The Chat - December 2018

1. Little ones helping little ones!

2. Photos of 24 raptor species

3. APO flag report

4. Southern Boobok loves the carport

5. A Box of Parrots

6. Orange-bellied Parrot Monitoring

7. Short Trip to WA

8. Raymond Island News

9. Gippsland Lakes Projects Update

10. Strathfieldsaye Bird Monitoring

11. Searching for Regent Honeyeaters

12. Spring Camp at Toora

13. Review of GLIBA Survey Data

14. Christmas Gift idea

15. Schedule of Outings Jan - April

Note: The full Schedule of Outings

for 2019 will be published on our

webpages later in December

Little ones helping little ones!

What do you get when you combine

the Bairnsdale Joey Scout Group and

Birdlife Australia?

An enthusiastic group of kids

constructing specially designed chick

shelters for the benefit of endangered

bird species!!

Photo left: Hooded Plover Chick. Glen

Ehmke

Photo below: Joey Scout Mia

Stephenson with completed shelters

The Bairnsdale Joey Scout Group recently embarked on a project to help protect the

many different beach nesting bird species found across the Gippsland Lakes.

BirdLife East Gippsland Project Manager, Deb Sullivan, said it was great to join

forces to build the chick shelters.

“Chick shelters are a really simple design,” explained Ms Sullivan. “They form a basic

A-frame which is partially buried in the sand on beaches to provide protection for

shore birds that nest on the beach, such as the Hooded Plover, Fairy Terns and Little

Terns.

Bairnsdale Joey Scout Team Leader, Genelle Hammond secured funding for the

project from the Victorian Junior Landcare and Biodiversity Grants program.

“Our Joey Scouts attacked the task with boundless enthusiasm,” said Ms Hammond.

“Especially when taking turn on the drills! The simple design of the shelters is suited

to the skills of our five to seven-year-olds, under the watchful eye of team leaders

and some helpful adults.”

“The Joey’s built the shelters largely on their own. They drilled, attached screws and

labelled the shelters and then lacquered and sprinkled with sand to make them more

attractive to the birds.”

Ms Sullivan was thrilled to have the children involved. “It’s a really fun, hands on activity. But the kids are also learning about the beach nesting birds who share the

Lakes with us.

“These shelters are a successful tool in the fight to protect chicks of beach nesting

bird species. They offer shade and protection for newly hatched, highly mobile

chicks and are used regularly by the young birds.”

The chick shelters have been installed at a number of significant sites for breeding

birds across the Gippsland Lakes. Beach goers are asked not to disturb these A

frame shelters if seen as they provide critical support for endangered beach nesting

birds and are a key contributor to assist in survival.

The Bairnsdale Joey Scout Group will have the opportunity to see their chick shelter

constructions in place when they embark on a boat tour later in November aboard

the ‘Lady Jodie’. The tour will include conversations and activities with Parks Victoria

at Rotamah Island and BirdLife Australia.

My project to photograph all 24 of Australia’s raptor species

Chris Cope

Four hundred metres to the west of where I was parked beside the Strzelecki

Highway, lay a cluster of low, scrubby hummocks. These hummocks were small

islands of sand in a gibber plain. The sand was of a consistency to support the burrows of many rabbits. The rabbits were the prey for a variety of raptor species

drawn to the hummocks in the midst of the desert. As an example, tens of black

kites soared on the thermals above the hummocks.

The scene looked appealing until I stepped out of the air-conditioned vehicle. I was

hit by an extremely unpleasant wall of heat, wind, dust and flies. Suck it in, I thought, you have driven for 17 hours on your own to get here. I was here to

photograph one of Australia’s 24 raptor species, the Letter-winged Kite. My solitary

journey to this isolated spot was part of a project I had set myself, to take quality

images of all 24 raptor species. The Letter-winged Kite was distinguished by being

rare and the only night-time feeder among the raptors.

