October 2026 Bird Report

 Many organised activities this month, including a campout by members of Birdlife East Gippsland (BLEG), a Hooded Plover banding Team and the Weeding Group of Friends of Mallacoota getting over (after a big-swell delay) to Gabo Island.  As I checked the eBird species maps I also noticed visits by several well known birding identities.

Here is an image of the banded Hooded Plover.  It has a green flag with code AL (the image below is mine - those on the Facebook group were by ALison GREEN).

 

 In breaking news, Al and mate hatched 3 chicks on 29 October. Thanks to Caroline Jones for the linked image..

Overall tally

Our overall tally for the month was 167 species, well above the average for the month almost up to the count (168) for 2025.  It appears from the report for October 2025 that we had a high level of expert visitation in that month (plus a Gabo report).  The results for the latest month are summarised in the following chart.

We added one species to the District List and 4 others to the District October List.  These are discussed in the “Species of Note” section below.  A list of species recorded and some attributes of these are in the page “Taxa” of this google sheet.

The WWTP continues to be closed to public access.  However East Gippsland Water arranged for a visiting group from Birdlife East Gippsland to be inducted to the Plant to undertake a survey in October. 

Categories

Here is a chart showing the percentage of total species seen against each category.  Data underlying this chart is in the page Categories in the linked sheet.

Observers have done very well this month with no category notable  as underperforming.  For the two most under-reported, Honeyeaters and Birds of Prey, the MIA are all less usual species and thus the difference could be seen as a positive for other years rather than a negative for this year.  We managed better than usual results for Seabirds (the Gabo visit helped here, together with some seawatching from folk at the campout) and Nightbirds after a late expedition by a member of the campout.

The most outstanding result was for the Flycatchers etc  category where 18 of the 20 species seen in previous Octobers were reported.  The only MIA were Satin Flycatcher (4 previous) and Flame Robin (3 previous).

Conservation concerns

A listing of the 14 taxa with legislatively recognised conservation concerns (7 at Commonwealth level and 7 at State level)  in in the page Conservation concern in the linked spreadsheet.

Species of Note

Bird of the Month

Glossy Ibis: first record in the District, although previously recorded further West in East Gippsland and in Bega Valley.  He is a snip from the eBird species map (orange pins are reports in the latest 30 days (to 24/10/2026).

Other notable species

• Emu: the Nauta Tce bird was seen on Genoa Rd, by many members of the cam[pout heading to the Gipsy Point boat trip, with a concerned resident controlling passing traffic.  Well done that resident!

• Australian Shelduck: seen at WWTP with several very young ducklings.

• Pacific Koel and Channel-billed Cuckoo both reported in the month.  (A total of 7 Cuckoo species were reported with only Pheasant Coucal - one historic record in the District - MIA.)

• Sahil Brush Cuckoo: First October record.  Appears in eBird at a number of locations (I think reflecting the various points at which observers started their checklists for the Wallagaraugh cruise.

• Buff-banded Rail: 2 records late in the month from the Broome St Lagoon.

• Eurasian Whimbrel: Not previously recorded in October.

• Lathams Snipe: At least 5 birds seen around a small dam in the horse paddock near the Winter Storage pond.

• Common Tern, White-fronted Tern, Little Tern and Fairy Tern seen on sandbars off Captain Stevenson’s Point.  After a very quiet period for Crested Tern a flock of at least 400 birds was present on 28 October.

• LIttle Penguin: First record in eBird for October - obviously reflects this being the first October for which a report has been made to me from Gabo Island.  (There are October reports to Birdata from Gabo  including Little Penguin but not in eBird.)

• Black-browed Albatross: seen from Geology Point.

• Eastern Cattle-Egret: 3 birds in breeding plumage seen at Broome St Lagoon on 30 October.  Sorry about quality of image.

• Little Eagle: only 4 previous October sightings.  Photographed

• Grey Goshawk:  Broome St Lagoon being pursued by 2 Red Wattlebirds!

• Ground Parrot: 4 records this month from Pebbly Beach to Shipwreck Creek

• Eastern Rosella: Only 5 previous October reports - this from Gipsy Point.

