Lyrebird Tales Volume 26 Number 2 June 2017 Trip to Mud Island by Valerie Fowler thought looked different; perhaps a Cape Gannet? As group 1 was leaving the rocks a boat of divers arrived. A wonderful day was spent out on the bay for the trip to Mud Island. The weather forecast was for a fine but not hot day (23c) with a light breeze increasing as the day warmed up. The group was split into two with the group 1 leaving Blairgowrie jetty at 7am just after the sun rose; they were taken directly to Mud Island. The second group left Blairgowrie at 8.30am stopping alongside Popes Eye Rocks and Chinaman’s Hat before being dropped at Mud Island. The boat then picked up the first group and returned to Blairgowrie via Chinaman’s Hat and Popes Eye Rocks. The boat then returned to Mud Island at 1pm to pick up the second group. Leaving Blairgowrie the water was smooth and we soon saw Silver Gulls, Welcome Swallows, Australasian Gannets, several Terns and Cormorants flying around but they were Australian Gannets photo © V & P Fowler too far away to photograph. Continuing on 3 km to Chinaman’s Hat group 2 saw some Australian Fur Seals leisurely floating in the water with several flippers raised. We approached Chinaman’s Hat which was originally built in 1942 to support defence searchlights but when this structure fell into disrepair Parks Victoria built a new one for the seals which had taken up residence on this floating hotel! The seals preferred the older structure but moved to the new hexagonal structure when the old one was demolished. Many seals were seen swimming in the clear water and one male climbed up out of the water onto the platform flopping over the other residents causing lots of noisy protests until it managed to push one off the platform taking its place. There were several juvenile seals too. Popes Eye Rocks photo © V & P Fowler Contents Soon we saw Popes Eye Rocks which were heavily covered in 1 – 2. Trip to Mud Island by Valerie Fowler guano and birds. Most of the birds were sleeping or preening. Popes Eye Rocks are a semi-circular pile of bluestone rocks 3 – 4. Peper Boys USA by Herman Peper (0.7 ha) which was originally built as a base for a proposed 4. Notice for camp at Wedderburn, Committee fort in 1877. The proposed fort was later abandoned and 5. Superb Lyrebird Survey 2016 by Valerie Fowler, later a navigational light and small jetty was installed. Popes Eye Rocks became a breeding ground for Australasian Vale George Gearing Gannets and there were young birds present from fluffy white 6. Interesting Sightings, What Bird is That? chicks to older juveniles with mottled brown plumage on their heads, necks and backs. Some birds were in their final moult 7 – 11. Reports of Meetings and Outings, news from Alan Spellman before acquiring adult feathers. It was interesting to see the differences in plumage. Perched amongst the young were 12. Calendar of Events adult Gannets, Black-faced Cormorants, Silver Gulls and group 1 also saw Ruddy Turnstones and a Gannet which they Lyrebird Tales through the water coming across 2 dead Pelicans. Whilst taking care not to overbalance into one of the deeper holes in the lagoon a flock of 43 Grey Teal flew over. On the far side of the lagoon were many White Ibis and White-faced Herons. Returning to the shelly sand alongside the sea we soon spotted several sand banks with large flocks of waders which were predominately Red-necked Stints with a few Sharp- tailed Sandpipers amongst them. Further scrutiny picked up several Curlew Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstone, Greenshank, Masked Lapwing and a single Red-capped Plover. Returning to the pickup point for the boat we disturbed Crested Terns and Caspian Terns resting at the water’s edge as we were trying to avoid stepping on any eggs. Some of the terns were swooping on us or circling overhead and when Pied Cormorants photo © Valerie Fowler one flew in with a fish to feed its young, all the nearby terns A small flock of Welcome Swallows was swooping in and out got excited causing a racket. under the roof where we thought they perhaps had nests but did not get close enough to confirm it. A Silver Gull and Black-faced Cormorant were perched on the roof. On a nearby beacon Pied Cormorants, Black-faced Cormorants and a single Australasian Gannet perched. Approaching Mud Island we saw several flocks of White Ibis flying in a V formation. We could see the passengers of group 1 gathering on the shore for their return journey. Many terns were flying around plus a couple of Silver Gulls. The three low lying islands that comprise