of Pooncarie; down along the Darling River; and under the Murray River at around the Wentworth area. It is interesting to note that this trough is associated with an underground aquifer which drains water from the area north of Mildura in NSW under the Murray River at Wentworth.

Tararra Trough – This is situated along the lower south-western border of NSW and into around Renmark.

Halley (Hamley?) Ridge – in the District of South Australia (associated with the Hamley Fault?)

Marman-Jabuk Fault at Swan Reach. I’m not sure whether this is another name for the Morgan Fault.

Pinnaroo Block – a shelf that exists between Swan Reach and the sea.

Other formations that don’t border the Murray River are:

Walpeup Ridge – from south of into the Murray - Sunset N.P. This is, presumably, the higher (by a few meters) area of the park which runs through its centre area to the District. I think that this is associated with a fault known as the Danyo Fault which is situated, approximately, along the Meridian Road area.

Millewa Ridge – through the western part of Murray – Sunset N.P.

Tyrell Ridge – near Sea Lake

Bordering these ridges there are extensive plains – for example, the Raak Plain between the Hattah Lakes and Murray-Sunset N.P.; Cow Plains west of Ouyen near the South Australian border; and Pine Plains in the Wyperfield N.P.

On the ridges, the sea winds from the south west over many thousands of years have formed the east-west sand dunes that are a feature of the mallee country today. Their formation corresponded with the retreat of the shoreline of the Southern Ocean as the present shape of Australia began to emerge.

The plains, such as the Raak Plain, have extensive salt flats, gypsum deposits, boinkas (remnant small water-holes or lakes) and a variety of other habitats, depending on factors, such elevation above the surrounding flats, erosion and wind deposits, etc.

The river frontages are bordered by River Red Gums (where the course of the river has thrown up sand deposits) and Black Box on the clay flats. There are numerous billabongs along the Murray River which were formed when the river changed its course due to silting or earth movements. The Murray River seems to have moved southwards in the area from Euston to west of Wentworth but northwards in the Ned’s Corner area.

The gradual formation of Cowanna Bend into an island is an example of the river moving southwards. The cutting that is beginning to turn the bend into an island will, it is assumed, become the eventual path of the river and the present course of the river might become another horseshoe billabong. The present mining of the river sand on the NSW side of the bend could halt this process. On the other hand, the long, flat road that is the entrance to Ned’s Corner station is an example of the river moving northwards, leaving the large expanse of salt-bush and bluebush flats that surround the road.

At our meeting on Tuesday, 3rd April, Victor Hurley gave a very informative talk on bushfire control by the use of controlled burning in Murray-Sunset National Park. It seemed obvious to me that, on the map that he provided which portrayed the topography of the park, some of the lower parts of the park coincided with the areas flooded by that huge lake, Lake Bungunnia. It was interesting that he and other experts had determined that Mallee and Triodia growth was better in that lower ground, even though the difference in elevation was only a matter of meters.

The difference in habitat caused by that, slightly, lower land resulted in that country being more amenable to the mallee’s special birds, such as the Mallee Emu-wren, the Red-lored Whistler, the Shy Heathwren, the Southern Scrub-robin and the Chestnut Quailthrush. This area of the park, particularly its western third, acts as a preferred breeding area for those birds, from which they migrate into the higher country. Planning of controlled burning is, now, to take into account the importance of these precious areas.

Incidentally, the club is very appreciative of Victor’s presentations which are always of great interest.

Mallee Emu-wren; Red-lored Whistler; Southern Scrub-robin; Chestnut Quailthrush; Shy Heathwren

The Wentworth Trough

he lower Darling River, roughly, follows the Wentworth Trough south to the Murray River. It is thought that the present location of the Great Anabranch of the River Darling was originally T the course of the Darling.

The above map shows the Murray-Darling Depression which surrounds or borders the lower Darling River. In the lower-left of the picture can be seen the Anabranch in its own narrow trough or depression and, above the point where the two depressions meet, the Menindee Lakes. Could it have been that a slight uplift of land occurred around the Menindee area millions of years ago, causing the diversion of the Darling? Alternatively some sort of blockage by silting could have caused the re-direction.

It is interesting to note that the above relief map shows plainly the Ionia, Willandra and Neckarboo Ridges, as well as lesser-defined ridging between the Darling and its anabranch.

The photos below show the escarpment at the Six-Mile Break area on the Old Renmark Road north- west of Wentworth and several kilometres past the . This could have been caused by the same earth movements that created the Wentworth, Neckarboo and Willandra troughs.