• Pilotbird: recorded from Lakeview Track by an observer heading for Howe Flat.

• Pink Robin: First October record, recorded at Double Creek Nature Trail.  More  commonly found in Tasmania and the Victorian High Country.

• Tawny Grassbird: Still present in numbers on Gabo.  This now seems to be a resident group of a species formerly found regularly North of about Sydney.

• European Goldfinch: formerly relatively common rarely seen in recent years.

Sources of records

As the BLEG trip added so many records I have added a separate column to the report for records from Birdata.  The number of records in the District from Birdata totalled 123 species of which 117 were recorded on outings as part of the campout with the extra records coming mainly from a separate visit by a birder driving into Howe Flat (but not recording any Eastern Bristlebirds).  There were also further records, reported to eBird, by members of the BLEG group outside the campout program.  

The list from Gabo totalled 33 species.

As is my usual practice I have attributed species in a priority order.  If I have recorded the species - including those I personally recorded on campout outings -  it is shown against MB (93 species); if added from some form of incidental contact (including the list of Gabo birds) it is incidental (55); if from Birdata and not in those two groups it is against that column (44); and finally the eBird column (19) is the list of birds I found recorded this month on a list of birds recorded on eBird in past Octobers after marking off the other sources. 

Rain storm and event 25 October 2026

 The BoM have forecast a fair lot of rain in the afternoon and evening of 25 October 2026.  Indeed that seems to be the case.   It started to rain just after 1430 and by 1500 we had received 14.7mm (at a maximum rate of 73.2 mm/hr).  The rain belt pictured here seems to be moving parallel to the State border (shepherded by the Howe Range I suspect rather than the line on the map)

There were some flashes and bangs (or at least rumbles) before the rain started.  Biltzortung showed this at 1425 hours.

And this at 1451- by which things had calmed down.

My friend's Tempest system, which includes external websites, has recorded 430 lightning strikes within 40km of Mallacoota by 1515hrs.  That was clearly the main body of the storm as the Tempest system recorded 481 strikes for the entire day.

The radar/weather map at 1520 shows plenty of activity happening  to our North, but it stills seems to be going by.  BoM - the Airport seemed to on the edge of the event  - recorded 10.4mm there and only 5.2mm at Gabo.

By 1619 we are up to 22.8mm.  We ended the day at 37mm with the Airport at 25.6mm and Gabo at 21mm.  Here is a chart showing the rain amount and rate as recorded at my WS.

The wind direction through the day was interesting.  It started from the NW and then about 0900hrs swung to the SE where it stayed until 2000hrs at which point it swung again to about SW.  Given the poor exposure of my site to wind from the East and South that matches fairly well to the wind shifts from the Airport.

September 2026 Mallacoota Weather report

 In summary, continuing the recent experience of a warm and very dry month.  

Some summaries of key data are in this Google Sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1eMbGfeSMKo6Hw1HFJqmNgQ1MIXpi_HV1oZdxyYi5Ir0/edit?usp=sharing 

Rain

It would be nice to get some.  This month totalled 27.7 mm with falls above 0.2 mm on 7 days.  For comparison BoM Airport recorded 18.6 mm and BoM Gabo 21.6 mm.  The Wunderground site at Nungatta  only managed 16.8mm.

The WS fall is 41% of the median fall for the month and positions the full year to date (486 mm) at 72% of the median fall to the end of September.  The falls in February and April give a less depressing look to the YTD series.

Not surprisingly my prorata estimate of the fall to the end of the year confirms the sorry story with estimated annual total of 687 mm rating as the 3rd lowest fall since BoM Airport records began in 1975.  I suspect/hope it is unlikely we will match the lowest fall (531mm in 2019) as that would mean only 31mm total for the remaining 3 months.

As an alternate view of the situation I calculated the average cumulative rainfall to date and the equivalent for 2026.  The next chart shows the difference: I think this is reasonably clear!

Temperatures

The temperature anomaly finished the month at +1.06oC with relatively little variation through the month.

The time series of anomaly values shows a resumption of the upwards movement., particularly in the moving average (red line) which eliminates seasonal effects.

The plots of daily extremes show a lot of variation particularly for the maximum series.