As I walked towards the hummocks my excitement grew. There was a white bird

sitting in one of the stunted trees. I immediately applied a technique that I had

found to be successful previously for getting closer to raptors. I took an image at long distance. I magnified the image on the back of the camera and identified the

bird as a Letter-winged Kite. Then I watched the bird carefully. It was watching me

but I stood still and it soon lost interest and looked away. While it was looking away

I took 5 paces forward. I repeated the process of taking an image and watching the bird. I’m glad nobody was watching my antics as the bird was totally unconcerned

and in a series of 5 steps forward I ended up directly under the bird. Here I took the

up close and personal image that I was after.

Photo below: Letter-winged Kite

I was not at this spot on the Strzelecki Highway by chance. My project to photograph all 24 of Australia’s raptor species was simplified by the kindness of the

Australian birding community. As with many of the rarer raptor species I had been

given a precise location to take my camera. I was also living in the Bendigo area at

the start of the project – an area that was the home for 16 of the 24 species. I became pals with a group of dedicated local birdos and swapped advice on

photographic techniques for trips to raptor locations.

I moved to Paynesville 2 years ago. I was surprised by the variety of raptor species

close by. I heard the birds in my backyard go off one afternoon and walked outside to see a Square-tailed Kite metres above my rooftop. Only a few years ago these

birds were unknown this far south. In addition to the locally common Sea-Eagles and

Whistling Kites I have came across Wedge-tailed Eagles, and Grey and Brown

Goshawks on my daily walks.

Most times that I drive from Paynesville to Bairnsdale, Swamp Harriers are cruising

above the reeds of MacLeod Morass. On one occasion I had to swerve my vehicle to

avoid a low-flying Swampie with a snake gripped in its talons.

Photo below: White-bellied Sea-Eagle

I completed my project with a trip to the Northern Territory in August. The Red

Goshawk is Australia’s rarest raptor. Indeed, locals claimed there was only one known nest in the Territory. We stayed a long way from this precious nest. Luckily

we came across the male bird sitting in a distant tree with a carefully plucked

lorikeet – breakfast for its mate. The Red Goshawk female sits on the nest

permanently during incubation, interestingly, to keep the eggs cool. We snapped a couple of photos of the male and quickly left the birds to their fraught task of

perpetuating their species.

Now that I have completed my project, what’s next? Recently I came across a

stunning Azure Kingfisher while in my boat on the Nicholson River. I wonder how

many kingfisher species there are?

Photo below: Red Goshawk

Australian Pied Oystercatcher

flag report - Reuben Worseldine

Thanks to the efforts of a number of

BLEG members, we have had 11 new

APO flags reported so far for

2018. Most of these were banded in

mid-2017 around Corner Inlet, however, one flag, Red N6, was

banded in 2011 at the age of at least

1 year.

APO leg flag sightings can be sent to flagging@awsg.org.au Include the

flag details, (colour and digit/number),

date and location and observer.

http://flagging@awsg.org.au/

Boobook still loving our carport

Merryl and Ian Wright

In the September issue of The Chat we

reported that a Southern Boobook had been roosting at night in our

carport. We were amazed at that time

that The Owl had been there for 16

weeks on a pipe which runs close under the carport ceiling right above

our rubbish bins and only a metre or

so from the car bonnet. But I can now

report that after 28 weeks (more than 6 months) it seems to be a permanent

fixture. On two occasions, we woke to

find two boobooks in the carport, but

both times bird Number Two took off at the sight of a human coming out of

the house.

Hoping that we could encourage a more permanent family arrangement, Ian made a

wooden nesting box with a platform which bird Number One now uses as his

preferred roost, but the other boobook has not been seen again.

However, there have been times when The Owl has chosen an unacceptable site

such as the roof of the car, where some gentle prodding was required before it

reluctantly relocated.

It seems unperturbed by activity in the carport or close by, seemingly dozing

through two hours of the plumber unblocking the pipes, Ian starting up the ride-on

mower, or cars/people going in and out. We have wondered if there is some kind of

hibernation or slowdown mechanism operating as sometimes it seems to ignore us

completely.

We have grown very fond of The Owl and hope that it will continue to ‘come home’

each morning so that we can enjoy seeing such a handsome bird close up.

