A brief(ish) report on my latest trip to Victoria. I get to make a trip down most years – sometimes two or three times a year in the past – and have a basic circuit that I follow to build my year list and catch up with family in Melbourne.

Generally I leave Brisbane and travel the Newell Highway to Ardlethan then jump on Burley Griffin Way turning off at Kamarah and working my way through to Leeton. After birding a couple of sites around here I head across the Hay plains to Balranald turning south and crossing into Victoria over the Tooleybuc bridge. In Victoria it is then a short way to head to the eastern end of the Mallee Hwy which I follow to Ouyen, birding around here at various sites for varying periods. From Ouyen I head to Nhill and the Little Desert via Wyperfeld NP, then onto Portland via Douglas to check out White Lake. After birding around Portland I head across to Melbourne to catch up with family and do a bit more birding before heading back to Brisbane. I used to visit ACT and Illawarra area before heading to Capertee Valley then jumping back on the Newell but haven’t done this in the last couple of years.

The route has changed a little over the years and I now have it at a point where I get most things I chase.

This year started with me leaving work mid morning on April 7th and heading out to Warwick and towards my first stop  at a well known waterhole beside the highway in the Durikai State Forest. Nothing out of the ordinary here but its always a great spot for various species of honeyeaters dominated by Yellow-tufted and White-naped along with Fuscous, White-plumed and White-eared. Black-chinned and Brown-headed are also regular here with Regent being occasionally recorded (I was lucky enough to have one here in April several years ago). An early morning or early evening visit can also give you a good chance at Turquoise Parrot.

Yelarbon Common was the next stop and although there wasn’t much water there was still plenty to see. Swamp Wallaby and Eastern Grey Kangaroo were the only mammals observed but there were plenty of birds including White-winged Fairywren, Chestnut-rumped Thornbill, Southern Whiteface and the resident Spotted Bowerbirds which appeared a beautiful golden tone as they flew past in the late afternoon sun.

 

After overnighting at Goondiwindi, the 8th was spent traveling through to West Wyalong. Nothing out of the ordinary was observed en route and no birding was done until I reached Gum Swamp on the outskirts of Forbes. The water level was up and I didn’t see any crakes or migratory waders but the almost ever present Freckled Ducks didn’t disappoint.  Reaching West Wyalong I visited Charcoal Tank Nature Reserve in the late afternoon. I was hoping for the macrorhyncha race of Shy Heathwren which I haven’t seen for a few years but had no luck on the day. The reserve was very dry and the gully I used to get them in had very little undergrowth or ground cover. The morning probably would have given me a better chance but there were still plenty of birds including a loose flock of White-browed Woodswallows possibly heading to roost in the reserve.

The 9th saw me on the road early headed for Fivebough Wetlands in Leeton. A group of Superb Parrots flew low over the road at Kamarah which was a nice start to the day. On arriving at Fivebough I was disappointed to find the reserve was still closed for maintenance (since at least June 2015 when I was last there). I still managed some great birding around the Petersham Rd car park and Fivebough Rd to Hooey Lookout. Leaving Leeton I headed across to Ouyen and checking into the motel for a couple of nights giving me time to get some mallee birding in. I rate the mallee as one of my favourite habitats to bird in. Driving out to Hattah-Kulkyne, I had Chestnut Quail-thrush beside the Hattah-Robinvale Road. At the well known Nowingi Track, Mallee Emu-wren were quickly bagged – I haven’t ever missed them here over several visits – and a pair of Striated Grasswren were found in the next ten minutes, the Grasswren I mostly dip on here. Plenty of other birds were found before the end of the afternoon.

On the 10th I visited Lake Tyrell first up. This is a very reliable site for Rufous Fieldwren and I ended up seeing several along with the resident White-winged Fairywrens. The best birds of the morning were three male Pied Honeyeaters. After leaving Lake Tyrell and heading towards Patchewollack, a single Malleefowl was feeding alongside the Hopetoun Walpeup Rd (also referred to as the Ouyen Patchewollack Rd). A quick stop at Timberoo Flora Reserve had the desired White-browed Treecreeper in the bins after 30mins of searching (a lot longer than it normally takes to locate this species here).

After stopping for lunch at Ouyen I headed back up to Hattah-Kulkyne where nothing special was added but as always great birding. I ended up stopping at the nearly dry Lake Konardin where after disturbing some Mulga Parrots feeding in the shade I journeyed out over the drying mud to check out the waders. Numbers of Black-fronted Dotterel and Red-capped Plovers were accompanying Red-necked Stints, Curlew Sandpipers and Sharp-tailed Sandpipers with many of the migrants in various stages of breeding plumage. A single Double-banded Plover was also present.

