The Musk Duck Volume 5 Number 12 December 2019 CONVENOR’S REPORT The 2019 year is fast approaching its end. Some of our achievements include, regular seasonal surveys and working bees conducted at Clarkesdale. Production and distribution of our flyer Common birds of the Ballarat region. New Birdlife Ballarat branch banner used at the Ballarat gardens conservatory to help engage with our wider community and promote the activities of Birdweek and Birdlife Australia. A total of 194 species seen on our outings. Thanks to all members for contributing to the success of our Ballarat Birdlife branch. Have your bino’s focused on birds and your efforts support habitat conservation. Louise Humble *Note:Presidents are now called Ballarat Birdlife Members in action. Convenors - Editor UPCOMING EVENTS 2020 COMMITTEE 2019 MEETINGS CONVENOR: Louise Humble 5341 7718 Federation Uni Rural Studies Centre Cnr. Gillies & Gregory Sts. Wendouree at 7.30 p.m. SECRETARY: Roy Chester TREASURER: Annette Ferguson Tuesday February 11 Chris Timewell – Swift Parrots & Regent Honeyeaters CONSERVATION OFFICER: Paul Hammond Tuesday March 10 COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Anita Hoare, Ian Ashton & AGM – Tim & Wendy Sandiford – The Birds of Costa Rica Graham Dent OUTINGS Bird Report Moderators: Roger Thomas & Tuesday February 4 Murray Grant Clarkesdale bird survey 9 a.m. NEWSLETTER EDITOR & WEBMASTER: Sunday February 23 Jenny Garley Western Treatment Plant March 14 – 15 Editor’s Note: Autumn Camp – Port Fairy Thank you for all the contributions and assistance Sunday March 22 throughout the year. This is our newsletter and can Mt. Cole & Buangor – Leader - Louise Humble only come together with your support and sharing of photographs and information. Keep them coming! Mid-week Outings – Wednesday Feb 12 & March 11 Seasons Greetings - Jenny [email protected] 0401 731 342 * NO OUTINGS ON DAYS OF TOTAL FIRE BAN * Meetings, Outings & Reports Meeting Report Sept. 10, 2019 Vagrants and Accidentals Roger Thomas, Murray Grant & Ian Ashton It was so enjoyable for us to hear our trio of longtime club members (and very highly regarded birders) reminisce about their unusual sightings. Thirty-two species were discussed that night, with each well- illustrated to assist with identifying features, and accompanied by detailed information about behaviour and likely regional habitat. Very impressive as, locally, most of us have never identified, for example: the White-winged Black Tern, Ruff, the Wood & Pectoral Sandpipers, Australian Little Bittern, Australian Painted Snipe, White-breasted Woodswallow, Cockatiel, Pied Butcherbird, Double-banded Plover, White- throated Nightjar, Budgerigar, etc., etc., etc. How great to be lucky enough to see them! Of course, luck doesn’t play the major role for our trio. Ian concluded the presentation with some obvious advice: “Go Birdwatching”. Combining the decades of very regular observation by these three you’d get much more than a century of more than weekly activity – and then you’d need to add all the hours spent considering, discussing and researching what was seen or sought. Being active certainly raises your chances of seeing something unusual – and noticing that it is different. Murray’s tip was “Habitat! Habitat! Habitat!”. Each of the speakers is intimately aware of certain regional locations which would well suit the needs of a rare species, so when it does eventually appear it’s not really a surprise. Perhaps it has been there, unnoticed, before. These places generally suit a number of birds and are good places to observe at likely times, and to remain alert just in case. Roger acknowledged his network of collaborators. Word of something splendid and unusual spreads very quickly among keen birdwatchers. Almost always, each rare sighting was recalled as seen with others – or on the basis of a tip-off, or as immediately being passed on to others. Our own club certainly plays that role, with all our efforts augmented by friends and enthusiasts region-wide. Roger’s weekly newspaper column has delivered an even wider network of informants. The excitement of sharing observations creates great bonds and affords wonderful opportunities never available to just one pair of eyes. – Shirley Faull. Outing Report for Birdlife Clarkesdale and the National Trust Property “Mooramong” September 22 2019 Birdlife Ballarat (then B.O.C.A.) visited Mooramong for the first time in May 1996 recording 49 species. Most of the following years were years of low rainfall and very few species were recorded. From 1997 until 2009 Birdlife Ballarat surveyed bird species at both, Birdlife Clarkesdale and The National Trust property “Mooramong” near Skipton every September. Although we have visited Clarkesdale many times in