Life, Death and a box of Parrots

Deb Sullivan

When you work with wildlife there’s always

a Plan A and a Plan B because inevitably the wildlife determines which is going to

be the most challenging for the researcher

to deal with!

But occasionally when one plan leads to

another, an unexpected outcome presents

itself of a different kind. And so it was

when I recently found myself in a privileged position of having private access

to the archives of the Museum of Victoria’s

Ornithological section.

How did I even get there??!! Via the

Gippsland Lakes Pelican rookery!! - Make sense?? Don’t worry it didn’t

make sense to me at the time either!

I was recording the contents of our

Pelican nests (for the GLCC project) with the company of Prof Greg

Johnston from SA Museum. Prof

Johnston is something of a guru in the

international world of Pelican research, having some 35 years’ experience

working on 7 of the

8 Pelecanus species and has been an

incredible support for our Gippsland lakes (GLCC funded) Pelican

project. He was visiting me to assist

with some project work when he

announced that a trip to the Museum would be beneficial to his work and

our GLCC project. How could I

possibly refuse!!

One day I’m holding a precious little Pelican chick in my hand and the next I’m

staring down at a distant ancestor!

It’s a funny feeling walking into the archive rooms - the quiet, the smell of

preserving chemicals and the meticulous layout of a well designed specimen room.

It’s both humbling and sobering.

Armed with our list of where to find our target specimens - the process began. Our

plan was to measure all the main anatomical features of each specimen - Culmen,

Gular pouch, Eye ring, Ulna, Tarsus and middle toe – to name a few. Our specimens included the Australian Pelican, Great White Pelican, American Brown Pelican and

Hammerkop (from Sth Africa) My interest was in sizing between current population

and those of generations before.

The oldest Australian Pelican we measured was from 1867 NSW.

The Brown Pelican was from the original population of Louisiana birds before they become locally extinct and were re-introduced to the region from other locations.

This bird was of particular interest to Prof Johnston whose work on Pelicans includes

geneology, which brings me to the more unusual bird on the list! For those of you

with sharp eyes, you may have wondered why the Hammerkop from Sth Africa was

on the list!?

It’s a distant relation to the Pelican! Of course! You recognised the similarities

straight away! Okay – maybe not, I didn’t…….. but that’s a hell of a fact I wasn’t

expecting to find out!

Interestingly the bird we measured was caught by none other than John Gould

himself!

The practice of collecting specimens in this way is long gone but I found it quite

humbling to think that these birds are still contributing to science, knowledge and

understanding in so many ways.

In some instances where a species is no longer …… and ….. did I mention the box of

parrots?? ……

Is anyone game enough to name these parrots?

OBP Mainland Winter Monitoring Program 2018

Three mainland winter surveys, coordinated by BirdLife Australia, Nature Glenelg Trust, Phillip Island Nature Park and DELWP, were conducted across Victoria to find

and identify Orange- bellied Parrots, Neophema chrysogaster, in 2018.

The survey dates for 2018 were: • 19-20th May

• 28-29th July

• 8-9th September

There were no official OBP sightings in the Gippsland region this year, but during

autumn there were regular and consistent reports of the closely related Blue-winged Parrot (BWP) in the coastal saltmarsh, swamp scrub and adjoining grasslands of the

Ramsar-listed Corner Inlet & Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Parks.

The full report can be found here.

Photo below: Orange-bellied Parrot at Melaleuca 2018. David Neilsen

Our Short Trip to WA – Sue Grima

In October, Peter and I spent a couple of weeks touring south west Western

Australia. We did a total of 2,200 kms touring from Perth down to Dunsborough,

Margaret River, Pemberton and Albany.

At first, we just enjoyed seeing the different species of birds in that part of the world and as the number increased we started taking note of what we saw. We were

delighted to discover that we had positively identified 87 species and saw a few

others that we were not so sure about.

It was lovely seeing many of the species that can only be seen in that part of the world. Of the 16 or so endemic birds we managed to see 8 of them, the Red-winged

Fairy-wren, Western Spinebill, Western Rosella, Western Thornbill, Western

Wattlebird, White-breasted Robin, Baudin’s Black-Cockatoo and Red-eared

Firetail.One recurring theme we heard on the different tours we went on was that the laughing kookaburra was not seen in Western Australia until some were brought

over from the eastern states and released in the early 1900’s. This was something

neither of us knew!

