Inland Victoria and Melbourne 04-06/06/2011

Off to the mallee.
 

Day 3

Up and out early, I took the train to Williamstown, a little outside Melbourne. There had been recent reports of Black-faced Cormorant, which is unusual there as they are marine birds, occurring outside the harbour. Nonetheless, one was there on the rocks, surrounded by Little Pied Cormorants, a few Pied Cormorants and a couple of Little Black Cormorants.

(Poor shot of a) Black-faced Cormorant

Also present was another lifer - Pacific Gull. Probably best known as the gulls from Finding Nemo who say 'mine' a lot (even though they are quite rare stragglers to Sydney), they have massive beaks. Also present were a number of Greater Crested Terns.

Pacific Gull juvenile

A few Sooty Oystercathers flew past, a Nankeen Kestrel was mobbed by some Silver Gulls and an unidentified raptor flew in. I didn't recognise it from the photos, but the ever-helpful members of the Birding-Aus mailing list ID'd as a juvenile Swamp Harrier.

juvenile Swamp Harrier

The next stop was Royal Park, just a few minutes north of Melbourne CBD and home to Melbourne Zoo and a public golf course. A rather special parrot had been reported there earlier the week before, so I went to investigate. There were almost unbelievable numbers of Musk Lorikeets with a fair smattering of Rainbow Lorikeets and Eastern Rosellas thrown in as well as a single Scaly-breasted Lorikeet, which is a feral bird in Melbourne. However, for the huge number of parrots present, there was no sign of what I'd come for - Swift Parrot and Purple-crowned Lorikeet.
While looking around, I bumped into Russell Cockman, also looking for swifties. We looked separately and together for another hour or so, but no luck. I had several hours to kill before going back to the train station for the flight home, so I stuck around and read a book. As I'd decided it was cold enough to give it up for the day, I heard a call I didn't recognise: 22 Swift Parrots! These birds breed in Tasmania and migrate in search of flowering gums up and down the east coast in winter. There are perhaps 2-3000 of them left, so it was nice to see so many in one place.

Swift Parrot - the light was awful

One last surprise was waiting for just as I was about to leave again - tiny, bright green birds buzzing around the golf course. A small flock of Little Lorikeets mixing it with the Musks. After that, it was time to get going.

With the trip inland, Williamstown and Royal Park (plus a day's visit to a university and research institute beforehand), I managed to not just get the nine lifers to make the big 500, but went up to 522 - 31 new birds - as well as taking my year list to 165. Many thanks to Ed Williams for driving me around and to the members of Birding-Aus for information and ID help.