This cliff, escarpment or embankment runs in a nor-nor-easterly direction in the same manner as the other features that I’ve mentioned above. Is it the western bank of the Darling River part of the Murray-Darling Depression created by earth-movement or was it created later by Lake Bungunnia when it was in the process of receding? The other, equally plausible, explanation could be that the bank could, simply, have been caused when the course of the Darling moved eastwards and/or the Murray moved southwards.

Note the smoke haze in the bottom photo. This came from the burning-off activities in Wyperfield National Park on the day the photo was taken.

Western Gerygones

little bird that is, only sporadically, seen in Sunraysia is the Western Gerygone. It, probably, visits our District many more times than it is seen because it can go for long A periods without calling. Its habits are similar to those of the Weebill – flitting around the upper foliage of trees, hawking for insects. Over the years, the area around the Native Nursery/Apex Park area has been a favourite haunt of a pair of Gerygones. A couple of years’ ago a nesting pair was seen amongst young gum saplings at Walpolla Island and another was heard at the Jennings Creek Bridge site in Kings Billabong Reserve. The bird’s song is a sweet descending trill or whistle which I equate in tone to that of a Grey Fantail.

I remember Tony Douglas pointing out another Gerygone on his property, Garston, several years’ ago when we were doing an annual Challenge Bird Count. I suspect that sightings would increase, the further north and east you might travel.

The Western Gerygone has been compared, in appearance, to a Jackie Winter. It is smaller, with a lighter breast and abdomen and the white on its tail consists of dots near the end of the tail, rather than the white streaks up the edges of the tail of the Jackie Winter.

The left-hand bird is a Western Gerygone, showing its white feathers in a part semi-circle above and below the eye and the unusual tail markings. The photo on the right is a Jackie Winter

Again, the left-hand photo above is the Western Gerygone. The right-hand photo shows the Jackie

Winter’s white tail markings that are arrayed in a semi-circle around the bottom part of its tail.

The photo above isn’t a great image but it does show the unusual tail markings of the Western Gerygone (the tail is at the top of the image – see arrow).

The following two photos show the Gerygone’s nest, above, with its diagnostic tail and the Jackie Winter’s nest below.

The two photos above were taken on a recent trip to the mid-north coast of NSW. They are of a Mangrove Gerygone and a Brown Gerygone. The three species (the Western, Mangrove and Brown Gerygones) are remarkably similar in their appearance and calls.

8. Sub-species

any of the bird species in this District have sub-species in other areas or are a sub-species of a nominate species elsewhere.

M For example, the nominate race for the species Varied Sittella (Daphoenositta chrysoptera) is daphoenositta chrysoptera chrysoptera or Orange-winged Sittella. This bird is found along the south-east of Australia. The sub-species that is found further west and inland is daphoenositta chrysoptera lipeata or Black-capped Sittella. This is the sub-species found around Sunraysia.

Photos of the two are below.

Black-capped Sittella Orange-winged Sittella

Confusion in distinguishing between the two sub-species would only occur in locations situated further to the east of us because the Orange-winged Sittella doesn’t occur here.

A species of bird which has two sub-species that occur here (although not very often) is the Spotted Pardalote (Pardalotus punctatus).

The inland form of this pardalote (the one most commonly seen here) is pardalotus punctatus xanthopyge (the Yellow-rumped Pardalote) while the sub-species seen further south is pardalotus punctatus punctatus and it has the orange rump. This latter species is occasionally seen here.

Yellow-rumped Pardalote ssp punctatus, commonly called, simply,

Spotted Pardalote

White-eared Honeyeaters (Nesoptilotis leucotis) are smaller and duller inland (including the Mildura District) than the birds further south.

Ssp Novaenorciae ssp Leucotis

The bird on the left is the sub-species seen here while the bird at right was seen at Portland (Vic.). The second photo doesn’t show it well, but the bird seemed to have a much yellower tinge rather

than the olive-green of our local birds. It had a different call to that of our birds. Note, also, the different habitat – our local birds are invariably seen in mallee.

Photo: image Fir00002/flagstafffotos.com (via Wikipedia)

The above three photos are all of Striated Pardalotes (Pardalotus striatus).The top two were taken by me at, firstly, Dareton and the other, probably, near Hattah and, I think, are both pardalotus striatus substriatus with the broad white wing-stripe (our local endemic sub-species) although the second image appears to show a bird with a narrower wing-stripe.

The third image is of a pardalotus striatus ornatus – occurring mostly to the south and east of us. However, it has been seen in this District and even, extremely rarely, in south-east South Australia.

It is possible that the second image might relate to a vagrant ornatus from somewhere to the south or east of Sunraysia.