of Mud Island cover 60ha of land. It stands 10km inside the heads and approximately 6 km from Blairgowrie. It is mainly comprised of shelly sand. The shape of Mud Island is constantly changing due to storms and movement of sand. There are 9 Caspian Tern photo © Valerie Fowler vegetative communities comprising of seagrass meadows, sand dunes, mud flats and salt marshes. These support Both groups were enthusiastic about the trip and birds seen invertebrates and provide habitat for the birds and due to but agreed that we did not have enough time on Mud Island. Mud Island’s isolation it has become a sanctuary for breeding Group 1 saw: Black Swan, Pied Cormorant, Black-faced birds as many are protected from predators. Birds have Cormorant, Australian Pelican, Australasian Gannet, White- played a key role in the physical evolution of the islands as necked Heron, White Ibis, Straw-necked Ibis, Royal spoonbill, shelly sand has combined with phosphate leached from the Swamp Harrier, Masked Lapwing, Caspian Tern, Crested birds’ guano forming a surface more resistant to erosion. Mud Tern, Fairy tern, Silver gull, Pacific Gull, Pied Oystercatcher, Island has a central tidal lagoon. Red-necked Stint, Ruddy Turnstone, Greenshank, Red- Disembarking from the boat (Riptide Charters) we were capped Plover, Superb Fairy-wren, Little Grassbird, Welcome pleased that the wet landing was only shallow water. We Swallow, European House Sparrow (25 species) + Red quickly asked members of group 1 for tips on where the bird Wattlebird, Little Raven, Grey Butcherbird (seen while waiting species were and what they saw. The Caspian and Great in the car park). Crested Terns soon returned to the beach and we walked Ian found a bird’s leg on Mud Island with a bird band which along the beach to read the Parks Victoria Sign. Looking was later identified from a Caspian Tern banded on Mud towards the lagoon in the centre there were large flocks of Island on 9/11/16 just 2 months 16 days before. Australian Pelicans and White Ibis. Low amongst the bushes were the remains of their nests. We continued in an anti- Group 2 added a few more species: White-faced Heron, clockwise direction hearing several Little Grassbirds and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Grey Teal and seeing European Starlings and House Sparrows; one was European Starling bringing the total to 30 species + 3 in the carrying nesting material. A single Straw-necked Ibis flew car park. over and Swamp Harriers circled. Several pairs of Pied Thank you to Michael who organised the trip to Mud Island. Oystercatchers patrolled the sand and Pelicans continued to fly over. Reaching the mouth of the lagoon where it meets the ocean we backtracked to find a suitable place to wade 2 Lyrebird Tales Lyrebird Tales Peper Boys USA by Herman Peper day when we were cycling through some marshes we spotted a pair with uncoloured young which was more satisfying than seeing 12 on the boat trip. A bird we were desperate to see was the Pileated Woodpecker. It’s a difficult, nervous bird but we managed to both get pictures from different birds. We then made our way to Houston where we visited the Houston Space Center, followed the next day by a visit to a WWI battleship. The drive to New Orleans was something special: high bridges and draw bridges, ferries, marshland, swamps with yabbie farms. We drove along the State Highway 23 to where the Mississippi enters the Gulf of Mexico. In New Orleans they were working every where on the levee banks. We drove over the longest causeway in the world (38.36 km long). We also drove over the 3rd longest too. Buff-bellied Hummingbird photo © H & G Peper 30/3/17 We are now in Georgia in the F.D.Roosevelt State Park (close to Atlanta). A lot of things have happened. When we followed the Rio Grande we got a lot of interesting bird sightings: Orioles, Kingfishers, uncoloured, Crested Caracara, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and plenty of Plain Chacalacas. We were warned to book ahead for the Xmas/New Year break because everything would be full. As we do not have a program we took our chances because at one State Park the bookings was down by 33%. We had no problem getting a caravan site in Weslaco. We stayed there 12 nights and used it as a base to visit all the birding spots in the area. It was also around 2 kms from Estero Llano Grande (a famous Altimera Oriole Photo © H & G Peper birding hot spot), so most days when we got back from one of the other places we went there and added often a tick or We visited the Stennis Space Center where they test the two.