Of all the birds we saw though, I think my favourite were the Rock Parrots that I had first fallen in love with around Port Lincoln two years ago. The Red-winged Fairy-

wrens were also a favourite.

https://birdlifeaustralia.createsend1.com/t/r-l-jtlhsld-l-j/

Photo below. Rock Parrot, Sue Grima

Raymond Island News - Ron

Mackenzie

“Fantail Pardalotes” - Orioles nesting,

and a mystery brownish bird, seen in

the early days alongside an Oriole and later near the nest, turning out to

actually be a Female Figbird!

Catch up on all the spring breeding on

Raymond Island by clicking in the box

below.

https://birdlifeaustralia.createsend1.com/t/r-l-jtlhsld-l-t/

Gippsland Lakes Projects Update

Deb Sullivan, BirdLife Australia Project Officer Gippsland Lakes

We have signs!

Some of you may have noticed signs popping up across our Gippsland Lakes

region.

The signs have been temporarily

installed for the breeding season to raise awareness of our beach nesting

species. It is hoped that through site

specific signage, beach goers will be

more aware of how to share the beach

with these species.

These signs were printed and installed

through our Gippsland Lakes

Coordinating Committee (GLCC) funded projects – also known as Love Our

Lakes program - and with the local

support of Parks Victoria and DELWP.

Pelican breeding

In other GLCC project news, our team

of BLEG champions (see images

below) have continued to collect

valuable survey data across the region as we move into another year of tough

drought conditions. Data collected

from last season and current breeding

season are showing anecdotal evidence of breeding strain amongst

species.

To value add to the data collected by

volunteers, technology has been put into use once again to assist in

monitoring sites across the Gippsland

Lakes. Aerial images above from 2017

and left from 2018 respectively, show the vast difference in Pelicans nesting

at this one location. This type of

imagery has proven invaluable in

gaining accurate numbers at such locations without disturbing the birds

by direct visitation.

Remote Cameras

Remote cameras and songmeters continue to

be installed across a small number of locations in the search for Australasian

Bittern.

Suitable sites for this species have once again

been under stress this year due to the dry conditions and the presence of birds has been

difficult to detect. A number of wetlands

previously supporting this species in wetter

years, this year remain dry or drying.

The Great Pelican Count

The Great Pelican Count will once again be

held on 7th April 2019. Registrations will open in February. Adults and children alike,

are encouraged to participate in this short

30min census survey where Pelicans are

counted across the Gippsland Lakes on the same day at the same time at allocated

locations.

Observers will also be encouraged to keep an

eye out for colour leg banded Pelicans. These bands are distinct red with white writing (see

image below) and will help us to gain

valuable information on the movements of

our Pelicans within the Gippsland Lakes system and beyond. This colour combination

is unique to the Gippsland Lakes. Not only

will these colour banded birds help us gain a

better understanding of movements but will assist in understanding natal site fidelities

within the species.

Sometimes you just have to laugh at the irony of working with

wildlife! - Deb Sullivan

As part of the GLCC Pelican project, I had the grand idea to use a live streaming

camera to introduce you all to the incredible world of a Pelican rookery as it happened. The idea that you could log on and enjoy all the little nuances of a

rookery on your home computer seemed to be a great idea and another great tool in

monitoring their behaviour.

So after much planning with Ross Meggs from Faunatech, and the connecting of all

the equipment we were set to go!!

But Houston…we had a problem!!

A Pelican decided that the best place to construct its nest this year ….was on top of

our solar panel ….which was supposed to be charging the battery for our live camera!!! Needless to say, when you have a 5kg Pelican sitting on your solar panel

its very dark under there!

NB – Sadly in this day and age of theft, our solar panel was tucked away on the

ground where it could still receive sun but not be so readily visible to be stolen.

So if you had a vision of a Pelican nesting high up on a pole with a solar panel –

sorry.