Another species that I intend to discuss is the Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) which migrates to Sunraysia on, or around 1st April each year. The sub-species that, invariably, arrives at that time is rhipidura albiscapa alisteri but it is probable that the Tasmanian form rhipidura albiscapa albiscapa visits this area occasionally.

The first three images (above) are all of ssp alisiri – the usual species to visit here. The second image is of an immature bird.

The fourth image has more rufous colouring on the breast and could be the Tasmanian form albiscapa. I seem to recall seeing birds with even more buff (nearly orange) colouring on the breast. The Tasmanian bird has a paler grey head than the birds that we normally see here.

There are three sub-species of Silvereye (Zosterops Lateralis) that can, conceivably, be seen in the Sunraysia Distict.

Their characteristics are:

Ssp. Name Location Upperparts Mantle Throat Underparts Flanks

Lateralis Tasmania Olive Green Dark grey Pale Grey Whitish Rich Brown

Westernenis East. Vic Olive Green Dark Grey Pale Yellow Whitish Paler Brown

Pinarochrous West. Vic Olive Dull Grey Grey Grey Deep Brown

The above descriptions were sourced from the Simpson and Day and CSIRO guide books but don’t seem to correspond with the birds that I have seen in our District.

The following are photos that I have taken, both locally (the bottom 3 birds) and at Nelson (Vic.) (the top 2) and, also, where there were mixed flocks of birds with different coloured flanks. The birds with rufous-coloured flanks are thought to be Tasmanian birds but it, obviously, isn’t as simple as that.

Finally, the northern form of the Masked Lapwing has been seen here in the past, albeit, very rarely. The sub-species that we are all familiar with here in Sunraysia is Vanellus Miles Novaehollandiae. The northern sub-species is Vanellus Miles Miles and can be identified by its larger wattle and lack of a black band on its breast.

Grey Fantails Breeding in Sunraysia

ast year I mentioned at a club meeting a report on 25/11/61 by HF Thomas in the “Emu” magazine from the Favaloro collection that related to Grey Fantails. Further details of that L report are as follows: To Mr Thomas’s knowledge, the earliest date recorded for the arrival in our area of a Grey Fantail was 29th March 1945 (recorded by Mr P Thatcher at Irymple) and the latest date seen here in a season was 8/10/1943 (recorded by NJ Favaloro in the Kulkyne State Forest).

On 13/11/1960, Mr Thomas and Alec Hawtin saw a Grey Fantail in mallee country 20 miles south of Mildura (near Yatpool). It occurred to them that the bird might have been nesting there.

No further thought was given to this occurrence until 21/11/1961 when Mr Alex Smart informed Alec that a Grey Fantail was nesting in his garden at Irymple and had done so in the previous year, 1960. The 1961 nesting was confirmed when Alec Hawtin saw the Grey Fantail covering the nest which contained three eggs.

On 16/11/2016 I took the following photo of a young Grey Fantail. I can’t remember the location (most probably Hattah or the Sunset country) because I didn’t think anything of the matter at the time. However, on reflection, I feel that it is a reasonable assumption to presume that the young bird would have hatched in this District. A young bird, certainly, wouldn’t have flown into our area at a time when the general exodus of Grey Fantails north was occurring.

Immature Grey Fantail

Excerpts from “The Emu” – Favaloro Collection

ay 1962 Report of Eastern Rosellas nesting in an old Bee-eaters’ hole in a sandbank that they had widened for their own use.

M Australian Ravens feeding on partly digested seeds in cow dung

June 1966 White-winged Choughs “anting” under each wing at Hattah

Red-rumped Parrots feeding on blossom in the manner of lorikeets – Red-rumps usually feed mainly on the ground.

Rainbow Lorikeets are reported to feed, at times, purely on seeds, rather than nectar. Their adaptability in feeding off a variety of food sources is, undoubtedly, part of the reason for the increase in their territory.

Hobbs reported that two Whistling Kites at Apex Park had killed an adult Kookaburra.

Feb. 1967 Hobbs observed distraction displays by Spotted and Spotless Crakes while he was inspecting their nests at Buronga. Spotless Crakes used the “falling stone” method whereby they deliberately fell in the water to make a splash similar to that of frogs jumping.

June 1967 Hobbs reported on Emu Bush (eremophila): Longfolia – Very popular with Black, Spiny-cheeked and Singing Honeyeaters, as well as miners.

Maculata – the most important eremophila, attracting up to 11 different species of honeyeaters. Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters were attracted some 7 miles away from mallee to feed there.

I have seen Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters at Hobbs’ Patch (the spot to which he was, undoubtedly referring) at around the same time - 1967 (ed.)