It was noticeable that the range of daily temperatures was quite broad, with the range above average for the day on 19 of the 31 days. The mean daily range was 2.5oC wider than the average for September.

Minimum Temperatures

The average daily minimum temperature was 9.01oC, placing the month in the middle of recent observations for September.

THe lowest temperature recorded in the month was 4.3oC against 0200 hrs on the 28th.

As for last month I checked the timing of the minimum temperatures.  In September 12 of the minima were recorded against 2200 hrs and 1 against 1800 hrs.  Under BoM rules all of these would be counted against the following day, making it very difficult to compare the two systems.

Maximum temperatures

The average daily maximum temperature was 21.09oC, placing the month as the warmest recent observations for September.  (It is difficult to compare with the BoM site as sea breezes, to which my WS are not exposed, cool the maximum on most days.)

I also checked the timing of the maxima.  As expected nearly all of them were against 1000hrs or 1400hrs but 2 were against 0600hrs (in one case with the same temperature recorded at 1000hrs) and once at 0200 hours.  These would all be logged by BoM against the previous day.

The hottest temperature recorded this month was 31.5oC against 1000 hrs on the 20th.  This was the 2nd hottest September day recorded on my WS, with the hottest being 34.5oC on the 19th September 2023.

Humidity

The daily humidities at my standard times (to suit the hours at which Ecowitt Monthly protocol delivers) show a normal pattern albeit with 3 days with very low readings.

The lowest readings for the low days, in all cases against 1000hrs, were even lower than the standard hours.  On the 19th and 20th the lowest readings were 20% and 21% respectively and on the 30th again 21%.  Looking at the previous records for my site there are only

• 5 days with humidity readings below 20% (3 of them in Septembers);

• 4 days with an rH of 20%; and 

• 3 days with an rH of 21% 

So such values are unusual but not impossibly so.

The average morning value (74.7%) was surprisingly a little above both 2025 and the average value.

The afternoon value was well below both other values.

Wind

September is the traditional month of “gales of the equinox” but this month was somewhat calmer than might have been expected.  No day had very strong winds ….

…. and the average maximum gust was lower than 2025 and the recent average.

Solar 

Fairly even through the month with drops around the days with “rain”.

Floriferousness off Genoa Rd

 Frances has been exploring various tracks off the part of Genoa Rd just West of the built up area, so we decided to take a look at a few spots around noon on the 30th September.  It was quite warm and sunny which encouraged Sun Orchids to appear.

There were masses of Spotted Sun Orchids (Thelymitra ixioides) in the slashed area under the power lines opposite Karbeethong Rd.

I think these yellow Sun Orchids are T. flexuosa.  Sorry for the blurriness: my phone was keen on focusing on the background (and I am out of practice, so didn't think to take my cap off as a less distracting backdrop).  The next day was solid overcast and all the sun orchids were closed.

I think this is T. rubra as there is a dark band just visible on the column.  There were many of these in the area behind the information sign.

We explored the area leading in to the Water Treatment Plant (NOT Watertrust Rd).  Several Large Flying Duck Orchids (Caleana major).  I went back to the area the next day and with the aid of folder, to give a plain background got a couple of better images.

I think this was T. carnea as it was a little paler pink and no dark band.

A Purple Beard-Orchid (Calochilus robertsonii).

On the later visit I also added Caladenia catenata.

We also explored the start of Captains Creek Firetrail but the area where there used to be many Large Flying Duck Orchids and Brown Beak Orchids has been thoroughly graded so no orchids.

There were a good few other flowers under the power lines.  I didn't take a lot of snaps but here are some.  I always like Comesperma ericinum.

This next one has me (and iNaturalist) bluffed.  It didn't bluff Bryce who identified it as Boronia mulleri:  we had considered that but it had very little scent.  A distant shot ....

... and a closer one.

A Thelionema lily.

There are still some damp parches in the track beside the power lines and that seemed to be attracting lots of these moths, which iNaturalist has identified as Bogong Moths (Agrotis infusa).

August 2026 Weather report

 Continuing the recent experience of overall mild temperatures (cool minima and warm maxima)and very little rain.  