Nhill and Little Desert was the next overnighter after visiting Wyperfeld NP in the morning of the 11th . I visit Wyperfeld primarily for Redthroat which is found in suitable habitat along the Discovery Trail which starts at the Wonga Campground. Many other great mallee species occur here as well. After securing views of two Redthroat in separate locations I headed back to the car picking up Southern Scrub-robin and Shy Heathwren along the way. I’m not sure about other peoples experiences but I’ve found in the cooler months here that things don’t fire right up until mid morning and the walk out along the trail is always much quieter than the walk back. On the way south just before Yaapeet some White-backed Swallows were flying around a sandy road cutting with burrows evident.  A quick late afternoon visit to Little Desert where Dahlenberg’s Mill track intersects with the Nhill Harrow road turned up the usual Tawny-crowned Honeyeaters, White-fronted Honeyeater, nesting White-fronted Chats and Scarlet Robin. Purple-crowned Lorikeets in Nhill were a nice sight as well.

Returning to Little Desert on the 12th, I continued to look for Slender-billed Thornbill, a species which has eluded me for the last few years. I always pick up Buff-rumped Thornbills at this site but this year I was lucky finding a party of about 8 Slender-billed roughly half way  between Dahlenberg’s Mill track and the Stringbark walk in the burnt out heath on the west side of the road. My only Blue-winged Parrots for the trip were also recorded here. A quick drive past White Lake at Douglas didn’t provide any Banded Stilt which are usually here later in the year. Skylark added to the trip list and only a few other species visible. Arrived at Portland ready for a relaxing week spent with family.

From the afternoon of the 12th until the morning of the 16th was spent staying on private property bordering Bridgewater Lakes. This is my cousin’s husband (and my great mates) annual family getaway, the owners being relatives of his. They do their best every year to drop the local Redfin Perch population. There were also plenty of Mosquitofish as well as Common Galaxias. Plenty of good birds were observed on, from and over the property including a male Musk Duck displaying daily – one afternoon while we were in the boat it came over to us and sat about 5 metres away. A pair of Wedge-tailed Eagles were seen low over the property daily, Nankeen Night Heron was observed one evening, Forest Ravens, Rufous Bristlebirds and Beautiful Firetails were also present.

Managing a couple of small birding forays to my usual sites, I caught up with Shy Albatross, a probable Sooty Shearwater, Hooded Plover, Arctic Jaeger, Brush Bronzewing  and Striated Fieldwren. Mammals included the common Swamp Wallabies, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, Koala and a couple of Echidnas.

On the 16th after packing up camp I headed to Melbourne stopping at Port Fairy for Greenfinch as I missed them in Portland. Not much was recorded on the drive across via Mortlake. From the afternoon of the 16th until the 19th I was visiting in Melbourne with some birding on Phillip Island, Lysterfield Lake, Sherbrooke Forest and Bunyip State Park.

I always pay a visit to Phillip Island to grab a few things for my year list as its not too far from where I stay while in Melbourne. There are several good sites on the island for various things but this year I only needed Little Penguin and Cape Barren Goose so I headed straight across to the Nobbies where distant Australian Fur-seal are able to be observed as well (often there is one or more in Portland Harbour – as well as the colony at Cape Bridgewater – but I missed them there and at Port Fairy this year). Cape Barren Geese were plentiful as always across the paddocks with the population seeming to grow year after year. Little Penguin were easily observed in burrows beside the coastal road between the Nobbies and the Penguin Parade.

I made a brief stop at Lysterfield Lake on a couple of mornings for Gang Gang Cockatoo. Sherbrooke had a Superb Lyrebird showing within 20m of entering the walking track. Sometimes I can spend a bit of time looking for them but often they are located fairly quickly. I also saw a Lyrebird along the Mount Donna Buang Road in the Yarra Ranges, with a couple of Wonga Pigeons between Warburton and Acheron Gap adding to some good birds in the area.

The Buttongrass walk in Bunyip State Park gave up some of the resident Southern Emu-wren among other regular species. A group of Sambar Deer were feeding in a paddock back towards Gembrook and hightailed it into the forest as I drove by.

Leaving Melbourne on the 20th, I drove straight to Forbes with no birding en route.

On the 21st a quick stop was made in Back Yamma State Forest were a single Turquoise Parrot was located along with several Diamond Firetails and other good stuff. Heading to Tamworth to do a little work in the afternoon left no time for birding during the rest of the day although a noisy flock of feeding Musk Lorikeets at the motel was nice to see.

The morning of the 22nd saw me driving a short distance up the road to Tenterfield. I went for a look at Dangars Lagoon at Uralla but literally couldn’t see the lagoon for the fog so moved on through the back road from Deepwater through Stannum and rejoining the New England Highway from Pyes Creek Road. It was more of a nostalgic drive as I spent a lot of weekends as a young bloke with my family camping in this area. Australasian Shoveler and Yellow-billed Spoonbill were sighted on a dam near Deepwater and just before getting back on the highway a Red-capped Robin was on a fence in open paddocks several hundred metres from any remnant woodland. The afternoon was spent having a half-hearted look around Boonoo Boonoo NP before returning to town to catch up on some notes.

Heading off on the 23rd, I stopped at Girraween NP for my final birding for the trip. My main goal here was to catch up with the local race of Superb Lyrebird. Following the Castle Rock walking trail a bird was observed in the ferny gully before reaching the turnoff to Castle Rock. A nice pair of Spotted Quail-thrush on the way in was an added bonus, this is one species I could never see enough of even though I have seen many over the years.

Arrived home at about 1pm after travelling around 6300km.