Oppositifolia – A preferred source of food for White-fronted Honeyeaters but of only normal interest to other honeyeaters.

Polyclada – Is confined to small stands but is very popular with all honeyeaters

Glabra; Sturtii; Both seemed of little importance in attracting honeyeaters.

Oct 1978 Protection of grape crops from Silvereye attack by the use loud-speakers broadcasting on frequencies 3.5 kHz to 5.5 khz.

1965 Grey Shrike-thrush attacking and eating male Superb Fairy-wren and other small adult birds.

Ron Gol/Garston Outing

hotos taken by Peter Dunstan of members having lunch at Garston Station and Crested Shrike-tit.

Our host and hostess, Tony and Margot Douglas, are in the middle of the top photo - P Margot with the white top, seated, and Tony standing.

Tony’s second-best friend, their old dog, is in the foreground of the photo and has, according to Tony, caught a bad case of Tony’s deafness by eating his hearing aid. Rumour has it that Tony and his dog converse with each other by using sign language.

The bottom photo shows one of a family of Crested Shrike-tits which were feeding in the gums near the picnic area. Crested Shrike-tits, whilst not rare, are seldom seen here because of their large territories. It was interesting to hear Tony say that he had only seen them there three or four times in the forty years he and Margot had lived at Garston. By co-incidence, club members had seen the species at the same spot when they visited Garston at the time of our Christmas get-together some five or six years ago.

The pleasant get-together at Garston followed a visit to Ron Gol (further north of Garston Station) during our monthly outing on Saturday, 7th April. When we arrived at Ron Gol we were greeted by Andrew and Marina Rix who kindly showed around the extensive Darling River bend near their home. Several bird species were seen amongst the gum trees and a pair of Euros hopped by, on the way to the river for a drink. Marina then took us further away from the river to inspect a further large planting of almonds which they are farming organically. The almonds were being watered by a dripper system that was buried under the mounds on which the almonds are growing.

Peter reported on various birds, such as Southern Whiteface, honeyeaters and parrots that were taking advantage of the moisture in the middle of the rows. The pleasantly warm conditions, undoubtedly, encouraged the birds to look for a drink. Meanwhile the rest of the group walked through a stand of acacia which bordered the almonds and on which we saw, amongst other birds, Zebra Finches.

On another boundary of the almond plantation we saw a very large mob of kangaroos – perhaps 50 or so. In the air, we could see scores of Little Ravens that had been attracted to the almonds. Both Tony and Andrew told us of the large numbers of Magpie-larks that had, also, been seen amongst the almonds.

Our thanks go to the Rix and Douglas families for making us feel welcome and at home. The whole day was most enjoyable.

Bird List – Ron Gol/Garston Outing

(Compiled By Di Stewart) – thanks again, Di!

Pink Cockatoos Red Wattle Bird Grey Butcherbird Crested Pigeons Feral Pigeons

Sparrows Fairy Martins Magpies Kestrels (2) Kookaburras (4)

Sacred Kingfisher Australian Ravens Magpie-larks Galahs Whistling Kites

Starlings Peaceful Doves Noisy Miners Little Ravens Mallee Ringneck Parrots

White-faced Herons (2) Yellow Rosellas Sulphur-crested Cockatoos White-backed Swallows

Grey Shrike-thrush Brown Treecreepers White-plumed Honeyeaters Blue-faced H/eaters Singing Honeyeaters

Spiny-cheeked H/eaters Willie Wagtails Zebra Finches White-browed Babblers Southern Whiteface

Thornbills Wrens Crested Shrike-tits Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike

Striated Pardalotes Restless Flycatcher Welcome Swallow s Red-rumped Parrots Yellow-plumed H/eater

White Ibis - (44 species) plus an Echidna sighted across the Darling River and 2 Euros

Two Euros

. Duck Shooting on Merbein Common

ou might recall that BirdLife Mildura wrote a letter to Parks Victoria in support of Friends of Merbein Common’s opposition to duck shooting on Merbein Common. Subsequent to our Y letter and various other submissions by local community associations, the Victorian Government made the decision to ban duck shooting on the Common for the 2018 duck hunting season.

On Saturday 24th March, Lyle and Sue Burke held a sausage sizzle at their home on the “island” behind the Merbein Brickworks Lagoon to thank all those involved in the fight against the shooting. Several members of our club attended the function which was a very pleasant and friendly occasion.

Our thanks are extended to Lyle and Sue for their generosity and hospitality.

Article in “Mildura Living” Magazine

ne of the magazine’s articles featured the Equity Chambers building in Deakin Avenue which was built by Norman Favaloro, the donor to the club of many bird books, shortly O after he came to Mildura in 1932 to practice law. The building has recently been converted to apartments.