Strathfieldsaye Estate Bird Monitoring Project - Interim Report 2018.

Chris Healey and Brian Martin

The first 12 months

This is a preliminary report on the first

twelve months of a project to monitor

the diversity and abundance of birds of the Strathfieldsaye Estate grazing

property on the shore of Lake

Wellington at Perry Bridge, East

Gippsland. We anticipate being able to release a more detailed report early

in 2019.

In late 2017 BirdLife East Gippsland

(BLEG) was invited by the Australian Landscape Trust (ALT) to undertake

regular bird monitoring surveys of

their Strathfieldsaye Estate property

at Perry River.

https://birdlifeaustralia.createsend1.com/t/r-l-jtlhsld-l-i/

Searching for Regent

Honeyeaters in Gippsland. John

Hutchison

When I first started working on the

idea of a proactive search for Regent

Honeyeaters, I used to say that it was

like looking for a needle in a haystack.

However, based on work to date I am

now saying it is like looking in many

haystacks, not knowing in which haystacks the needle is likely to be,

not being able to visit many of the

haystacks and on top of that the

needle/s can and do move and may not even choose what I think are the

good haystacks based on our ideas of

what constitutes good Regent

Honeyeater habitat.

Spring Camp 2018 at Toora

Heather Alexander and Jack

Winterbottom

The Spring Camp for BirdLife East Gippsland was organised by Heather

Alexander and Jack Winterbottom and

based at the Toora Tourist Park. At

least half of the 22 participants arrived the day before and were well settled in

by lunchtime on Monday, the “official”

start time.

A full report and a bird List for the camp can be found by clicking the

"Find Out More" button below.

https://birdlifeaustralia.createsend1.com/t/r-l-jtlhsld-l-d/https://birdlifeaustralia.createsend1.com/t/r-l-jtlhsld-l-h/

Review of Gippsland Lakes

Important Bird Area Survey

Data – Derek Russell

There are two questions here:

1. Is a count on one day in winter

reasonably typical of numbers at that site around that time in winter? We

explored that question over a short

period of around two weeks at three of

the GLIBA sites. 2. If the answer to question one was

no, then are the total numbers of birds

of individual species seen at all the

GLIBA sites taken together on one day reasonably representative of bird

numbers at those sites over a short

period? We are looking at this

question now.

For the full article click on the box

below.

What to get someone special for Christmas?

Aaaah, how about a subscription to Australian Birdlife?

Not only will they receive a beautiful magazine 4 times per year, they will be automatically joined to their local group where a

whole new world awaits them!

Birdlife also have a great online gift shop

https://store.birdlife.org.au/

They will even post next year’s calendar overseas!

A great gift idea!

https://birdlifeaustralia.createsend1.com/t/r-l-jtlhsld-l-u/https://birdlifeaustralia.createsend1.com/t/r-l-jtlhsld-l-k/

Schedule of Outings January – April 2019

No cancellations will be made except for Total Fire Ban or unsuitable weather.

This Schedule may be modified without notice.

Please check the website where the full year of Outings is available.

Outings are generally for half a day with morning tea and lunch.

Do not assume the meeting place will be the same as in previous years.

Start time is 9.00am for all Outings.

Visitors are always welcome.

Meet: Meet at the designated location or by arrangement with the leader.

Bring: Morning tea, lunch, folding chair, sunscreen, insect repellent, water.

Enquiries: Leader of the day or Chris Healey, 5157 9036.

Email: eastgippsland@birdlife.org.au

Website: www.birdlife.org.au/locations/birdlife-east-gippsland

http://eastgippsland@birdlife.org.au/https://birdlifeaustralia.createsend1.com/t/r-l-jtlhsld-l-n/

The full Schedule of Outings for 2019 will be published on our webpages later in

December

Pam Hutchison Secretary/Editor

BirdLife East Gippsland

PO BOX 825 Bairnsdale Vic 3875 M 0417 568 222 | T 03 5156 8226

E eastgippsland@birdlife.org.au

W http://www.birdlife.org.au/locations/birdlife-east-gippsland

ABN 75 149 124 774

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