the intervening years we had not visited Mooramong. It was obviously time for another visit. It was a cold but thankfully dry day as we set off around the “Blue” walk at Birdlife Clarkesdale. The group meandered down to the bird hide recording a Brown Falcon - JG number of the more common species along with a Pallid Cuckoo. It was great to see open water on the Lagoon, Hardhead were in front of the hide along with Australasian Grebe. As we made our way towards Gordon’s Rock, Roy spotted a Grey (White morph) Goshawk. When it flew it was joined by another. The size difference between the Male and Female was very noticeable. We saw Rufous and Golden Whistlers, both Pardalotes, Fan-tailed, Horsfield’s and Shining Bronze Cuckoos. It was past 11 am by the time those desperate for their ten o’clock coffee actually got one. We recorded 42 species at Clarkesdale Next stop Mooramong, with good sightings of Brown Falcons on the way into the property. Having made contact with Ian the property manager, we headed to the bird Hide. Again it was great to see so much water. We recorded several duck species but the best birds were, male and female White- winged Trillers and a Brown Goshawk that whizzed past the hide. After lunch we drove around to Horseshoe Lagoon stopping to admire a pair of Brolgas and their pair of four week old chicks. December 2019 Meetings, Outings & Reports The lagoon was full of birds including, Pink-eared and Blue-billed Ducks, all three Grebes, several White- necked Herons, a lone Freckled Duck and Black-tailed Native-hens. A Brown Songlark perched briefly on the fence line and a Swamp Harrier fought its way across the lagoon being harassed by Magpies. 54 species were recorded at Mooramong. We called into Lake Goldsmith on the way home, most birds were a little distant with the sun behind them. There was little to add to our list but we did not have the time to do it justice. But as some members had never visited Lake Goldsmith it was worth the detour. We recorded 83 species for the day. Ian Ashton OCTOBER MEETING – WHO AM I QUIZ - Presented by Louise Humble Fun and games at our October meeting with a 17 question ‘who am I’ quiz. Louise had well constructed the quiz using bird calls and fun bird facts for us to try and work out the birds which are all found in the 40km Ballarat zone. Many were quite tricky with the Question 2- I have an extremely light skeleton, weighing less than 10% of my total body weight. I am an excellent soarer using thermals to rise to considerable heights and call belonging to the Australian Pelican, which most of us didn’t get. Shining-bronze Cuckoo, Spotted NOT Striated Pardalotes, what sort of Honeyeaters was that? Some interesting facts Question 14 – Males have been labelled as ‘the least faithful birds in the world’ and 76% of young are sired by males from outside the social group. Superb Fairy-wren. We all had a laugh and most of us were very tested but thankfully we could keep our scores to ourselves. A delightful evening topped off with Wendy’s delicious picklets, jam and cream. OCTOBER 27TH OUTING – LAKE WENDOUREE WALK LEADERS – MURRAY GRANT AND ROGER THOMAS Although the weather was cool and breezy we had a fine roll up of 15 Ballarat Birdlife members and 14 visitors for our annual walk to coincide with Bird Week. At the Swan Pool an Australian Reed Warbler called out in the open giving all a good view. Next a flock of 6 White- winged Trillers once again in easy view. Great-crested Grebes were out from Fairyland and plenty of action around the islands of nesting Australian White Ibis. Our visitors seemed very keen and were kept busy using the club binoculars and scopes brought by our members. A lone Cattle Egret perched out on a tree on an ‘Ibis island’ del ighted the photographers and a Nankeen Night-Heron provided a glimpse near Loreto corner. There are many Black Swan families at the moment and cygnets at different stages. Our own John and Roger provided a deligh tful moment assisting some tiny cygnets up a gutter to rejoin their parents. Ballarat Birdlife in action! The Lake is very b usy with birdlife at the moment and we had a great morning walk followed by a visit to our display in the Robert Clark Conservatory for Bird Week and a cuppa at the Native Plant Society display. - J. Garley – Photos & words. December 2019 Meetings, Outings & Reports MEETING NOVEMBER 12 TALK ON FIELD GUIDES BY IAN ASHTON ‘We all have Field Guides and we all need them to identify what we see – otherwise how can we know.’ On an evening of wild weather our proposed evening walk was replaced by a fascinating talk by our Ian on the history and range of Field Guides available to us. Starting back in the mid 1800s with Thomas Bewick 1847 History of Birds and John & Elizabeth Gould 7 vols.