The article records Favaloro’s son Philip’s recollection of birding trips with his father and the 600 clutches of eggs that he collected and housed in purpose-built cedar cabinets.

Norman Favaloro was Hon. President of the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union from 1952 to 1954 and honorary treasurer from 1965 to 1968.

He was the first to taxonomically describe the Grey Grasswren in 1968.

Unusual Bird Sightings

Date Species No. Location Comments Observers

15/1 Bluebonnets 50 Merbein Flying over Merbein Ev. & Bill Williams

3/2 Blue-billed Ducks 2 Cowanna Bill. Count before duck opening Col & Di Stewart

6/2 Mallee Emu-wrens 2 Nowingi St. For. Feeding in Spinifex Peter Dunstan

13/2 Mallee Emu-wrens 4 Konardin Track Family group in spinifex Peter Dunstan

21/2 Pink-eared Ducks 2 Kings Billabong Near old Pumphouse Helen Devilee

24/2 Unidentified Swallows 100 Over Gliding Field At 3000 feet feeding in

Thermals Ian Benning

25/2 Juv. Sea Eagle 1 Native plant nursery Jayna

25/2 52 Species Cowanna Billabong Count before Duck Op. Club

25/2 Freckled Duck 7 Brickworks Billabong Count before duck op. Club

27/2 White-bellied Sea Eagle 1 Walpolla Island Flying Over Geoff Preisig

28/2 Blue-billed Ducks 8 Lake Konardin With other duck species Woods Family

6/3 Eastern Barn Owl 1 Iraak On roadside on awy

Home from meeting P & C Dunstan

6/3 Juv. Sea Eagle 2 Gol Gol Opposite Riverview Est J Podgorski

6/3 New Holland Honeyeater 2 Gol Gol Glimpsed in scrub along road J. Podgorski

31/3 Little Bittern 1 South Mildura Wetlands j. Podgorski

1 & 2/4 Mallee Fowl nests 6 Active nests – Washing Machine Grid –

M-S.N.P. Bob Clarke VMRG

2/4 Pink Cockatoos 26 Settlement Road P.Follett & A.Taylor

2/4 Shy Heathwren 2 Pheeney’s Track P.Follett & A Taylor 2/4 Inland Thornbills Pheeney’s Track P Follett & A Taylor

2/4 Owlet-nightjar Pheeney’s Track P Folett & A Taylor 3/4 Black Ducks 6 Ron Gol – in Darling River M Rix

5/4 Marsh Sandpper 1 Mourquong Swamps A Taylor

7/4 Crested Shrike-tits Garston Club members

10/4 Nankeen Night-herons South Mildura Wetlands J Podgorski

10/4 Spotted & Spotless

Crakes South Mildura Wetlands J Podgorski

10/4 Black-tailed N.Hen South Mildura Wetlands J Podgorski

1/4 Black-tailed N.Hen Wentworth Golf Course C Stewart

1/4 Cockatiel Wentworth Golf Course C Stewart

17/4 Spotted Crake Dareton Sewerage Ponds A Taylor

Postscript

It is great to see that Mildura has finally fallen back on its major drawcard, Lindsay Cupper, to attract visitors to our region. Lindsay is shown on the new promotional TV ad., looking for those tourists with his binoculars. They are sure to flood in to the area now!

That is not to belittle the major positive effect Chris Woods has had on tourism by his inclusion in the previous ad. He, perhaps, wasn’t featured prominently enough though.

Finally… a Bit of Trivia

You are probably aware that the paddlesteamer “Melbourne” was originally a snagging vessel – clearing fallen timber from the rivers. Deck-hands from it and other snagging vessels were colloquially called “snaggers” and, when labour was short in the huge shearing sheds of the Darling grazing country, some were pressed into duty as trainee shearers. Inexpert shearers were soon to be nicknamed “snaggers”.

Hence the line in the bush folk-song “Click Go The Shears” …….

“and curses the old snagger with the bare-bellied yoe (ewe)!”.

Club Outings for 2018

These are all scheduled for Saturdays.

Dates and venues are all just suggestions and can be varied at club meetings

All outings to commence at the Bike Hub, Pine Ave., at 8.00 am – again, subject to alteration at a preceding meeting

5th May Calperum Station – camp-out over 2 days (Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th May)

9th June Mungo

7th July Hattah

11th August Pink Lakes/Wymlet Tank

8th September Popiltah or Windamingle Lakes – subject to them having water

6th October Mildura Sewage Farm

10th November Mourquong/Buronga/Etiwanda Wetlands

8th December Christmas Break-up