Rainfall

Total rainfall at my Weather Station (WS) was 29.2 mm.  This is 46% of the median August fall and compares with 23.8 mm at the BoM Airport site; 21.2 mm BoM Gabo Island and 32 mm at a Wunderground site at Nungatta. The first chart shows a comparison with recent monthly falls.

The sorry picture is confirmed by looking at the falls expressed as a % of the median fall for each month and for the Year To Date.

I have also compiled my usual pro-rata estimate of the annual fall.  Not surprisingly that is showing levels well below the last two years and the trend line is not looking good.

To give a longer term comparison I have compared the pro-rata estimates for this year with those for 2019 (which ended at 548mm and the fire).  Not promising, even though this year is a little higher than 2019.

Temperatures

The overall temperature anomaly for the month was 0.68o C.  As shown in the following chart the month began with a cool spell and gradually warmed.

A time series of values of the anomaly shows it having apparently reached a local turning point, shown by the moving average, and continuing a downwards trend.

A chart of the extremes shows the contrasting behaviour of the maxima and minima.  This will be discussed further in the next two sections.  

Whenever there is an interesting result I contemplate Trewin’s Hypothesis “Any interesting statistic is probably a processing error.”  In this case I compared the daily extremes with those from the BoM Airport site.

The match with minima is excellent and the higher values of maximum for the maxima is as expected from past comparisons.  So, good stuff,

Temperature ranges

I noted that in many days the temperature range shown by my WS was well above the range of the averages.  Overall, the range was on average 2.7o C wider for 2026 than the average since 2019.  

Minimum Temperatures

The lowest temperature recorded this August was 3.7o C on the 1st.  This is the 8th lowest August minimum for my WS site with the coldest being 1.9o C (an official frost!) on 24 August 2019.  

The average minimum temperature for the month was 7.08o C, lower by 0.63o C than the average minimum for August.  This places it at the low side of the series of average minima.  

8 of the month's minima were significantly below the monthly average and 3 were significantly above the monthly average. 

As an aside, I was interested to see that 12 of the minima were recorded against 2200 hrs.  Thus using the silly BoM 0900 daily reset these temperatures would be counted against the following day!

Maximum Temperatures

The highest temperature recorded this August was 21.3o C on the 3rd.  Somewhat surprisingly, as it is not significantly above the monthly average, this is the 15th highest August maximum for my WS site with the hottest being 26.8o C on 30 August 2020.  

The average maximum temperature for the month was 18.74o C, higher by 2.00o C than the average minimum for August.  This places it at the high side of the series of average maxima a little below the 19.2o C average for August 2024.

None of the maxima for the month were significantly about the average.  The most notable feature of the monthly maxima was that there was only 1 day - the 31st! - with a below average maximum for the day of the month.

Humidity

I am using 0600 and 1400 as my standard times for the period out of Daylight Saving: while not identical to the BoM standards of 0900 and 1500 looking at my past records suggests that they are ‘close enough’ for this report.  We are not betting our homes on this stuff.

The noteworthy feature appeared to be  how many low readings there were  for the morning reading.  However on comparing to my historic series the average for the morning series (79.1%) is lower than it has been in recent years, but higher than most Augusts 2019-2023.  However the afternoon average (63.8%) is 2% below the average and is lower than all Augusts except 2019 when a rather crisp 61.7% was achieved.

Wind

My basic measure for wind using my Ecowitt station is daily average gust.  On that basis this was a rather calm month.  Way down on both average and last year.

Around the middle of the month I came across this rather strange looking shift in the wind (example shown from the 24th). 

 Marti Goodison commented that this shift to a Southerly flow had been occurring for several days (dropping the temperature as well).  Scanning the daily plots confirmed this to be a fairly common event this month.   I am struggling to work out how to depict it: watch this space in case I sort it out.

Solar

A fairly even pattern this month apart from a couple of very low days.  I wondered whether this indicated cloudiness which neither I nor BoM Airport assess.  However BoM Gabo do include a measure of cloudiness and it shows rating of 8 (total cloud cover) for the afternoon of 9 August (presaging the rain on the 10th) and ratings of 7/8th on the 15th and 25th.